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livingdebMy blood work from this year's annual physical came back and I am now officially deficient in Vitamin D. I didn't even know they checked for that.
You can get Vitamin D in fish, fish, and other fish, but the most fun way is to actually go outside a few times a week for a few minutes. Since I walk outside every work day, and since I live in Austin, I have no trouble getting enough sun.
So, the good news is that my plan to use more sunscreen worked. I started covering more of myself with sunscreen around May 21, 2007 and 2.5 years later, voila, Vitamin D deficiency.
So, what do I need Vitamin D for again, anyway? I looked it up, and I need that to have a strong skeleton. Oh, I would like to have one of those.
What would I choose if I had to choose between skin cancer (for which I am at high risk because I am totally white and because I spent my entire childhood getting sunburned every summer day) and osteoporosis (for which I am at even greater risk because I am scrawny and pale and it runs in my (nonpale) Dad's side of the family. Neither one is always deadly, but I have heard that once you break a hip you can have a really hard time ever getting yourself back together. So, I guess I'd slightly rather risk skin cancer.
However, I'm thinking I should probably wear sunscreen and take Vitamin D supplements. I did recently realize that taking my vitamin pill with my chocolate milk every morning might not be the greatest idea because some vitamins are fat-soluble and I make my chocolate milk with skim milk. So just a couple of weeks ago, I started taking a fish oil pill along with my vitamin and chocolate milk.
Meanwhile, my doctor has prescribed a powerful Vitamin D supplement which I am supposed to take once a week for one month and once a month for the next two months. Isn't that weird? Then I go in to get my blood tested and see if that worked. (If not, I might be wrong about having good sunscreen habits and instead have a new difficulty in absorbing or otherwise working with Vitamin D once I get it.)
**
In other nutritional news, I decided to compare the nutritional value of different kinds of nuts. Going in, I had the following beliefs about nuts.
1) Peanuts aren't really nuts, but they have some of the same health benefits as tree nuts, and they are the cheapest.
2) The healthiest nuts are walnuts and almonds.
3) All nuts are yummy.
I found this great chart of nut nutrients with values for 100 g of peanuts and various tree nuts. Here are my observations:
1) The nutrition of various nuts is quite variable, so diversification is probably a good idea.
2) I have a new respect for pistachios.
3) I have a new disrespect for macadamia nuts.
4) Calories - Cashews and pistachios have the least at 570 with almonds (580) and peanuts (590) nearly tied. Macadamia nuts have the most at 720.
5) Fat - Similarly, cashews and pistachios have the least at 46 g and macadamia nuts have the most at 76 g with pecans right behind (72 g).
6) Protein - Peanuts have the most (24 g) and almonds and pistachios are close (21 g). Macadamia nuts (8 g) and pecans (9 g) have the least.
7) Fiber - Almonds have the most (12 g); cashews (3 g) and pine nuts (4 g) have the least.
8) Calcium - Almonds have the most by far (248 mg or about 25% of what you might need).
9) Iron - You need about 18 mg. Cashews (6 mg) and pine nuts (5.5 mg) provide the most. Hazelnuts (4.7 mg), almonds (4.3 mg), and pistachios (4.2mg) are next.
10) Pistachios have way more vitamin A than any other nut on the list (262 IU), but it's still not that much (about 5% of what you need).
11) Vitamin K - My vitamin bottle says people need 80 mcg. Thus two nuts have a respectable amount in 100 g of nuts: Pine nuts (54 mcg) and cashews (35 mcg). (The others range from 0 to 14 mcg.)
12) Lutein + zeaxanthin - whatever that is, pistachios have over ten times as much (1205 mcg) as hazelnuts (92 mcg) which have about ten times as much as the other nuts (0 - 23 mcg)
13) I always thought pecans tasted a little better than walnuts, but walnuts were healthier. On this chart, they look quite similar in the nutrients I halfway understand except for the kinds of fat they have. Pecans have much more monounsaturated fats (41 versus 9 g) and walnuts have much more polyunsaturated fats (47 g versus 22 g).
