First of all- you will need to forget everything you ever learned from the corrupt dairy industry that milk ‘does a body good. ‘  That couldn’t be further from the truth!  Milk is full of unhealthy fat, cholesterol, hard-to-digest protein, cancer-promoting IGF-1, and does NOTHING to prevent osteoporosis!  In fact, if you look at any study that WASN’T funded by the dairy industry you will see the truth.  In countries where people drink the most milk and eat the most cheese- they have the highest rates of osteoporosis!!!  How could this be?  Let me tell you…

Most animal foods, including dairy products, are acid forming.  They might not taste acidic, but taste is not what matters here.  What’s important is what’s left after a food has been digested and absorbed; the ash.  And with most animal foods you are left with an ash that is acidic, leaving the body’s pH at an acidic level.  Any food that is acid forming (meaning the ash is more acidic than alkaline) will have a negative effect on the bones.  Your body must remain slightly alkaline.  The body has a protective mechanism built in that works hard to keep the body’s pH at the right level. When we eat foods that are acid forming the body has to find something that is alkaline in order to bring the pH back to an alkaline state. So what in the body is naturally alkaline?  Our BONES.  This means that every time we eat something acid forming (including milk and cheese!) our body has to release a little bit of calcium from our bones in an attempt to balance the pH.  After the calcium has neutralized the acidity it is excreted in the urine. So every time you eat a cheese sandwich or drink a glass of milk you are losing a little bit of calcium from your bones in order to keep the body alkaline. This has become a real problem with people on the high protein diets (very acid forming). They show high amounts of calcium in their urine (this is bad) which will ultimately lead to osteoporosis and kidney problems (this is very bad)!

Simply put, we need to eat alkaline forming forms most of the time for many reasons (see below for list of these foods).  This will keep our pH at a healthy level and our bones strong.  And we need to avoid acid forming foods so that our bones don’t have to give up little bits of calcium in an effort to maintain a healthy pH.  Ok, once you’ve got that down there are just a few other things you can do to help ensure that your bones stay strong.

Here are the rules to keeping healthy bones…

• Eat alkaline forming foods 70-80% of the time (more on this below…)
• Get calcium from alkaline forming foods (NOT milk or dairy) such as beans and greens.  Best sources are kale, collard greens, bok choy, cabbage and broccoli.
• Get weight bearing exercise, such as walking or running, to stimulate bones to keep working
• Get vitamin D.  This is important.  And don’t think you’re doing yourself any favors by drinking milk to get some vitamin D.  This is not the way.  Either make sure you get 15-20 minutes of sun on your hands and face during the hours of 10am-2pm – without sunscreen, OR take a Vitamin D supplement, 2000 IU’s a day MINIMUM!!!  This is really important, not just for bone health but for overall good health and a healthy immune system.  Buy a food-based vitamin D supplement (at a health food store) and take it every day that you aren’t able to get some sunlight.  Make it part of your life from this day forward.
• Don’t eat too much sodium.  This leaches calcium from the body. Packaged foods are loaded with sodium.
• Don’t drink too much caffeine.  This also causes us to lose calcium.
• Don’t have more than 20-30% of the diet be acid-forming foods (see below)

Acid-forming foods: Meats, Fish, Poultry, Eggs, Most dairy, Most grains (bread, pastries, white rice, pasta, most cereals, etc.), most beans and legumes (see exceptions under alkaline-forming foods), Refined sugars, Honey, Artificial sweeteners, Drugs, Alcohol, Food chemicals and additives, most vinegars (except raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar), coffee, chocolate, trans-fats, microwaved food and soft drinks.

Alkaline-forming foods: Almost all Fruits and Vegetables, Sprouted Grains, Sprouted Legumes, Herbs,  Buckwheat, Millet, Raw Almonds, and Avocado.

(Research on-line for a complete list of all alkaline and acid forming foods).

More tips:

* Drink hot lemon water every morning (1/2 of a fresh lemon squeezed into 2 cups of hot or warm water).  Wait half an hour to eat.  This will alkalize the body and aid in the cleansing and digestive processes.

*Soak whole grains and legumes before cooking to start the alkalizing sprouting process.

* Chew your food well- 50 times per mouthful.

* Drink alkalizing Kukicha tea between meals.

* Eat a lot of sprouts, raw fruits and vegetables, and green foods (like wheat grass, barley grass, etc.) everyday.

Remember- a diet full of white flour, refined grains, meats, cheese and dairy products, sugar, alcohol and coffee is a diet that is asking for trouble, and has been proven to be catastrophic in the US.  Unfortunately, that is the Standard American Diet (SAD diet), and not only does it easily promote osteoporosis but also obesity, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, depression, and auto-immune disorders.

Break the cycle!  Eat real foods, eat plant foods, get exercise and get your vitamin D.

Now, off you go!

References:

http://www.buildingbonevitality.com/page3/page3.html