Did you know that your bones are living tissue and can rebuild themselves!   There are many things you can do to keep your bone density stable or indeed improve it - at any age – and whilst weight bearing exercise at the gym is recommended- there are many of other ways you can improve your both health.   Weak and brittle bones do not have to be part of aging.  

Calcium – The Bone Builder

Calcium makes your bones hard and dense. Nearly 3lbs of your body weight is calcium, 99% of this is in your bones and teeth.  Calcium is needed to provide the rigid structure of the skeleton. It is particularly important in childhood when bones are growing and in the elderly, because the ability to absorb calcium becomes impaired with age.  The remaining 10% of calcium is found in the nerves, muscles and blood.  

A High Protein Diet Is Bad News For Your Bones

Milk and other dairy products are considered an essential source of protein, iron and calcium. The truth is that milk is not a good source of many other minerals. Manganese, chromium, selenium and magnesium are all found in higher levels in fruit and vegetables.  Most important is magnesium, which works alongside calcium.  

The ideal calcium to magnesium ratio is 2:1 – you need twice as much calcium as magnesium. Milks ratio is 10:1, while cheese is 28:1.  Relying on dairy products for calcium is likely to lead to magnesium deficiency and imbalance.  Seeds, nuts and crunchy vegetables like kale, cabbage, carrots and cauliflower give us both these minerals and others, more in line with our needs.  Milk is, after all, designed for young calves, not adult humans.  

So why is protein and dairy bad for your bones?  Well!  Excess protein is a contributor to osteoporosis, over-acidity and many other common health problems.  Protein rich foods, including calcium-packed milk and cheese produce acid when broken down (or metabolised) by the body - they can be described as 'acid forming foods'.   However, the body cannot tolerate substantial changes in the acid pH of the blood, so our bodies neutralise or ‘buffer’ this effect through two main alkaline agents – sodium and calcium.  

When body reserves of sodium are used up, calcium is taken from the bone.  

Therefore, the more protein you eat the more calcium you lose!    

We need protein foods of course!  

But ideally protein should only form 20% of your diet.   

Reference : The PH Diet: The pHenomenal Dietary System

 Here is the Amazon Link for my book - a few years old now but all still very relevant!