Worried About Osteoporosis?

Transcript:

MELANIE: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. I'm Melanie Beasley and I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, and I've been helping clients achieve their health goals for over 30 years. My favorite part about my career is being able to help others overcome their health challenges and feel better doing so through eating real food.

Our topic today is very special to me because it's a condition I feel is very important for all women and even some men. Today we're going to be sharing how to improve bone health and overcome osteoporosis using real food nutrition and practical lifestyle habits. If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis, or you're just working proactively to avoid that diagnosis, maybe because someone in your family has it, and you want to sidestep that disease, just stay tuned because we have some real practical solutions for you.

And I'm happy to be here discussing osteoporosis today with my cohost, Britni Vincent because it's one of my favorite nutrition topics. If you're a longtime listener, you probably will recognize Britni’s voice. She has been cohosting Dishing Up Nutrition and counseling clients with Nutritional Weight and Wellness for almost 10 years. During that time, she has helped countless women prevent the progression of osteoporosis and osteopenia using real food nutrition, and lifestyle habits. Hi Britni.

BRITNI: Hello. Thank you, Melanie, for that introduction and hello to our listeners. Hard to believe it's almost been 10 years. Time really does fly.

MELANIE: Yeah.

BRITNI: But it's been such a privilege to watch my clients achieve their health goals all these years through real food. And it is really exciting to hear, get that email or hear from a client that their bone density actually improved. And we see that happen often. We're going to talk all about the steps to achieve that. Osteopenia and osteoporosis, it is one of the most common concerns we see when women first come in to see us.

MELANIE: Yes.

BRITNI: Or, you know, maybe that's not their top goal. But people don't always realize the impact that food has on your bone. So I think there's a misconception that food may not actually improve your bone density that much, which is not true at all.

MELANIE: It can affect it either way, right?

BRITNI: Yeah. Without a doubt. So bone health is a concern I address, I would say, with many, many of my clients, especially those that get into those postmenopausal years. And Melanie is an expert in bone health. So I feel lucky to get this expert information from her today.

MELANIE: I am always interested in everything bone.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: I'm a bone nerd. So it's really no surprise why it's a topic of concern to so many, including many of our listeners tuning into this podcast. It's a scary diagnosis if you've gotten it. I have to say, we used to have mandatory DEXA scans around the same time you had mandatory colonoscopies. So, when you turned 50, you got a bone density scan, you got a colonoscopy; welcome to 50. Now they've pushed it to 65, which I find ridiculous.

BRITNI: Yeah.

Statistics on osteoporosis

MELANIE: Because you can do something about this. The earlier you're diagnosed, the better your outcome and the faster you can get on it. And it's a good baseline. So it's really something I feel is important. So let me share some startling statistics with you. In the U.S., about one in five women and one in 20 men age 50 and older have been diagnosed with osteoporosis. And even higher population of women, 1 in 3, have bone thinning that could lead to osteoporosis and that's called osteopenia.

In fact, women over the age of 45 spend an average more days in a hospital due to an osteoporotic fracture than any other disease including diabetes, heart attack, and breast cancer. It is a big deal and it is a silent disease because it doesn't lend any pain until you have fractured and then, wow, you find out the jeopardy your bones are in.

So you may wonder why do so many Americans have such a high rate of osteoporosis and what can we do about it? We're going to guide you through practical steps that you can take at any age to prevent osteoporosis and even strengthen your bones even if you have already been diagnosed with this disease.

What makes up the structure of bones?

BRITNI: First, I think to get a better understanding, let's just take a minute to talk about what makes up the structure of our bones. So it might surprise you to learn that bones are actually a living tissue. Bone is in fact one of the most active tissues in the body, constantly breaking down and rebuilding in a process called remodeling.

And the hard outer layer of a bone is made up of minerals, a lot of calcium, phosphorus and other trace minerals. And these minerals are held together by an inner spongy layer that's made up of collagen and fat as well.

MELANIE: Fat. Yes. It's not something you really think about. That's a really good way to describe bones and as you can imagine, from the makeup of the actual bone structure, in order for that remodeling to happen, you need to consume a variety of minerals, proteins, and fats in your diet to support the structure of the bones. You can't build bones from nothing, right? So our bones are not made up of Skittles or Cheetos, right? We've got to give it the building blocks.

And if we're not eating the real foods that support our bones, we could be setting ourselves up for some really painful fractures down the road. And unfortunately, once a bone fractures from osteoporosis, it almost sets up a cascade of more fractures. There's something that happens there. So we want to avoid that first fracture, which means we want to be on top of what our bones are doing and are they thinning or not.

