Why Sugar Destroys Your Bones: 3 Hidden Dangers for Seniors with Osteoporosis

Did you know that the average American eats 17 teaspoons of added sugar a day? 17 teaspoons a day of sugar. That's a lot of sugar. If you're someone that's battling osteoporosis, it could just be more than just a sweet tooth. It could be seriously jeopardizing your bone health. In today's video, we'll talk about how sugar really does affect your bone health and things that you can do to help protect yourself. Hello everyone, welcome to the channel. Ed DeBoo, physical therapist from Integrated Physical Therapy in Bellingham, Washington. As a physical therapist that sees a lot of clients with osteoporosis, I have to have the sugar talk with them. And I explained to them why cutting back on your sugar is in your best interest and how it really does affect bone health density. Reason number one, excessive sugar intake will cause calcium loss. If you eat a lot of sugary foods, your body will excrete calcium through your urine. And this becomes particularly important because with osteoporosis, you want to keep as much calcium as you can. So peeing it out doesn't help. Reason number two is inflammation. And when we are inflamed, it's harder for our body to repair bones. Inflammation can increase pain and stiffness. So if you have like an osteoarthritic joint or something else, it can just make your body stiff and more painful, which means you're not going to really want to exercise, which of course is what we need for osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. Before I get to reason number three, I want to talk to you about a 14 day osteoporosis challenge that I'm starting on November 4th, 2024. You know, as we approach the holiday season, what better gift to give yourself than to have a strategic plan of how to manage your osteoporosis. I'll help you every step of the way. Here's some more detail. In the diagnosis of osteoporosis can oftentimes be overwhelming and leave you with a whole host of questions, but oftentimes you just get the generic advice, take vitamin D, take your calcium, do weight bearing exercises. But there is so much more that you can do to help manage and take care of your osteoporosis. By the end of my 14 day challenge, you will feel empowered to take control of your osteoporosis. We will cover topics on nutrition, balance, posture, strength training. We'll learn how to manage stress, but what about yoga, Ed? Can I still do yoga with osteoporosis? Yes. We have a full day of the challenge dedicated to safe modifications. So you can continue to do your daily yoga practice each day. You'll watch a short video and learn a new skill to help you manage your osteoporosis. Hello everyone. Welcome to day 13 of the challenge. Everyone. Welcome to day seven of the challenge. We are halfway through little friends. Today's day eight of the challenge. And today it's all about core strengthening exercises. Now watching the video is great, but there has to be an action component if we really want to make lasting change. So I'm going to hold you accountable because every day's challenge will have a little bit of homework. So you will have to submit proof that you've done your homework. And then I'll be happy to give you feedback, encouragement, and help hold you accountable. Remember, even the longest journey starts with just one step. And the best part is I'll be with you for every step of the way. My name is Ed DeBoo, and I challenge you to complete my leap. Now, reason number three, excessive sugar intake in your diet can lead to insulin resistance. And when we're insulin resistant, not only can we become pre-diabetic or eventually diabetic, it affects the way in which your body repairs and remodels bone. Remember, your body is always breaking down bone and building new bone. And we've been doing that our whole life. But with osteoporosis, what happens is the breaking down is increased versus the building up. And if we're insulin resistant, that makes it that much worse. Remember, the recommended daily allowance of sugar is only about 24, 25 grams. So this is what I recommend to my clients. Let's break sugars up into the hidden sugars and the obvious sugars. The obvious sugars, of course, are your cookies and your cakes and things like that. We just have to put some bumpers on that. Maybe tell yourself you're just going to have a sugary treat, maybe on the weekends. And then the next thing you want to do is really eliminate the hidden sugars that are in everyday products that we don't necessarily think of as being a sweet treat. Pasta sauce from Trader Joe's, eight grams of added sugar per serving. Portland ketchup, two grams of sugar per serving. Salad dressing, another place for added sugars. So go ahead and do a kitchen clean out, get rid or minimize the hidden sugars, and you'll be on your way. All right, everyone, thank you for watching. Hope to see you with the challenge. Please share the video with anyone else that you might think would benefit from this video. Keep exercising, limit your sugar, and I'll see you at the next video.