Overview
Until your 30s, your bones take in more calcium than they use, resulting in increased bone mass. Sometime in your 30s, the balance shifts, and your body begins to leach calcium from your bones without replacing it, leading to decreased bone density. Low bone density means your bones are more fragile and break more easily. As you age, maintaining or gaining bone mass becomes an important part of your health care regimen.
Step 1
Increase your calcium intake to at least 1,000mg per day by eating calcium-rich foods, such as dairy products or leafy green vegetables, or by taking calcium supplements. If you're a postmenopausal woman, you need more calcium, so plan your diet to include 1,200 to 1,500mg of calcium, says Betsy Felser, a physician and assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of California's Keck School of Medicine, in "USC Health" magazine.
Step 2
Take a vitamin D supplement to ensure that you get between 400 and 800mg of vitamin D every day, recommends Robert K. Rude, professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine and osteoporosis specialist, in "USC Health" magazine. Vitamin D helps your bones absorb calcium.
Step 3
Stop smoking. If you're a smoker, your chances of developing osteoporosis--low bone density--are significantly higher, according to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Quitting can help you improve your bone mass.
Step 4
Exercise for at least 30 minutes on most days of the week. According to Cedars-Sinai, a sedentary lifestyle increases your osteoporosis risk while regular exercise boosts your bone health.
Step 5
Do weight-bearing exercises like running, walking, weight training, tennis or dancing regularly. Weight-bearing exercises improve your bone strength by forcing bones to work against gravity, explains the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
Photo Credit
girl running in jog bra image by jimcox40 fromFotolia.com
About this Author
Holly Roberts is an award-winning health and fitness writer whose work has appeared in health, lifestyle and fitness magazines. Roberts has also worked as an editor for health association publications and medical journals. She has been a professional writer for more than 10 years and holds a B.A. in English and an M.A. in literature.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/193544-how-to-gain-bone-mass/#ixzz1AgVHOgSw
(Two years ago, a study at the University of Texas found there was a 41% increase in the risk of being overweight for every single can of diet soda a person consumed, as I reported inDiet Soda No Bargainon September 26 2007.)
Now, in a new study from published in the February issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, rats that were fed artificially sweetened yogurt in addition to their regular rat chow wound up eating more and gaining more weight than rats that ate yogurt with real sugar. Psychiatrist Guido Frank at the University of Colorado in Denver says about this, "There is good evidence that the brain responds differently to artificial sweeteners and you should take this into account when designing weight-loss programs".
So why would you eat more calories when you're consuming artificial sweeteners?
We don't know for sure but three possible reasons have been suggested.
I've speculated before that artificial sweeteners might cause a blood sugar or insulin response simply via the mechanism of classical conditioning- much like Pavlov's dogs salivating at the sound of a bell simply because the bell had been associated with a steak. A second reason might be that exposure to artificial sweeteners in some way undermines the brain's ability to track calories and to determine when to stop eating.
Finally there's the possibility that diet soda drinkers do an eating version of what economists call "risk compensation"- theythinkthey're significantly cutting back on calories so they subconsciously "allow" themselves to eat more, usually way more than the number of calories they've "saved" by drinking diet soda!
Anyway you look at it, and whatever the reason turns out to be, most chemical artificial sweeteners aren't doing you any good.
And if you want further reason not to believe everything you read about nutrition in the popular press, a recent publication which shall remain nameless, "reported" on the recent artificial sweetener study, concluding that since artificial sweeteners were clearly bad, "you're better off eating real sugar".
Excuse me, how about a reality check young yeoman journalist: You're better off eatingneither! Just because Marlboro lights have less nicotine than Marlboro's doesn't mean Marlboro's are a good thing!