 Hello, everyone! This is Dr. Bob Salamon with Lowcountry Chiropractic. As always, I hope you’re doing well and staying healthy! In my last blog, we talked about the link between sleep and chiropractic care. Today, we’ll be continuing a previous discussion about some of the best foods for bone and joint health. Be sure to check out part one first! Eating a proper diet is essential for our overall health, and that includes the health of our bones and joints. In fact, there are certain foods that are particularly great for your bones. You’ve most likely heard about the importance of calcium for building strong bones, with milk in particular being pushed as a source of calcium. While this is certainly true, there are many more options out there– You are not limited to milk! If you are interested in learning more about the best foods for bone and joint health, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s get right into it!
For a quick recap, let’s take a look at what bones and joints actually are. Bones are living, growing tissue made up mostly of collagen. Collagen is a type of protein naturally produced by the body and is found in various parts of the body including tendon, bone, and skin. Calcium phosphate is a type of mineral that aids in healthy bone development and is crucial from infancy to adulthood. The combination of collagen and calcium makes our bones strong and flexible enough to withstand stress. As we age, bone mass can either stabilize or start declining. The route your bones take is largely determined by your lifestyle. If you lead a healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise and a diet sufficient in calcium and vitamins, C, D, A, and K, you can prevent bone loss. Last time, we mentioned foods such as red peppers, salmon, almond butter, cruciferous vegetables, ginger, and beans! Let’s take a look at some more bone-building and joint-supporting foods! Eggs Eggs contain a variety of vitamins and nutrients that are beneficial for your overall health. Some of these nutrients are particularly good for your bones and joints, too! For example, eggs contain vitamin D, which is a fat-soluble vitamin that helps the body absorb and retain calcium. Since the body only produces vitamin D when skin is exposed to sunlight, getting vitamin D through your diet is important. Additionally, eggs contain zinc, which is a trace mineral that plays a major role in healing damaged tissue, building proteins, and more. This essential mineral has also been found to promote bone regeneration, and it increases protein synthetase, which helps protect bone health. A recent study found a positive link between whole egg consumption and bone health. Seeds There are a variety of seeds out there: Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, chia, and more! Since seeds help develop plants, they are rich in nutrients. Seeds are great sources of fiber, as well as minerals and antioxidants. Some seeds also provide calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. Magnesium is a mineral that plays a large role in maintaining healthy bones. In fact, about 60% of magnesium in the body is found in the bones! Phosphorus is another mineral that is a component of bones and teeth. It works closely with calcium to build strong bones and supports bone augmentation and maintenance. A few of the best seeds for bone health include chia seeds, ground flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds. Whole Grains A whole grain is the grain of any cereal that contains the endosperm, germ, and bran. They offer a full range of health benefits, unlike refined grains, which only contain the endosperm, and are stripped of valuable nutrients. The bran is the outer layer that is rich in fiber and supplies B vitamins, iron, zinc, magnesium, antioxidants, and more. The germ is the middle part, or core, of the seed and contains healthy fats, vitamin E, B vitamins, phytochemicals, and antioxidants. The endosperm is the inner layer that contains carbohydrates, protein, and small amounts of B vitamins and minerals. Phytochemicals in whole grains help protect against a variety of diseases, including osteoporosis, which causes bones to become weak and brittle. Dark Chocolate If you’ve got a sweet tooth, you’re in luck! Dark chocolate is a type of chocolate that contains cocoa solids and cocoa butter, without milk and butter that is found in milk chocolate. This type of chocolate has been touted for its health benefits, which have been supported by science. In order to get the maximum benefits that dark chocolate has to offer, it’s best to look for high-quality dark chocolate with a high cocoa content, such as a bar containing 70 to 85% of cocoa. Dark chocolate with high cocoa content can provide fiber, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc. Studies have shown that dark chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa can provide a good source of these minerals that promote bone health. However, because of the high sugar content, dark chocolate should be consumed in moderation. Garlic Garlic is the edible bulb of a flowering plant closely related to onions. It has long been used for medicinal purposes, as it is rich in antioxidants and is incredibly nutritious. Additionally, studies have shown that garlic consumption helps reduce oxidative stress, which is an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in the body. Oxidative stress can take a toll on bone health. Research has found that