Add These Everyday Habits and Foods for Stronger Bones

Transcript:

Melanie: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition, brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. I'm Melanie Beasley here with Britni Vincent. We are both licensed and registered dietitians, and today on our podcast we are talking about something that affects so many people, especially as we age. The title of our show is Habits and Foods that Strengthen Bones. Britni and I specifically want to address how we can maintain and even build bone density.

Britni: Well, I'm happy to be here today with you, Melanie, and I think this is such an important topic and I have clients coming in, I would say weekly, and this is part of what they want to talk about.

Melanie: Yeah.

Britni: What can they do to help to build their bone?

Melanie: I think when you're in that appointment with your doctor.

Britni: Mm-hmm.

Melanie: They scare the daylights out of you.

Britni: Yes.

Melanie: So you walk in feeling like a strong, vital woman or man, and you walk out feeling like you're made of graham crackers. It's a terrible diagnosis.

Britni: That is not a good feeling. And I think the message we really want to get across today is there are plenty of positive things we can implement in our day-to-day routines that will stop or slow the progression of bone loss, and in some cases, even build bone. I feel like you do not hear that very often. You can actually build bone.

Melanie: Naturally without medications.

Britni: Yeah. It's amazing.

Melanie: Yes. So if you've been told that, we're here to tell you we at Nutritional Weight & Wellness have seen multiple people improve their bone density naturally without medication.

Britni: We have.

Melanie: It's a whole kit and caboodle that you need to do. We're not saying it's easy, but we have the tools. You can do it. And personally, I went from severe osteoporosis and I'm almost now in normal bone.

Britni: Ugh. That is so amazing.

Melanie: Naturally. So it's huge. It's huge. It's a triumph. I celebrate with every one of my clients who does that.

Britni: That's great.

Melanie: So most people don't think about bone health until they've broken one or they've gotten to the age when bones become more fragile. But starting in midlife, everyone begins to lose bone mass. I remember, back when I was a dietitian years ago; dinosaurs roam the earth; you turn 50, you got a bone density scan and a colonoscopy, and now they have pushed it out to 65.

But really starting in midlife, everyone begins to lose bone mass. The good news, there are things that you can do that support bone health and slow the rate of age related bone loss. So people that are already doing these things, I mean, I have a client and she's 74 years old and she has the bones of a 20-year-old. She's never lost bone. But she's been very mindful. She eats very clean and she exercises.

Britni: So you brought up an interesting point. Now you know the age when you get your first DEXA scan is much later in life.

Melanie: Yeah.

Britni: So would you recommend requesting one earlier?

Melanie: If you can. I think it's good to know what's the trajectory of your bones? Are you losing a little bit at a time? I'm not a fan of, well, I lose a little bit every year, but my doctor's not concerned. Well…

Britni: That adds up.

Melanie: That adds up. And in 20, 30 years, you're going to be in a scary place. So let's stop the bone loss now, and you can't know what you don't know.

Britni: Yeah, such a good point. And if you can get it done earlier, you have a really solid baseline.

Melanie: Yes. And you can get them done earlier. If your doctor won't order one for you, a chiropractor can order one for you. You know, a naturopath, a functional doctor, they will all order and they're about a hundred bucks out of pocket.

Britni: I think that's well worth the money for a lot of people. Yeah.

Melanie: So really I think it's important, and most people don't think about bone health, you know, until they've broken a bone or they're 65 and their doctor says, maybe we should.

Bone is a living tissue (overviewing bone remodeling)

Britni: Yeah. Well, I think one part of bone health that people do not realize is they are not static. They are constantly changing. In fact, bone is a living tissue. Learning that was kind of shocking to me.

Melanie: Yeah. We always think of them as sort of dead stones.

Britni: But this living tissue that is your bone, it's made up of protein, collagen, minerals, so every single day, the bones in your body, they break down old or damaged bone tissue and rebuild with new.

Melanie: Yep.

Britni: This is a process called remodeling, bone remodeling, so it's ongoing throughout your lifetime, but it does occur at different rates depending on your age.

