Good Nutrition for Bone Health in Seniors

Bone health is important especially for seniors and as we age. Healthy bones are essential for staying mobile, independent, and reducing the risk of fractures. Unfortunately, many older adults are affected by poor bone health or osteoporosis, a condition that makes bones weak and more likely to break.

What Causes Poor Bone Health?

There isn’t just one cause of weakened bones. A number of factors can contribute, including:

• Lifestyle habits, such as smoking, lack of exercise, or a diet low in calcium and vitamin D
• Medical conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, gastrointestinal disorders, or thyroid issues
• Medications, such as corticosteroids or certain cancer treatmentsThese risk factors can vary from person to person, which is why it’s essential to discuss any concerns with your naturopath and nutritionist as well as your doctor. Identifying risks early can help guide prevention and put treatment strategies in place.

Eating for Stronger Bones

One of the most effective ways to support bone health is through proper nutrition, especially increasing your calcium intake. Calcium is a key mineral that keeps bones dense and strong. Fortunately, it’s easy to add more calcium-rich foods to your daily meals.

Calcium-Rich Food Sources

Here are some examples of foods high in calcium:

• Dairy: Milk, cheese, and yogurt
• Seafood: Sardines, salmon (with bones), trout, snapper, prawns

• Vegetables: Kale, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, broccoli, silver beet
• Nuts and Seeds: Almonds, Brazil nuts, sesame seeds, tahini
• Fruits: Oranges, figs, strawberries, kiwi, dates
• Other Foods: Calcium-set tofu, chickpeas, soybeans, eggs
• Meat: Pork, chicken

The recommended daily calcium intake for adults varies depending on your sex, age and health factors as well as your level of ability to absorb. This is why you need to discuss this with your naturopath or nutritionist.

Simple Ways to Boost Calcium

Here are some easy ways to work more calcium into your daily routine:

• Start your day with a smoothie made with yogurt or milk – if you don’t have high cholesterol or lactose intolerance.
• Add leafy greens to soups, stir-fries, and omelettes but watch this if you have a thyroid issue for the leafy greens.
• Enjoy a dairy-based dessert like custard or ricotta with fruit – again if not lactose intolerant or you can always use lactose free ingredients.
• Include seafood dinners, such as canned sardines or grilled salmon
• Snack smart with a mix of nuts, seeds, and dried fruits – watch the nuts if you have diverticulitis as nuts a not good for this.

Why Vitamin D Matters

Calcium alone isn’t enough as it is not absorbed as well without vitamin. Without enough vitamin D, even a calcium-rich diet won’t fully benefit your bones.

Vitamin D is naturally produced when your skin is exposed to sunlight, so getting some safe sun exposure each day can help. However, some people may still be at risk of deficiency—particularly those who spend most of their time indoors, have darker skin, or use sunscreen regularly. Take care not to use chemical sunscreens.

Moving Your Bones: Exercise for Bone Strength

Nutrition is only part of the picture. Exercise is another key player in maintaining healthy bones as we age. The right kinds of physical activity can help improve bone strength, balance, and muscle function reducing the risk of falls and fractures.

Recommended Types of Exercise

• Balance exercises: Improve coordination and reduce fall risk (e.g., Tai Chi, standing on one leg)
• Resistance training: Builds strength using weights or resistance bands; can be done at home or in a gym
• Weight-bearing exercise: Involves activities done on your feet where your body works against gravity (e.g., walking, dancing, stair climbing, tennis)

For those people already diagnosed with osteoporosis, a supervised exercise program is highly recommended. An exercise physiologist or physiotherapist can develop a safe, tailored plan that takes into account other conditions like arthritis or past injuries.

Have You Broken a Bone Recently?

If you’re over 50 and have fractured a bone even from a minor fall—it’s important to speak with your doctor. This could be a sign of underlying osteoporosis. Many people dismiss such fractures as "just bad luck," but they may be early warning signs.

According to the Australian and New Zealand Hip Fracture Registry, nearly half of all people who suffer a hip fracture have had a previous fracture. Common fracture sites include the wrist, spine, ribs, and hip.

Getting a bone density test and early diagnosis can lead to treatments that protect you from further fractures and maintain your quality of life.