garlic can be especially beneficial in preventing bone loss in women, as it helps increase estrogen levels, which supports bone health. Fortified Foods And Drinks There are also a variety of fortified foods and drinks out there that can help promote bone health. Fortified refers to food or drink that has extra nutrients added, or nutrients added that do not occur naturally. Fortified foods contain vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients that are crucial for many important body functions. This helps make it easier for people to get what they need in their diet. It is also helpful because some foods that are naturally rich in these nutrients can be expensive– Fortified foods are generally less expensive, which makes it easier for many people to buy regularly. The most common fortified foods include breakfast cereal, fruit juice, milk, yogurt, and bread. Common nutrients added to these foods include calcium, vitamin A, vitamin D, folic acid, and iron. Some fortified cereals or juices actually contain a higher amount of calcium than what can be found in leafy green vegetables. What foods should be avoided? While there are many foods that are great for bone health, there are also some that may have the opposite effect. For example, a diet high in salt can cause calcium loss, which weakens bones over time. (To be clear, this means table salt, not simply sodium.) Getting the recommended daily amounts of calcium and vitamin D can help offset the bone loss from salt. Salt is a key ingredient in many processed foods, including fast food, so avoiding processed foods is best. Additionally, you may try cooking without added salt. Here is a short list of processed foods, as well as other foods, that can be detrimental to bone health:
If you cannot cut these foods out of your diet, try to eat them in moderation. As you can see, these are just some of the best foods that support bone and joint health, as well as a few of the foods you may want to avoid. Keep in mind that you cannot get strong, healthy bones from a diet alone– You must also make other lifestyle changes, such as getting adequate exercise. Additionally, chiropractic care helps enhance your body’s natural healing process, thus supporting bone health. I hope you found this article informative. If you have any concerns about your bone health, consider reaching out to Lowcountry Chiropractic! We specialize in different chiropractic techniques, as well as both therapeutic and Swedish massage. Send us an email or give us a call and we’ll assess the situation and develop a treatment plan to address your needs. We want to help you live a healthy and pain-free life– it’s what you deserve. As always, this is Dr. Bob and I have your back covered!
0 Comments
 Hello, everyone! This is Dr. Bob Salamon with Lowcountry Chiropractic. As always, I hope you’re doing well and staying healthy! In my last post, we talked about degenerative disc disease, a condition in which a damaged disc causes pain. Today, we’ll be discussing some of the best foods for bone and joint health. Eating a proper diet is essential for our overall health and wellness, but there are certain foods that are especially great for your bones and joints. When it comes to bone health, it is likely that you have heard about the importance of milk. That’s no myth– milk is a great source of calcium, which is great for your bones, and we’ll get into why later. But you are not limited to milk– there are many more options out there to promote healthy bones and joints. If you are interested in learning more about the best foods for bone and joint health, you’re in the right place. Let’s dive right in.
First, let’s take a closer look at bones and joints. Bones are living, growing tissue made up mostly of collagen. Collagen is a type of protein naturally produced by the body and is found in various parts of the body including tendon, bone, and skin. It is the most abundant protein in the body, and plays a vital role in the structure and function of skin, cartilage, bone, and connective tissue. The collagen provides a framework for the bone, while calcium phosphate hardens the framework and adds strength. Calcium phosphate is a type of mineral that aids in healthy bone development and is crucial from infancy to adulthood. More than 99 percent of the calcium in the body is found in the bones and teeth, while the remaining 1 percent is in the blood. The combination of collagen and calcium makes our bones strong and flexible enough to withstand stress. Joints help allow movement and are complex structures made of bone, cartilage, muscles, and ligaments. Bones work together with our muscles and joints to hold our body together and give us the freedom of movement. This is known as the musculoskeletal system. As mentioned before, bone is a living tissue, which means that this tissue is constantly renewing itself. During childhood and adolescence, new bone is added to the skeleton faster than the old bone is removed. This encourages bones to become heavier, larger, and denser. By the time you reach your 20s, the density of minerals in your bones is at its peak. As you continue aging, your bone mass can stabilize or start slowly declining. This decline can lead to fractures and weak and brittle bones, which often results in a disease called osteoporosis. The route your bones take is largely determined by your lifestyle. If you lead a healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise and a diet