Melanie: Yep. And also your metabolic process, your health, your medications, your exercise. So when you're young, your body focuses on building bone mass, which is the amount of bone tissue in the skeleton. But that bone mass really peaks around age 30. And isn't that, well, you know, otherwise we would just keep building these enormous bones.

But at the age of 30, really the focus should be maintaining the bone that you have and making sure that balance of building up and breaking down is equal. You know, if you think of the scale, like the legal scale where you've got some breaking down, some building up.

We want to keep that pretty even Steven, and all women and men will on the average lose bone density. So the higher your peak bone mass is when you start aging, the less likely bone loss will become a significant problem later, especially if you're mindful of taking care of your bones.

Britni: Yeah, so I think it's important, you know, as children, adolescents, young adults, if you can build as much bone mass as possible, which of course you're not thinking about this as a child, but you know your example of your client, she's been aware of this. And she's working on it and she's never lost bone. That's, that's amazing.

Melanie: That's amazing.

Britni: So if you can focus on this at a younger age, then kind of the more bone you have in the bank per se.

Melanie: And it's also, you know, I was just reading something that we have the new food pyramid, which is amazing.

Britni: Mm-hmm.

Melanie: And when we had the reverse food pyramid where all the carbs were at the bottom and protein was very tiny up at the top. But guess what happened? We started seeing bone loss, poor bone status in younger people.

Britni: Not surprising.

Melanie: Because bone is predominantly protein. So we were eating more carbs, processed foods, things that didn't support the bone. And so if you're a grandparent or if you're a parent, you want to be thinking about how much animal protein is my child getting in and how much processed food are they eating? Because that doesn't support your overall health, but certainly not the bone health as you age. So you want to go into 30 being the max bone density you could possibly have.

Britni: That's a good thought. And then, you know, like you said being aware of that supports your, your health overall. So it's not just about bone, but you're reaping many, many benefits by getting less processed food and getting that protein throughout the day.

Melanie: Yeah. That, that bone is really kind of a thermostat of what the rest of your body's health is.

Hormones play a role in bone health

Britni: Hormones do play a role in bone health.

Melanie: Huge.

Britni: And so you may, the process of bone loss may increase going through menopause.

Melanie: Yeah. The first five years after menopause is where our bones generally can lose the most.

Britni: Wow.

Melanie: Those first five years; it's estrogen drop.

Britni: Yep. Estrogen and then progesterone, testosterone. Those play a role as well, but that is a very interesting statistic. You're losing the most bone in that five year span, and then most women are not getting their first DEXA again, till maybe 5, 10, 15 years later.

Melanie: Yes.

Britni: So if you can get ahead of the game and kind of know where you're at before you hit menopause, I think you know, more in your power. You know what to do.

Melanie: Yeah, I think sometimes osteoporosis and low bone density are talked about as they are inevitable, but they're not. And the truth is there's much we can do at any age to support that bone health. You know, starting, like we mentioned in childhood. We don't want to start thinking about our bones just because we hit menopause.

Britni: Yeah, that is exactly right. And so we're hoping with today's information, we're empowering you with this information so you can make the choices regarding your food, nutrients, your daily habits, movement. We're going to talk about that; that is going to help to build strong bones. And like I mentioned earlier, bone is living tissue. So you are constantly breaking down and rebuilding, just like muscle does, has a similar process in our body.

Melanie: And when we think about rebuilding, we cannot rebuild anything, you can't rebuild a building without the right building supplies. Our bones, we’re the same way. We cannot rebuild bone if we're not giving the the foundational structural materials that we need.

So, you know, I always say, you can't build bone from Skittles. So that's something that we really want to focus on today, but you know, up until your early thirties, we're building more bone than we lose. Generally speaking, if your diet is, you know, fairly decent, your movement is good, after that, the goal becomes maintaining in slowing bone loss; in many cases, even rebuilding density when the body has the right tools.

Some medications prevent bone remodeling to be done in a healthy way

I sort of shudder knowing the amount of young children that are on antidepressants now, because that's one of the medications that prevents that bone remodeling to be in a healthy way. So sometimes we need the meds. But we have to be very much aware that this does affect our bones as well.

Britni: That's an interesting point. And I think it's good to be aware of.

