Diet for Healthy Bones

The right diet for healthy bones

Are you constantly thinking about how to get strong bones? Then this video is for you.

Hey this is Neha and you are watching NC Tv. Just a few days back I uploaded a video in which I said I gave up dairy and I actually told you about the side effects that dairy has on our body and I was flooded with one question, and that was- Neha where do we get our calcium from to build strong bones? So people I decided to make this video to make sure you get your calcium myth sorted and your bones remain strong for the entire lifetime. So the point is that dairy and dairy products are really acidic for the body and they are not digested by the system. Now the whole point of getting calcium in the bones is by letting the calcium being absorbed by the system. Now when milk and milk products are not even digested by the system because we generally lack the enzyme lactase to digest milk and milk products how will you get the calcium that is there in the milk? So there is no digestion and definitely no absorption of calcium happening.

The dairy industry has done a fantastic job in promoting milk as the sole food rich in calcium for strong bones, but the fact is that every food that you eat has calcium in it, be it your vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, all these fruits have good amount of calcium which are readily absorbed. Also calcium is not just the only mineral needed for strong bones. To help calcium get into bones and build into strong bone mass you need magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, silica, vitamin C, proteins and a lot of other nutrients to make sure that your bones form nice and strong. But people are still fretting about calcium and they wanna eat calcium rich foods to make sure that they don't lose their bones.

So today I'm going to tell you about my top 5 foods which if you intake in your daily diet you don't need to worry about your calcium intake.

So the first on my list are the greens. Green leafy vegetables like parseley, mint, coriander, kale are super rich in calcium. I wouldn't consider spinach as a part of this because calcium in spinach is bound with oxalate which doesn't gets absorbed in the body very well. All your other greens are a great source of calcium. Not only calcium but they also have magnesium, potassium which I said are so important for bone formation. One glass of green smoothie a day can easily replace your one glass of milk and you don't need to worry about your calcium intake.

The second food on my list area seasame seeds, white seasame seed and these are such cute little tiny seeds which are so abundant in calcium. All you need to do is roast them, grind them coursely if you want to make sure you need the best of the nutrients that are inside the seeds because the outer covering is really hard so it might not get digested in your body but when you coursely grind it you make sure that you get all the calcium that is there inside and just make a paste, add it to your salad, to your soups or to yor dal, or just coursely grind the powder and top your salads or porridge with this tiny cute seeds.

Next on my list is ragi. Now this is a very common millet and we Indians are blessed with so many millets that we don't even know of and ragi is actually a poor man's source of calcium because it's so cheap, readily available in India and they are so rich in calcium. So you can actually just have a porridge of this or the roti of ragi is really healthy and I've come up with my own ragi khakras with seasame seeds so they are again a great source of calcium. You can add ragi as a part of your daily diet as lunch or dinner and you are sorted with your calcium.

The fourth ones are dried figs, and these are my personal favourites. I love them, so rich in iron, so rich in energy and so rich in calcium. Not only calcium but even magnesium and potassium. So they form perfect food and perfect ingredient for strong bones. So two or three a day and you are great to go. They are great snacks, you can carry them in your bag and up your energy and up your bone mass.

The fifth on my list is amarauth seeds. Now these are really ancients millets again in India and they can be had as khichdi, porridge, upma, you can roast them or powder them and add them to your laddoos or whatever form you want to. You can even puff them and eat them as popcorn or add it to your porridge. They are again very rich in calcium, magnesium and phosphorous. So these were my top five foods which I feel if you consume in your day to day life you really don't need to worry about your calcium.

But again as I said it's not only about the amount of calcium you eat but also the amount of bone loss or calcium loss that you prevent. So how do you do that? First reduce your salt and sugar intake, because these are really acidic foods and they leech calcium out of your body. Again caffeine in the form of tea or coffee, they make sure that you lose calcium from your bones and osteoporosis is the near future for you. Third, animal proteins are excessively acidic for the body and they again leech calcium from your body when taken in very high amounts. And you need to get yourself moving.

If you wanna preserve the calcium in your bones, get moving. Because when you move your body builds stronger and tougher bones. And lastly don't forget my vitamin D which I say in all my videos. Get enough of the sunshine and then you don't need to fret about your bones, no osteporosis, no arthritis. So I hope all your myths regarding bones, calcium, bone loss is clear.

But if you still have any doubts, myths, or suggestions you can put it on the comments below. Don't forget to give it a big thumbs up, share it with all your friends and family whom you think this video will help and of course don't forget to subscribe to my channel if you want the videos directly in your inbox. And as I always say don't forget to be healthy, beautiful and strong.