1. Foods and Beverages to Avoid
It feels good when you can prevent a disease, such as osteoporosis, by doing nothing. By avoiding or limiting intake of certain substances, you can enhance your body's efficiency at absorbing calcium, a vital bone nutrient. Healthy bones keep osteoporosis at bay. Some known or suspected impediments are tobacco, alcohol, coffee, phosphates and salt.
Smokers should quit now. Coffee, alcohol and soda pop drinkers don't have to eliminate those beverages from their diets, but they should restrict intake to one or two drinks per day. You can purposefully select lower-salt foods on a regular basis until they become your habitual choice.
2. Foods and Beverages to Embrace
Now that you've cleared a path for calcium to enter your body and be useful, make sure that you're getting enough through your diet. Nutrition facts on food containers give you a simple way to measure this. Take a few days to write down what you eat, keeping track of your personal serving sizes. Then compare these against food labels. The National Osteoporosis Foundation posts guidelines for doing this.
Adult men and women need 1,000 to 1,500 mg of calcium each day, with postmenopausal women at the highest end of the scale. Increase your calcium levels by eating foods with more sesame seeds, almonds and dairy products in them. Salmon, cauliflower and broccoli are also quite high in calcium.
3. When You Still Need More Nutrients
Some people can't or don't want to eat the recommended foods. If your calcium levels still aren't adequate, purchase supplemental chews or tablets. These are available without a prescription and are often teamed with another beneficial vitamin or mineral. Vitamin D is essential to calcium absorption, which is why milk is often fortified with it. Magnesium is also thought to help prevent the onset of osteoporosis in the same way.
To increase your body's level of vitamin D, get some sun exposure on your skin for a short period every day. Eat salmon, mackerel or sardines. Halibut and many kinds of nuts are rich in magnesium. A multivitamin will contain both of these nutrients.
