Knowledge Base > Deb Kennedy, PhD - Culinary Medicine: Ask Me Almost Anything
Deb Kennedy, PhD - Culinary Medicine: Ask Me Almost Anything
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Question:
I have been diagnosed with Osteopenia. I’m not in favor of supplements, I’d rather increase my calcium through diet. What do you suggest?
— Suzanne Kirk
Answer:
Meaning that you're bones are getting weaker, there's not enough calcium, you're not in favor of supple supplements, that you wanna increase your calcium through your diet and you can definitely do it through your diet depending on how advanced or osteopenia is. And that's a conversation with your clinician. How I can help you right now is to tell you what foods are high in calcium and to tell you that in order to absorb that calcium, it's more than just calcium you're looking for. You wanna make sure you have the vitamin D that lets the calcium in with bone repair, bone, bone repair or building up your bones. You also wanna make sure you have enough vitamin K and vitamin C and um, some Omega-3 fatty acids and magnesium. So you're looking at dark leafy greens, you're looking at fish with the bones in them. So I'm asking to go out and and eat uh, salmon with the bones. But the sardines or the smoked trout the Trader Joe's has, when you eat those bones, you're getting a ton of calcium from 'em as well. Foods that are fortified in calcium are also a great option for you. Whether that's, uh, plant-based milk that's fortified in calcium and vitamin D or whether that's your tofu that is fortified in calcium. A lot of tofu soy products are fortified in calcium. You also wanna make sure that you are not eating a lot of salt. Salt will pull the calcium from your bone. So I've told you what to eat. The green leafies, the fortified foods, the white beans, the figs, the apricots, um, the almonds, the broccoli, and not a lot of salt that'll pull it outta your body. Not a lot of alcohol, not a lot of sweets 'cause you don't want things pulling the calcium from your bones. And you wanna keep your coffee intake to less than three a day. I, when I speak with kids, I let them know that your bones are like a bank. They can absorb calcium until they're about age 25. And then it's about maintaining your calcium. So what you wanna focus on is making sure you're not gonna lose any more calcium from your bone and try and get a little bit more in there.
