94: The Top 6 Simple Ways to Build Strong Bones

Anita: 0:58

But also just getting started taking some kind of action. Because once you take that action, you start doing something for a while you gain momentum. And this is with eating this is with exercising This is with anything that you feel like you need to do to better your health, or better your life, you've got to start taking action. INTRO You're listening to the smarter Healthy Living podcast where we firmly believe that getting healthy should never feel like torture, where your host Jarrod and Anita Roussel were college sweethearts, and health professionals who help you redefine what getting healthy looks like using a whole food plant based lifestyle. It's time to hear from the experts and learn the best tips and tricks that helped others get beyond the overwhelm, to create a vibrant life they love. If you're sick and tired of being sick, and tired, you're in the right place. So pull up a virtual chair, grab your matcha latte. And let's get started. Today, we're talking about the top six ways to build strong bones. And of course, we all know that really matters because it's an important part of our health. As we age, things can start happening with our bodies, like people develop osteoporosis, my grandmother had that she struggled with it and she drank more milk than anybody I ever new in my life. So I don't think milk is really the key here, we need to look at what are the top ways we can start building strong bones today. And they don't have to be difficult. That's a wonderful nice about this. So the first thing that you can do, we're just going to jump right into it is to do weight bearing exercise now Oh, help me she did not just start the podcast saying the e word

Jarrod: 2:35

you just said the e word you went there

Anita: 2:37

the dreaded e word who wants to go to the gym. Okay. Now I know a lot of you're dedicated and you go to the gym on a regular basis. That is awesome. But I also know that it's really hard for others of us to get to the gym, it may be because of time or maybe that we just want to be outside the four walls that we've been cooped up in all day.

Jarrod: 3:01

Well, it can also be availability, if you don't have something close to you

Anita: 3:05

true, if that makes sense. Or you end up paying the gym fee. And then you just know you're never go. It's like it's standing there staring you in the face. And you just hate it so much. You just can't even muster up the ability to go, you've got to build a life you love this is in every area, not just exercising, or we call it movement, because exercise is such the dreaded e word. There are ways to do this that you can actually enjoy. But you've got to start thinking about what are the things that I enjoy doing back in the day, like back before active things I enjoy doing that maybe I just don't take time to do now. Like maybe you enjoy playing tennis or maybe you like taking dance classes. Or maybe it's something you've always wanted to do, but you've never tried it before. So start making a list. What are some things you've done in the past that you love that you don't do anymore, that are weight bearing exercises, and what are some things that you'd love to do, but you never tried. And you need to really look into those things, you might actually go and make some new friends and make some new connections. And it's just a wonderful way to be social. And you can also take a friend you already have along with you do these activities or spouse or child, it's great way to build your relationships. At the same time, I'm all about multitasking. And that's just a great way to make memories together.

Jarrod: 4:22

When you think about weight bearing a lot of times you think of holding weights, and then just lifting just pumping iron, so to speak true, but it doesn't always have to be like that. Because any kind of activity where you're moving, you have weight being applied to your bones. So when you're standing, you have weight, yes. But when you're moving, that weight gets multiplied. I remember hearing in my schooling that whenever you are jumping, that when you land down, you actually have four times the amount of your body weight being applied to your joints, while also that's being applied to your bones. What does that do that actually stimulates your bones to grow in strength. Because the bone sense I've got this activity, I've got this stress on me. And I may not be fully up to the task, so I got to get stronger. And there are cells in your bones. And this, this may come as news to you there are cells in your bones that break your bones down. But then there are other cells that build them up. So your bones are constantly in this flux of being broken down and rebuilding. But that's a good thing. Because that allows it to heal if there's a fracture, but it also allows it to get stronger. If it needs to if it senses that, hey, this person's doing some stuff to me that I'm just not up to the task for I got to get stronger. And that's why this is so important. It's why it's so effective at helping to keep strong bones

Anita: 5:49

Don't you feel like a lot of times that the reason people have such a struggle we all can have a struggle with it at times is because not only it past experiences Having to feeling like we have to go to the gym, but also just getting started taking some kind of action. Because once you take that action, you start doing something for a while you gain momentum. And this is with eating this is with exercising This is with anything that you feel like you need to do to better your health, or better your life. You've got to start taking action today. So find those simple things to do. Because once you start taking action, it's like the ball starts rolling and rolling and rolling and rolling. You think about a snowball rolling downhill, and then it gains momentum. And before long, you love the thing that you once dreaded doing.

