Need More Vitamin D In Your Life? Try This Snack

Vitamin D is an important nutrient that helps maintain healthy bones. Plus, it has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that are good for your immune system, your muscles, and brain cells. While you can get vitamin D from sunlight, you can also get it from certain foods.

Fortified milk is a great source of vitamin D that will help strengthen your bones. So if you grew up with parents who wanted you to have milk with dinner or before bed, this is probably why.

While you’re having some fortified milk, you might as well have some equally fortified cereal to go with it, which means you’ll get even more vitamin D. You’ll want to read box labels for this, but some good options include certain options by Kellogg’s, like Multi-Grain Cheerios, or Grape-Nuts by Post.

If you’d rather have eggs for breakfast, good news — they’re naturally rich in Vitamin D due to the yolks. No matter how you make them, scrambled, boiled, or fried, they’re not only a great source of vitamin D, but also a great source of protein.

Add some mushrooms to your eggs for even more vitamin D (which is D2, since mushrooms are a plant source vs. an animal-based option). However, keep in mind that certain mushrooms contain more of the nutrient than others: those grown and harvested in the wild, like morels and chanterelles.

Orange juice may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you want to up your vitamin D intake, but if it’s fortified — wherein nutrients have been added to it — you can get a dose of both vitamin C and D. (And who doesn’t love it with breakfast?)

Now, it’s time for lunch, and if you’re a salmon person, you’re in luck — it’s very high in vitamin D. Plus, it’s very easy to eat since it’s so versatile: You can grill it, bake it, add it to a salad, you name it.

Sardines are another fish you can have for vitamin D content, either right out of the tin or as part of your meal, like added onto a salad. While some research has found that sardines in olive oil may have less vitamin D than those in water, they’re still a great source of vitamin D either way.

Another fish to eat for some vitamin D is tuna, which is also rich in protein, Omega-3 fatty acids, and selenium, an antioxidant that helps reduce inflammation and is good for immunity.

Mackerel is a fatty, good-for-you fish similar to tuna and is also high in vitamin D and Omega-3s. You can add it to many different meals, from pasta to bread to salad greens.