If you have osteopenia or osteoporosis, you know that bone health deeply affects our quality of life. We can optimize bone health at any age. However, consciously building bone health sooner rather than later is an important preventive tool!
And seriously, bones are important, so supporting your whole family’s mineral status preventatively is a great idea!
Mineral balance through the life cycle
Our culture encourages two main groups of people to take bone health seriously. The first is post-menopausal women. The second is pregnant women who strive to build healthy babies without depleting their own nutritional reserves. But a lot of imbalances can build up long before menopause and even before conception and pregnancy ever occur.
In fact, we all have bones our whole life long. A little attention along the way can spare a lot of trouble in the future!
My individualized approach addresses the root causes of poor mineral balance. In osteoporosis and osteopenia clients, this leads to amazing improvements in overall health, along with dramatically improved bone density tests. Along the same line, my fertility and pregnancy clients have healthier pregnancies, easier deliveries, and less fussy babies compared to those consuming the standard American diet.
Factors affecting bone health
Bone health is complex and multi-faceted because many factors affect mineral metabolism. There is a lot of individual variation in our ability to absorb minerals from various foods. A lot of the assumptions about bone health are, in fact, incomplete or incorrect. For example, consuming high-calcium foods such as dairy products—or even calcium supplements—is no guarantee against osteoporosis. Most of my osteoporosis and osteopenia clients are deficient in magnesium and fat-soluble vitamins, not calcium.
Some of the most common reasons for sub-optimal or poor bone health include:
- Inadequate nutrient intake
- Sedentary lifestyle and/or insufficient weight-bearing activities
- Poor digestion, frequently aggravated by chronic use of PPIs that impair production of hydrochloric acid, which is necessary for the assimilation of calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and other minerals
- Malabsorption due to celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, or other conditions
- Low levels of vitamin D
- Poor fat digestion or insufficient/imbalanced essential fatty acid status
- Dietary restrictions that impact your intake of protein and minerals
- Exposure to toxic metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium and aluminum
- Exposure to glyphosate (the active ingredient in the popular herbicide Roundup, which has contaminated food, soil, air and water in many locations across the Western world)
- Hormonal imbalances, particularly decreased levels of estrogen as we enter perimenopause and menopause
- Hyperparathyroidism (primary or secondary)
- Lack of appropriate movement for stimulating bone mineralization
Typically, diets high in processed foods and refined sugars and starches are a risk factor for poor mineral metabolism. This is not only because such diets lack nutrients but also because metabolizing these refined foods depletes the body of many nutrients and creates hormonal imbalances.
Healthy eating for optimal mineral absorption
A nutrient-dense, varied nutritional regimen that emphasizes fresh, unprocessed and properly prepared foods, preferably local, seasonal and organic or biodynamic, supports bone health.
This is more than a way of eating, and is a lifestyle with a few notable features:
- Variety: a wide palette of plant and animal foods
- Color: A rainbow of vegetables and fruits
- Macros: balance of carbohydrates, fats and protein
- Supports digestion and absorption
- Good hydration habits – hydrating liquids and electrolyte minerals
- Restorative sleep habits
- A positive body image
- A healthy relationship with food
If you’re struggling with any of these areas, let me know!
Learn more about your mineral balance and nutritional needs
Hair analysis of essential minerals and toxic metals provides a more individualized picture of the overall toxic and essential elements and how they interrelate. These tests are complex and must be interpreted by someone knowledgeable. I recommend hair tests when we need more information about the client’s toxicity status, mineral balance and certain functional areas of health. They are highly cost effective and offer the expert practitioner a very useful snapshot of the client’s overall health, toxic exposures of concern and areas of nutritional and functional deficiency. This information then serves as a starting point for the rebalancing process.
Sometimes the information revealed from the hair test provides unexpected information that can help us understand and address the person’s root cause. For example, I recently analyzed the hair test results of an 88-year-old woman with severe osteoporosis, hair loss and restless leg syndrome. The hair test results came back with the highest levels of uranium I’d ever seen, which of course, was important information for her. We’ve taken steps based on her history, likely exposure sources and the overall context.
I use these tests not only with clients who have osteoporosis and osteopenia but also in other conditions that are affected by mineral imbalance and toxic metals. Learn more about how I work with hair tissue mineral analysis here.
Let’s work together
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you’re interested in discussing your mineral balance and bone health. You can set up your complimentary discovery call here.