sufficient in calcium and vitamins, C, D, A, and K, you can prevent bone loss. Now that we have an understanding of how our bones and joints work, let’s take a look at some of the best foods that promote bone and joint health! Red Peppers Bell peppers are rich in vitamin C, which is an essential vitamin that must be consumed in the diet. Vitamin C is necessary for the body to develop and function properly, and it also helps your body make collagen. As mentioned previously, collagen is essential for bones and joints– it makes up parts of your cartilage, tendons, and ligaments that cushion the joints and hold them together. One medium-sized red bell pepper is one of the richest dietary sources of vitamin C, providing approximately 169% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI)! Other foods high in vitamin C include citrus fruits, tomatoes, and pineapple. Salmon Salmon is a popular fatty fish that is regarded as one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. It is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which have been found to improve bone strength, prevent bone decay, and augment bone mineralization. Salmon also contains vitamin D, which is also necessary for strong bones and muscles. Vitamin D helps our bodies effectively absorb calcium and phosphorus, which is another mineral found in bones. According to experts, one of the best ways to get the most out of salmon is by buying and eating canned salmon. Three ounces of canned salmon has 187 milligrams of calcium! If salmon isn’t your thing, you can try other naturally oily fish, such as trout or sardines, which also contain omega-3 fatty acids. Almond Butter Looking for a substitute for peanut butter? Almond butter is a great choice. It is made from ground, roasted almonds, which have a reputation for being a healthy snack. Almond butter is generally high in calories, but it is also rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, such as calcium, potassium, vitamin E, magnesium, and iron. In fact, almond butter contains 60 milligrams of calcium, which is 5% of the recommended daily intake. Magnesium is also important for healthy bones– it helps your body better absorb calcium. Additionally, people with higher intakes of magnesium have been shown to have a higher bone mineral density, which is important for reducing the risk of fractures and conditions such as osteoporosis. Vitamin E has been shown to reduce the risk of bone fractures and preserve bone mass. Cruciferous Vegetables Cruciferous vegetables are a diverse group of vegetables with an array of health benefits. Vegetables that are considered cruciferous include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, bok choy, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, and turnips. These veggies are low in calories and rich in antioxidants, folate, vitamins C, E, and K, and fiber. They are considered nutritional powerhouses! Vitamin K is essential for bone health, as it plays a role in the carboxylation of many bone-related proteins and regulates bone reabsorption. Vitamin K activates proteins involved in bone formation and mineralization. Additionally, cruciferous vegetables contain phytonutrients, which are plant-based compounds that may be linked to reducing or lowering inflammation in the joints. Inflammation of the joints can not only be painful, but chronic inflammation can lead to a reduction in bone density. Ginger Ginger is a flowering plant whose root is widely used as a spice. It is among the healthiest spices on the planet, and has been used in herbal medicine for centuries. The main bioactive compound in ginger is known as gingerol, and it is responsible for the majority of ginger’s medicinal properties. Gingerol has powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Because of these properties, studies have shown that ginger has reduced symptoms of arthritis. Beans Beans such as kidney, garbanzo, and cannellini beans are rich in iron, which is a mineral needed for the body’s growth and development. Iron helps your body make collagen that is needed to rebuild bone. Additionally, they are great sources of fiber and protein. Studies have shown that dietary fibers can benefit bone health by increasing mineral absorption. Protein can also increase muscle mass and calcium absorption. It is important to note that beans also contain substances called phytates, which can affect the body’s ability to absorb the calcium in beans. A good way to avoid this is by soaking beans in water for several hours before cooking them in fresh water– this reduces the phytate level. These are just a few of the many foods out there that are great for bone and joint health. Just as you regularly take care of your eyes and teeth, you should do the same for your bones! A healthy lifestyle can help prevent bone loss, fractures, and conditions such as osteoporosis. Additionally, keeping your body healthy is a great way to get the most out of your chiropractic adjustments. If you have any further questions about bone health or chiropractic care, feel free to reach out to us. I hope you found this article informative. If you or a loved one are suffering from any type of joint or back pain, you may benefit from chiropractic care. Consider reaching out to Lowcountry Chiropractic! We specialize in different chiropractic techniques, as well as both therapeutic and Swedish massage. Send us an email or give us a call and we’ll assess the situation and develop a treatment plan to address your needs. We want to help you live a healthy and pain-free life– it’s what you deserve. As always, this is Dr. Bob and I have your back covered!  