Melanie: Yeah. Heartburn medicine, there's a host of them.

Britni: Yeah, the heartburn medicine, I mean, I think that information has come out a little bit more in the last few years, but I mean, being on those medications for a decade or more is really going to wreak havoc on your bone health.

And not to mention other areas of your health. And bones do more than just hold us up. I mean, they protect our organs. They support movement. They even play a role in blood sugar regulation and hormone balance. So they're a crucial part to our overall health.

Melanie: Yeah, those are things that people don't think about; hormone imbalance and blood sugar balance.

Britni: No.

Melanie: So when we talk about bone health, we're really talking about, again, whole body health.

Bone health requirements go far beyond just needing calcium

Britni: I think when most people think about bone health, the first thing that comes to mind is calcium.

Melanie: Yes.

Britni: I mean, that's what we've been told. And you know, yes, it's true. Calcium is necessary, but one of the biggest misconceptions is that just taking a calcium supplement will build or protect our bones, and that is not true.

Melanie: That is not true. Calcium is such a small piece of bone.

Britni: It’s much more complex than that.

Protein plays a critical role in bone health

Melanie: Protein is a bigger piece than calcium. And no one's talking about protein.

Britni: No, no.

Melanie: So it's a very small building block. It's important, you know, and I can remember telling women to chew Tums to get calcium. Because that's what we were told that years ago. Which is the worst form of calcium that you can consume. But like any building structure, if you just have one set of materials when building, it's not enough. If I just bring a hammer to the house, I'm not going to be able to build the house.

Calcium alone isn't enough. That's where we want to start and shift the conversation, and talk about more than how much calcium should I take. We're going to talk about, like I said, the whole kit and caboodle to build that strong foundation in your bones.

Quality absorbable forms of calcium are critical (avoid calcium carbonate)

Britni: You mentioned Tums as a source of calcium. So, that source is calcium carbonate and you want to avoid that

Melanie: Yes. In your food too.

Britni: Yes. Everywhere. So make sure if something is fortified, it's likely calcium carbonate. A lot of calcium supplements out there are calcium carbonate. It is not bioavailable for the body.

Melanie: So what happens if it's not absorbed, Britni?

Britni: Well, it can end up in areas of our body that we don't want; we don't want calcium floating around if…

Melanie: It can create plaque. It can create plaque in the brain. Plaque in the blood vessels.

Britni: Scary.

Melanie: So it's important that we're consuming a good absorbable form of calcium, which occurs in, it can incur in nature. So then I'll have clients say to me, I can't consume dairy, so how am I getting my calcium?

Britni: I hear that one a lot too. And you know, I think that that is, that's also a myth. You do not have to consume dairy to get your calcium. There are countries around the world that don't consume dairy or they consume very little yet they have much lower rates of osteoporosis than we do.

Melanie: Yes. And we're one of the highest dairy eating countries. And we have one of the highest rates of osteoporosis.

Britni: So clearly there's, there's a lot more to the picture there. So, you know, other food sources, if you can tolerate dairy, full fat yogurt, that's great. It's high in protein, otherwise, nuts, seeds, canned salmon, specifically with the bones, sardines, leafy greens, broccoli, those are all going to give you calcium.

Melanie: Yes. Great sources of calcium. And notice we said full fat. Fat is also very critical for absorbing fat-soluble vitamins that we need for our bones, like A, D, E, and K. And that K helps guide the calcium into the bones where it belongs.

Healthy fat is critical for absorption of minerals (& thus bone health)

Britni: Many of you listeners probably followed a low fat, non-fat diet back in the day, or even maybe recently, because that's what we were told. Fat is terrible for you. You need to eat low fat, avoid as much as possible.

Melanie: And guess what? Osteoporosis went through the roof.

Britni: Yeah. But like Melanie said, including those healthy fats every time you eat is really critical because we need those for absorption to absorb minerals like calcium and magnesium, and also vitamins like vitamin D and vitamin K.

More on the importance of protein

Melanie: And you know, the macronutrient that we've been talking about that I like to sort of hammer home is protein, protein, protein, protein, protein. Animal protein is the most bioavailable, so not nuts and seeds. Not beans and legumes. We're talking animal protein and that is more readily available to make bone. So we're talking anything with a face or has a face or will make a face like eggs.

