Yearly.

SO a couple weeks ago Whit and I went to have our yearly physical. It's something I am kind of weird about. I'm just in the school of thought that it's better to educate yourself and work on anything that might be a problem...then take the whole philosophy "Ignorance is Bliss" and have to deal with problems later when they have gotten worse. So every year I journey to the doctor and then when I am leaving I just go ahead and make my appointment for the next year. Then I don't have to think about it again! I do this with the dentist and other doctors as well... ;)

So this past visit she talked to us about Whit’s Vitamin D levels. They have just recently been testing these levels along with the other blood work they do in a physical. They have really been seeing the effects of low vitamin D and the benefits of high levels. She told us that the ideal minimum level for good vitamin D is 35. Whit’s was 15. Yikes!! She said ...just to give you a frame of reference...Sarah your’s is 81. Hehe:) There are so many benefits of having great vitamin D. It protects you from prostate and colon cancer. It regulates your blood pressure and boosts your immunity. We take a daily multi-vitamin but this was obviously not doing the trick for Whit. Come to find out his mom has really low vitamin D levels as well. She put him on a prescription dose that he takes weekly...its extremely high...51,000 IU. He is going to take this for a little over a month and then see if he can maintain it with an extra supplement.

Something else that she brought to our attention was our fiber intake. This was not something that came up low in our physical but she talked to us about how you can never get enough in your diet. That no matter if you ate whole grains all day long you would never get enough. This was news to me! Fiber is crucial in helping maintain low cholesterol and keeping your heart healthy...and well...keeping you regular:) So she told us that we (and everyone else for that matter) should be taking Metamucil every morning and night. I’ll be honest I felt 60 when we first started taking it but now it’s just a great beginning and ending to our day! It also fills me up more when I take it. Oh and you can get the generic version. We got a HUGE thing of it at Target for $6.

The last thing that she talked to us about was taking Fish Oil. We have been taking this as well...but not as much as she told us to. She said that we should be taking two capsules in the morning and two at night. Whit and I eat quite a bit of fish but she said that this was still mandatory. It’s benefits are huge,...it protects your heart, high cholesterol, immunity, and skin....plus many more. I would say get the ones that are “burp free” but they are sooooo much more expensive than the regular ones...and once you have been taking them for awhile you stop burping fish. Ugh. Gross.

SO these were a few things we learned this year at our physical...I would highly recommend you all going and having it done! It is so educational and your body will thank you later!

Do you get a regular physical or are you a once every ten years?