By: Stacy Johnson (Pilates Instructor/Nutritionist)
As we head into the winter months you want to make sure you are getting enough vitamin C to help boost your immune system. Vitamin C is essential for growth and repair of tissues in all parts of your body. It is an effective antioxidant and may help in preventing certain types of cancers. Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin that our body does not make, in other words we need to obtain it from our diet. How do we do this? We do it by eating at least 3-5 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Some foods highest in vitamin C are strawberries, grapefruit, kiwi, pineapple, oranges, mango, sweet potato and white potato, broccoli, leafy greens, bell pepper and brussel sprouts. Vitamin C is absorbed best when taken in conjunction with calcium, magnesium or bioflavanoids.
As it stands the RDI (Recommended Daily Intake) is 60-95mg of Vitamin C a day. An optimal amount is 200-400mg/day. Recommendations for helping to cut the time of the common cold down is to increase the amount of Vitamin C to 500mg three times a day for the first couple of days when you feel a cold coming on. Since it is water soluble, if you ingest more than you body can absorb it will just be excreted out of your urine. Remember that you can have too much of a good thing too. More than 2000mg/2g a day can cause dizziness, diarrhea, and bloating so be careful about mega dosing.
Examples of Vitamin C in some fruits and vegetables are:
1 medium orange – 82.8mg
½ grapefruit – 124mg
1 medium kiwi – 70.5mg
1 cup strawberries – 95mg
½ cup pineapple – 39.5mg
½ cup broccoli – 40.6mg
½ cup red bell pepper – 95mg
