The Save Our Bones Daily Double Challenge #8 - Save Our Bones

Challenge #1

What: Eat at least five foods highest in Vitamin C.

Why: When it comes to bone health, Mainstream Medicine tends to completely ignore Vitamin C. But Savers know that Vitamin C is essential for strong, flexible bones, which is why it is included as a Foundation Supplement in the Osteoporosis Reversal Program.

Vitamin C is a stellar multi-tasking nutrient, and it offers dual benefits for your bones. First, it acts as both a vitamin and an antioxidant. Antioxidants are important to bone health because they prevent oxidative damage to body tissues, including bone.

Also, Vitamin C plays an important role in the bone remodeling process. Unlike osteoporosis drugs, which only suppress osteoclasts (the cells that break down bone), Vitamin C both inhibits osteoclasts and stimulates osteoblasts (bone-building cells).

While it’s performing this amazing balancing act, Vitamin C is also playing a key role in the formation of collagen, a protein that is produced by osteoblasts and hydrolyzed by Vitamin C.

In addition, Vitamin C is a powerful immune system booster. During cold and flu season, it makes sense to ensure you’re getting enough Vitamin C not only from supplements, but also from foods.

How: This time of year, citrus fruits come into season in the Northern Hemisphere. Other treasure troves of Vitamin C are also available fresh or frozen. It’s quite easy to find five to eat in one day!

The Osteoporosis Reversal Program has easy-to-read, comprehensive lists of alkalizing fruits and vegetables that are high in Foundation Supplements, nutrients essential to building bone. Here is the Program’s list of foods that are high in Vitamin C:

  • Oranges*
  • Grapefruits*
  • Lemons
  • Limes
  • Tangerines*
  • Strawberries
  • Raspberries
  • Pineapple
  • Watermelon
  • Papaya
  • Guava
  • Kiwi
  • Cantaloupe
  • Cabbage*
  • Tomatoes
  • Broccoli*
  • Cauliflower*
  • Sweet red bell peppers
  • Brussels sprouts*
  • Parsley

*In season now

Do you need some inspiration and ideas for preparing and enjoying these foods? If you have the Osteoporosis Reversal Program, you are familiar with the Recipe Sampler which is included in the book. In the Sampler, you’ll find all kinds of delicious recipes for preparing bone-healthy dishes, for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Enjoy your five daily Vitamin C-rich foods in smoothies, stir-fries, raw, steamed, and any other creative way. And share your ideas in the comment section below.

Challenge #2

What: External Oblique Exercise. Do at least five repetitions on each side.

Why: This exercise will slim up your waistline while also strengthening your core muscles. Core muscle groups help hold you upright, so toned core muscles are are key to good posture.

Your obliques are a group of core muscles that rotate and bend your upper body. Strengthening them gets rid of “love handles” and promotes proper posture.

Not only does proper posture prevent Dowager’s Hump; it also keeps your skeleton aligned, thereby helping the action of muscle and gravity on bone to promote bone density. Another benefit of good posture is better breathing – as Savers know, deep breathing alkalizes the body.

How:

  1. Lie on your back on the floor (I recommend using a mat). Bend your knees and keep your feet flat on the floor.
  2. Place your hands behind your head without touching your hands together – your fingers should be touching the backs of your ears.
  3. Using your oblique muscles, slowly lift your left shoulder up and toward your right knee. Do not lift your knee. Remember, keep your elbows out. Your left shoulder blade will lift off the floor, but your elbow or shoulder will not touch your knee.
  4. Slowly lower yourself back down while breathing in. Repeat at least five times (or as many times as you comfortably can), and then switch sides.

Here are some tips for getting the most out of this exercise:

  • Exhale as you lift your shoulder blade off the floor, and inhale as you go back down.
  • Use your obliques to do the lifting, not your shoulders or neck.
  • Do not pull on your head or neck as you lift.
  • Pretend you have an apple or an orange between your chin and your chest so you don’t accidentally tuck in your chin.
  • While you should not push your back down into the floor, take care that you don’t let your lower back arch upward.
  • If you find this exercise too difficult, prop your legs up on a chair or couch and keep your knees bent at a 90-degree angle.

