Posts Tagged ‘Diet’
I Can’t Have Osteoporosis – I Feel Fine
This week a patient told me “I can’t have Osteoporosis, because I feel fine!” Osteoporosis is often silent. Osteoporosis can sneak up on you. You do not feel a thing – until the first fracture. And even then you must pay attention to realize that you have been warned.
High blood pressure can hide until the first stroke, or TIA if you are lucky. High cholesterol can hide until the first heart attack, a minor one if you are lucky. Diabetes can be overlooked until your eyesight or kidneys fail, or you lose a leg to ulcers. However, all of these, including Osteoporosis, can be successfully treated before a major problem arrives!!!
Start with Dietary Calcium
Once again we are warned of the dangers of calcium supplements. Once again those studies cited prescribed supplements without regard to total calcium intake, including diet. What matters is total calcium intake, including diet.
I prescribe a lot of Calcium Citrate for my patients. I would prefer not to. Dietary Calcium is more easily digested than supplements, and appears to hold fewer dangers than Calcium Carbonate or other calcium supplements. Unfortunately, we have lost our taste for calcium rich foods. There are tasty choices.
Toxic and Addictive – Sugar
Obesity is becoming a BIG issue in the US and around the world. Countries which struggled to find enough food only decades ago now have growing numbers of overweight and obese citizens. Along with increased weight, we are seing huge increases in diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease. Who or what is to blame?
Sugar is one obvious suspect. About 80% of all prepared foods in the US contain sugar, high fructose corn-syrup, and other calorie rich sweeteners. Some health policy activists are pushing for government regulation of sugar as a toxic and addictive substance – like tobacco and alcohol.