Calcium Supplements: A Deadly Mistake?
Written by
Irma Jennings, INHC
Uploaded
November 1
What’s the number one supplement you need for your bones?
Most people I talk to will say calcium, of course. In fact, more than half of women over 60 take calcium supplements. I get it. They don’t want to break a bone. And they don’t want to have osteoporosis.
But instead of getting harder bones, they may be getting hardened arteries.
When I was a kid, one of my jobs was to rid the lawn of dandelion weeds. It was tough work. The roots reached deep into the soil and didn’t want to come out.
Even though I associated dandelions with this yearly struggle, I was still always delighted to see the bright yellow flowers pop up every spring. I give them credit for piquing my lifelong curiosity about plants.
Fast-forward 55 years and I rediscovered dandelions in Damanhur, a magical 40-year-old eco-village nestled in the foothills north of Piedmont, Italy.
In my bad old Wall Street days – before Skelly and I were such good friends – my idea of breakfast was a cigarette and a cup of coffee. As my Skelly likes to say, “We’ve come a long way, Baby!”
These days I take breakfast seriously. In a minute I’ll tell you about my favorite go-to morning food ritual.
Like me, chances are you grew up eating a ton of cold breakfast cereals like Frosted Flakes, Kix, and Rice Krispies. Maybe over the years you graduated to Special K, Fiber One, or even Kashi Go Lean.
Clients often ask me which breakfast cereal is best for your bones. My answer is always the same:
none of the above.
When Skelly (the skeleton and bones that lives in us all) wants a special treat I pull out my recipe for kale chips. You see, kale is a superfood when it comes to building strong bones. Here’s why.
These Cruciferous Vegetables Feed Your Bones and Heal Your Body
I have to tell you about a TEDx talk that blew me away. It’s a riveting story about a doctor taking control of her own health.
Terry Wahls is an MD and an athlete. But in 2000 she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She followed all the advice that mainstream medicine had to offer. But her condition continued to decline rapidly until she was confined to a wheel chair.
That’s when she turned to food and functional medicine. Today she is out of the wheelchair, active, energetic, and free of MS symptoms.
(more…)You know by now that Skelly and I are big fans of leafy green vegetables. But there’s another family of veggies we love just as much for bone health – maybe even more.
Know why? These veggies can have almost 10 times the amount of calcium as milk does. And unlike milk they also have all of the other trace minerals a body needs for strong bones. In fact, they can have 10 to 20 times the amount of bone-friendly minerals as other vegetables.
There’s snow on the ground today and my Skelly is chilled to her marrow. It’s the perfect day for bone broth.
Your grandmother knew a rich stock made from the bones of a chicken could cure a winter cold or flu. It soothes sore throats and builds up strength. An old proverb even claims “good broth will resurrect the dead.”
The last thing you should be taking for your bones is a calcium supplement. And don’t even think about drinking a glass of milk.
That’s according to Dr. Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD. In his recent book Death By Calcium he turns everything you thought you knew about bone health upside down. Starting with calcium.
Do you know how much calcium you’re really getting from your food?
I’m not talking about how much calcium is in the food you eat. I’m talking about how much of that calcium your body actually absorbs. Scientists call it bioavailability.
Here’s what it means. (more…)
