Ravensong Poetry And Writing Blog by Donovan Baldwin

BY DONOVAN BALDWIN

Bones just don't sit there inside of us doing nothing.  They are actually growing, and ungrowing, as we age, make nutritional choices, and select sedentary or active lifestyles.

Exercise is one of the best things you can do for your bones.  Regular, moderate, weight-bearing exercise tones not only your muscles but your bones as well.  

Beware of misleading statements or statements of incomplete information...including mine.  I recently read, for example, that walking is an excellent weight-bearing exercise for maintaining bone density.  While this is true, it is true mainly for the legs and hips.  You still need to think about weight bearing exercises for the upper body.  The push-up would be good for this.

The present, basic, state of your bones depends on your childhood and your early 20's.  That is when what you eat and how you live, in conjunction with genetics, cause the creation of the bone structure you will have the rest of your life.  If that's the bad news, the good news is that through diet, exercise, rest, and supplementation, you can maintain a healthy skeleton...into infinity and beyond!  

Sorry.  Buzz Lightyear jumped in there...into your 90's and beyond!

First of all, dump the wierd stuff.  Get rid of alcohol (you can safely have the two glasses of red wine), smoking, sodas, and junk food.  Eat foods and take supplements which provide Vitamin D, Vitamin K, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus.

Get that exercise, but leave the extreme stuff to the kids.  While all of us really should get regular exercise, excessive exercise can actually contribute to bone loss...especially as we age.

See your doctor regularly and pay attention to your energy level.  Both hypothyroidism (too little thyroid production) and hyperthyroidism can interfere with bone growth and maintenance.

Ditch the sugary snacks and opt for a lot of fruits and vegetables in your diet.  Various studies have indicated that people who eat diets containing a lot of fruits and veggies have better bone density than those who don't.

If you decide to take calcium supplements, beware of overdoing it.  Get up over about 2000 mg per day is getting into an area where you might be going overboard and risking kidney stones and even vascular disease. Keeping it around 1,200 mg per day with calcium rich foods such as dairy products like lowfat milk, cottage and cheddar cheese, and yogurt.  Tofu (as long as it is firm and processed with calcium sulfate), dried beans and dark green vegetables such as broccoli, kale and bok choy also are good sources. You can also find calcium in foods that have been fortified with it such as orange juice and some cereal products. Eating drained sardines (and their bones) that have been packed in oil is another option.

If it is too hard to get the calcium and other nutrients you need from foods, there are plenty of good bone health supplements to help you round out your needs.

RELATED ARTICLE: 5 WAYS TO STRONGER BONES

Labels: bone density, bone health, donovan baldwin, osteoporosis