Osteopenia, No Way I Told My Doctor
On my annual routine visit to my family doctor she informed me that at my age (over 50) I really needed to get a 2nd bone mineral density (BMD) test. I took her advice and then learned that I had a condition called osteopenia. I didn’t think it was a big deal until my doctor told me that it could develop into osteoporosis.
There is no way I wanted that disease, so I began to research osteopenia. In the beginning of my research, I learned there is no safe way to rebuild our bones so it was essential to learn how to prevent this condition from developing into osteoporosis. I learned that I could decrease my chances of advancing my condition to osteoporosis through diet and lifestyle.
Some of the minerals and vitamins that help with bone health are calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin K, and I learned that most people do not get enough of these specific minerals and vitamins in their diet.
Foods To Be Incorporated Into Your Diet
Some of my favorite foods that promote stronger bone health are: spinach, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, cilantro, kiwis, parsley, romaine lettuce, salmon, tomatoes, sardines, peppers, cashews, and walnuts. There are plenty of others like Kale for instance… I'm not a fan but you can find some great recipes for kale here.
I’ve included my favorite smoothie in this blog which is filled with loads of the nutrients needed to promote bone health.
Be mindful as there are also certain foods that should be avoided that are detrimental to bone health.
Foods to Avoid
Soft Drinks: A high consumption of soft drinks has been found to affect the BMD in post menopausal women*. It’s best to switch to water! The sugar alone in these drinks should be enough to consider cutting down and eventually eliminating soft drinks from your diet. (Osteoporosis is also found in men.**)
Processed Foods: Most processed foods will contain sugar, fat, and salt all to create the beautiful sensation in your mouth to eat more. Don’t be fooled, manufacturers will use what they call the ‘bliss point’ to keep you munching away. See more information from Wikipedia here and search for the word drawbacks on the page.
Salt: Increased intake of salt in one’s diet has been found to directly increase bone resorption (the process of the breaking down of bone). Osteopenia develops when the bone is not being replaced at the same rate as it is being resorbed in our bodies.
Alcohol: When alcohol is consumed in excess, it tends to hinder the effectiveness of the calcium in the bones, and it can also inhibit the production of the vital Vitamin D needed for absorbing calcium.
Cigarette Smoking: The effects of cigarette smoking and osteoporosis have been studied and the results are that cigarette smoking will increase bone loss significantly.
Vitamin A supplements: Oral supplements of Vitamin A that exceed 10 mg a day have been found to cause bone thinning. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and fat soluble vitamins are stored in our fat and then distributed via our bloodstream as needed. We can usually get enough Vitamin A from our foods without any supplements of Vitamin A.
Why You Should Get a Bone Scan
There are no outward signs or symptoms that indicate Osteopenia. The only way to find out if you have osteopenia is with a harmless bone scan. You can find out more about bone scans here: https://www.bones.nih.gov/health-info/bone/bone-health/bone-mass-measure
Why I Share this Information
I am currently a student at the Academy of Culinary Nutrition where I am learning about, what else, nutrition! At the Academy we were introduced to a website for researching called PubMed, “PubMed® comprises more than 34 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books” and I highly recommend to use PubMed for your research if I’ve intrigued you enough to do so, and I hope I have.
To read further on osteopenia and osteoporosis go here: https://www.healthline.com/health/osteoarthritis/osteopenia-vs-osteoporosis#risk-factors
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* Post-menopausal women are more likely to get Osteoporosis because they have a natural drop in levels of estrogen which negatively effects the process of rebuilding bone.
** “Osteoporosis is four times more common in women than in men, but some evidence indicates that men tend to have more osteoporosis-related complications.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5380170/
Yummy Energy Smoothie
Recipe by: Terri P Williams
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 0
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of coconut milk
4 ice cubes
1 cup spinach
1 bunch of parsley, cut a few times and you can include the stems
2 stalks of celery, chopped in 1” pieces
1 medium red tomato, cut in quarters
1 avocado, remove the stone and skin
1 kiwi
3 prunes
1 medium sized zucchini chopped in 1” pieces
1 tbls of coconut oil
¼ cup of chia seeds
½ cup of chopped walnuts
Instructions:
Add all of your ingredients to your blender beginning with the coconut milk and ice cubes and then go down the list adding one by one. Blend in smoothie mode until well blended. Pour into your glasses and serve.