BRITNI: And I think this information is wonderful for anybody, even if you've not had a DEXA scan before, just to be proactive and the beauty of it is everything we talk about today is going to benefit your health in other ways as well.

MELANIE: Right. It's a win-win situation. But when I get a client, Britni, I'm sure you do the same thing, and I see certain risk factors, I'm asking them to go to the doctor, say these are my risk factors, maybe it runs in your family, maybe you're on antidepressants or anti-acid medication or steroids for asthma, there are risk factors and get a density test.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Push for that. Push for that. And they're only a hundred dollars out of pocket if your doctor would even just write it and your insurance doesn't cover it.

BRITNI: And like you said, it's a really great baseline because I have had clients that they don't get a DEXA scan until their seventies and then it's hard to know, if you've been eating this way, has it been improving or we just don't know. There's a lot of question marks.

MELANIE: And that's the thing that we don't know is did I lose the bone at 40?

BRITNI: Yes.

MELANIE: And now I'm 70 and my bones are staying, they've stayed the same or am I in a downward trajectory where I'm losing bone actively? So this is why every two years is a good check.

Is dairy consumption necessary for strong bones?

BRITNI: Yeah for sure. Big fan of gathering data when you can. Take a moment to think about the foods that you've been taught to eat to build strong bones. And I can almost guarantee the first thing that comes to mind is a big glass of milk.

MELANIE: Yes.

BRITNI: Skim milk.

MELANIE: That's what we were taught in grade school.

BRITNI: Absolutely. Or maybe other forms of dairy like yogurt, cottage cheese, or orange juice because it's fortified with calcium. I think it's really been ingrained in our brains for decades that to go big and strong bones, we need to consume dairy daily. And we're encouraged to drink milk at every single meal.

MELANIE: I want to say this is not true.

BRITNI: No, it's absolutely not.

MELANIE: We have other countries that don't consume dairy that have much better bones than America who we are a big dairy consumer who have a high rate of osteoporosis. What's the connection?

BRITNI: Well, you know, I remember a lot of those “Got Milk?” ads when I was little. You just think about all the advertising that we've seen over the years. And in this country, we consume a lot of dairy, but what else do we consume a lot of? Sugar.

MELANIE: Sugar.

BRITNI: Carbohydrates.

MELANIE: Processed carbohydrates, fake foods, Frankenfoods.

What are some good sources of calcium?

BRITNI: And the truth of the matter is, is you can get plenty of calcium through other forms.

MELANIE: What would some of those forms be?

BRITNI: Nuts, broccoli.

MELANIE: Leafy greens, salmon, sardines. And it's more bioavailable, but calcium is a small player, surprise, surprise, in building the building of bone. It's a small player. It is not, I would say protein is much more critical in building bone than calcium is. And that's not what we were taught.

BRITNI: Not at all. And the salmon, if you like canned salmon, and you're okay with the bones in there, it's a great source of calcium.

MELANIE: So one of the things I do if you use canned salmon is open it up, don't look at it, drop it in, make your salmon patties, and then it's fine.

BRITNI: Yeah. You're none the wiser.

Healthy fat supports bone health

MELANIE: You're none the wiser. But you know, they're very high in calcium. So listeners in the past, would you have ever thought of eating fat to support your bones? We need the good healthy fats like butter, coconut oil, maybe some heavy cream if you're not dairy intolerant or avocados to not only build up that inner bone mesh, but to help calcium get absorbed into the bone with the help of fat soluble vitamins like vitamin D and vitamin K.

So if you have been or are currently following that low fat diet that we were all trained for the past three decades to eat, you could be doing your bones some harm because we need that fat for the fatty mesh. The fatty mesh grabs those minerals. So if it's not healthy, you think of a soccer netting with a big hole in it, right? It cannot grab the minerals it needs. So we don't want the nonfat dairy products for strong bones. We don't want to be avoiding fat overly much to lose weight because we need those essential nutrients for bones.

So you may have been diligently consuming low fat dairy products every day thinking you're helping your bones and your weight by a low fat, high calcium food, but you're not actually absorbing those key nutrients without that dietary fat. In fact, a study published by the National Institute of Public Health by researchers at Warsaw University found that women diagnosed with osteoporosis consume significantly lower amounts of dietary fat and protein. There's that protein.

