The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach [Paperback]

The Whole Food Guide to Strong Bones provides an outstanding summary of basic principles medical experts now agree on that can tremendously reduce risk of bone fractures and injury. Armed with current information and common sense, it really is possible to greatly improve one's bone health with balanced diet and exercise, and this marvelous book shows how this can be done.

My interest in the subject of bone health has increased as I enter my midlife years, and hear of so many women who have been diagnosed with osteoporosis and low bone density. I have felt I was aware of some basics for good nutrition that improve bone strength and resiliency, but The Whole Food Guide to Strong Bones points out to me how many ideas I have accepted for years are actually based on out-of-date or inaccurate data... such as getting lots of dairy products and/or calcium is one of the best things you can do for your bones.

I was surprised to learn that 75% of people seeking osteoporosis advice are Vitamin D deficient, perhaps due to people spending so much time indoors and using sunblock every time they go outside. Daily lettuce added to one's diet can lead to 45% reduced risk of hip fractures, and some people who eat low calcium diets suffer fewer fractures than their high-calcium diet counterparts, such as people living in the USA and Scandanavia. I am really happy to learn of the advantages of exercise in helping bring the calcium we eat into our bones, as well as the way that we can increase magnesium while reducing calcium intake and actually increase our bone density.

While the fully detailed analysis of how we can best ensure good bone health may seem complex, author Annemarie Colbin cuts through the piles of research and cutting-edge medical theories to make it easy to understand what we most need to know about diet and weight-bearing exercise. I love the examples given of how people have successfully turned their bone health around, and the one third of the book dedicated to bone-healthy, tasty recipes.

I highly recommend The Whole Food Guide to Strong Bones to anyone wishing to enjoy many years of good bone health.

Colbin has been writing about food and health for over thirty years with logic and intelligence. She documents credible resources throughout this book and challenges the prevailing stronghold of the pharmaceutical and commercial food industries over our "well being". She also addresses the roles of exercise and the tenor of emotional energy we embrace upon our whole-being and the health of our living, dynamic skeletal system.
I was trained as a clinical nutritionist and she brings up important factors that were previously never academically addressed, such as crucial pH levels and the utilization of bone calcium to compensate for the out of balance diet, which is standard American fare. This book complements the increasingly popular voice of Michael Pollan, championing the importance of a back-to-basics approach to food: Eat your greens, and lots of them. This simple advice may be the key to surviving, by avoiding, our complex and expensive medical system.

Enhanced with the inclusion of 85 recipes, Annemarie Colbin's "The Whole-Food Guide To Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach" is an invaluable and informative guide to the role good nutrition plays in strengthen the human skeletal system and can be the key to naturally rebuilding bone mass. Among the vitally important issues comprehensively addressed are which foods can actually weaken bones, diminish bone mass, and why such approaches as estrogen therapy, calcium supplements, and even prescription medications may not be efficacious. Of special note is the information concerning what can place us at risk for bone fracture -- which is a hazard that can be increasingly dangerous as we grow older. Thoroughly 'reader friendly', "The Whole-Food Guide To Strong Bones" is a welcome and highly recommended addition to personal, family, and community library Holistic Medicine reference collections and supplemental reading lists.