You know, collagen is important for bone structure and we get that from protein. But if you are going to run out and buy a collagen supplement, you want to make sure if you're trying to be very bone specific, it has the medical collagen peptide Fortibone. We carry one Nutrikey on our website or the Nutrikey website called Key Collagen that has Fortibone in it, and that's the collagen peptide that's been studied to trigger the lay down of bone.

Britni: That's amazing we can get something like that.

Melanie: We can talk some more about my favorite subject, which is how to build bone, when we come back.

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Britni: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. I'm Britni Vincent. I'm here with Melanie Beasley, and we are talking all about bone and what you can do to build bone. And prior to the break you were talking about protein and how critical that is. And in the reality is that if someone isn't eating enough protein, their body just does not have the raw materials to build bone. Like, it's impossible.

Melanie: You know, I had a client and she was vegan and she had osteoporosis, and we had this discussion, but she really felt passionate about vegan lifestyle.

Britni: Mm-hmm.

Melanie: And so. About a year later, she called me in a panic because she had lost more bone.

Britni: Oh no.

Melanie: She was in severe osteoporosis and she had fractured her thoracic spine in two places.

Britni: Scary.

Melanie: So we got her on the right track doing the whole plan, and now she is in osteopenia.

Britni: Wow.

Melanie: So it's doable, but you got to give the body the raw materials to make what it needs.

Britni: And the reality is, you know, when clients first come in to see us, the majority of individuals just are not eating enough protein.

Melanie: I agree. And it's not that you can't do it being a vegan, but it is extremely difficult. I've never seen anyone gain bone with that lifestyle, unfortunately. So we do encourage people to include quality protein at every meal. Things like pasture raised eggs, grass fed beef, organic free range chicken, turkey, wild caught fish. Those are great choices. Some can tolerate foods with dairy better than others. If you, if you're able to eat dairy, you know, and you can tolerate casing and lactose, you could consider things like ricotta cheese, plain Greek yogurt.

And cottage cheese, plain Greek yogurt and ricotta cheese are really good protein sources. There's so many, you know, social media ways to use these things. Just don't load them up with a bunch of sugar.

Britni: Yes.

Melanie: Because that negates what we're trying to do here. But those are some great protein sources.

Britni: And, you know, you mentioned collagen earlier. So for some people, the addition of collagen or gelatin, that can be very beneficial.

Melanie: Mm-hmm. And if you are, you know, curious. Okay. I don't love cottage cheese. Try blending it with a little bit of berries. It tastes like strawberry cheesecake. Or if you want sour cream, instead of sour cream blend cottage cheese and use that to up your protein in place of sour cream. I mean, these are ways that you can get some protein in without feeling like you're constantly sitting down to a pork chop.

Britni: Yeah, great tips. For breakfast this week I prepared on Sunday I blended up eggs with cottage cheese and made little egg bites just to bump up the protein from the cottage cheese.

Melanie: Yummy.

Britni: Otherwise, you know, eggs by themselves just don't have a ton of protein.

Melanie: And if you're eating two eggs. You know, the average goal is approximately 0.7 to one gram per pound of ideal body weight in protein. So if you're 130 pound woman, that's somewhere between a hundred and 130 grams of protein.

An egg has six grams, six to seven, seven if it's a big one. But it's really hard to get there if you start your day in deficit. So I love that you did that to bump it up. I say, you know, maybe two eggs and three or four egg whites. And a couple, two to three chicken patties; sausage patties.

Britni: Absolutely.

Melanie: And now you've got that protein going.

Britni: Yes.

Melanie: You know, bones need strength and flexibility. Protein provides that flexible framework while minerals, such as magnesium and calcium work to strengthen the bone.

More on healthy fat importance for bone health

Britni: And we touched on healthy fat earlier because bones need fat in addition to the protein.

Melanie: Mm-hmm.

Britni: So what are some good food sources we should be looking for?

Melanie: Well, that's the key word, food sources.

Britni: Yeah.