BRITNI: Knowing what we know, that's not surprising, and that fat and the collagen inside that bone, that is what provides flexibility to the bone.

MELANIE: Yeah. And you and I both know we have clients that come in and say, I've been taking calcium for years. How did this happen? So it is the total picture and that's what we're talking about today. Protein and healthy fat are key players and those are macronutrients and that's a key player. If I can get one thing done, it's raise your vitamin D level, make sure it's got K in it and adequate protein. Which we'll talk a little bit more about later.

Protein is critical for bone health

BRITNI: Yeah, we'll dive more into all of that. But let's talk more about protein and why that is so critical. Well, protein, especially from animal sources, that's going to provide us the collagen to make healthy collagen rods inside our bones, which supports our bone structure.

MELANIE: It's like rebar.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Right? If we think of it like rebar and construction sites.

BRITNI: Yes. Yes. And 95 percent of our bone matrix is collagen. So this is really, really crucial to a healthy bone. So eating sufficient protein is critical for healthy bones. And like stated in the study, it's so often under consumed, especially by women.

MELANIE: I'm really glad that you brought that up because a DEXA scan or a bone density scan, it measures how much bone you have left. It doesn't measure how strong the bone that you have is. So that collagen rod is so critical. So that protein and fat is really big, important in preventing fracture because really that's what we're trying to do.

BRITNI: Yes.

MELANIE: Yeah. Yep. I'm so glad, also that you have mentioned that about protein because many times when working with women, they're just not eating enough protein. And when I challenge them to weigh it out at home, they realized they are falling short. And the older we get, the more risk for our bones, but the older we get, the less protein women seem to consume.

BRITNI: So true. So we need to eat protein to make collagen. Collagen builds up the inner bone structure, which allows bones to be flexible. So that if you fall, hopefully your bones are bending, they're not breaking. And then for optimal bone health, I really encourage women to eat 16 ounces of animal protein a day, about four ounces at every meal, a scoop of collagen in there, maybe a good protein powder to pop it up.

But getting enough protein is a part time job when you have osteoporosis. It has to be in the forefront of your mind all of the time. And if you're consuming a lot of processed foods or foods that have low nutrient value, you don't have room for all the protein you have to eat.

BRITNI: No, but on the flip side, eating all of that protein, I guarantee your cravings for those processed carbohydrates are going to go way down or just completely be eliminated.

MELANIE: I agree. I agree. And it revs your metabolism. So women that are concerned about their weight when they're eating all this protein, they find that it's very easy to maintain their weight. It's magic. Protein is magic.

BRITNI: It is. And not only are you building bone then, you're building muscle with all that protein.

MELANIE: I always encourage my clients too, to track it. You can, there's so many trackers out there, apps that you can track it and they usually track in grams. A good ballpark is one gram of protein per pound of at least your ideal body weight. So my ideal body weight is 130 pounds.

That's 130 grams of protein I'm supposed to be consuming a day and I'm back to a part time job. But It's doable. I do it, I, I do it consciously having been someone struggling with osteoporosis; very, very important.

So I want to spend some time today sharing the real life inspirational story of one of our long time Nutritional Weight and Wellness nutrition educators; one of my favorite gals, Oralee, who's been able to reverse her osteoporosis diagnosis without medication through eating real food and healthy lifestyle habits.

And both of her grandmothers had osteoporosis, so she's doing everything she can to not end up suffering like her grandmothers as she witnessed as a little girl. And she loves sharing her story with our Nutrition for Weight Loss class members. And we wanted to spread that message to our Dishing Up Nutrition listeners today, because I think it's a joyful, wonderful, hopeful story for everyone to absorb.

BRITNI: I love a good success story.

MELANIE: I do too. I do too.

Bone building protocol summary

BRITNI: And I think it provides a lot of hope for our listeners. So for Oralee, eating real food is really her top priority. In addition, lifestyle habits like regular exercise, which is very critical for building bone, and we'll touch on later, and good quality sleep, and then some key supplements are all part of her daily routine.

She emphasizes the phrase that we say all the time here at Nutritional Weight and Wellness. “You cannot supplement your way out of a bad diet.” So, if you're eating processed foods but you're taking the best quality bone building supplements, it's probably not going to do anything for you. It really needs to be this big package.

MELANIE: It's a total program. It's a bone protocol that we put people on.

