Osteoporosis (OP) is a very important health issue for us today, especially for women and older people.  OP is a skeletal disease characterized by low bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue, leading to increased susceptibility to fractures (World Health organization, 1994).   There are two types of OP. 

There are some factors that can’t be controlled such as family history, ethnicity, gender, age and menopausal status.   Once women stop producing as much estrogen their bone mass decreases rapidly.   A daughter of a woman who has OP is at a higher risk than someone whose doesn’t.  Caucasian and Asian are at higher risk than African-Americans and Hispanics.  This could be due to the fact that Asians tend to have smaller bones and live longer as well as they tend to start their first menstruation at a later age and reach menopause at an earlier age.   African-Americans and Hispanics tend to consume more calcium than Caucasians. 

Risk factors that you can control are  physical activity, diet, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, body weight and medication use. 

• Whenever you exercise your muscles contract.  Muscles are attached to tendons of which are attached to bone.  The stronger the pull on your muscles the stronger the pull on the bone.  This signals the bone to keep rebuilding itself and to stay strong.  
• If your diet does not consist of enough calcium,  Vit D, K ,  magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium your bones will not be able to regenerate themselves.   
• Smoking decreases the absorption of calcium. 
• Alcohol directly impedes the new formation of bone while increasing bone absorption as well as increases urinary calcium loss and decreases calcium absorption.  
• Heavier people have to contract their muscles more than lighter people in order to do regular daily activities.    
• Certain medications can decrease the absorption of calcium and increase the urinary calcium loss. 

Your bone is two-thirds calcium.  Calcium needs vitamin D in order to be absorbed by the body. You can take in as much calcium as you would like, but it will not do you any good unless you have Vit D along with it.  The sun is a great source of Vit D.  There are not a lot of foods with high levels of Vit D.  Often milk is fortified with Vit D.  Other food sources are Cod, Mackerel, Salmon, Tuna and Sardines.   A high intake of fruits and vegetables decreases the urinary calcium excretion.   Good sources of calcium are in milk products, nuts, seeds, beans, peas, fish with bones and green vegetables. 

Weight bearing exercises such as running, jumping and strength training along with proper diet are the two key factors in reducing your risk of OP.  Always start off slow especially if you already have OP and are trying to keep it from increasing.  Gradually increase your intensity and duration over time.  Depending on your current physical condition this may be starting with a fast walk and slowly introducing upper body weighted exercises eventually being able to do full body and some jumping exercises. 

Lat Pull Downs

Your lats are a large muscle in your back.   It tapers at your waist and comes up like a V under your arm pit attaching where your tricep is.  This specific exercise works along the outside of your back under your arm pit and into the back of the arm.   The upper part of your lat. 

1. Grab the band at shoulder height and raise arms in the air.
2. With straight arms drop your shoulders.
3. Pull the band wide and drop your elbows keeping your wrists above your elbows until the band gets to your chin.
4. Keeping the band wide raise it back until your arms are straight.
5. Slowly lift your shoulders.

It is better to eat your carbs than to drink them.  At the end of the day if you have consumed less calories than you have required, and you have eaten healthy balanced meals every 3-4 hours your body will take the extra calories from fat.  Juice can quickly increase your calorie intake without filling you up. Think of how many pieces of fruit go into just one glass. It would be better to drink a glass of water and eat the piece of fruit. 

*lbs per year- If you were to drink 1 a day you could gain this much!

Be careful as the nutritional info is usual a smaller serving size than the whole bottle!  If so you must double or triple the nutritional info to know what you have consumed.

Juice will always be high in sugar.   Fructose is a naturally occurring sugar, but often other forms of sugar are added that are not good for you.  Always read the ingredient listing to find out what it is truly made up of.  At the end of the day it is best to limit the amount of calories you consume from juice if you are trying to lose or maintain your weight. 

Sugar Make Up- (listed greater to least)

Fruitopia - Kiwiberry Rukus  High Fructose Corn Syrup,  pear juice,  less than 1% other juices
Tropicana 100% Juice -  Pure juice, no added sugar
Tropicana Twister -  High Fructose Corn Syrup,  Real Juice
Tropicana Pink Lemonade -  High fructose corn syrup,  lemon juice
Dole Orange Juice -  Orange juice from concentrate
Allen’s Peach Juic e-  Juice from concentrate,  Liquid invert sugars
Bolthouse Clementine Juice - pure juice

How much is on your plate?

Do you always eat all that is put in front of you?   Companies are starting to come out with smaller portion sized products.   Are you ready to change things up yourself at home?  Keep in mind that the key to losing weight is to consume fewer calories than your body’s daily requirement.    Here are a few tips to manage your caloric intake:

• Change your plate size -  it will appear full so you feel you are eating the same amount
• Don’t eat in front of the TV or other distractions as you tend to keep eating without regard to the quantity
• Serve a large portion of vegetables
• Eat soup before your meal
• Place only a big bowl of vegetables or salad on the table to grab if you are still hungry
• Wait 20 minutes before taking more.  It takes 20 minutes for food to digest so often we are beyond full when the feeling hits us.
• Before you serve dinner fill containers for the next day’s meal in portion size containers so that you don’t eat it.
• Never eat out of a bag or take out containers.  Put it on a portion size plate first.
• In restaurants take half of your serving home to enjoy the next day.  Ask for a container with your meal and package it up before you start eating, or ask your server to do it for you before it is served to the table.
• Share your meal with a friend in a restaurant.

Cannellini Bean Salad

2 cups cannellini beans, cooked (use navy beans or chick peas if you would like)
1 tomato, diced
1 egg, hard boiled & coarsely chopped
2 tbsp red onion, chopped
2 tbsp Italian parsley, chopped
2tbsp sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
4-5 Kalmata olives, coarsely chopped
2 spring onions, chopped fine
Sea salt, pepper

1. In a medium bowl, combine beans, tomato, egg, onion, parsley and sundried tomatoes
2. In a small bowl whisk the olive oil, vinegar and garlic until emulsified.  Pour over the bean mixture to coat.  Stir in the olives, salt and pepper
3. Cover and let stand for an hour to blend the flavours or refrigerate 4-5 hours and bring to room temperature.  Sprinkle with the spring onions and serve.

Serves 6   

Per serving- 160 cal, 5.5g protein, 6.6 g fat, 1 g sat. fat,  20.6 g carb, 290g sodium (eliminate olives to decrease), 4 g fibre