How does your favorite nut stack up? (Yes, they all stack up better with superglue, but I don't recommend it.)
You can get Vitamin D in fish, fish, and other fish, but the most fun way is to actually go outside a few times a week for a few minutes. Since I walk outside every work day, and since I live in Austin, I have no trouble getting enough sun.
So, the good news is that my plan to use more sunscreen worked. I started covering more of myself with sunscreen around May 21, 2007 and 2.5 years later, voila, Vitamin D deficiency.
So, what do I need Vitamin D for again, anyway? I looked it up, and I need that to have a strong skeleton. Oh, I would like to have one of those.
What would I choose if I had to choose between skin cancer (for which I am at high risk because I am totally white and because I spent my entire childhood getting sunburned every summer day) and osteoporosis (for which I am at even greater risk because I am scrawny and pale and it runs in my (nonpale) Dad's side of the family. Neither one is always deadly, but I have heard that once you break a hip you can have a really hard time ever getting yourself back together. So, I guess I'd slightly rather risk skin cancer.
However, I'm thinking I should probably wear sunscreen and take Vitamin D supplements. I did recently realize that taking my vitamin pill with my chocolate milk every morning might not be the greatest idea because some vitamins are fat-soluble and I make my chocolate milk with skim milk. So just a couple of weeks ago, I started taking a fish oil pill along with my vitamin and chocolate milk.
Meanwhile, my doctor has prescribed a powerful Vitamin D supplement which I am supposed to take once a week for one month and once a month for the next two months. Isn't that weird? Then I go in to get my blood tested and see if that worked. (If not, I might be wrong about having good sunscreen habits and instead have a new difficulty in absorbing or otherwise working with Vitamin D once I get it.)
**
In other nutritional news, I decided to compare the nutritional value of different kinds of nuts. Going in, I had the following beliefs about nuts.
1) Peanuts aren't really nuts, but they have some of the same health benefits as tree nuts, and they are the cheapest.
2) The healthiest nuts are walnuts and almonds.
3) All nuts are yummy.
I found this great chart of nut nutrients with values for 100 g of peanuts and various tree nuts. Here are my observations:
1) The nutrition of various nuts is quite variable, so diversification is probably a good idea.
2) I have a new respect for pistachios.
3) I have a new disrespect for macadamia nuts.
4) Calories - Cashews and pistachios have the least at 570 with almonds (580) and peanuts (590) nearly tied. Macadamia nuts have the most at 720.
5) Fat - Similarly, cashews and pistachios have the least at 46 g and macadamia nuts have the most at 76 g with pecans right behind (72 g).
6) Protein - Peanuts have the most (24 g) and almonds and pistachios are close (21 g). Macadamia nuts (8 g) and pecans (9 g) have the least.
7) Fiber - Almonds have the most (12 g); cashews (3 g) and pine nuts (4 g) have the least.
8) Calcium - Almonds have the most by far (248 mg or about 25% of what you might need).
9) Iron - You need about 18 mg. Cashews (6 mg) and pine nuts (5.5 mg) provide the most. Hazelnuts (4.7 mg), almonds (4.3 mg), and pistachios (4.2mg) are next.
10) Pistachios have way more vitamin A than any other nut on the list (262 IU), but it's still not that much (about 5% of what you need).
11) Vitamin K - My vitamin bottle says people need 80 mcg. Thus two nuts have a respectable amount in 100 g of nuts: Pine nuts (54 mcg) and cashews (35 mcg). (The others range from 0 to 14 mcg.)
12) Lutein + zeaxanthin - whatever that is, pistachios have over ten times as much (1205 mcg) as hazelnuts (92 mcg) which have about ten times as much as the other nuts (0 - 23 mcg)
13) I always thought pecans tasted a little better than walnuts, but walnuts were healthier. On this chart, they look quite similar in the nutrients I halfway understand except for the kinds of fat they have. Pecans have much more monounsaturated fats (41 versus 9 g) and walnuts have much more polyunsaturated fats (47 g versus 22 g).
How does your favorite nut stack up? (Yes, they all stack up better with superglue, but I don't recommend it.)