BRITNI: Yes. Some key high quality supplements are helpful for optimal bone health, but more so is just eating real food. That is what is critical for bone health: real animal proteins, healthy fats, real carbohydrates from vegetables. And even if you diligently take high quality supplements but continue to eat a standard American diet, you're just not going to get the optimal results that you want. So it is time for our break.

MELANIE: All right. We hope you are enjoying this episode learning about practical ways to improve your bone health. We invite you to learn more with one of our individual online classes called Preventing Osteoporosis with Bone Building Foods. For just $25, you can learn more about practical tips to prevent or stop the progression of osteopenia or osteoporosis.

In under an hour, you’ll learn more in depth about foods that help and foods that harm your bones, plus simple lifestyle tips you can start doing today. This class will clear up all the confusion about how to choose the right sources of bone health essentials like calcium, as well as sources you should avoid. You can take this prerecorded class at any time for your convenience and watch it as many times as you want for up to 120 days. You can memorize that baby.

BRITNI: That's amazing.

MELANIE: These online individual classes are a favorite of our clients because you get so much valuable information for such a small price in less time than it would take you to watch an episode of your favorite TV show. And you can watch it several times over and over, like we said. To enroll, visit weightandwellness.com and click the Nutrition Classes tab. Again, the class is called Preventing Osteoporosis with Bone Building Foods. We hope you'll take advantage of this valuable offer.

Sign Up for Preventing Osteoporosis with Bone-Building Foods Class - Online

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BRITNI: We are back to Dishing Up Nutrition, and if you have any questions about those online classes, you can call 651-699-3438. And before break, we just started talking about Oralee’s inspirational story about how she reversed her osteoporosis.

The importance of planning meals

MELANIE: Yeah, I'm excited about that. I just love her story and one of the behaviors that Oralee prioritizes, and this one is one of the most important behaviors of all is taking the time to plan her meals out once a week because if you don't plan for success, you will not be successful.

BRITNI: Very true.

MELANIE: So this is important to make sure that you don't find yourself in that position of being stuck with no good food. You're reaching for the box of crackers, no nutrient value for those bones. So we all know that what happens when you get hungry without healthy options, right?

So what she does to constantly manage to make sure that this works for her is, she breaks down her food prep throughout the week and she says, “I keep my foods as simple and delicious as possible. And I plan ahead. I usually grocery shop one night of the week. I do prep like chopping vegetables another night. And finally I cook on my least busy days.”

This way, her meal prep is not all consuming and she's still ready to go by the end of the week. And some of her go to batch cooking recipes are from the Nutritional Weight and Wellness website like crustless quiche for breakfast and for lunch and dinner, soups and stews that make several servings like the hamburger soup or the chili.

Check Out Some of Our Recipes!

These make it super easy for leftovers to get reheated or even freeze them so she can have them later at another time. You know, sometimes you don't want chili every day. So I always freeze portions like Oralee so that I can later down the road defrost that chili when I haven't had it. It takes a little effort in planning, but it is so worth it not only prioritize your health, but to just feel good overall. There's no guesswork then.

BRITNI: Something I noticed with Oralee's meal plan is that she makes meals that are high in protein and they all contain healthy fats and then each of our Nutritional Weight and Wellness meal recipes, you get about four to five ounces of protein per serving and about a tablespoon of healthy fat, which is necessary to nourish that living bone tissue.

And even though she is cooking for herself, like we talked about making those big batches. If you're taking the time and the effort to cook something, it doesn't take that much more effort to make a larger batch and then freeze it and your later self will thank you. I guarantee that.

Vitamin D: essential nutrient for bone health

So let's talk about another essential nutrient for bone health: vitamin D, and you mentioned this a little bit earlier, Melanie, but Oralee gets her vitamin D checked at least once a year, which I would recommend for everybody. Even better, getting it tested twice a year. Usually an ideal level is 50 to 80 nanograms per milliliter. And what I would say is more times than not, people realize that their vitamin D is low. So then starting to supplement or increasing your supplementation, then I would say it's smart to retest in a few months.

MELANIE: Yes.

BRITNI: …to find the appropriate amount for you because that does vary from person to person.

MELANIE: It does. And if I have someone who has full blown osteoporosis, I don't like them hovering around that 50.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: I want them higher. I would say more in the upper 60s or 70s as their minimum because once you dip too low, you're losing bone. And if you already have thin bones it's not something you want to play with. So I feel like it's super critical.