Melanie: So it needs to be, you know, olive oil, cold pressed olive oil. Make sure you don't get a blend. We have an olive oil, how to find good olive oils on our website at weightandwellness.com and other ones would be nuts and seeds that don't have seed oils in them.

And wild caught salmon is an excellent source of omega-3 fats. Grass fed butter is fabulous. Avocado oil, fish oils. You know that you might supplement a fish oil omega-3, but you know, you're in a good place. You can even do things like ghee or duck fat, or you know, lard. As long as there's no bad things in your lard. I mean, those are all great sources of both cooking and cold application oils and fats.

Britni: And you mentioned the omega threes. I want to give a special shout out to the omega-3 fatty acids because they reduce inflammation in the body and inflammation in the body in your cells, that can speed up the breakdown of bone.

Melanie: Good point.

Britni: So if you want to be proactive, you know, including that omega-3. And frankly, you know, I think most of us need to be mindful of that because omega-threes are essential fatty acids. So our body doesn't make them. We have to get them through food or supplements. And if you're getting it through food, that's fatty fish multiple times a week.

Melanie: Yeah, you, you know, salmon needs to be about four or five times a week.

Britni: Mm-hmm.

Melanie: Or sardines are one of those, you know, I love that you, you're bringing up the omega-threes for inflammation because if the body's inflamed, it shuts down bone remodeling. So if you feel like you're inflamed, you're in constant pain, or you just know your body's inflamed, very difficult to start building bone. Because the mechanisms of action that build bone are shut down.

Vitamin D: a very important vitamin for bone health

You know, another really good one is vitamin D. It really deserves special attention. It, I think it's more important than calcium, because without it, yes, the calcium absorption significantly drops, but you not only don't absorb what you need to absorb, but you start losing bone rapidly if you are vitamin D deficient.

No matter how much calcium you throw at people, if there's not adequate levels of vitamin D, we like to see the level between 50 and 80 or 90. Those are optimal levels of vitamin D, for you to absorb the nutrients that you need and for your bones to remodel. And many adults are deficient. They don't even realize it, especially when you live in northern climates, spend a lot of time indoors.

Britni: Mm-hmm.

Melanie: Or maybe if you're an outdoor person but you slather on sunscreen. You cannot make that vitamin D.

Britni: And you know, we typically recommend taking a vitamin D with vitamin K2, so it's a combined supplement because that Vitamin K2 is going to also help move calcium into the bones and out of soft tissues. And we often get the question, well, if I get too much vitamin K, is that going to affect my blood clotting? And taking vitamin K as a supplement is not going to increase clotting beyond the normal amount.

Melanie: That's a really good point.

Britni: Now if you are on Warfarin, Coumadin, of course you need to discuss this with your doctor, but a lot of blood thinning medications out there, you do not need to even be mindful of your vitamin K intake.

Melanie: That's a really good point. Things have turned the corner.

Britni: And I've also found, you know, people that have just chronically low vitamin D; I'm sure you've had clients like this; taking a supplement where it's both D and K.

Melanie: Mm-hmm.

Britni: Helps bump their levels up.

Melanie: Yes.

Britni: More efficiently.

Melanie: And no clotting risk there whatsoever because it's the MK7. It’s a different form of vitamin K than where it really doesn't really have that much impact on clotting.

Magnesium: important mineral for bone health

You know, another really important mineral is magnesium. And that helps activate vitamin D and supports bone structure. So magnesium and calcium are running neck and neck with importance and get the right type of magnesium. You want one that's chelated. Glycinate is the most absorbable form. We have a good Magnesium Glycinate on our website. That is good. You just want to make sure you're not getting magnesium oxide, which will give you diarrhea. You won't absorb it.

Trace minerals are important for bone health

Britni: Yeah. We also need trace minerals, zinc, copper, manganese. We are going to get those things by eating real food, by eating vegetables, nuts, seeds, quality protein.

Melanie: Yeah, that's a really good point is that we can get a lot of these if we are eating enough of the good stuff that carries these, these really important nutrients. And this is why that varied whole foods diet is so important for bone health. You might be wondering, what foods can I eat to get all of these wonderful minerals like magnesium and calcium and zinc and copper, and boron and manganese?