Cholesterol is something we should all take very seriously, but there is still a lot of misinformation out there about it that we need to understand. Today Dr. Bob will be debunking some of the most common myths about cholesterol with the help of Dr. Joseph Mercola. Hey everybody! It's Dr. Bob Salamon here with Lowcountry Chiropractic. I hope everyone out there is doing well and staying healthy. Today, we are going to be talking about cholesterol. I first want to say that this information that I am sharing with you comes from Dr. Joseph Mercola, and he is awesome. He has some great information about all kinds of health issues. I encourage you to visit his website, www.mercola.com. He is an osteopathic doctor and has a very natural and holistic medical approach to his work. This information comes from an article he wrote in April of 2016, and I want to give total credit and props to him for this information and inspiration of this blog. I have taken some notes and wanted to share them with you. The topic of the article is cholesterol myths that you shouldn't believe. Myth #1 Cholesterol Is Bad! We always hear about how high cholesterol will cause heart disease. That is not exactly the case. Get this fact! The liver makes three-quarters of the cholesterol that exists in your body. Now if your liver is making cholesterol, would your liver make something that is bad for you? I wouldn't think so! That's really the case. The body actually needs cholesterol, and it is very important for several reasons.
Myth #2 High cholesterol is caused by a bad diet. The reality of it is that only about 20% of your cholesterol is related to the food that you eat, making 80% of the cholesterol found in your body genetic. It has to do more with the liver's inability to get rid of excess cholesterol in people who are genetically inclined to produce more cholesterol. So, it's not really what we eat; a lot of it is genetic! We need to look at someone's genetics, study them, and pay attention to their family's medical history before placing blame on anything else. What is a healthy cholesterol level? The bottom line is that a healthy level varies by person. Your medical doctor will usually say that you have to have cholesterol under 200 and your LDL levels (the bad cholesterol) need to be under 100. In all honestly, these levels vary by person. There are some ratios and measurements that are much more accurate than total cholesterol. Total cholesterol is really not a good indicator of heart health. What is a good measure is the ratio of HDL (the good cholesterol) in your body divided by the total cholesterol. That number should be greater than 24% and is a great measure of whether you're in the right range of heart health. The second measurement is to look at your triglyceride levels, or the levels of fat circulating in your bloodstream. The triglycerides divided by the total cholesterol should be under 2 for a healthy heart. Another good way to measure heart health is to look at the fasting insulin levels in your body. If you're eating a lot of refined sugars, your body produces more insulin, which is there to take the sugar out of your bloodstream. Elevated insulin levels are bad because they promote fat accumulation in your body. An indicator of heart disease is the accumulation of fat in your body, especially belly fat. More Things To Consider For Measuring Heart Health
Myth #3 Margarine is better for you than butter. This is a myth because it has been proven that vegetable-based oils are bad for you; they increase the bad levels of LDLs in your body, and can cause heart problems. What you want to be doing instead is to eat more animal-based fats (eggs and butter) rather than plant-based fats. Omega 3 fats are also a great example of fats to eat and are found in fish. Considering Medications The last thing we are going to talk about is statin drugs. These are the drugs that are used to control cholesterol levels in your body. In general, they're not very effective. In fact, studies have shown that they only benefit about 1% of the population that takes them. They also deplete your coenzyme Q10 levels in your body. This material is responsible for energy production throughout your body, helping it work and function properly. If you don't have enough coenzyme Q10, you won't have enough energy production for your body to work as it needs to. Your heart needs an extreme amount of energy to function, so lower levels of coenzyme q10 can lead to heart disease. What are the healthy non-prescription ways to treat your cholesterol and heart disease?
I hope all of this information helps! Again, special thanks to Dr. Mercola for this incredible information. I hope you've learned something new today that you didn't know beforehand, and I hope you can apply it to your everyday health. If you're having trouble with any aspect of your health, please contact us! We would love to give you some advice and possibly get you started with chiropractic care! Until next time, I am Dr. Bob and I've got your back covered. To read the full article I based this whole blog off of, please follow the link below! https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/04/20/cholesterol-myths.aspx |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2022
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed