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Protecting Yourself Against Bone Loss

Osteoporosis is a disease that weakens bones and increases the risk of fractures. The unfortunate truth is that you may not know that you have it until your bones fracture in a fall or bump. However, bone loss can be prevented with a healthy diet and the right degree of physical activity.

Exercise Your Bones
Your bones, like your muscles, can be strengthened through working out. Weight bearing exercises are especially good for keeping bones strong. Forcing the body to work against gravity prompts it to make new bone. Examples of such exercises include stair climbing, aerobics, jogging, tennis, racket sports, and running.

Strength training exercise is also a good way to prevent bone loss. The pull of muscle on the bones strengthens them as you work them, improving flexibility and reducing the chances of falling: a.k.a., the main reason for broken hips. Bone and muscle building exercises and activities include: lifting free weights, bags of groceries, young children, using ankle and wrist weights, resistance bands, weight machines, or by doing push ups, squats or other movements which involve countering your own body weight.

resveralife Protecting Yourself Against BoneLoss

Calcium and Vitamin D
Calcium deprived bodies lead to weakened bones. When your body lacks calcium, it will start to look for your bones to get what it needs, and that means loss of bone mass. Getting enough of this nutrient means eating plenty of low-fat dairy, calcium-fortified juices, and food, like soy milk, cereal and tofu, salmons and sardines with bones, and leafy green veggies.

Vitamin D is sort of like the calcium roadie. Your body needs it to help absorb the calcium. Although not many foods have vitamin D, it can be found in fatty fish, cheese, beef liver, and eggs yolks and fortified foods such as cereal, milk, and orange juice. Most of our intake of vitamin D comes from the sun. Skin produces the vitamin naturally when the sun hits it, so you should try and spend a little time outdoors to make sure your calcium has its proper amount of assistance.

Other Prevention Tips

  • Keep alcohol to a minimum. Consuming more than two drinks a day can raise the risk of bone loss.
  • Quite smoking. Smoking can actually double your chances of fractures and bone loss by interfering with estrogen function.
  • Don’t over exercise. The “female athlete triad” refers to the three issues that can result from too much exercise: thin bones, cessation of menstruation, and eating disorders. Irregular periods are often associated with low bone mass and decreased estrogen levels.
  • Cut down on Soda According to some studies, the extra phosphorus in soda may keep your body from absorbing calcium. Others speculate that women replace calcium-rich drinks, like milk, with soda.
  • While some drugs can help to maintain and build bones, they often have dangerous side effects. Always question a physician before taking any medicines.

What are you doing to keep your bones healthy? Let us know! We love to hear it.

Tequila on wooden table

Tequila May Improve Bone Health

There is drinking, and then there is drinking tequila. For the partying crowd, tequila is “the hard stuff,” the stuff you go to when you don’t just want to drink, you want bragging rights. You want a lasting story that you and your friends will talk about for years after. For the gentler crowd, tequila is “the good stuff.” A drink that is meant to be savoured and appreciated rather than abused. However, while tequila drinkers may have their separate reasons for drinking the stuff, it is probably a pretty safe bet that neither group is thinking of their bone health.

Tequlila and Bone Health
Perhaps learning that tequila comes from a plant will make you more likely to accept the possibility that it actually might be good for you. A study done by the Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Mexico has found the there are actually substances within the tequila plant that can improve the absorption of magnesium and calcium in the body. The results were obtained through a study of mice with induced osteoporosis, a bone-weakening condition. When given agave fructans, which are the non-digestible carbohydrates from the blue tequila plant, the mice displayed a 50 percent increase in a protein, which indicates new bone growth, and a noted increase in the size of the existing bone. According to research leader Dr. Mercedes Lopez, “The consumption of fructans contained in the agave, in collaboration with adequate intestinal microbiota, promotes the formation of new bone, even with the presence of osteoporosis.”

Less Likely to Cause Hangovers
Well, maybe tequila has not quite made it to superfood status, but some pretty healthy people are drinking it. One California-based Ashtanga yoga instructor says, “I’d been a strict vodka drinker for years because I wanted to cut calories. Now I feel like I’m taking a vacation, a year abroad with tequila. My understanding is that blanco or silver tequilas are the way to go – they’re cleanest and don’t give you a hangover.” Blanco tequilas are the purest type, made of 100 percent agave. Says Jason Eisner, beverage director at Gracias Madre in West Hollywood says, “Jose Cuervo-what most Americans think of as tequila is 42% corn syrup which gives you a terrible hangover.” Herbalist Emily Han explains, “Blanco tequila contains a lower level of congeners than dark spirits and red wine. Congeners are substances like acetone and tannins that are produced during fermentation and studies show they may worsen hangovers.”

Friends toasting

Other Health Benefits
Need some help digesting? Experts say that a shot before a meal can stimulate the appetite and one after a large dinner can help digestion. According to chef Sue Torres, ” The sugars are simple, so they break down easily in your body.” Adds Roger Bailey, head bartender at Filini in Chicago, “Tequila has a component that can, in moderation, aid in lowering cholesterol.” Studies have shown that tequila may be able to break down dietary fats which can lower the levels oaf bad cholesterol. Bailey adds, “Tequila will alleviate mild strain, tension, and headaches, although, he adds, “I don’t suggest slamming tequila to get rid of a migraine.”

So, what do you think? Headed for Margaritaville? Let us know your thoughts on the new “health beverage’

Flat lay of healthy food

Popular Health Food Myths

Eating pop rocks with soda can make you explode. This is perhaps the most popular and most bizarre food myths of all time. Although some may argue that the two together may be a lethal combination, it is not because of its likelihood to cause human combustion. While the fate of Mikey of Life Cereal fame may be unknown, it is safe to say he did not suffer death by Poprock. With the rate at which information about food changes , it is often hard to determine which facts from fiction. Here are some of the most commonly believed food myths that may seem all too easy to believe.

Low Fat Food is Better for You
Look at food labels to determine what kinds of fats are in foods before reaching for the low fat version. Seattle based dietitian Andy Bellatti says, “A good intake of healthful fats is beneficial for cardiovascular health. Prioritize mono saturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids. Many low fat diets are high in sugar and refined carbohydrates which are increasingly becoming linked to increased heart disease.” Low fat food are often low in good fats, which are necessary to cholesterol management and absorption of nutrients and also contain high levels of sugar and sodium to compensate for the blandness of the taste quality.

Dairy Is Best For Healthy Bones
According to Bellatti, too many people confuse dairy with calcium. “Dairy contains calcium, but so do dark-leafy greens. Milk is fortified with vitamin D, just like all milk alternatives. Additionally, bone health goes beyond calcium and vitamin D.” Vitamin K is important for bone health and leafy green have it while dairy products do not. Magnesium, also absent from dairy, is important for bone health as well.

Assorted dairy

If you’re concerned about the health of your bones, you’re best bet is to make sure you get enough calcium in your diet and, as the Harvard School of Public Health points out, “milk isn’t the only, or even best source of calcium.” Collard greens, kale and bok choy may be considerably better sources of both calcium and vitamin D.

Drink 8 Glasses of Water per Day
Boston based nutritionist Alannah DiBona says there is no given rule for how much water a person needs in a day. “Water’s been touted as the cure for all sins, and in some ways, it’s true – proper hydration is necessary for just about anything body and mind-related. However sixty- four ounces per day isn’t always going to be the right number for you.” Instead, try to determine your water intake by dividing your body weight in half and trying to drink that number in ounces of water daily.

Dibona also urges us to “Remember that water is available to you through all liquids, fruits, vegetables, and that the mark of proper hydration is a very light yellow-colored urine.”

Eating Eggs Raises Cholesterol
According to DiBona, “More often than not, a person diagnosed with high cholesterol will go out of his or her way to avoid eggs, which is really unnecessary. The body’s cholesterol levels are influenced by certain saturated and trans fats; eggs contain very little saturated fat and absolutely no trans fat. Depriving yourself of an egg means foregoing 13 naturally occurring vitamins and minerals and a really delicious breakfast item.”

Poached egg

High Sodium Foods Taste Salty
While there is no doubt that management of salt and sodium intake are important, especially for those with diabetes and hypertension, you should know that salty taste is not necessarily characteristic of high sodium foods. Belatti explains, “While surface salt is noticeable, stealth sodium, added during processing, is harder to taste. This is why many people don’t realize that a Dunkin’ Donuts corn muffin contains as much sodium, as 9 McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets.” He stresses the importance of looking up nutrition information to check the sodium content of foods at your favorite restaurants and eateries.

What other food myths do you want to debunk? Let us know!

Vine Vera Researches: Resveratrol a Cure For Metabolic Syndrome? VineVera Reviews

Resveratrol, a natural compound that is found in red wine and in the skin of red grapes, has emerged as one of the most popular skin care ingredients in the world. Vine Vera uses Resveratrol as its signature ingredient, primarily because of the wonders that it has to offer to one’s skin. There are numerous studies that have already shown the wonders that Resveratrol has to offer as a skin care ingredient. However, many more studies that can take Resveratrol research and its uses to an entirely new level are currently in various stages of completion.

Vine Vera reviews a study that was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. The authors of this study are a group of Danish researchers who tried to determine whether or not Resveratrol could help cure metabolic syndromes, an issue that can cause bone loss. Metabolic syndromes have been linked to low-level inflammation and it is basically a cluster of risk factors that can increase the chances of things like diabetes, heart diseases and strokes. Some of the main risk factors that the body goes through when suffering from the metabolic syndrome include high levels of triglycerides, increased blood pressure, abdominal obesity and reduced density of good cholesterol levels.

According to Marie Juul Ørnstrup, one of the authors of the study who works for the Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark; this study is the first Resveratrol study that tries to determine the potential of Resveratrol as an anti-osteoporosis drug that can help humans.

This study was performed as a double-blinded, placebo controlled trial that tried to assess the signs of bone formation and resorption and bone mineral density in sixty six men who suffered from metabolic syndrome. This trial went on for a period of 16 weeks, where the men were either made to take a placebo, a 500mg dose of Resveratrol or a 75mg dose of Resveratrol two times a day.

According to the results of the trial, men who took the 500mg dose of Resveratrol saw an increase of almost 2.6% in terms of the volumetric bone mineral density of the lumbar spine. Moreover, the group of men who were offered a higher percentage of Resveratrol also managed to see a 16% increase in the BAP levels (Bone formation marker Alkaline Phosphatase levels) when compared to the rest of the group.

Marie states that the findings of this study state that the Resveratrol can actually stimulate the bone-forming cells within the human body. She also mentions that within just four months of being offered with a high dose of Resveratrol, the study observed a significant increase in the BAP levels as well as improvements in the bone mineral density.

Marie believes that this study has actually offered the scientific world with highly encouraging results. Although additional research is still needed before it can be ascertained whether Resveratrol can actually offer these wonders and whether Resveratrol can be used for long-term treatments, but experts from the skin care and scientific world are already excited to find out yet another wonder that Resveratrol has to offer.

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