Food is everything. Do you agree with this statement? If you don’t eat, you cannot live. You will face many health-related complications and ultimately die. Good food makes your personality and bad food undermines it. This post explores all the dietary precautions (what you should eat and what you should avoid) if you want to maintain a healthy skeletal system.
Calcium-Rich Foods
The first thing to ensure if you want strong bones and joints is calcium. Without this single most essential macronutrient, you cannot think of making the skeletal system strong and resilient.
The most effective sources of calcium are dairy products, soya beans, broccoli, cabbage, okra, tofu, nuts, and fortified fruit juice enriched with calcium.
But do you know that only having too much calcium isn’t going to make your joints and bones strong overnight? Keeping consistency in consuming calcium regularly is what will make the difference.
If you would like to know, bones need calcium because they are places where our body stores calcium for the deposit so it can be withdrawn whenever required. Thus, if you have calcium-rich foods daily, it will make your bones strong and healthy over time.
Vitamin D Sources
This is a very essential micronutrient that your body needs. Without it, your body cannot participate in the process of calcium assimilation.
Thus, not just calcium, ensuring enough Vitamin D is crucial too. It helps facilitate the effective utilization of magnesium, phosphate, and other essential nutrients.
The process inside your body isn’t this simple like you have eaten something and it will just instantly offer you the desired results. Everything you take for breakfast, lunch, and dinner goes through a very intensive series of chemical reactions before it finally becomes part of your body.
Thus, after taking calcium, your body needs V-D as well so it can undergo certain processes and make the raw calcium useful. Thus, ensure Vitamin D and see that you don’t overdo it, or you are going to feel nauseous.
Sunlight is the perfect source of this vitamin along with red meat, oily fish, liver, egg yolks, and supplements.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
If you have bone and joint-related pain or problems and thus you have become concerned about your skeletal health, ensure you meet the best orthopedic doctor before paying attention to your diet to rule out underlying disorders.
Moving further, omega-3 fatty acids are also crucial for strong and resilient bones as they are rich in anti-inflammatory properties. Many studies have also demonstrated that the consumption of these fatty acids can also improve the absorption and retention of the amount of calcium you have taken inside your body.
Good sources of these acids are as follows: salmon, sardines, flaxseeds, chia seeds, and walnuts. All these help reduce inflammatory issues and keep bone and joint problems at bay.
Antioxidant-Rich Foods
Do you know your body produces free radicals while carrying out essential activities like cellular metabolism? Free radicals are harmful byproducts produced by your own body.
If your body doesn’t neutralize these dangerous substances with antioxidants, excess free radicals in your bones can negatively impact the skeletal system’s health, resilience, and strength over time.
Vitamin E and C are the best natural antioxidants that promote the prevention of bone loss by controlling free radical formation in the bones.
To ensure plenty of antioxidants in your system, consume fruits and vegetables like berries, oranges, tomatoes, and bell peppers. These are the best sources to combat free radicals.
Protein
This mightn’t sound like something directly important but protein is also vital. Protein is necessary for growth and repair of muscles. Without protein, you cannot keep your muscles nourished and healthy.
Low muscle mass density means less protection for bones and joints. Thick muscle cover is important to cushion the entire skeletal system and keep them away from injuries from external traumas.
People who have thin muscles are more prone to sustain severe injuries like fractures merely as a consequence of normal falls or accidents. Hence, ensure the recommended amount of protein daily. If you are vegetarian, make sure that you add the following food items to your diet.
- Legumes
- Beans
- Black Beans
- Nuts and Seeds
- Whole Grains
- Peas
- Corn
- Asparagus
- Broccoli
- Dairy products
Thus, pay attention to your muscles. Healthy muscles will help protect and cushion your joints and bones.
Sugary and Processed Foods
Avoid sugar and fast food as much as possible. Junk food doesn’t contain the recommended level of nutrition and thus, if you subsist on such foods too much, you are going to ultimately cause health complications including bone problems.
Not having enough nutrition via good-quality foods over time causes a lack of essential macro and micronutrients. So, always ensure a balanced diet to keep your overall health good.
Hydration
If you have joint pain, find the best orthopedic doctor for knee pain first. Don’t ignore this situation. Often people take joint pain lightly and the problem grows in intensity.
Furthermore, water is also crucial. You must have heard of the fact that your body is 75% water. And it is not so hard to understand as well. Just press all your fingertips and you will find that they have a lot of blood inside.
What is the blood? This is nothing but the most abundant liquid content of your body. In addition to that, your joints like the knee and hip contain the synovial membrane.
This membrane lines the joint cavity and lubricates the concerned joint via a particular type of fluid secreted by the same. Thus, for better bone and joint health, drink enough water. Don’t fill your belly up to the neck in one go. Try to do it in little sips.
Moderate Alcohol and Caffeine
Substance abuse like smoking and alcoholism is bad for your bones. Besides, drinking too much caffeine is also bad as it interferes with calcium absorption and contributes to bone loss over time.
Conclusion
These are the dietary precautions for making your bones healthy and strong. But if your joints or bones are in pain, make sure you don’t ignore this. Discuss your problem with a good orthopedic specialist.
