Can an alkaline diet help prevent osteoporosis?
It can be quite scary to get the news. "I am sorry to tell you
ma'am. You have osteoporosis". No one wants to be sitting in
that chair hearing that news. All over North American, thousands
of women and even men are hearing it though. The thought of not
being able to enjoy life any more because of the risk of having
a un-healable bone break is scary to say the least.
New evidence has shown that this news is preventable, and not by
what you are seeing in all those TV commercials centered on
calcium supplements. In her new book, "Better Bones, Better
Body: Beyond Estrogen and Calcium", Dr. Susan Brown, leading
researcher on osteoporosis is presenting some starting facts
about this most unnatural condition of old age.
First of all, this condition seems to affect the women and men
of North America more than other countries. In fact, in Asia, it
is quite rare for women to get osteoporosis. Some other
startling facts include:
1) It is NOT normal for ones bones to get more brittle as we
age. The bone metabolism is setup to keep our bones strong for
our entire lives.
2) It is NOT just a female condition. Men also are showing signs
of this condition
3) It is NOT just a condition of the elderly. More and more,
younger patients are being diagnosed with this condition
4) It is NOT caused by low calcium intake
5) It is NOT only caused by the effect of lowered estrogen
production
What Dr. Brown goes on to show in her book is the total effect
of ones lifestyle on your bone strength. Your diet, your stress
levels and your physical activity all go hand in hand to
determine your bone strength. The typical SAD diet (Standard
American Diet) is partly to blame for this condition. In
addition, a lack of physical activity as we older only makes
things worse.
So, want are people to do to avoid becoming another osteoporosis
statistic? First, learn about the acid alkaline balance in your
body. The foods we eat, external stress in our lives, physical
stress, all add to the acidity of our body. Most importantly,
the acidic level of our blood is of primary concern. If the
blood becomes too acidic, the chemical processes that occur
inside our cells stop. Taking this to the extreme, the body will
die. So, to prevent this, the body has a mechanism of
controlling the acid level. It does this with acid buffering
minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium,
chromium, selenium, and iron.
These best source of these minerals in our body is our bones. As
the body works to overcome an over-acidic condition, it will do
so at the sake of our bones, leading to poor bone density. To
prevent this from happening, and to even reverse it, you should
consider adopting an alkaline diet. Most green plants and
sprouts are very alkaline. Foods that are high in sugars,
proteins, refined foods, alcohols, and starches are acid
forming. Dr. Brown calls these antinutrients. In the book, we
are told to avoid excessive protein, reduce our caffeine
consumption, eliminate sugars and excessive fats, reduce our
salt intake and avoid alcohol and tobacco products. Next,
replace all of these antinutrients with alkaline foods. This may
be challenging for some people and the promise is that once your
body is in balance, you could never consider going back to your
old eating habits. The pleasure of being in acid-alklaine
balance will overcome any cravings you may 'think' you will have.
Lastly, Dr Brown recommends we all take part in a regular
exercise program. She gives guidelines to develop your own
personal workout program. Of course, this is nothing new to us.
We have long known the benefits of regular exercise. When
combined with an alkaline diet however, a daily physical fitness
program, including strength training can go a long way to
helping prevent osteoporosis.
This treatise has been an introduction into the things you can
do to stop this condition before it starts. It is not a
replacement for sound medical advice. To obtain recommendations
appropriate for your current situation, always seek the council
of a qualified health care provider.