← Return to New to osteoporosis and overwhelmed

Discussion

New to osteoporosis and overwhelmed

Osteoporosis & Bone Health | Last Active: Jan 7 12:46pm | Replies (54)

Comment receiving replies
@teb

@lynn59, it looks like you are working your diet very consciously!

I've been calculating my nutrition for several years now so at this point, I kind of have a feel for whether or not I've achieved my nutritional daily goals. I still like to calculate it sometimes to check in (hey, it's fun!) but I just don't need to as much as in the past. I use the website cronometer.com. It's really terrific as it has the nutritional content of whole foods as well as many of the packaged foods you might buy. In addition, if you have a particular daily meal or recipe that you repeat regularly, you can create a "recipe" for that and it will calculate your nutrition for that meal or recipe. Then you just have to click on that recipe item to add all of the ingredient components at one time. Your daily diary is retained long term so you can track your changes and see your progress if you care to.

I don't consume dairy (or gluten) due to autoimmune issues so it's a little more challenging getting my calcium requirements. I start every day with a heaping serving of sauteed collard greens along with 2 eggs, homemade nut and seed crackers, sauerkraut and some avocado. The collards alone give me a full serving of calcium and along with the crackers, etc, I get almost 400 mg. The rest of the day, I eat lots of dark leafy greens, broccoli or broccolini, canned salmon with bones or sardines (when I can stomach them), almonds, figs, oranges, carrots, etc. I take a spoonful of Eden black sesame paste like a supplement when I need to. Two tablespoons has 35% of your daily dietary calcium need (along with protein, iron and good fats). I often add a Tblsp of blackstrap molasses to a cocoa drink concoction I make. One Tblsp has about 145 mg of calcium along with iron. I drink nettles and peppermint teas daily which are also calcium and mineral rich. If I do need a calcium supplement, I try to take it in smaller doses throughout the day.

One area you might consider is replacing your skim milk with whole milk or better yet, yogurt, kefir or a well-aged gouda (has one of the highest amounts of vitamin k in cheese). There is mounting evidence that whole fat dairy offers benefits over skim, fermented full fat dairy being the best (but who knows, nutrition "evidence" is constantly evolving!).

A study published in the British Medical Journal determined that "Higher intake of whole fat (but not low fat) dairy was associated with a lower prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome and most of its component factors, and with a lower incidence of hypertension and diabetes."
Quite compelling!
https://drc.bmj.com/content/8/1/e000826

Jump to this post


Replies to "@lynn59, it looks like you are working your diet very consciously! I've been calculating my nutrition..."

Hi @teb …. What a delicious breakfast you prepare for yourself. I love that idea as an alternative to my regime, especially on weekends. I love sautéed greens and used to do spinach, dandelion and Swiss chard combined, but due to the high oxolates in spinach I’ve stopped making it. I’ll look for collard greens today and prepare a bunch. I don’t like sauerkraut or sardines unfortunately, and I’ve been having a hard time finding canned salmon with bones … they all seem to be canned without bones now. Thanks for the other tips too … I’ll look into all of them. Snacking on edamame or putting them in salads is another great option. I have also started eating 5 prunes a day, as there are several studies which link it to stronger bones due to their anti-inflammatory properties.

@teb Do you know what your daily protein consumption is? This is a hard area for me. I count on dairy to fulfill a lot of that.

What a wealth of information you have shared with us. Thank you so very much.

Unfortunately, I find the calculations that you consider 'fun' to be a real pain....and I have the same response to calculating supplements.

Buy you gotta do what you gotta do.....

I read the same recent info about whole fat dairy and am intrigued. Sincerely hope it is true....although I have learned through the years to prefer olive oil to butter and to consume ice cream only in my dreams, there are some full fat important products (like yogurt) that are simply more satisfying.

Your approach is such an inspiration.