Eating for Strong Bones - There's More to it Than Dairy

Our bones are made of living tissue and are constantly changing; every day old bone is being broken down and new bone is being built, so every day you have the potential to build better bones. And one of the easiest ways to do that is through the food you eat.

It may surprise you to know that our bones are not made solely of calcium, but are composed of many different minerals and protein. By including bone-building foods rich in minerals and protein, and avoiding those that deplete the bones you can lay down the foundation for healthy bones, for life.

The first step toward building strong bones is to eliminate, or reduce, the things in your diet that deplete bones of nutrients, leaving them weak. Some of the major dietary bone-robbing culprits are refined flours, sugars, and table salt, alcohol, caffeine, and perhaps the worst offender—soda. When these foods predominate, instead of being delivered to the bones, critical minerals are used elsewhere in the body to remedy an imbalance created by these foods. Additionally, many of these foods promote inflammation in the body, which speeds up the process in which bone is broken down, leading to weakened bones. Soda is a triple whammy, delivering caffeine, phosphoric acid, and high fructose corn syrup, which, when combined, increase mineral excretion and upset blood calcium levels. When calcium blood levels are out of balance, the body compensates by pulling stored calcium from the bones to restore the balance. Studies indicate that soda consumption, especially colas, decreases bone mineral density, with women and growing children being most susceptible.

While you eliminate the ‘bone robbers,’ be sure to include plenty of bone-building foods in your diet. Fresh, colorful vegetables supply the vitamins and minerals to make bones strong and dense, while high-quality protein from sources such as meat, poultry, and fish keep bones strong, yet flexible. Regularly including as many of the following foods as possible in your diet helps deliver the vitamins and minerals necessary to maintain the health of your bones.

Sea vegetables like nori, dulse, kelp, and kombu are extremely rich sources of minerals. For those not so keen on eating seaweed, start out by adding strips of kombu to the water used to cook rice, grains, or soups. The minerals leach into the water and are absorbed by the food being cooked.

Canned salmon and sardines with the bones are favorites for bone building and yes—you should eat the bones! They offer the raw materials for building your own bones. These fish are also good sources of protein and vitamin D, necessary for regulating calcium and the important bone-building protein, osteocalcin.

In the same way that eating the bones of canned fish offer bone-building nutrients, so does eating stock made from animal bones. Try stock made from the bones of beef, chicken, fish, or lamb.

Leafy green vegetables, such as kale, bok choy, mustard greens, brussels sprouts, and broccoli supply ample minerals and are good sources of vitamin K. This important vitamin activates the proteins osteocalcin and matrix Gla, both of which are important for transporting calcium to the bones. While spinach, chard, and beet greens are high in minerals, especially calcium, they also contain a high amount of oxalic acid. This acid binds minerals, especially calcium, and interferes with their metabolism. Spinach, beet greens, and chard shouldn’t be avoided completely, as they still have many nutritional benefits, but they should not be relied on as main calcium sources. Cooking greens helps to break down the oxalic acid and tends to make them more palatable.

What about dairy foods for healthy bones? While it is true that dairy is a rich source of calcium, it is not tolerated by a large percentage of the population. If you choose to include dairy in your diet, choose raw cheeses and cultured sources such as yogurt and kefir. These sources are generally easier to digest and cultured dairy supplies probiotics to help maintain the health of the gastrointestinal tract, which is essential for proper absorption of all these nutrients.

Including these nutrient-rich, bone-building foods in your diet is only one part of the equation. It is essential that those nutrients are absorbed and properly utilized by your body. Strong stomach acid, healthy gut bacteria, and a healthy intestinal lining are critical for the absorption and utilization of the nutrients vital to healthy bones. Without all of these pieces the body cannot access the minerals from the food we eat and assimilate them from the digestive tract into the bloodstream, and ultimately, to the bones.

Since our bones are ever changing, each day offers the chance to strengthen them. Giving your body the nutrients it needs and ensuring that they are properly absorbed is one of the first steps toward accomplishing this; and it can be achieved simply, everyday by enriching your diet with bone-building foods.

Recipe:

• Sushi Bowl Salad with Asian Inspired Greens