How to build unbreakable bones. This one, I had a question posed by one of our clients. Obviously we have some older clients that are concerned about this. So I wanted to just debunk a lot of the stuff about bones.
Just talk about that real stuff, the scientific stuff that has been shown to increase bone density. The number one way to increase your bone density is weight bearing exercises.
So anything that creates stress on your joints, creates stress on your bones, creates compression forces, will always increase your bone density above all else. The body will not actually increase bone density without having some type of stress on it. Just like your muscles don’t grow, unless you work them out. Same thing with bones without putting structural load on it. We’re not going to increase our bone density.
They actually found that studies in children, including those with type one diabetes have found that doing weight-bearing exercises increases the amount of bone created in the years of peak bone growth.
Gone are the days of kids not doing weight bearing exercises. They should, because that actually helps strengthen their bones. It’s also really beneficial for older adults because older adults lose bone density a lot quicker. They’ve actually done studies on older men and women who performed it.
It actually showed increases in bone mineral density, bone strength and bone size, as well as reduction markers in bone turnover and inflammation. So you actually had less bones going away because they did weight bearing exercises. But they actually found very little improvement in bone density among, older men who perform the highest level of weight bearing exercises over nine months.
I talk about strength training a lot, and obviously you guys all do it, but it’s not only beneficial for increasing muscle mass. It can protect against, bone loss when you’re older.
One thing I talk about is critiquing your body is like a bank account, right? The sooner you start investing and making deposits earlier on, the sooner when you get older you can draw from those deposits. The same thing with muscle and the same thing with bone. So you don’t suffer from things like osteoporosis, osteopenia, or any of those issues as well. Weight bearing exercises can help increase bone formation.
Surprise, surprise the number two thing to do to make sure you increase bone density is increase your protein intake.
Bones, 50% of it is protein… 50%.
So you want to make sure that you’re getting an adequate amount of protein intake, because researchers have reported that low protein intake actually decreases the calcium absorption. So you actually absorb less calcium if you’re not getting enough protein intake.
It’ll actually speed up the process of the breakdown. There are some concerns that a lot of protein, high protein diets, leaches calcium that takes the calcium away from the bones. But I mean, it’s only been one study, but nevertheless a lot of the research has shown that high protein diets are more helpful than harmful. It says research has actually shown that older women in particular, they appear to have higher bone density when they consume higher amounts of protein.
One of the things that we talk about in terms of protein intake, you should be eating about 0.8 to 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. So say for example, you are 150 pounds, 0.8 should be 120 grams and at a minimum. That’s how much protein that you should be taking. So
Now a low protein diet actually can lead to more bone loss. Like I said, high protein can help protect against bone, bone health and during aging and weight loss. So make sure that you get an adequate amount of protein.
Like I’ve always talked about it also not only aids in bones, but also in fat loss as well. So make sure you’re getting high protein intake.
The number three thing. The nutrients needed are the most essential in terms of bone. Nutrient rich diets that are high in specifically calcium, obviously you’ve heard calcium vitamin C, D and K. Now on the topic of calcium. I want to debunk something about calcium. Everyone thinks they need calcium supplements in order to increase bone density.
But guess what, if you’re not doing weight bearing exercises and not putting stress on the bones, your body’s not going to really utilize the calcium actually sitting around in your blood, right? Just like if you ate excessive amounts of protein, but you didn’t work out, your body’s not going to utilize the protein to build muscle.
In order for calcium to do its job, you need to put stress on it so that the body’s like, ah, I think I need calcium. And then that way it will put the calcium and deposit it into the bone. It is the main mineral that’s found in bones. Making sure that you get enough now, the other thing is you want to make sure that you’re spreading your calcium intake throughout the day. A lot of times they thought doctors prescribed you to pop some calcium pills. Taking it all at once isn’t usually the best thing, cause it’ll get into your body, but again, your body’s not stressful, flush it out.
So spreading it out about thousand milligrams per day for most people usually is enough. But again, spread it out throughout the day.
A diet high in vegetables and fruits are important because you’re going to get the vitamin C in there as well. That’s actually been shown to help create healthy bones. But also vitamin D plays a really important role to help absorb calcium.
And guess what if we are north of Atlanta and if it’s not the summertime like it is right now, we are not getting enough sunlight to get enough vitamin D.
So it’s one of the supplements that I highly recommend everybody be supplementing.
Getting 1000, especially a minimum of a thousand to 2000. Then in the winter time I go as high as about 5,000. It’s been shown to really help with bone absorption amongst other things. Vitamin D we’re usually deficient in just cause we’re not getting enough sunlight.
Now vitamin K is also really important as well because vitamin K is actually, it’s actually involved in bone formation. You need vitamin K to form the bones. It helps bind calcium basically in the minerals together to it. So you need to make sure you’re getting enough vitamin K. It’s found in mostly liver, eggs, meat, and fermented foods. They actually have a high level of vitamin K in it as well. Things like sauerkraut and other things that are kimchi, for example, anything that’s fermented and cheese as well.
Now here’s one thing you have to really avoid. If you’re concerned about bone loss is you don’t want to drop your calories too low. Studies have shown that diets that are less than a thousand calories per day can lead to much lower bone density in lower weight or even overweight people.
If you’re overweight and you’re getting low calorie diets, it can affect your bone formation. So they found in one study obese women who consumed 925 calories per day for four months experienced significant loss of bone density, from their hips and upper thigh regions.
Regardless, this is crazy cause it’s regardless of whether or not they performed resistance exercises. And if you know anything about losing bone around your hips, usually older adults that fall and they hit their hip, that usually causes hip breaks and things like that.
That’s usually where it goes. So something to really consider is keep those calories up to make sure you are at least above 1200 calories per day. That should be plenty, and make sure you are getting it from a high protein diet with a good variety of vegetables. That includes vitamins and minerals, to make sure you don’t lose too much. So there you have it guys, how to build unbreakable bones!
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