Jarrod: 6:32

I think taking the small initial steps. Yes, I know that. For me, personally, just true confessions here that that has been a big part of getting started with getting into regular daily exercise. But I think we see that I want to be at this level way up here. And so I need to jump up to that immediately. But no, take those first small steps get out in just walk around the block, whatever your fitness level is, just go ahead and get started. And what happens is you adjust and your body starts getting ready for that and you start having better energy production and your muscles get stronger, your bones get stronger, then you start to desire it and then you look at whoa, wait a minute, how did I just do that? I'm stronger. Now I didn't realize I had gotten to that level, because it's gonna happen little by little incrementally,

Anita: 7:21

Right, and I feel like for me, if I take a friend with me again, you know, you're building that relationship, but at the same time you have some accountability. Somebody who's gonna say, Hey, we're supposed to go Wednesday, or, you know, you get that appointment on your calendar, and you have somebody who's dependent on you as well. And then you look forward to that time you get to talk and build relationship. And different things you can do like that together are huge, because you're building a relationship, strengthening your friendship, if you have a spouse, you're strengthening your relationship with them, because you're talking and making great memories together. Same with children. I mean, children, honestly, the truth is, they don't get enough of our one on one time. They just don't, between screen time and busy ness and all the things that keep us distracted. I mean, I could go off on a whole nother tangent here. But it's part of what's wrong with families today, why we struggle so much to be close, is all these things that suck us in that aren't reality. And we don't do the things that really matter. And one thing you can do to help your health and your child's health is to find these things to do together, not just one on one all that kids need your one on one time. But doing things together as a family start just brainstorming lists of things you'd enjoy, you know, not, I need to exercise. So I've got to go to the gym X number of times a week and do this number of reps of this and this of that. And that can work.

Jarrod: 8:39

That's not a bad idea for having a balanced development of muscle strength.

Anita: 8:44

Right, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. But a lot of times, really what's gonna get you going and get you excited about it is finding a way that you really enjoy to get started. And to do that find people to go with and make those memories. Some things you could do, you could just walk, you could do ruck-sacking like that the group in our neighborhood, there's a group I mean, so you can join not with just friends you already know. But you can join up with a group, have that accountability, make new friends, dance classes, they're line dance classes, different kinds of dance classes in our neighborhood. Not just line dancing, there's all kinds of different stuff, but you can choose something that you enjoy, you've always wanted to learn or you enjoyed before again, things like that it just looks like so much fun always seem turn the corner and they've got the rucksack and they're just going

Jarrod: 9:32

They've got these big backpacks. If you've if you to town don't know what rucksacking is, it's basically taking a backpack and putting a bunch of weight in it. Yeah, and then start walking. But that's a perfect example. I think that it for the weight bearing because some of these people put as much as 50 pounds in there. And you have as you're walking just that normal stride in motion, you get that downward force on your bones, and then you add that extra 50 pounds or however much they have in it. And that's going to add the extra weight and help stimulate bone growth.

Anita: 10:04

Again, just take a piece of paper or if you're a computer type organizer, get into notes or something like that. And just start brainstorming things I liked in the past things I'd like to try but then think outside the box outside of just typical exercise stuff. Think about playing chase with your children. I mean just running all out the most you can I mean the more you do that, the better your stamina will be the more you'll want to play chase with them, throwing the Frisbee together, having nerf battles, you know that can be very weight bearing right? I mean you're carrying heavier I mean making it heavier and heavier Nerf guns if you want I mean that can get really white bear wanted to but you're running your feet are pounding the pavement pounding the dirt. And that is just that's a great exercise. I mean that can be cardio as well. So nerf battles I think about frisbee I said just different games like that where you're running and playing. Again, you're building those precious times with your children that you'll never ever regret or your grandchildren even, you know, it's important that we build those relationships, but also, that at the same time, we can do something that builds our physical health as well. Wow, I mean, that's just you've hit a home run there. So that's weight bearing exercise. That's number one, the first way you can build strong bones. And number two, now think about also like we're talking about weight bearing exercises getting outside to do those exercises, get outside those four walls, you're inside those four walls all day long. Get out early in the morning, when you can get some of the the sunrise sun that's some of the best sunshine you can get, or sunshine in the evening. But, midday sun, it's easier to make vitamin D and vitamin D is key to building strong bones. That's actually number two,

Jarrod: 11:47

Right, and what I've heard is that when your shadow is shorter than you are tall, that's the best time of day to be actually making vitamin D.

Anita: 11:55

But it can also be the time that you can burn. So

Jarrod: 11:57

yeah, so the recommendation is 10 minutes, you could do it every day, or at least several days a week. And that should be enough. So we're not talking about being out there for two hours and getting burned. And turning red as a lobster No, just something as simple as 10 minutes with it on your face, your legs, your arms. So it doesn't have to be an extensive amount of time.