Britni: Vegetables. Eat more vegetables.

Melanie: More vegetables, and a variety of vegetables. Don't just stick with the spinach and broccoli.

Britni: Yep.

Melanie: Go walk through a Whole Foods, walk through a farmer's market and pick things you haven't eaten before. How often have you, you know, cooked and used fennel bulb or bok choy or, you know, let's get a variety because you get a variety of nutrients for your bones.

Britni: And if you think you don't like cauliflower, try preparing it a different way. By changing the way that you're eating your vegetable, you might find that you like some different ones.

Melanie: There's so many great ways to cook things now. You know, air fryers and insta pots. And you know, broilers and barbecuing and grilling. I mean, there's so many ways. And now you have social media or you know, chat GPT, where you can just say, I have this, how can I make it delicious?

Movement is critical for bone health

Britni: Yeah. Well, we know that food is extremely important when it comes to bone health, so let's also dive into the topic of movement, because the reality is it's just as critical for building bone and preventing bone loss as we age. Movement tells the body to build bone and tells the bones what to do with the nutrients.

Melanie: That, I'm so glad you brought that up. You know, weight bearing exercise, like walking, strength training, resistance work where the muscle is pulling on the bone. You know, Wolff's law says when the muscle pulls on the bone, the bone responds by laying down mineral to support the weight. So we've got to have that happen and we want to continually be sending that signal to the bones to get stronger.

But really your overall health, your longevity, is very important with your muscle integrity. So historically, you know, during hunting and gathering societies, this was a normal occurrence, physical movement. They hauled water, you know, they hauled a deer that they killed.

But physical movement was integrated into daily movement and it didn't have to be a planned event like it does today. We do have to plan for this because we live, you know, in a very gracious lifestyle.

Britni: Yeah.

Melanie: But it's not serving our bones well.

Britni: No, no. I mean, our sedentary lifestyles are just not serving our health well at all. And you know, back in Hunter Gatherer times, lifestyles were so different, the movement was necessary for survival. And nowadays, you know, most of us have a sedentary job. And even if you're planning to exercise, that's still a very short amount of time. So anything that we can do to increase movement, I think is extremely beneficial.

Melanie: Maybe a walking treadmill. You know, if you're at your desk all day, a walking treadmill is huge. Or maybe every, you know, every hour you stand up and you do some air squats where you're just act like you're sitting in a chair and you stand back up, sit in a chair and stand back up. It might be something like heel drops where you go up on your toes and you come down on your heels. That movement of up on your toes, down on your heels, jars the body. It's called total body vibration. That triggers the bone to lay down minerals.

Britni: So those are really great tips and it's not like you need a whole home gym to do these things. Just simple movements that you can work into your daily routine.

Melanie: And then, you know, if you're going to start working out with weights, you want to get a trainer who understands osteoporosis, who understands, you know, good body mechanics. You might start with physical therapy, somebody who's going to teach you what's the right body mechanics, because injury and falling are the enemy of osteoporosis because then you can't move or then you're at risk for fracture. So we want to work on balance. So yoga, Tai Chi works on balance, doesn't really build bone, but it works on balance.

Britni: And that's going to help prevent falls. I think, Melanie, you are a really great example of someone who makes movement a priority, and I know a big incentive for you is your bone health. So what can you tell listeners some of your routine and or what you would recommend?

Melanie: So my routine consists of three to four days of some sort of challenging muscle movement and I now, I've had back surgeries and I've had other surgeries, so I have to be careful not to injure. And so one of the things that I have found that works amazing for me are vibration plate workouts. So I work with a professional out of Burnsville, who has a vibration plate place, and I do three to four days a week I work out.

And I make sure that… my spine was the worst, so I make sure I'm doing muscle strengthening areas for the muscles that attach to the spine, because building bone is very site specific. So if I challenge the bicep, then the bone that's in the bicep is going to respond by laying down minerals. If I use my, if I'm using things like my quads and my legs, it's going to help my hips and my femur.

