I Thought Living in India Meant I’d Never Be Vitamin D Deficient
I always assumed that living in India meant I was naturally getting enough Vitamin D. The sun is almost always out, right? But last year, I started feeling constantly tired, sore, and just... off. I chalked it up to stress or bad sleep. A blood test later, I found out I had a Vitamin D deficiency. It felt strange — how could that even happen in a place like this?
That was my wake-up call. I started digging around and came across this detailed guide on Indian Vitamin D foods:
https://askdocdoc.com/articles/751-top-vitamin-d-rich-foods-in-india-a-complete-guide-to-boost-your-health-naturally
It’s from AskDocDoc and lists the best natural and fortified sources of Vitamin D in Indian diets.
I realized my vegetarian diet wasn’t helping much. But there are options — sun-dried mushrooms, fortified milk, orange juice, and even egg yolks if you’re okay with them. I found this helpful chart on Pinterest that made it easy to visualize what to eat more of:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/928445279436365615
The more I read, the more I found out how common this issue is. A LinkedIn post described it as a "silent challenge" in urban India — especially among people who work indoors all day (a.k.a. me):
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/askdocdoc_vitamin-d3-deficiency-is-a-silent-challenge-activity-7354140944868298756-Nfhd
Then I saw this post on Threads that explained how modern living, sunscreen, and even pollution are stopping us from absorbing Vitamin D, even when we’re outdoors:
https://www.threads.com/@askdocdoc/post/DMfgUQ7xMn8
I decided to make some small changes: more sun in the early morning, adding eggs and mushrooms to my meals, and buying fortified soy milk. This Instagram post gave me an easy meal plan to follow — I still use parts of it:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DMfgUMCIUrO/
There’s so much misinformation around this. Like thinking sitting near a sunny window is enough — it’s not. I learned that from this myth-busting Facebook post:
https://www.facebook.com/122099392514743210/posts/122134378196743210
More recently, I came across this tweet spreading awareness about this issue, and I’m glad people are finally talking about it more:
https://x.com/1881713393369030656/status/1948375152388964450
I never thought I'd be writing about this, but it’s something we all should be paying attention to. Especially if you think you're safe just because the sun’s shining.