by Leslie Askerneese<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t wait until it\u2019s too late, care for your bones now! After menopause occurs, many women start to worry about osteoporosis. For some, this might be too late.<\/p>\n
Osteoporosis weakens the bones and makes them more prone to break. There are no symptoms and you may not even know you have it until you break a bone. Most likely the bones that are affected are the hips, wrist, and the spine.
\nTo detect osteoporosis, a bone density test can be taken. The test measures your bone density at various sites on your body and can be used over time to monitor bone loss.
\nSome preventative things you should do to keep your bones strong:
\nEat a balanced diet of foods that are rich in calcium and vitamin D
\nFor example- low fat or skim milk, cheese, yogurt, green leafy vegetables (steamed not boiled or raw) salmon and almonds<\/p>\n
Exercises regularly
\nFor example- Activities like walking jogging, dancing and lifting weights<\/p>\n
Some risk factors for osteoporosis:
\n\u2022\u00a0Low bone mass
\n\u2022\u00a0Being female
\n\u2022\u00a0Being thin and having a small frame
\n\u2022\u00a0Low calcium intake over your lifetime
\n\u2022\u00a0Vitamin D deficiency
\n\u2022\u00a0Physical inactivity
\n\u2022\u00a0A history of injuries after age 50
\n\u2022\u00a0Family history of osteoporosis
\n\u2022\u00a0Being female and having an estrogen deficiency as a result of menopause
\n\u2022\u00a0Being male and having low testosterone levels
\n\u2022\u00a0Anorexia
\n\u2022\u00a0The use of certain medicines such as corticosteroids and anticonvulsants
\n\u2022\u00a0Receiving chemotherapy
\n\u2022\u00a0Being a smoker
\n\u2022\u00a0Using alcohol in excess
\n\u2022\u00a0Being Caucasian, Asian, African American and Hispanic<\/p>\n
In conclusion, preventive medicine is the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Take care of your body and it will take care of you. Peace and blessing to all. Talk with you next month.<\/p>\n
Leslie Askerneese Aka The Spa Lady<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This column is based upon information received from UPMC for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Leslie Askerneese Don\u2019t wait until it\u2019s too late, care for your bones now! After menopause occurs, many women start to worry about osteoporosis. For some, this might be too late. Osteoporosis weakens the bones and makes them more prone to break. There are no symptoms and you may not even know you have it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}