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Happiness Expert Provides Insight To Stay Happy and Healthy This Winter

SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- According to experts, the key to avoiding the "winter blues" is to set small goals, including engaging with happy friends and family, eating healthy and exercising, for a well-rounded approach to life. This advice comes just in time for America's "Most Depressing Day of the Year," January 26, 2009, designated by U.K. psychologist, Dr. Cliff Arnall.

Health expert and author, Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, has a few simple tips for staying happy and healthy during this depressing time, no matter where you live. "With the sunless winter weather, fading New Year's resolutions and holiday bills arriving, late January is a critical time to focus on ways to increase happiness. Surround yourself with positive people. Choose foods with natural vitamin D, like mushrooms, and keep your body moving."

Make the Winter D-light-ful by Increasing Vitamin D

In addition to helping support a healthy immune system, and possibly lowering risks for cancers, including prostate, breast, colorectal and lung, vitamin D has also been shown to enhance moods. This is especially useful during winter months, when a lack of sunlight may lead to or worsen mood disorders, such as seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which affects some 11 million Americans.(1)

To include more vitamin D in your diet, simply toss foods with natural vitamin D, like mushrooms, in your everyday meals. A recent review of mushroom varieties showed that all mushrooms have vitamin D ranging from 4 to 400 percent of the Daily Value. Similar to the way that humans absorb sunlight and convert it to vitamin D, mushrooms contain a plant sterol --ergosterol -- that converts to vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.

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