Episode 111: Nutrition for Bone Health

Jul 21, 2021

As I often do with solo podcasts, I’m coming to you to answer a question I’m frequently asked: what should I be eating to protect my bones?

 

Bone health is a topic that comes up a lot in my work and for good reason; bone health is super important at all stages of our life. Whether we are thinking about protecting our bones against fractures (especially as we age), or how to best support healthy bones throughout our life, there are some very actionable suggestions and tips which can help you healthfully nourish your bones. These tips fall under two main categories: lifestyle and diet.

 

Lifestyle factors:

 

• Incorporate weight bearing and flexibility exercises into your daily life: these types of exercises can be really beneficial to bone health 
• Take pilates classes: pilates trains your body to know how to use core muscles and encourages flexibility 
• Avoid smoking
• Fall-proof your home: make sure your home is safe to be moving around in so that you can avoid bone injuries
• Eat a healthy diet rich in bone-health friendly foods (see below for more on this)

 

Dietary factors and key nutrients:

 

• Calcium is stored in our bones and when levels are low, our body takes from the bones, so I recommend eating calcium rich foods like dairy products, leafy greens, chia seeds, white beans, almonds, and taking supplements when you cannot meet the suggested 1000-1,200 milligrams/day with food alone.
• Vitamin D helps enhance calcium absorption. Foods like fatty fish, eggs, fortified products (like dairy), and mushrooms are good options.
• When it comes to a supplement dosage, ask your doctor to check what your Vitamin D levels are and then for suggestions on how much you should supplement.
• Vitamin K helps protect against bone turnover. 90 micrograms/day is suggested for women, but dark green and purple veggies are a great way to add Vitamin K to your body.
• Magnesium promotes bone health and supports bone mineral density, which helps protect against fractures. Leafy greens, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, dairy products, chicken, fish, chocolate are my go-tos.

 

I hope you find these bone health basics helpful. As always, feel free to reach out to me with questions you have about bone health and any other topic. You can connect with me via my website (https://www.jessicacordingnutrition.com/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jesscording/?hl=en), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/JessicaCordingNutrition/), and Twitter (https://twitter.com/jesscording/). Also, make sure to check out my book, The Little Book of Game-Changers: 50 Healthy Habits For Managing Stress & Anxiety, where I share tips on living a healthy and balanced life.