Make Dem Bones Alive Again
A few weeks ago, I did a metabolic health screening for a group of people that have a good mindset about their personal fitness. In fact, these were Crossfitters … so some might say they are even a little fanatical about their health! [For the record, they are not hyper-competitive 20-somethings, but rather 30-60 year olds wanting to stay fit and active.]
I expected some signs of metabolic health issues to surface … such as elevated % body fat, low muscle mass, and a metabolic age higher than their chronological age. And I did find these and in some cases, sub-clinical metabolic syndrome.
But frankly I was unprepared to see depleted bone mineralization in many cases … in a group of devoted exercisers. Several were as much as two pounds (20-30%) lower than the typical bone mass should be.
So how could those who regularly exercise (including weightlifting and functional movements typical of CrossFit) … which is known to stimulate bone growth … be so depleted?
Hmmm …
Giving this some thought, I would suggest a couple of possible explanations:
- Processed foods of the American diet have little to no nutrients compared to real, whole foods.
- Worse yet, conventionally grown foods are increasingly nutrient depleted because of “Big Ag’s” practices and the mineral depletion of the soil in which the food is grown.
- More specifically, so much of our foods is tainted with glyphosate, which is an aggressive mineral chelator which further removes minerals from our bodies. Further glyphosate disrupts our microbiome by killing gut flora, which is crucial to properly metabolizing our food and making those minerals and nutrients bio-available to our bodies.
- Little supplementation to address the dietary deficiencies of our modern diet or the issues of stress and heavy exercise.
So what to do?
Here’s what I’ve recommended to those that I’ve seen with this situation:
- Commit to increasing the amount of organic foods in their diet … more nutritious and reduced exposure to glyphosate
- Commit to reducing processed foods and cooking whole foods
Supplement with high quality products … ideally with the advice of a nutritionist, naturopathic doctor or chiropractor. For optimal bone health, these formulations generally include some specific form of calcium, magnesium, Vitamin K2 (in the form of MK7), Vitamin D3 as well as trace minerals such as boron, zinc and manganese.
Begin to use bone broth. Recipes are readily available online.
Grow your vegetables in your garden in organic soil, or buy your organic produce at a Farmer’s Market.
Don’t expect a change overnight. It takes 1-2 years to re-mineralize bones.
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