Anita: 12:19

But we live in Florida. And so it's easy in 10 minutes to get that amount of sunshine, your body needs to make vitamin D, you're not going to be eating much vitamin D. And once you eat I mean, some people I've heard about talking about mushrooms and different things like

Jarrod: 12:32

because mushrooms I think have vitamin D too, which is a form of it, but

Anita: 12:36

you're not going to get enough in general eating to get vitamin in your body makes it and so you need to be out and getting some sunshine. And it's important. And when you have the sunscreen on, it's going to block your ability to make vitamin D. Now, if you live further north, or in an area where you're not going to get as much sunshine, it's going to be harder for you to make an F vitamin D. So you'll want to look at getting your vitamin D levels checked by your provider, and possibly even doing some supplementation depending on their advice as well. So number two is making sure you have vitamin D, because that's going to strengthen your bones. And then number three, you want to limit your alcohol intake. Now a lot of people don't like hearing this, but this is reality, okay, we're going to get real with you. We're not saying don't ever drink alcohol, but what we are saying is, there's a certain amount that you really need to not drink it on a regular basis for men two drinks a day more than two drinks a day. And women more than one drink a day can interfere with your vitamin D production. It can interfere with the balance of calcium that you have, which we know affects bones. And it can also increase cortisol levels, which is a stress hormone. And that's not good for your health either, right? So you want to limit your alcohol intake if you want strong bones.

Jarrod: 13:53

Now you might be asking yourself, what exactly would a drink consist of, because it's kind of hard, if you don't know is just kind of a nebulous drink.

Anita: 14:00

Well, a drink for somebody might be a huge tumbler and a drink for another person might be a tiny little wine glass. That's big difference.

Jarrod: 14:06

the standard would be 12 ounces of beer. So just a regular can five ounces of wine, which is a typical glass of wine it like you'd get in a restaurant, or a shot of harder alcohol. Like I think it's one and a half ounces. That's a quote and quote, drink. So for men, you don't want to go more than two a day for women more than one.

Anita: 14:25

All right, and then number four, the fourth way to build strong bones. If you're smoking stop, stop smoking,

Jarrod: 14:33

it's a no brainer. And I think a lot of people obviously realize that smoking has certain health consequences, but they really probably don't think about their bones,

Anita: 14:41

it interferes with your blood flow to your bones. I mean, there's so many other things it does that you just don't want happening to your body if you're looking at building your best life. And that's what we want for you your absolute best life where you feel great. And you can get out there and just do the things you want to do because you have enough energy to do it. You need the blood flow,

Jarrod: 15:02

And the reason or how it interferes with the blood flow is that nicotine in the tobacco acts as a stimulant. And it causes the blood vessels to constrict. So that it actually it would be like taking a garden hose and squeezing it. I mean, you don't have as much water flowing through it. I mean, if you ever remember doing that as a kid or kinking the hose, and it would reduce the amount of water coming through. That's essentially what's happening to your bones. So if the nutrients aren't getting in there, they're not making it in there. Well, then they can't build strong bones.

Anita: 15:33

And I don't think most people realize how important blood flow is. I mean, really, it comes down to a lot of different health issues. Come back to blood flow or lack of proper blood flow. And why is that happening on a regular basis of course, we're talking about smoking that can cause your blood flow to be a problem but you start adding in animal products with all the saturated fats and cholesterol And I'm not just talking about meat. And we're not just talking about red meat here, start looking at meats and the meats that you think are better meats, same problem, you've got blood flow issues. Why are people having heart attacks it earlier and earlier ages? Why are men having problems when they reach around the age of 40? Why are people having disc problems in their back? Why are people having strokes or memory issues so much? Yeah, blood flow issues, you've got to be able to get the nutrients in and the garbage out, or you've got a whole host of health problems, take it from some money, who had carotid artery issues, and I could hear every night on the side of my neck. I do not hear that anymore. It is a blessing to not hear that anymore, because that was very concerning. But it's reversing with whole plant foods

Jarrod: 16:46

It didn't go away immediately, but it did go away.

Anita: 16:49

I wasn't smoking, but I was eating,

Jarrod: 16:51

eating a lot of dairy type products and a lot of meats, eggs. I mean they were healthy. They were good for you. Or so we thought

Anita: 16:58

we thought we were choosing the healthier option

Jarrod: 17:00

thinking about the hose example, you know, with nicotine, it squeezes the hose. But when you're having the saturated fats, it's basically you're getting sludge building up inside the hose, it's still narrowing the hose and then you add both of those on top and then you got an even worse issue

Anita: 17:16

Yeah, bad. double whammy. You know, that reminds me of a game show that we watch. It had the Whammy on it. We're so dating ourselves right now we've got to get out of that is not good.

