Reviewing Healthy Food Options With Our Caregivers That Can Help Protect Against Osteoporosis in Grand Forks, ND
If you are like many other Americans, you likely heard the word osteoporosis in an advertisement talking about treatment but, there are many ways you can help your loved one prevent it as well. How much do you really know?
Some Fast Facts About Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a common disease that is caused when bones lose minerals, like calcium, faster than they can be replaced causing them to become fragile and more prone to fractures. This loss of bone thickness can happen to any bone in the body and often doesn’t have and warning signs or symptoms before a fracture occurs.
Osteoporosis is called the ‘silent disease’ for this reason.
When a person suffers repeated fractures it can cause a number of health problems including loss of mobility or independence, chronic pain, or even in extreme cases premature death.
Eat More Calcium!
Now that we know what osteoporosis is, how can we help our senior loved ones prevent it?
One excellent place to start is by encouraging them to include more calcium rich foods into their diet or take a calcium supplement. This strategy can help strengthen bones at any age!
Commonly cited calcium rich foods include dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt but, those are just the tip of the tasty iceberg! Other calcium rich products include:
- Fish: sardines, salmon, trout, and perch
- Calcium Fortified Foods: breakfast cereal, oatmeal, and some orange juices
- Almond Milk: it has 2x more calcium than cow’s milk!
- Veggies: spinach, okra, collards, white beans, and kale
Vitamin D: The Key to Bone Health
Why is vitamin D important to bone health? It all has to do with calcium absorption. Without enough vitamin D the body can’t produce enough of the hormone called calcitriol, leading to insufficient calcium absorption. When this happens the body will take calcium from bones instead.
There are three ways you can get vitamin D: through skin from sun exposure, from supplements, and through diet.
Recommended vitamin D rich foods include:
- Fatty fish, such as tuna, mackerel, and salmon
- Fortified foods like cereals, some dairy products, or soy milk
- Beef liver
- Egg Yolks
Is There More?
Making sure your loved one is eating a nutritious diet with plenty of vitamin D and calcium is just one part of a an osteoporosis prevention plan and it may not mitigate other factors. Things like lifestyle choices, medications, and menopause can all affect bone density.
If you’re worried about your loved one’s bone health, please consult their doctor.
Why In Home Care Can Make A Difference
At Comfort Keepers®, we understand that you may not be able to keep up with everything in you life, your family’s life, and your senior loved one’s life down to the smallest detail. That’s where our caregivers can step in to help!
All of our caregivers are taught our unique approach to personal care called Interactive Caregiving™. What this means is, your loved one will be not only be supported physically, through a healthy nutritious diet that includes plenty of calcium and vitamin D, but mentally and socially as well.
Our goal is to provide support for seniors to do the activities they love, with the people they love and we accomplish this by giving them an active hand in their care. They will work with their caregiver to plan tasty meals, fun activities, and more in order to secure their independence and make their golden years shine brighter.
If you’d like to learn more about how our caregivers use Interactive Caregiving™ to improve your loved one’s health mentally and physically, please contact us online or call us at (701) 738-0006. Our operators are standing by 24/7 to answer your questions and schedule your free in home consultation.