So I do a total body workout three days a week on a vibration plate. That's not necessarily what everybody can do. But prior to that I had a trainer who would help me not to injure, and I worked out with a trainer and there are a lot of ways that you can, you can skin this cat, but that is the way I have found I don't injure, I don't hurt, and I can continue doing what I'm doing with vibration plate workouts. Some of my clients, I will have them use vibration plates, but you have to be careful because you don't want a vibration plate that tick tocks.

Britni: Mm.

Melanie: You, you know, like a teeter-totter. You want a vibration plate that goes up and down. 30 hertz is what's been studied; 30 hertz. And so you might even just start by standing 10 minutes, twice a day on a good vibration plate. Power plate is the one that's been studied. And it's expensive, but I think my clients are worth it.

Britni: Yeah.

Melanie: So you can get a small one. We found one off Facebook marketplace. So we had one at home, but I, that's that vibration they did a study on women who stood on a vibrating assembly line because they were assembly line workers and they all had amazing bones. So same with astronauts who were in zero gravity, so there's no weight bearing there. They put them on vibration plates and the bones responded.

So working out, lifting weights, walking, you might use a weighted vest when you walk, if you're comfortable. You start with one pound and work your way up. There's a lot of ways that you can trigger that. You know, we live in Minnesota, so I'm not walking in the ice.

Britni: No. It’s not worth the risk.

Melanie: Not worth the risk for me. So, but I started with a trainer with weight training. It's recommended three to four times a week.

Britni: That's great. Thank you for sharing. And it paid off. It's amazing. You reversed your osteoporosis.

Melanie: Yeah. Yeah. I, it, it was the biggest thrill. Biggest thrill.

Britni: Wow.

Tips on how to get started

Melanie: You know, and the earlier you start focusing on your eating plan of protein and healthy fats and vegetables, doing regular strength training, better your bones, you know, and as we're talking, I know listeners, they have one area that comes to mind. Generally, the first thing that pops in your mind is the area where you can start.

Britni: Mm-hmm.

Melanie: So if you're thinking, I do not eat enough meat and protein, that might be your area of starting. You know, we're turning a cruise ship. We're not turning a sports car, so start with an area and then build on that area.

Britni: Yeah. We do not want you to feel overwhelmed with all this information. Like you said, you just start somewhere and you build on that in all of those little baby steps, they add up over time.

Melanie: They do.

Britni: And then it makes it a lot more doable.

Melanie: Yeah. And if you're somebody who has things like we talked about, chronic heartburn, you know, maybe we find the root cause of that.

Britni: Yeah.

Melanie: So that we can get you off the medication that's demineralizing your bones.

Britni: So think about what's realistic for you. You mentioned the protein, so maybe instead of your cereal for breakfast or not having anything, what high protein breakfast could you do? And I think we talked about some ideas earlier or maybe it's committing to a walk every day, even if it's just 10 minutes, it's a place to start and then that is a routine and you can increase from there.

Melanie: You know, what I love about this is it's never really too late. You could be 75 years old and you can build bone. We see it.

Britni: Yeah. We have seen it.

Melanie: It's just having someone guide in the areas that you need to improve. That's what we're here for.

Britni: Yeah.

Melanie: And it's one of our passions because we get to celebrate with you. You know, when you improve, improve your bone density; it's the best.

Britni: So, I mean, you mentioned we have seen clients improve bone density and it it comes down to lifestyle. So they're modifying their, their diet to include nourishing food that is going to support building bone, incorporating that movement, adding high quality supplements as needed. All of those things have a synergistic effect and, and help to build bone in your body.

Melanie: It's the bone kit and caboodle.

Britni: Mm-hmm.

Melanie: It's never too late. You can start small, you can build your stack and you can start seeing improvement. Never think it's too late for me. I'm this age, and even if you are on a bone drug, you should be doing these things in tandem.

Britni: That's a very good point. Yeah.

Melanie: It doesn't negate the need for good quality nutrition. Most bone drug protocols are five years. What are you going to do after that? So we want to make sure that everybody is supported and nobody has to live in fear.

Britni: And we are always here to support you, and our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It's a simple, yet powerful message. Eating real food is truly life changing. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Melanie: Thank you.