... for Healthy Bones
Index to more 10 Commandments

1. Pick your ancestors carefully  (ha-ha, just kidding.  But if your ancestors had osteoporosis, you are at greater risk too.)
   
   
2. Exercise, participate in sports, run and walk a lot in your pre-teen years, and have a calcium-rich diet - it builds greater bone mass that will stay with you longer  (probably too late for you, but encourage young family and friends).   This is especially important for girls, who will have greater demands on their calcium in later years, and who usually are less active physically than their male counterparts.
   
   
3. Stay active all your life.   Especially important in later years are weight training,  plus impact-type exercises; anything involving   walking, running, jumping, etc.  These all  stimulate bone strength.
   
   
4. If you breast-feed your babies (we hope you do), be sure to get extra calcium so you don't give them part of your own bones' strength.
   
   
5. Either spend a little time in the sun (use sunscreen, please!), or take 400 to 600 units of Vitamin D every day.
   
   
6. Take calcium supplements, as well as other minerals.  Take it with juice for better absorption.  Your bones are made of that stuff.  You need about 1000 to 1500 milligrams of calcium daily in your diet, but you have to spread it out.  Taking that much all at once won't get it. 
   
   
7. Women:   don't pass menopause.  (Just kidding again.)  Of course you will, but that puts you at much greater risk.  Be aware, prepare and take extra steps to avoid weak bones.  If you are at very high risk, hormone replacement after menopause may help you ward off osteoporosis to some extent.
   
   
8. Cut the high protein!   You don't need it!  Moderate amounts are all that are necessary.  The average Western diet high in protein (especially meat, poultry, eggs and cheese) add unacceptable amounts of fat to the diet, put a burden on the kidneys and other organs, and can cause minerals, including calcium, to leach out of the body.   
   
   
9. Buy calcium-fortified apple, orange and other juices.  There's more and more available.  Stay away from excesses of sodas and coffee.   Eat canned sardines, anchovies, mackerel and salmon with their bones.  Add lemon juice or tomato when you cook soup or broth with bones in it; that extracts some calcium out into the broth.  Add tofu and other soy products to the diet. If you use milk products, go for non-fat and reduced fat products; they are lower in calories and have a higher percentage of calcium.  Be sneaky!
   
   
10.   Be aware.  If you haven't yet started to get osteoporosis, measure your height on a closet door post.   Measure every six months after fifty.    If you are at high risk, or notice some shrinkage, you are going to need your doctor's help to avoid crippling fractures and deformities.   Start now to protect dem bones.