Jarrod: 17:39

Moving on to number five. And I think you're probably not going to want to hear this but quitting colas. Even the diet cola.

Anita: 17:47

Oh, yeah, people are drinking Coke zeros, then I don't want to name specific ones, because there's so many of them. But just you think because it's diet that it's going to help you. But you've got to look at how has it helped you so far? Has it helped you so far? I mean, honestly,

Jarrod: 18:03

you may even be talking about just weight.

Anita: 18:06

Yeah, I am

Jarrod: 18:10

But in the case of this, it's that there is phosphoric acid inside the cola, right. And I'm gonna be honest, I don't really understand why it's in there. But I know it's a very common ingredient in colas. And so there's phosphorus. Well, when you drink a lot of colas, you have a lot more phosphorus in your body. And your body has to balance that with calcium, where your bones not only act structurally, they obviously they keep us upright. And we stand tall. And it helps to protect our brains and protect her chest organs, a heart and lungs. But they also act like a calcium bank. So your body can pull calcium from the bones when it needs it. And then when you get it in your food, then it puts it back in there. And there's this kind of withdrawal and deposit. Well what happens with too much phosphorus, you're withdrawing more calcium than you're depositing

Anita: 18:57

that doesn't sound good. No

Jarrod: 18:59

Well, and for one, one thing of cola, that's not as much of an issue. But if you drink two liters a day, and it honestly doesn't even really have to be that much, but didn't have to be that much. But I've seen people where they're drinking dozens of these things in a week's time. And so you're pulling out a lot of calcium from your bone. Over time, it's going to end up causing osteoporosis

Anita: 19:24

regularly drinking Cola, no matter what kind cola it is, is a bad idea. And it's such an easy way to just get extra stuff out of your life that has taken the place of the good stuff that needs to be there. And that leads us to number six, eat a lot. I'm talking a whole lot a massive amount of delicious, nutritious whole plant foods. They have magnesium, calcium, all these important nutrients that are going to build healthy bones. Not only that, they're going to build a healthy gut, a healthy vascular system. There's so many reasons why you need to be getting your plant foods, we love them. They are delicious. You've just got to learn how to make them. Okay, you just got to learn a simple system. That's all you need. Because once you can learn how to get these in a way that you love, that actually love you back. That's the crucial piece. If you can find a way to eat foods that you love, that actually love you back that make you feel great that strengthen your vascular system that strengthen your gut that strengthen your bones, you're gold, because you're going to keep doing that forever. Because you love it. You actually like it. It tastes good. It makes you feel good. And you'll never go back. Trust me. We're there. We're absolutely there. Once you see the changes that happen and it tastes good, and then it starts tasting better.

Jarrod: 20:47

It's just what you crave.

Anita: 20:48

It is and it's a different type of craving. It doesn't have a hold on you. It's food freedom. It really is what we call food freedom,

Jarrod: 20:55

but you do want to be sure you get a good balance of all The different types of plant foods

Anita: 21:00

very important

Jarrod: 21:00

we like to call them the five foundational foods. And you can hear more about that in episode nine where we describe what those are.

Anita: 21:06

Don't miss episode nine, get back right now and listen to it, it is a great episode because we're going to tell you about the five foundational foods, they're gonna stick with us. But you've got to go because it's really, really crucial that you understand the five foundational feeds of what they are fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, legumes and whole grains and how to get more of those in your life and why it even matters. It's really, really important. And if you want to know, why do whole plant foods even matter? We've got an episode on that too. I think it's number two, it's one of our very earliest episodes. Another incredible episode got to listen to that. Like, what is it? Why does it even matter? Some people think it's vegan. It's not vegan. There's a difference. And we talked about that in episode number two. So there you have it. Those are the six top ways to build strong bones, get weight bearing, start weight bearing exercises right away, make more vitamin D, get out on the sunshine, limit your alcohol intake, stop smoking, quit colas, even the diet ones no good for you. Okay, get them out. And then make room for those wonderful, healthy, delicious whole plant foods that are gonna make you feel amazing, fill you with plant based joy and allow you to do all the things that you've wanted to do for so long, but just haven't felt like it. Now you're going to feel like it and that is what we want for you. Thanks for joining us today. We've loved having you with us. If this episode has helped you in some way right now take one quick second and leave a review. It means a lot to us because it's going to help other people that are struggling with their health to find this podcast so that they can start on their journey to plant based joy too. Until next time, stay healthy and we look forward to seeing you again and hanging out with you on smarter healthy living.