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Alkalizing your Body to Prevent Osteoporosis! Building Healthy, Strong Bones to last a Lifetime

It has been found that in Australia alone, a staggering 4.74 million people over 50 years of age have osteoporosis, osteopenia otherwise known as poor bone health. Women being more prone to osteoporosis than men due to the rapid decline in oestrogen levels during menopause. Research has discovered that Chronic Acidosis to be the cause of osteoporosis along with many other health related conditions.

The Benefits of Regulating Acid/Alkaline Balance

Research is now revealing that acid base regulation or balance are of vital importance to reducing and or preventing the incidence and progression of osteoporosis and osteopenia. It is with the imbalance of the pH levels, excess acid or chronic states of acidosis adversely affect bone function, growth and density.

How Regulating Acid/Alkaline Balance Improves your Health!

Every cell in your body requires what is know as a stable living condition to ensure optimal metabolism and to function effectively. The correct acid balance (or pH level) is of key importance to the health of all your body systems. When your body is high on the acidic marker this places additional stress to your kidneys and lungs. The kidneys and lungs contribute to pH balance by eliminating excess acids from the body. Chronic metabolic acidosis, that is when the body is in an acidic state for a length of time, these buffering systems become exhausted and unable to function effectively.

Causes of Chronic Acidosis?

Unbalanced & Nutritionally Diet : The most common cause of chronic acidosis is in consuming foods that don’t provide your body with adequate nutrition. The Western Diet is one of the major causes, due to the high intake of animal protein, combined with insufficient intake of vegetables and fruits, these being your alkaline foods to bring balance to your body. A lack of these alkaline forming foods in your daily diet means that you will have a reduced supply of organic mineral compounds, such as potassium citrate, magnesium citrate, calcium citrate and sodium citrate.
Dieting and Fasting: Going for long periods of time either on a fad diet, yoyo dieting, protein shakes and fasting.
Lack of exercise: Aerobic exercise immediately removes the acid toxins in your body. This will also strengthen your cardiovascular strength and resistance to illnesses, combined with an alkaline forming diet, will restore your body to its naturally alkaline state.
Stress: managing times of stress effectively is important, these are the times that you will most likely steer away from your healthy eating and exercise. Not only staying focused with these two elements will help improve your acid/alkaline balance it will also help to support your nervous system, to help you to cope more effectively with the stressful situation.
Age: It is with age that you should eat less, but become more mindful about what you should be eating in order to support your body and your health. Diet and exercise are your two most important links to Ageless Aging. That is to age with Optimal Health, Happiness & Vitality.
Impaired Kidney function: The most common causes of impaired kidney function are excessive alcohol consumption, eating large quantities of animal protein especially red meat, processed foods, pastries, processed meats, medications and inadequate intake of water.

How Chronic Acidosis Effects your Bones

As I have mentioned, any excess acid must be excreted to maintain constant pH levels. When this acid surpasses the capacity of the kidneys to excrete it, then the bicarbonate levels in the blood, are used to neutralise the acid. When the bicarbonate becomes exhausted, alkaline minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, are dissolved out of the bone to regenerate this buffer. In the long term, causing demineralisation of the bones, with adverse effects on the bone cell activity. You can now see how chronic acidosis has a negative/harmful effect on healthy bone function and growth. Triggering the development of osteoporosis.

Making Changes

1. Keep your Diet Simple and Healthy – Implementing some changes within your diet will help to prevent bone loss and strength, improving your absorption of calcium – Getting Enough Calcium & Best Absorption It is always spoken as are you getting enough calcium for your bone health. Most of us get more than enough calcium, the main problem here is with calcium being absorbed and metabolised effectively. Calcium is one of the most abundant minerals in the human body and while we associate it with bone and tooth health, it is also important for muscle development, healthy blood pressure, and skin health.

The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of calcium is 1,000 mg for men and 1,200 mg for women per day but it turns out that it isn’t really as simple as that. Not all calcium that we consume is absorbed and the amount we need to consume daily varies depending on the source of the calcium.

Dairy Not Your Best Source of Calcium – Why? For instance, about 32-33% of the calcium from dairy products is absorbed. Our body actually needs 300-400 mg of calcium per day, but with dairy, this means we need to consume close to the RDA to get that level with the reduced absorption rate.

Real Food instead of supplements will always be the best way for your body to receive nutrients. However, food to be a good calcium source, two criteria must be met: a standard serving must contain at least 30 mg of absorbable calcium, less than 418 kJ (100 kcal) of the food must provide 30 mg of absorbable calcium. Calcium-containing foods are divided here into good calcium sources (both criteria are met), potential calcium sources (only one criterion is met), and poor calcium sources.

Best sources of Calcium – Yogurt is the best source of dairy, most types of tofu, some dark green leafy cabbage family vegetables, turnip greens and canned fish such as salmon and sardines that include bones.
Minimal calcium sources – include cottage cheese, all beans, some types of tofu, almonds, and sesame seeds.
calcium fortified orange juice
How Fruit, Vegetables and Grains support Bone Health and Calcium Absorption – provide minerals crucial to bone health, such as magnesium and phosphorus.

2. Preventing and Overcoming Acidosis – Changing the Foods you EAT! Increasing your intake of alkaline forming foods and decreasing your intake of acid forming foods. First thing in the morning: Juice one lemon, fill glass then with warm filtered water, this is great for detoxification and alkalizing your system

Eat 75% Fresh plant foods, include a salad of dark greens, capsicum, carrot, cucumber, walnuts and almonds with your lunch and evening meal. Eat four to five different vegetables per day such as sweet potato, parsnips, beetroot, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, kale, spinach, celery etc.
Reduce your intake of red meat to once to twice a week, including chicken and fish.

Eliminate processed meats and over processed cheeses
Include one to two vegetarian meals per week, or just a meal of baked vegies or stir fry if you struggle with recipes.
Before Bed: 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of warm water.
Snacks eat daily one to two pieces of fruit apple, pear, kiwi fruit, berries and bananas. 150 – 200 gms of Organic yogurt per day

3. Lifestyle Changes – Maintain a reasonable weight. When is comes to the menstrual cycle for women, they can often stop if you are very underweight. This can occur due to a poor diet or excessive exercise. This usually means that estrogen levels are too low to support bone growth. Don’t smoke and limit alcohol intake. Smoking and too much alcohol can decrease bone mass. Make sure your workouts include weight-bearing exercises. Regular weight-bearing exercise such as walking, dancing, or step aerobics can protect your bones.

4. Talk with your Health Professional about your risk factors. Certain medical conditions (such as celiac disease) as well as some medications (steroids and others) can increase your chances of developing osteoporosis. When these factors are a consideration, it is important to talk with your doctor to develop a prevention strategy that will counteract the risk of developing osteoporosis.

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Alkalizing your Body to Prevent Osteoporosis! Building Healthy, Strong Bones to Last a Lifetime