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Alternatives to HRT- Protecting Your Bones the Natural Way

Sep 24, 2016

Osteoporosis and bone thinning becomes a massive concern as we approach the menopause. Our oestrogen levels decline and can no longer protect our bones as before. This means that it’s vital we take steps to protect the health of our bones before it’s too late.

Visit your doctor or speak with well-meaning (and uninformed individuals) and you could be lead to believe that HRT is the only option.

However, this is most certainly NOT the case.

There are many natural and gentle alternatives to HRT that will help you keep your bones healthy at any age, including eating well, getting the right kind of exercise and making healthy lifestyle choices. So if you are peri-menopausal, now is the time to build up your bone density reserves before you hit the menopause. However, it’s never too late to strengthen what you already have.

Let’s find out how to protect your bones the natural way.

Eat well for healthy bones

Eating an unprocessed, healthy and highly nutritious diet is absolutely essential when it comes to protecting the health of your bones and avoiding osteoporosis, whether during the menopausal years or even much earlier in life.

Naturally, it’s a good idea for your overall hormonal health to be packing in as much nutrition as you possibly can. But for the sake of your bones, it’s also vital that you include plenty of the following three:

Calcium

Calcium helps to reduce bone loss and actually builds new bones. Great food sources include dark leafy greens, Bok Choy, fortified tofu, okra, broccoli, green beans, almonds and fish canned with their bones. However, I’d advise against taking a supplement as this can cause further serious long-term health problems.

Vitamin D

Although it’s known as a vitamin, vitamin D is actually a precursor hormone which helps your body to absorb the calcium in your diet efficiently, promotes normal cell growth and has a balancing effect upon your hormones and immune system. best (and most pleasurable) source of vitamin D is the sunshine- your body synthesises this hormone when sunlight hits your skin). Great dietary sources include fatty fish (sardines, salmon, tuna, mackerel), egg yolks and mushrooms. You can also supplement with 800 to 1,000 international units (IUs) of vitamin D daily.

Magnesium

This mineral is key for the menopause, not only to maintain bone health but also for reducing your symptoms of the menopause such as hot flushes, migraines, sleep problems and severe PMT.

Magnesium works to support the body’s use of calcium and also helps convert vitamin D from an inactive form to an active form, ready for use in the body. You can also supplement with 300-500 mg per day of magnesium.

Great food sources include those dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, fish, beans, whole grains, avocados, bananas, dried fruit, dark chocolate, and fruit like figs, bananas, strawberries and grapefruit.

Quit those unhealthy habits

There are several lifestyle habits (aka Bone Thieves) which have a hugely detrimental effect on the health of your bones and will leach the minerals from your body, increase your fracture risk and affect the formation of new bones. Clearly, it’s in your best interests to ditch all these things and live a new healthy lifestyle.

These include:

#1: Eating processed foods

Not only are processed foods largely void of bone-friendly nutrients and packed full of nasty additives and preservatives, they’re also extremely high in sugars (see my next point) and also salt. Although your kidneys can work to remove the salt from your body, they remove calcium at the same time which is terrible news for your bones.

Sugar affects your body’s ability to form collagen (which is what your bones are made from) so if you care about beating osteoporosis, it’s time to reign in that sweet tooth. Stick with natural alternatives like low GI fruit instead.

#2: Drinking milk

We’ve been brought up to believe that milk is good for our bones, but the opposite is actually true. Studies have found that drinking milk actually increases fracture risk. Instead try a milk substitute such as almond milk or hemp milk.

#3: Drinking coffee, tea and soft drinks

Sorry, that morning coffee isn’t doing your bone health any favours. You see, caffeine (and the phosphoric acid in cola) causes your body to excrete calcium more quickly that it should, weakening those bones. Why not explore the delicious world of herbal teas, fruit teas, homemade smoothies or even wonderfully refreshing water instead?

#4: Drinking alcohol

Alcohol could also be increasing your risk of developing osteoporosis and weakening your bones as it can decrease bone formation, increase bone breakdown, leech calcium from your bones and actually damage the bone forming cells called osteoblasts. Reduce your consumption to a few units per week, or better still, quit altogether.

#5: Smoking

Smoking lowers your bone density and also affects your oestrogen levels, worsening your symptoms of the menopause. The answer is simple- just quit. (Ask me if you need help with this).

#6: Using sunscreen

As you’ve seen, sunlight exposure is the best way to get enough vitamin D. However, many of us apply sunscreen on a daily basis, or the cosmetics we use already contain them so we cannot synthesis the vitamin D we need. Instead, aim to get outside into the sun for at least 30 minutes per day without sunscreen if possible, being sure not to burn.

#7: Taking certain medications

Certain prescription medications like antacids and antidepressants can also affect your bone health. Check with your doctor if there are any alternatives which protect your bones instead.

Beat your stress

Stress is bone health enemy number one. As you’ll know by now, chronic stress increases your levels of those stress hormones like cortisol which worsens your symptoms, disrupts your hormonal balance, affects your oestrogen levels and affects bone density.

It’s vital that you take steps to effectively deal with the stress in your life, even if you believe that you aren’t stressed at all. Most of us are under more stress than we realise so it’s well worthwhile for us all to do.

Make time to do relaxation every single day for 15-20 mins such as the techniques I have shown you on one of my programmes, yoga, meditation or creative visualization.

Improve your posture

Next time you find yourself slumped over a book or your tablet, correct yourself and take steps to prevent osteoporosis. Incorrect posture places a huge strain on your joints and bones, and of course, it also doesn’t look too nice either.

So it’s time to be more mindful of the position of your body on a daily basis, and aim to correct it as you go. Find yourself a supportive chair if you work at a desk, pull your shoulders down from your ears and lift up from the crown of your head. It’s that easy.

Exercise your way to stronger bones

It’s time to get off the sofa and get moving. Not only does regular exercise help to rebalance your hormone levels and ease or even eliminate those symptoms of the menopause, they’ll also help to maintain your bone health, stimulate new bone production and release a healthy dose of those feel-good endorphins. Aim for three sessions of weight-bearing exercise every week such as walking, running, jogging, dancing, skipping or tennis. (NOTE: it must be the kind of exercise you do standing up. Swimming doesn’t count!)

As you can see, there are many natural ways you can protect your bone health and keep osteoporosis at bay after the menopause. Best of all, none of them involve taking HRT or other medications. Simply eat well, ditch those bone thieves, beat stress, improve your posture and get the right kind of exercise to help you bones stay strong and healthy for many years to come.

© Pamela Windle 2016.

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