Take Back Your Bones: Simple Steps and Recipes to Strengthen Your Bones

(BPT) - Did you know that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men globally will suffer from an osteoporotic fracture? In fact, an osteoporotic fracture is estimated to occur every 3 seconds. That’s nearly 8.9 million fractures annually, but the good news is there are many ways to help prevent osteoporosis before a fracture occurs with a healthy lifestyle.

In honor of World Osteoporosis Day on Oct. 20, 2020, challenge yourself to take on a few small changes today that can help protect your bones in the years to come. Here are a few ways to build stronger bones now and in the future:

1. Get Moving. According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, exercise plays an important role in building and maintaining bone and muscle strength. Consider engaging in regular, weight bearing, and muscle strengthening exercises to maintain strong bones and muscles. Perform weight bearing exercises like walking, hiking, jogging, or yoga for 30 minutes, 3-5 days a week. Dancing counts too!
2. Start the Day Smart. Consider warming up in the morning with simple, easy yoga exercises that focus on your hips and spine to help improve your balance. Spinal stretch, cat tilt and puppy dog are a few poses that not only help your bones but also may help curb your stress too.
3. Balance Your Plate. Eat a well-balanced diet of fruits and vegetables providing micronutrients, which are required in trace amounts for normal growth and development. Vitamins and minerals like calcium, vitamin D, potassium, magnesium and vitamin K play a key role in bone health. Bone-boosting foods like leafy green vegetables, yogurt, nuts and prunes contain many of these key nutrients.
4. Prune Your Recipe. Eating prunes may benefit your bones, especially in postmenopausal women. Research has shown that eating just 5-6 prunes per day can help to prevent bone loss. Sunsweet Growers ambassador and founder of website Mind Over Munch, Alyssia Sheikh, created bone-building trios to inspire you about how easy it can be to incorporate prunes into your meal plan. For breakfast, incorporate prunes and chia seeds into your morning yogurt. For lunch, make crispy quinoa cakes to pair with a leafy green salad. At dinner, create a balsamic prune glaze to go over salmon with a side of broccoli. This can make for a delicious sweet and savory dinner filled with all the right nutrients.

To learn more about how you can maintain healthy bones at any age and help prevent osteoporosis, visit Sunsweet.com for more information.