Magnesium is essential for good bone health

Another essential nutrient we recommend supplementing for our clients for good bone health is Magnesium Glycinate or a good source of magnesium depending upon your needs. Not only is magnesium an essential mineral for bone health, it's a huge player. It's as big as calcium, but it actually gets depleted when we are eating processed foods and sugar. So if you're a sugar person, you have to know that you're depleting that magnesium. The more sugar there is, the lower the bone density risk that you have.

And if you are or have been in the past eating a diet high in sugar, processed carbohydrates, especially things like soda, then your bones are lacking minerals. And so it's essential to supplement and minerals are the, are best absorbed at night when we sleep. So we recommend taking magnesium before bed and we recommend Magnesium Glycinate for a high quality absorbable form. It's great for bones.

Comprehensive bone building supplement: Key Osteo Plus

BRITNI: It is. And it might help you sleep better too. So I just want to recap this because it's really important. If you're taking a calcium supplement, but you're not getting adequate magnesium and your vitamin D level is low, that calcium is not going into your bones efficiently. So we need all of that. In addition to the vitamin D, making sure you're taking one with K2.

MELANIE: Yes. Critical for bone health also.

BRITNI: So magnesium, calcium, vitamin D with K2.

MELANIE: So listeners, if you're feeling a little overwhelmed, here is something that is going to ease your mind, is this wonderful product. I take it every day. What is it?

BRITNI: It is Nutrikey Key Osteo Plus. The beauty of it is it's all in one. It doubles as a multivitamin and it is designed to build bone.

MELANIE: Perfect.

BRITNI: To help you build bone. In addition to, of course, eating real food. So it includes calcium, magnesium, B vitamins, vitamin K. I do think that most people need to take additional vitamin D with K2, especially if you do live in Minnesota, to again, ensure that your level is at least 50, Melanie, you said, you know, 60 to 80 is really more optimal for bone health.

MELANIE: I have rarely found a client that can just take a thousand international units of vitamin D and that'd be sufficient. I just don't find it.

BRITNI: No, me either.

MELANIE: Even my clients that I have that are in Florida because they wear sunscreen.

BRITNI: Yes.

MELANIE: So Oralee found that she was forgetting to take her PM packet because the Key Osteo Plus is an AM and a PM packet that you keep about eight hours apart and she was forgetting the PM packet. This is not rare. A lot of our clients have that forgetful PM packet. So once she made a habit, she made this critical habit to take that PM packet as part of her nightly routine. Her bone scans improved. So I also have to say Oralee did an entire bone protocol. Right? She did the exercise that she needed for the bone.

She ate the protein, she ate the healthy fat, she was eating vegetables, she was avoiding a lot of sugar. She took her vitamin D, she took the Key Osteo Plus and she was exercising. She did all of the things and her bones paid off and that's without medication. So when your doctor tells you you can't build bone without medication, I would say a plethora of our clients that have done that, including myself.

Lifestyle factors for healthy bones

BRITNI: Yeah. I want to talk more about those lifestyle factors. We've dived into the, to the eating part. But what about sleep?

MELANIE: Oh, good point.

BRITNI: You know, if you are sleep deprived. You're not getting that time for your body to rest and restore, and that can have a negative impact on your bone. So we ideally need to sleep seven and a half to nine hours each night, during which minerals are absorbed into the bone at the highest rate.

Like mentioned earlier, our bones are a living tissue and are most active in growth and repair while we sleep. So, next time you get sucked in to watching Netflix or whatever you're doing with the electronics, just think about, if I go to bed now, if I go to bed a little earlier, that's going to help my bone health.

MELANIE: Yes.

BRITNI: And so many other things, not just bone health.

MELANIE: And then you're a nicer woman on top of it.

BRITNI: Without a doubt. Yes. And then you mentioned exercise. So that is also really critical to build bone. Talk more about that.

MELANIE: Huge. It is hugely critical. And so I work with my clients who are not able to necessarily formally exercise. We come up with other things that they can be doing. But that's a big lifestyle factor. If we don't stress the bone by exercising… because the muscle and the bone are a unit. And when the muscle is not triggered to strengthen, then the bone says I'm not really needed. And begins to demineralize. When you trigger that muscle, the bone says, I better shore up and get stronger to handle the load.

Very, very important. So you need all of the macro and the micronutrients to build the bone, but then you need to tell the bone it's necessary. And that's where weight bearing exercise comes into play. And so don't let that term weight bearing exercise be intimidating. I'm not talking about, you know, the huge bodybuilders that we see.

