Spring has well and truly sprung here in the UK. I see yellow daffodils everywhere, and pretty little purple crocuses and irises are popping up through the ground in my garden for the first time after having had our borders newly planted with hundreds of plants in the autumn.

Spring is such an exciting time! It’s all about new beginnings, nature is coming to life again after the hibernation during winter. It’s getting warmer and we can start losing some layers as the sun pops round a bit more often and sends its warming rays to us.

Spring Sun And Vitamin D

Even though the sun can feel quite warm already, don’t be fooled by the gorgeous sunshine, thinking you can get all your vitamin D by being outside. Here in the UK, in late March and early April, the sun is still relatively low and the angle of the rays hitting your skin is only right for a couple of hours in the middle of the day for the body to synthesise any vitamin D. So if your shadow is longer than you are tall, no or very little vitamin D is produced in the skin.

You may want to use the app dminder to track your sun exposure and vitamin D production. Of course it’s not fool proof but can help you understand when your body actually can make vitamin D and when it’s good to supplement. Yesterday (March 29th), I walked for 2 hours to pick some wild garlic, mostly in full sun in my home town Bracknell (latitude 51°). I was wearing leggings and a long-sleeved top. According to the app, my body generated 544iu of vitamin D, which is below the maintenance dose that I generally recommend to my clients who’s serum levels are good. It is around the same as the UK governments recommended daily supplemental intake that doesn’t take into account your actual serum level. So if your vitamin D level is low, you’d need to take more to reach an optimal level.

Of course, do go outside and enjoy the the beautiful sunshine, fresh air and the awakening nature – for all the other health benefits we get from these – but remember that you may still need your vitamin D supplement to maintain good levels. I always recommend checking your actual levels ideally a couple of times a year, at the end of the winter and again at the end of the summer, with a simple home test (or if your GP will do it even better!) so that you know how much you need to supplement with and where to aim at. If you need help with testing, choosing a high-quality supplement and calculating your ideal dose, please get in touch and I can help you. You will also benefit from a good discount on the vitamin D product that I recommend.

Grow Your Own

I think spring is my favourite season actually due to the promise and anticipation it brings with it. When it warms up enough, I’m always spending more time in the garden sowing new seeds for my veg patch and just watching things grow. Growing your own is something that gives me so much pleasure and many health benefits. Gardening and being outside in nature is great for mental health as it’s easier to forget all the stress and worries, you are physically active when digging and moving around in the garden, you are in contact with all those beneficial soil-based and airbourne micro-organisms that help your gut and immune system, and at the end of it all, you get to eat health-promoting delicious food.

Even when you don’t have a garden you can grow many things in pots in a patio or balcony, or even on the window sill. Sprouting seeds and growing microgreens can also be done all year round.

Sprouted seeds pack a real punch, both nutritionally and flavour-wise! Sprouted brassica seeds can contain 10-100 times (yes, up to 100 times!!!) higher levels of sulphur-containing compounds glucoraphanin and sulforaphane than do the corresponding mature plants. (Brassicas are vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, turnip, radish…) These compounds help detox cancer-causing and other toxic compounds from the body in a safe way. A small quantity of brassica sprouts may protect against the risk of cancer as effectively as much larger quantities of mature vegetables of the same variety.

A MOT For Your Diet and Lifestyle

You put your car through an MOT every year, so isn’t it time to finally get yourself checked too?

Let me MOT your diet and lifestyle and suggest simple changes that don’t take much effort but may make a huge difference to the way you feel. My DIET AND LIFESTYLE MOT is a 1-hour consultation, during which we look at your diet and lifestyle diary and I give you simple suggestions for healthy food swaps and simple lifestyle hacks to optimise your nutritional intake and improve your daily habits that may be affecting your health. With simple changes that don’t take much effort at all you can make a big difference in your health and wellbeing.

If you want to know more, please book a free no-obligation discovery call HERE and let’s have a chat and get you feeling well and empowered as you take control of your own health.

Here’s what some of my lovely clients have said after working with me:

So… What are you anticipating from the next few months? As we are starting to come out of the lockdown, have you factored in investing in your own health and self-care? Never has it been more important than now to invest in your health to protect yourself from the inside out rather than just relying on external measures such as handwashing and face masks.

How are you investing in yourself?