Remember that good bone health starts with awareness and proactive habits. By eating a calcium-rich diet, ensuring you have enough vitamin D, and staying active with the right types of exercise, you can help your bones stay strong and healthy well into your senior years.

If you want to keep your bones healthier consult us and we can make up a health plan to suit your needs. We can also test for inflammation and assist you if you are having pain or arthritis. You can find us at www.stressfreehealthmanagement.com

Toxins affect your brain and all of your health

Toxins are fine particles that can enter your bloodstream and damage your brain in a variety of ways including cerebrovascular damage, brain nerve damage and brain tumours. Toxins can cause underlying factors such as cellular breakdown, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and autonomic dysfunction. Toxins can also cause inflammation, oxidative stress, infection, and allergies.

Exposure to natural or manmade toxic substances can alter the normal activity of your nervous system. It can disrupt or even kill neurons. These are the key cells that transmit and process signals in your brain and other parts of the nervous system.

Where do they come from?

Toxins can enter your body through exposure to substances in chemotherapy, radiation treatment, drug therapies and organ transplants. Also, heavy metals such as lead and mercury, certain foods and food additives, pesticides, industrial and/or cleaning solvents, cosmetics and artificial or man-made perfumes. There are many more ways toxins can enter your body. Too numerous to list here.

Symptoms of exposure

Symptoms can appear immediately or later when the toxin is out of sight. Some of the symptoms that you may experience include insomnia, short-term memory loss, problems speaking or functioning properly, lack of mental clarity, decline in intellect. Also, you may suffer increased headaches or migraines, have decreased concentration, and experience behavioural or psychological changes.

The health of your brain

Enzymes are molecules that speed up the rate of all chemical reactions inside your cells. Toxins poison these enzymes, making them less effective. Toxins in your body will displace minerals resulting in your bones being weaker. When toxins displace the calcium in your bones with a twofold effect. Your skeleton will be weaker and there is a risk of increased toxin release when you start losing bone cells. For women this happens during menopause.

The toxins being released by the loss of bone will then circulate throughout the body and ultimately, they will affect your brain. They will increase inflammation and brain cell loss in your elderly years.

What do toxins do?

Toxins can damage organs like the brain through something called B4. This is a breach of the blood-brain barrier and an example is like when chlorine binds onto the thyroid receptor sites. This forms what’s called a neo-epitope. This will make your immune system produce antibodies to the chlorine thyroid neo-epitope to fight it. This type of action can also damage DNA. When this happens, it increases the rate of aging and cellular degeneration.

Many commonly used pesticides, phthalates, improperly detoxified estrogens, and products that contain benzene can also damage your DNA. Toxins also modify the way your genes express themselves. Your genes switch on and off to adapt to changes in your bodies and the outer environment. Many toxins will activate or suppress your genes in undesirable ways.

The results of this are health problems in your brain such as depression and dementia. As well as effects that can span for generations. Toxins can also cause anxiety, interfere with hormones and cause other imbalances. Toxins such as BPA can also induce, inhibit, and mimic hormones.

So, what action can I take?

There are a number of studies done on these topics and if you are inclined you can go and read them. The job of a naturopath or natural therapist is to research such topics and to apply them to clients that present with unusual physical symptoms, psychological and emotional symptoms and stresses that many others may put in the ‘too hard’ basket. This clinic specialises in assisting you to get to the root of your toxaemia and getting healthier. Toxins can also impair your body’s ability to detoxify. We can also help you with that as well as to reduce the toxins you are exposed to and give your body a regular detox. Contact us today to find out how we can help.

Silica for your skin, hair, nails and even more

Silica is important for our bodies overall optimal functioning. It plays a big part in all areas of our health.

Research has found that silica plays a big part in proper growth and development. It is also needed for our body to create and maintain collagen. Many studies have concluded that deficiencies in silica develop abnormalities and affect growth. Silica supplementation helps in all stages of your life.

Collagen is a very tough, fibrous material. Its job is to hold us together physically. As we age, many problems are a result of your body not being able to maintain adequate collagen. These problems include dry skin, weakened teeth and gums, joint deterioration, brittle bones, several organs not working properly, hardening of the arteries and the inability to digest food properly. When you are young, silica levels in your body are high and making your bones and joints more flexible and your skin is supple and glowing. As we age, Silica levels decline, this leaves your body without adequate silica in your tissues. We tend to manifest many of the symptoms of aging like joint disease, weakened digestion, and wrinkled skin.