It has to be something that suits your frame, your body, but also challenges your bones in a way that they haven't been challenged before. And this can be as simple as a 15-minute YouTube video at home. You don't necessarily need a gym membership. Although some clients when they start an exercise program, maybe they get a trainer or someone to make sure they're doing it properly so they don't injure.

I know that was the case for me having had back surgery and multiple surgeries. I want to make sure I don't injure. So having an expert guide you through initially and then doing it on your own is always a good idea. And one easy thing I like to do at home is just practical heel drops. And that is where you just, go up on your toe, go and drop down onto your heels and you can do that several times a day.

If you're comfortable with that and you can do small jumping, this triggers your bones. And so bone is very, it builds very site specific. The most osteoporosis I had is in my spine. So I work the muscles in my abdominal wall and along my spine in addition to the other things. But it's site specific.

We can't just walk, walk, walk and expect our spine to improve. So that's where it helps to have someone who's trained, who knows what they're doing. But those heel drops are a good place to start because it triggers the bone.

Interesting enough, there were women who were studied who were on assembly lines. And the platform that they stood on vibrated. And these women had amazing bone density from that vibration, which we're mimicking with the heel drops or the walking.

BRITNI: Wow.

MELANIE: Yeah.

BRITNI: Fascinating.

MELANIE: It's a little biohacking that we're doing, right?

BRITNI: You know, there is a study published in 2022 from the American Journal of Preventative Medicine cited that undertaking any amount of resistance training, reduced the risk of all cause mortality by 15%.

MELANIE: 15%. That's a big deal. We have to move our bodies.

BRITNI: Yes.

MELANIE: Have to move them.

BRITNI: So at the age of 75, Oralee started taking group workout classes. So she incorporated that strength training that you've been talking about, Melanie.

MELANIE: And she told us she was intimidated at first to walk in with all these young people, but they love her.

BRITNI: Of course they did.

MELANIE: Because she is so lovable.

BRITNI: And once you get comfortable in it, that pure motivation can be huge. I don't know about you, but I'm going to work out harder and better if I'm with a group of people than just doing something at my house.

MELANIE: Yes, and it's, it really is a social network of people, whether you do anything with them outside or not, they're friendly faces. So I love my workout classes because I, I know the people in there. I've been going for so many years.

BRITNI: Then it becomes fun.

MELANIE: It's fun.

BRITNI: Yeah. And just a side note, there are a lot of gyms that offer discounted or even free memberships through insurance and especially if you're a senior. So that is worth checking into.

MELANIE: Yeah, there's a lot of Silver Sneaker programs. So much out there. I have clients that prefer to work from home, work out from home. There are programs that are just $10 a month. Don't ask me which ones they are, but I have a client and she said, I get all these different videos for $10 a month and she does them at home. I have other clients that throw a DVD in.

BRITNI: Whatever works for you to get that exercise in.

MELANIE: Whatever works for you. You don't need a huge gym. You can have some bands, simple weights at home, but it's important that exercise is key, critical. It's 50 percent of the game changer here. So Oralee always also make sure she has a protein packed breakfast after her workout class.

She makes up three organic eggs. She cooks up some nitrate free bacon, spinach, and a tablespoon of cream cheese, plus a small orange on the side. So, this is a balanced breakfast. It sets her up to feel great. She knows she's nurturing her bones by eating this way and the proof is in that DEXA scan that she got that was fantastic.

BRITNI: Did she always eat this way? No.

MELANIE: She'll tell you no.

BRITNI: She did not. But it is never ever too late to change your eating habits. And at the age of 75, when she was diagnosed with osteoporosis, she really, really prioritized a healthy, real food diet more than ever, and then taking these exercise classes. And in the last two years, she's been able to reverse her osteoporosis just through diet and lifestyle.

So it took her two years, and that is generally what's covered by insurance; every two years to get a DEXA scan and she's feeling better than ever. She's told us that.

MELANIE: It's not just her bones.

BRITNI: Yeah,

MELANIE: It's everything else.

BRITNI: Oralee is just one great example of the impact we can make simply through eating real food, prioritizing the protein, the healthy fat, loading in the vegetables, and getting some key supplements in addition to exercise. You know, that is the whole bone building package. And we hope that we have inspired you to make the effort for your own health today. Prioritize yourself.

MELANIE: Yes.

BRITNI: Improving bone health at any age is definitely possible.

MELANIE: Our goal at Nutritional Weight and Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It's a simple yet powerful message. Eating real food is life changing. Thank you for joining Britni and I today.

BRITNI: Thank you.