Best Exercise for Osteoporosis

Did you know that bone mass decline begins as early as age 40? It’s a scary fact to know but it is one those things in life where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You can so easily prevent osteoporosis by doing exercises for bone health and changing your diet a bit.

Calcium and vitamin D are what help prevent osteoporosis and debilitating fractures. Fragile bones tend to break more easily. Calcium which is found in dairy products and other products may be fortified with calcium such as cereal, increase bone density. Vitamin D which our body makes by itself when we expose our skin to sunlight, helps us absorb the calcium we put in our system.

Most women do not get enough calcium or vitamin D so you might want to ask your doctor about supplements. The recommended daily dose is 1,000 to 1,400 mg of calcium and 800 to 1,000 IU of Vitamin D. Now, onto exercises for bone health.

When you do weight bearing exercises, your bones have to work and so they get stronger just like your muscles do when they work. You can do weight lifting exercises with light weights ( 1 lb, 3 lb., 5lb, or 8 lb. )or you can do exercises that use your body weight as the “weight.”

If you have a chair, a curb, the bottom step of staircase or a sturdy foot stool you can do the easy “weight bearing” exercises.

Sit to Stand – Sit upright in a chair (your best posture – back straight), keeping your feet shoulder width apart. Push your heels into the ground and stand up slowly, back straight, without using your arms. Stand for one second, then gradually lower your body back to the sitting position (don’t use hands). Repeat this exercise 10 times. The slower you stand up the harder your body has to work. So you can increase your level of intensity by how slow you stand and sit back down.

Step up – Standing, place your right foot one a curb, bottom step of a staircase or a sturdy foot stool. Then lift your left foot onto the stop too. Step back down, leading with your left foot. Repeat 10 times, then do 10 repetitions starting with your left foot.

These are 2 easy exercises for bone health and will probably help your posture too since you must keep your back straight.

Though lean proteins and whole grains are wonderful for other parts of your body they are usually highly acidic and excess acid breaks down bone. To keep your bones strong add fruits and vegetables to your diet because they are alkaline (opposite of acids) and will balance the acid of grains and proteins.

Most women don’t get enough Vitamin D and it turns out it is not always easy to get as much Vitamin D as you need. If you want to find out the best way to get vitamin D =>>>>

See our post on Health Benefits of Vitamin D

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Best Blueberry Muffins Recipe

Blueberry Power Muffins with Almond Streusel

Here is a great recipe for “power” muffins from Cooking Light magazine. The muffin are loaded with B vitamins from whole wheat flour, calcium from milk and yogurt, antioxidants from the blueberries, and heart-friendly monounsaturated fat from almonds and canola oil. You can freeze the muffins for up to a month, then thaw them at room temperature, or microwave each muffin at High 15 to 20 seconds. I tested the recipe using greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt and the muffins came out great, very tender and tasty. When I made the recipe it actually made almost 60 mini-muffins so I had to make additional streusel topping.

Muffins:

1 and ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups vanilla low-fat yogurt (I used Greek yogurt which is a bit thicker than regular yogurt)
½ cup 2% reduced-fat milk
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 and ½ cup fresh blueberries (I used frozen and did not defrost them)
Cooking spray

Streusel:

¼ cup all purpose flour
¼ slivered almonds, chopped (I didn’t bother to chop them)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter melted

!. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. To prepare muffins, lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oats, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk (you can use fork). Make a well in center of mixture. Combine yogurt, milk, oil, vanilla, and egg, stirring with whisk. Add yogurt mixture to flour mixture; stir until just moist. Fold in blueberries. Spoon 2 rounded tablespoons batter into each of 30 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.

(I didn’t bother to coat them with cooking spray and they didn’t stick too badly to the paper when they cooled off. Also, I found the recipe made more like 60 mini-muffins so I froze about half of them)

3. To prepare streusel, combine ¼ cup all-purpose flour, almonds, brown sugar and butter. Sprinkle evenly over batter. (I found I had to double this part because there were so many more muffins) Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire rack; remove from pans. Serve at room temperature. Yield: 15 servings (serving size 2 muffins.

