Vitamin D (Are You Getting Enough?), Kamea's 1 Month Doctor Visit, Summer Salad Recipe

Kamea had her 1-month visit at our naturopath's office this week. She is doing AWESOME! She weighed in at 9 pounds 5 ounces (right on track) and her head measured beautifully. She's growing like a little weed and she's cute as a button. I took my first bath with her this week, too. That was fun! I can't wait to do it again. This picture is of her after the bath - no crying this time - Yay!

And, that rash I blogged about here (or the rash I thought she had?)? She's doing wonderfully. She has some newborn acne still, which is better on some days than others, but there is no rash. I have been staying away from nuts and most berries though and I haven't reintroduced them yet. My diet has been pretty mild. In fact, here is a recipe of a new (mild) salad I threw together yesterday that I LOVED! It's my new staple summer salad... so majorly yummy! (I'm calling it Summer Salad because it's quite refreshing for summer time.)

Summer Salad

Recipe by Kristen Suzanne of KristensRaw.com

Yield 1 serving

1 apple, cored and chopped

1/2 cucumber, chopped

1 avocado, pitted, peeled and diced

juice from 1/2 - 1 lime (depending on how juicy it is)

drizzle raw agave nectar or maple syrup (maple syrup is not raw)

Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and enjoy! (You might like to add a pinch of Himalayan crystal salt which would go nicely with the cucumber and avocado.)

On another topic... are you getting enough vitamin D? It not, you might want to take a little time in the sun to get some (especially if you're pregnant or nursing - new studies are coming out touting the benefits of it if you fall into that category, and the risks if you're deficient - check out the video below). For more detailed information, check out this impressive website, Grassroots Health. Vitamin D is important for so many reasons, I could write a whole blog post about it... heck, probably a whole book.

I had my vitamin D level tested a couple of weeks ago and the result: 41 ng/ml. It's recommended that most people have a serum level of 40-60 ng/ml, so I'm on the low level (darn!). My naturopath would like it to be in the 50-60 ng/ml range. I need to take my own advice and get more sunshine! I have been slacking in that department since having Kamea. But, that is going to change now. I treated myself to this groovy patio lounge chair for our balcony so that I could comfortably get some daily vitamin D. For those of you who want to supplement with vitamin D3 (and you're vegan), you might consider Garden of Life's (Vitamin Code) Raw D3. There is controversy over whether it's truly vegan (you can read about that here).



You can also check out this site to see how much much sunshine you need to get your vitamin D (I haven't tried it yet). And, I just saw this article in the New York Times, What Do You Lack? Probably Vitamin D.