Listen To Your BONES!

Hello!! HAPPY Monday :D
How are you?! How was your weekend?! I had a GOOD and PRODUCTIVE couple of days and hope you did too!! It's the beginning of another week, so lets start it going STRONG :D I'm starting to feel Halloween in the air! What about you?! Halloween has always been 1 of my favorite holidays, so I'm SUPER excited it's next weekend!! This will be the first time in 18 years that my family won't be celebrating Halloween with our extended family, so I'm taking it upon myself to make my mom's FABULOUS meatloaf and my sister's AMAZING pumpkin squares and hot cider! I got this!! I think...lol!!!

Today's post is on BONES :D There's nothing SCARY about our skeleton! Its 206 heroic bones support our every move!! The following information is from Dr. Oz The Good Life magazine, so keep reading and find out how to keep the framework STRONG and HEALTHY!!

- Bones are like factories! Though they appear to just sit there, bumpy and rocklike, bones are really busy worker bees. They manufacture and store marrow, a stem cell-rich substance that produces red and white blood cells. Your bones also constantly break down and rebuild themselves in a process called remodeling, which keeps your skeleton strong, helps it adapt when your weight changes, and regulates how much calcium is in your blood and tissues.

- Your skeleton loves a good workout! You can bulk up your bones by putting them under tension and pressure, so high-impact moves like jogging, tennis, or stair-climbing are ideal, says Kathleen D. Little, Ph.D., an associate professor of exercise science at Cleveland State University. Impact bends the bones a little, making certain cells attract calcium, she says. Oh, and your bones like weight training, too. They're not asking for much: Only 10 minutes of exercise a few times a day. Most important is to get up and do something. Your skeleton lives by the use-it-or-lose-it principle, which is why astronauts lose bone mass in space with no gravity to work against.

- Give them the right fuel! Calcium is key: If there's not enough onboard, your body will rob this mineral from your bones to use for other critical tasks (including keeping teeth strong, contracting muscles, and holding your weight steady). The result, of course, is weaker bones. More than a third of us don't get enough calcium, says Taylor C. Wallace, Ph.D., senior director of science policy for the National Osteoporosis Foundation. And about 70% of us don't meet our need for vitamin D, which helps you absorb the mineral. Aim for 1,000 mg of calcium and 800 IU of vitamin D a day. Women over 50 need more: 1,200 mg of calcium and 1,000 IU of vitamin D. If you're not hitting those marks with foods like milk, yogurt, tofu, and calcium-fortified orange juice, take supplements.

- Age-proof your armature! If bones had feelings, they'd fear menopause (OK, and maybe skateboarding). Thanks to dropping estrogen levels, you can lose up to 20% of your bone density within 5 to 7 years after your last period, says Andrea J. Singer, M.D., director of bone densitometry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. That can set you up for osteoporosis, the disease that makes your skeleton lacy and fragile. So be sure to get enough calcium and exercise before menopause.

NONFRIGHTFUL information you may NOT know :D

- The smallest, lightest bone is the stapes, in your middle ear.
- Arms account for almost half of all adult broken bones.
- More than a quarter of the bones in your body are in your hands (54).
- The longest, strongest bone is your femur, a.k.a. the thighbone.
- Each foot contains 26 bones.
- Your bones constantly replace their old cells with fresh, new ones, so you'll have a completely new skeleton 10 years from now.
- By age 30, your bones are as dense as they're going to get. After that, you need to maintain what you have with a nourishing diet and exercise :)

Listen to your bones! Use this BAD-TO-THE-BONE (in a good way) information and keep the framework in FITastic shape!!
If you have any COMMENTS or QUESTIONS regarding this post...don't be SPOOKED...lol! I'm practicing some Halloween words today!! Just saying :D
Have an AWESOME day!
SEE YOU right back here on Wednesday!!