One of the best things about this kind of exercise is that it is both simple and effective. It’s challenging enough that you know you’re giving your bones and muscles a workout, but it’s not so difficult that you get discouraged and quit. In addition, it’s a targeted exercise that focuses on a particular muscle group in order to prevent specific problems (such as shallow breathing, poor posture, and so forth).

These are the elements I kept in mind for the Densercise™ eBook System, which also has several exercises that strengthen core muscles, such as:

  • Chair Squat
  • Arm and Leg Lift
  • Imaginary Jump Rope
  • Chair Knee Lift
  • and More!

Densercise™ does more than just build and strengthen core muscles. The benefits of regular exercise are well-documented, and all those are part of the effects of Densercise™. But because Densercise™ is specifically designed to build bone density, the benefits go beyond what you get from simple exercise.

Please take a moment to read more about the Densercise™ eBook System, and discover how this exercise program improves and maintains bone density →

Stay fit!

The Top 14 Things You’re Doing That Are Damaging Your Bones... And More!

  • Stop The Bone Thieves! report
  • Email course on how to prevent and reverse bone loss
  • Free vital osteoporosis news and updates.
Get It Free Now

Comments on this article are closed.

  1. Angela Kramer

    Thanks,thanks Vivian I really appreciate for all the information U had given us, has been really helpful. I have taking Boniva for two years and i was feeling very bad and loosing lots of waight. Abaut a year ago my Doctor tald me to leave Boniva and i’did since then I been fallow U instruction and I feel like I was before; i’am 70 years ald and very active in all differents exercise and keep U’r diet. Thanks agen.Love Angela

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      That is wonderful news, Angela! Congratulations on reclaiming your health. 🙂

  2. marged

    I am at my neighbors reading your site. Can no longer get your site since you made
    change. It will not open as my computer is too old. Please go back to old way as I
    really enjoyed your info. Very disappointed. Having a hard time manipulating it on my
    neighbors so until I can afford a new system am out of luck with you. So sad.

  3. Liz Peck

    I am trying to eat a more alkaline diet, but am wondering – do calcium supplements like algaecal make the body more alkaline?

  4. nancy lee

    Do you recommend a calcium supp. do you have one? Could you give me a brand currently taking garden of life vit. code raw calcium,is this good?

  5. Linda

    I am so sad and scared and disappointed. I just came from my DEXA scan and I have gone from -2.8 t0 -3.00. I am 61 and have been fighting this disease since menapause. The Dr had hoped that I would have leveled off after menapause but even on the PH diet I am losing bone. She is preaching PROLIA. I am going to give it one more year on the ph diet I suppose and pray for a turnaround like I read about on this sight. During the last 2 years I have had extreme stress but thought I was handling it well. I have cared for my parents and lost them both in 6 months and have 3 handicapped foster sisters they left in my care plus financial issues. Can stress undermine the benefits of the ph. Can this be just my body not metabolizing the minerals correctly.? I have no family history of this. HELP? !

  6. Anna

    55 years old still in shock after the diagnose.I am holding a prescription for Forteo and thinking “hell with that” Dear friends, please support me with my decision!!!

    • Jill Montgomery

      After being diagnosed with a T score of -4.65 in my spine and 2 fractured vertabraes I am very focused on turning my situation around by In your list by purchasing your wonderful Book. In the lists of Alkalizing and Acid foods I noticed that Raw Milk is listed as Alkalizing hence is it o.k. to use Raw Milk as a drink or to put it in other drinks such as Dandeline Root Coffee?
      Look forward to hearing from you.
      Sincerely Jill M

    • Catherine

      PS Anna, when I was diagnosed last month with Osteopenia the doctor said to me,” I have been advised to give you a prescription for Fosomax” She seemed uncomfortable, I asked her who advised her, it was the Dexa scan radiographer, I gulped! are you joking! Have you read the side effects of these drugs? However, she kept printing the script..I said to her, why would anyone after reading side effects take these harmful drugs? she told me that there had been fractures as a direct result of taking them, but not so many! (IMO one is enough)…..so the prescription was torn up, I left with a determination to get to the cause of this and reverse it myself. This is only my own opinion and experience I share, (I could be wrong) but right now, I don’t think so. Cx

    • Catherine

      Dear Ana
      The shock will go when you start taking control, handing a patient a prescription can make one feel that they are at the mercy of drugs, with no control. Our bodies are our guide, give it what it needs, our results can be viewed as positive its a sign for us to take more care of ourselves. I have been a person who always put others first, my diagnosis (initially a shock), has been the best thing for me, it has wakened me up to take care and become more vigilant in what I eat and what I do for exercise. It has given me a focus and now I can educate others along the way. Keep us posted! We are all on a mission. Warm thoughts Catherine 🙂

  7. T.S.

    Dear Vivian,

    Please, please create/produce an Dancercise video to follow!!