Health benefits

There is many health benefit that you get from silica. These include connective tissue strength and support for your joints, ligaments and muscles. Bone strength and support is another great benefit. This happens because calcium absorption is enhanced within the bone. Silica is the essential component involved with the collagen and calcium absorption. A deficiency in these means it is difficult to form bone. You need both the calcium and silica. It helps strengthen your teeth and gums and even assists in cardiovascular support by creating supple arteries and veins. It is also effective in removing plaque from your artery walls. Many stomach and digestive disorder involve a degeneration of the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and silica assists in rebuilding these tissues.  

Silica is also great for your whole immune system. Your skin as your first line of defence against bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens needs this to maintain healthy skin tissue. Even with wound or burns it aids in the healing process. Silica also stimulates fast re-growth of damaged skin.

If you find that you are getting thinning hair, brittle nails, and dry skin check your collagen levels as these are all problems that occur when the levels are low. Lastly silica helps with aluminium elimination. Aluminium has been found to be a factor when it comes to getting Alzheimer’s disease.

Supplements

The research shows that there are many benefits in taking a supplement. The reason you may need to supplement with silica is because as you age, your body retains less and less silica. Silica does not occur in sufficient amounts in food to do the job properly for you. It is however found in oats, millet, barley, wheat and potatoes. The problem is if you eat these foods, they are normally refined so much that all the silica has been removed and depending on your food sensitivities some of these can really upset your gut. Most people don’t not have adequate levels of essential nutrients, especially Silica when it comes to their diet.

Vitamin D – the energy and immunity booster

Many people find that they are lacking in some sort of vitamin from time to time but vitamin D is the most common vitamin deficiency and many don’t realise this. Vitamin D promotes healthy bones and bone strength as well as supports mental health. 

Vitamin D dissolves in fat and can be stored in the body for a long time. The body uses it like a hormone and produces it using cholesterol but if we are not getting enough sunlight this causes a deficiency. If you spend a lot of time working in an office, go to work before sun up and come home after sundown, spend the weekend crashed indoors or doing housework or live in a place that has a colder climate you may require a vitamin D supplement as your levels are too low.

There are a few different types of supplements available that you can use to bring your vitamin D levels back to normal. The two main types though are vitamin D3 which is found in animals such as fish and also in egg yolks. The second is vitamin D2, this is found in plants such as mushrooms. The body can convert both of these into calcitriol when exposed to the sun. If you don’t get enough sun though it can cause you a lot of issues.

These supplements are available in three different forms - capsules, chewable tablets or emulsified oil drops. Some studies have found though that the oil drops have an insufficient level of vitamin D.  Other research has found that the human body prefers the D3 vitamin over the vitamin D2. They found that the body will use up all the D3 before it will use the D2 showing that D3 supplements are more effective.

Why is it important

Do you get tired during the day? Do you wake up tired? Do you fall asleep in front of the TV after a day’s work? Even after a holiday are you still a bit washed out? It’s possible you have a vitamin D deficiency especially if you do not spend at least 15 minutes a day in the sun in the middle of the day? If you need an energy boost try taking a bottle of this and see how your energy levels improve each day. If they do then you are certainly D deficient even without the blood test. Vitamin D also raises your immunity so it’s a great vitamin to make sure you have enough of on a daily basis.

Things to think about

Before taking any vitamin D supplement you should take into consideration the following points:

·      Vitamin D and calcium supplements work well together when taken together and may have extra health benefits when it comes to blood pressure. Also, vitamin K2 can complement vitamin D when taken together, having health benefits when it comes to bone and heart issues.

·      If you suffer from health conditions such as multiple sclerosis a vitamin D supplement is not enough. You also need to spend time in the sun.
·      When taking some steroid medications, weight loss drugs and certain cholesterol-lowering drugs, you may find that these will stop the vitamin D supplements from being absorbed into the body properly.
·      Remember that vitamin D supplements should be taken daily with meals or food that contain fat to be effective.

When choosing your supplements it makes more sense to opt for the D3 supplement as this is the one that the body favours. The recommended dose is 1,000‑2,000iu (International Units) per day, but you should always check with your natural therapist who is specifically trained in this area to make sure what the right dosage is for you.