Foods that cause bone loss – Ageless By Glynis Barber

As we age, we start to lose bone density and bone mass. This becomes especially true for women after the menopause when the process tends to speed up.

Oestrogen is essential for healthy bones

As this hormone diminishes, bones weaken. For this reason, women are more like to suffer from bone fractures when they’re older than men.

But why do our bones lose density?

The unfortunate fact is that with age we lose calcium, amino acids and minerals that provide strength to our bones. Whilst genetics will play a large part in how our bones age, there are still a number of things we can do to keep them as healthy as possible.

Weight bearing exercises help keep bones strong

This is because the tension applied to the bone from muscles and tendons, stimulate the bone to produce more bone tissue. This results in stronger and denser bones. This will help decrease the risk of fractures, osteoporosis and osteopenia. Weight bearing can be your own body weight (as in push ups or many yoga exercises), gym equipment or free weights.

Nutrition is very important as well

Some foods will build you up and some will exacerbate bone loss. I always think of food as medicine and when it comes to your bones, this is very true. Likewise, some foods are like poison and will literally dissolve your bones away.

Here are the top foods to avoid:

1. CARBONATED DRINKS

Fizzy drinks, including diet ones, are full of phosphoric acid which raises the blood’s acidity levels. In order to bring acidity levels back to normal, the body pulls calcium out of the bones. These drinks also make us excrete calcium in our urine. Yup, they are truly very, very bad for bones.

2. TOO MUCH CAFFEINE

This is a tough one because we all love our coffee, don’t we? Too much caffeine leaches calcium from bones. So how much is too much? They say that 300mg of caffeine (about 3 cups) should be the limit. But bear in mind that you will lose about 6mg of calcium for every 100mg you consume. To my mind that makes 300mg too much. Multiple cups of coffee will not do your bones any favours. Try a half and half cuppa where decaffeinated is mixed in. This is a good way to reduce your caffeine intake if you are used to consuming a fair amount.

Tea is lower in caffeine than coffee but you still need to drink it moderately. Green tea has lower levels of caffeine than black and white tea has even lower levels. And they’re both full of health benefits.

If you’re getting your caffeine from fizzy drinks and sodas then you’re getting a double whammy of calcium leaching. This is probably the very worst thing you can consume.

3. TABLE SALT

By table salt, I mean the processed variety. This does NOT apply to natural sea salts and Himalayan salt.

High levels of table salt will cause bones to lose precious minerals as well as calcium. If you do eat this type of salt, you should have no more than a teaspoon a day. However that includes salt in all the foods that you eat, as well as what you add to your food. So if you’re eating a lot of processed foods, the salt content will be high.

The answer is to stop eating processed foods and to switch to natural salts to add to meals. Himalayan salt contains many minerals and trace elements which help maintain the vital balance needed for healthy bones.

4. WHEAT BRAN

Yes, this was a surprise to me as well. However, the fact is that the phytates contained in wheat bran can prevent the body from absorbing calcium. Not only that but it can reduce the absorption of calcium in other foods eaten at the same time. A very good example would be if you have a cereal for breakfast that contains wheat bran, it would stop you absorbing the calcium in the milk.

Switch instead to sprouted grain breads and cereals if you can. The sprouting process breaks down the phytates. I found a brand called Ezekiel at Planet Organic that sell a lot of sprouted grain products and they’re delicious.

5. HYDROGENATED OILS

I’ve done a whole other article on how bad these are for us which you can read HERE

Suffice to say these processed trans fats are bad for us in every single way. The processing of the oil kills off any naturally occurring vitamin K, a vital nutrient for healthy bones. Always use healthy oils and fats like olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil and butter. Avoid all vegetable oils and read the labels of foods as they are added to nearly everything.

SUPPLEMENTS:

I’m a great believer in supplements while still eating as healthily as I can. Depleted soils, processed foods and an increasingly toxic world makes it more and more important to supplement, in my opinion.

BUT before you reach for the calcium, a word of caution. Many doctors still suggest their patients take this but a doctor of mine told me a very different story. He said to never take calcium as it can cause calcification. Of course it’s perfectly fine to eat foods that contain calcium.

Calcium is not the best supplement in any case for bones. You need the magic three. If you take nothing else, I would recommend these 3 which are good on so many levels.

D3 (I take 5000mg in winter)

K2

Magnesium (I like magnesium glycinate as it’s a very good form and gentle on the gut)

These 3 work in synergy together and it’s important to take K2 with your D3. Magnesium is also good for stress and can help you sleep. These 3 are what you need for your bones.

Try Supplement Hub on the Glynis Loves page for good quality vitamins and use code AGELESS to get a 5% discount. Or you can click below and still use the code.

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