    Thank you.

  8. shula

    Thank you, Vivian, for this list. Good to know that Cabbage and Parsley are in the list. It’s not fruit only list.

    Shula

  9. Kay Stensland

    Having had my fifth density test starting in 2006 the spine score keeps getting worse. Started with osteopenia and am only 59 now. Was on Fosamax generic and now started Boniva generic. Last year of treatment. Didn’t want to do infusion drug. Think all my issue was caused by caregiving stress. Hips are about normal but the diet wasn’t with enough milk in my opinion. D has always been good.

    • Trudy

      Kay, forget about these drugs, they only make things worse. Been there, done that! Try the natural approach – diet suggested by Vivian – and exercise. Take organic calcium/magnesium with all the necessary co-minerals etc. Give it some time and things will improve. I went from high fracture risk to minimal risk within two years just by ditching the drugs and changing my diet a tiny bit. I always exercised anyway and liked only healthy food. It’s just about the right ph balance (cp. Vivian’s book).
      Good luck with your approach! Trudy

  10. Sharon Scheider

    I bought your program in 2009. I have exercised, cut out wheat, dairy, added calcium mag vitamin D. I eat many vegetables and fish and chicken. I have done everything yet my DEXIS scan shows 10% bone loss in that 4 years. My vitamin D levels are good, by blood sugar dropped but my bones are worse. I have had 2 cracked arms, a broken ankle and a broken shoulder and badly broken wrist. They now want me to take medicine since my natural approach is not working. I don’t know what to do. I have take every supplement known to help. Any ideas?

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Sharon, I know it’s frustrating when your scores go down – but remember, there is much more to bone health than density scores! The DEXA scan does not measure tensile strength, which is the key to preventing fractures. The score does not tell you if the bone is strong; it simply places your results within a certain age and gender group.

      Since you have the Program, you have all the tools you need! Chances are, your bones are much healthier than the bones of someone who eats a typical, acidifying diet. And please realize that drugs, whether prescribed or over the counter, may help temporarily (or more likely, may just appear to be helping), but there’s always a price to pay.

  11. Leslie (Ms. L. Carmel

    Hi! Vivian,

    Thank You Very Much For The Tips About Vitamin C.
    And For Showing Us How To Keep Good Posture, By Doing The External Oblique Exercise! It’s Very Good Advice. Thanks Again; And Take Care, And Stay Well.

    LOVE, LESLIE (MS. L. CARMEL)

  12. Maria

    I purchased Save Our Bones because I was diagnosed with Osteopenia. I ignored doctors advice on meds, began jogging @ 60 & changed my diet slightly. I feel so fit & healthy now I can jog 8 miles without a bother. Thank you Vivian

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      8 miles is nothing to sneeze at, Maria! Good for you. 🙂

  13. Catherine Lawson

    Hello, I bought your Dencsercise and began. The exercise progra, this week, already I feel the difference, I had some little niggles in my legs for the last month and now they have gone. Since beginning the exercise I feel my body now belongs to me! I have more energy, and guess what less fear! I was diagnosed with Osteopania last month and was shocked, now I am taking control, put the Drug prescription in the trash, and taking control. I did have a healthy diet but I am now more vigilant and feeding from your knowledge is part of my daily diet. Thank you Vivian!!

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Catherine, I am so glad to hear you’ve got more energy and fewer “niggles.” 🙂 And having less fear is a positive “side effect” of gathering knowledge and taking your health into your own hands. Keep it up!

Get Started With Your FREE
Natural Bone Building Kit.

Get a free copy of our ‘Stop The Bone Thieves’ eBook, exclusive content that you can’t find anywhere else, plus vital osteoporosis news and updates.

Get It Free

Get Your Free Bone-Building Kit

FREE

‘Stop The Bone Thieves’ guide, exclusive info, plus vital osteoporosis news and updates.