Calories 244 (23% from fat)
Fat 6.1g (sat 1.3g,mono 2.9g,poly 1.4g )
Protein: 6.1 g
Carbohydrate: 42.3g
Fiber: 2.5g
Cholesterol: 18mg
Iron: 1.5mg
Sodium: 260mg
Calcium: 136mg

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Vitamin D Deficiencies

Health magazine had a great article about Vitamin D. According to Cedric Garland, a doctor of public health, “We could prevent 150,000 cases of cancer annually if we could just increase vitamin D to optimal levels.” A recent report indicated that more than a third of all women fail to get enough D for healthy bones – and more than 75% of us lack the higher amounts needed for the vitamin to do its disease-fighting best.

The most significant source of D is sunlight. Our bodies produce D with exposure to ultra-violet radiation, but because we use sunscreen so frequently now and also avoid the sun, our D levels are very low.

The proper level of Vitamin D may substantially cut the risk of breast, colon, prostrate, and ovarian cancers, according to government research. Low levels of D may cause you to overeat also. Apparently low levels of D cause a dip in leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite.

Vitamin D is thought to help lower blood pressure and regulate hormones that affect blood vessels and the muscles of the heart. Low vitamin D levels may be lined to seasonal affective disorder. Researchers believe that vitamin D helps keep the brain flush with serotonin (“happy hormone”).

Vitamin D may help decrease your chances of picking up the bug that’s going around the office and the schools. One study showed women who took 800 IU of Vitamin D were three times less likely to develop colds of the flu. Vitamin D seems to interact in a protective way with genes that raise the risk for diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). In a Harvard University study there was a 40% lower risk of MS in women who took a daily supplement of at least 400 IU of vitamin D.

Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium and phosphorus minerals that enhance bone strength. A recent study found that, regardless of their calcium intake, women who added 482 to 770 IU of vitamin D reduced their risk of fractures by up to 20%.

Want to know the safest way to get more Vitamin D in your in life? Read our post Safely Avoid Vitamin D Deficiencies – Sun Exposure

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Vitamin D Deficiency Treatment

Here is an interesting fact – For each minute you spend in peak summer sunlight, your body can produce about 1,000 IU of vitamin D. By comparison you would have to drink 10 eight ounce glasses of milk to get that much. Here is what dermatologists advise:

Time it right - If you have a fair complexion, you’ll need just 5 to 10 minutes of sunshine on your arms, legs, or back without sunscreen on your skin. Sunscreen shuts down the production of Vitamin D. You should get this sun between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., three days a week. Women who have medium skin tone may need 15 to 20 minutes’ exposure, and darker skinned women may need up to 30 minutes worth. And remember: Do use a sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher on your face and wear a wide brimmed hat.

Multi-task - Get your vitamin D while running your errands-walking into ad out of stores, driving with the window down on sunny days, working in your garden, walking your dog.

Be extra careful - If you have had skin cancer of have a family history of the disease ask your doctor for recommendations tailored to you. Sun exposure may be a health risk.

Want to find out how to get more Vitamin D in your diet? Read our post Safely Avoid Vitamin D Deficiencies – Diet
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Sources of Vitamin D

The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends 400 to 800 IU daily for adults younger than 50, and 800 to 1,000 IU for adults 50 and older. But many experts now agree that most of us need even more – up to 2,000 IU a day – to raise our levels high enough to fight diseases. Talk to your doctor about a “serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D’ test, considered the gold standard for measuring blood levels of vitamin D. Doctors also recommend:

Eat naturally D-rich food – Oily fish such as salmon (360 IU), sardines (250 IU), and tuna (200 IU) a few times a week.

Eat fortified foods - Look for D in milk, orange juice, and other fruit juices, soy milk, butter substitutes and some cereals and yogurts.

Take a supplement – Add a calcium-and-vitamin D supplement containing at least 400 IU of D daily. Most multi-vitamins contain this much, and many calcium-vitamin D supplements contain 1,000 IU per capsule.

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