This is the ticket to healthy bones: green leafy veggies.
Want strong bones? Don’t drink milk, take your cow for a walk instead. ~ Walter Willett MD, Harvard School of Public Health
Dairy is nature’s perfect food — but only if you’re a calf.~ Mark Hyman MD
Building strong bones is not just about calcium! We’ve been brainwashed by dairy industry marketing that it’s all about the calcium and to drink lots of milk and your bones will be fine. Too much calcium can encourage kidney stones and gall stones. Milk might not be the optimal calcium source. Keep in mind that the countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis, USA, UK and Sweden, consume the most milk. China and Japan have much lower rates of osteoporosis, they eat very little dairy products.
Instead of calcium, its better to focus on magnesium, in your diet. This mineral is found in abundance in green leafy vegetables, whole grains and beans.
Magnesium is refined out of highly processed ingredients like sugar, white flour & white rice. Both sugar and alcohol cause magnesium to be excreted in the urine. Sugar, baked flour, soda and alcohol are all known to weaken bones
But it’s not just about magnesium either. Healthy bones also need phosphorus, boron, copper, manganese, zinc, plus the vitamins C, D, K, B6, and folic acid.
In no way am I suggesting that you run out to the health food store and buy bottles of the above supplements! We shouldn’t have to be a biochemist to eat! Taking all of these nutrients in supplement form won’t be effective.There isn’t one study that demonstrates that supplementation can improve bone health. Our bodies know how to absorb nutrients from food and have been doing so since the beginning of time. It’s unlikely that we can effectively absorb these nutrients in the right proportions from supplements. Trust Mother Nature over chemical companies with big marketing budgets.
Also note that fluoridated water is correlated with a higher risk of hip fracture. If you’ve got fluoride in your town water, contact the Fluoride Action Network, they’ll help you to create a campaign to get the fluoride out!
So what to do for healthy, resilient bones?
- Eat veggies, green veggies especially.
- Eat real foods, not fake edible foodlike substances.
- Walk every day, in the sun whenever possible.
- Stay away from soda, sugar, baked flour and alcohol when possible.
Here’s a great bone healthy recipe:
Hummus is yummus! Great ingredients for strong bones!
Melanie’s Yummy Hummus
1 ½ cup chick peas cooked, rinsed, drained
3 cloves roasted garlic
1 chipotle pepper, canned in adobo
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ tablespoon coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
Place first 7 ingredients in food processor and process.
Add the oil slowly to desired consistency.
Garnish with parsley.
