Diet and exercise. Diet and exercise.
How often have you heard or read these words when boning up on osteoporosis prevention? Constantly, right?
That’s because diet and exercise are key to prevention of osteoporosis. And it’s not just the over-60 crowd that should be concerned with a healthy diet, and plenty of weight-bearing exercise. In order to maintain bone health in your later years, you need to set the stage beginning in childhood.
May is Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month. If you’re reading these words, you’re obviously aware of this potentially crippling disease. Now let’s find out how diet can both help your bones – and hurt them.
Calcium: Your bones are made up in large part of calcium. And, your heart, muscles, and nerves all depend on calcium to function. If there’s not enough calcium in your diet, what happens? Your body robs calcium from your bones, to maintain the necessary amount for the rest of its systems – thus encouraging osteoporosis.
Always first on any list of bone-healthy foods, calcium-rich foods are easy to find. Dairy products are your best source, by far. But if you don’t like (or can’t eat) dairy, there are plenty of calcium-fortified juices, cereals, even waters available. Check out our post, 10 Easy Ways to Add Calcium to Your Diet, for tasty, easy ways to ensure you’re eating enough calcium.
Vitamin D: This vitamin goes hand-in-hand with calcium as one of your chief defenses against bone loss. Without vitamin D, calcium can’t do its job. While exposure to sunlight is probably your best and easiest source of vitamin D, diet is a close second.
Luckily, calcium-rich dairy products are also high in vitamin D. But if you can’t eat dairy, eggs and certain types of fish: salmon (with its bones), mackerel, and tuna – are all good sources.
Protein: While your bones are mainly calcium, they’re also 22% protein. Protein is a key element in bone remodeling (the constant cycle of bone breakdown and rebuilding), and as such is critical in maintaining bone health.
Since protein isn’t something you’ll find in your daily multivitamin, you’ll almost certainly rely on your diet for protein. Luckily, it’s a chief component of many foods, including meat, poultry, fish, and dairy products, as well as beans, nuts, and whole grains.
Try to stick to lower-fat/unsaturated fat sources of protein: for instance, if you’re eating meat, choose turkey or chicken instead of beef or pork. Low-fat dairy is a good source of healthy protein, as are nuts: though they’re high in fat, it’s “good” fat. For vegetarians, beans, peas, and lentils are all good protein sources.
Magnesium, potassium, vitamin K, vitamin C, and vitamin B12: Eat your vitamins! All of these vitamins and minerals play small, but key roles in protecting you against osteoporosis. For more information, and a list of foods that’ll help you maintain healthy levels of these elements, read Beyond Calcium and Vitamin D: Five Things to Track in Your Daily Diet.
