Molly Morgan, our registered dietician, is the author of To Your Healthy Life.Style. Here you'll find past month's articles containing helpful advice and information on healthy eating, dairy foods, and Crowley products.

Build Your Bones. It's Never Too Late

Keeping your bones healthy at any age is important! It is especially crucial for children, teens, and young adults because your body builds bone mass up until about age 30 and then after that reduction in bone mass begin to occur. Because bone mass does start to decrease later in life, this makes calcium important for healthy bones too.

So what can you do to keep your bones strong? You can strive to consume adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D, and stay active, especially fit in weight bearing exercise. The reason being is that calcium, vitamin D, and weight bearing activity are 3 key ingredients for keeping your bones healthy and strong!

Calcium

About 99% of the calcium in your body is stored in your bones and the remaining 1% is stored in your blood and soft tissues. Your body can't make calcium which makes it essential to consume adequate amounts! A major role of calcium is keeping your bones healthy and the remaining 1% actually plays very important roles too, for example it is involved in the contraction of your muscles.

Only about 19% of Americans get the calcium they need everyday! That means that a majority people need to kick up their calcium intake to help their bones stay strong and healthy.

Your calcium needs vary, depending on your age. Click here to find out how much calcium you need everyday and for ideas to kick up your calcium intake.

Quick tip: Have a serving of dairy at every meal! This is a great way to make sure that by the end of the day you have had about 3 servings of dairy foods throughout the day. Here is an example that you can try: For breakfast have oatmeal made with 1 cup of Crowley Lowfat Milk.. at lunch grab a 6 oz container of Crowley Lowfat Yogurt .. with dinner have 1 cup of Crowley Lowfat Milk. Remember it's never too late to make calcium a priority!

The Role of Vitamin D
The main reason that vitamin D is so important for keeping your bones healthy is that it helps calcium to get absorbed. This is why you will find vitamin D added to dairy products, it is to ensure that your body is benefiting from the calcium rich foods.

The Exercise Factor
All types of exercise are beneficial for your body and when it comes to your bones, weight bearing exercise is the best bet. Weight bearing exercises help to build your bone mass and some examples include: walking, lifting weights, and jogging. We would like to remind you that before starting an exercise program check with your health care provider to make sure it's right for you!

Question & Answer
Consumer question:
Is ice cream a good option for increasing my calcium intake?

Our Registered Dietitian's answer:
Great question! Ice cream does contain some calcium and depending on the type of ice cream you would need about 1 ½ cups - 2 cups to equal the amount of calcium found in 1 cup of milk or yogurt. Most ice creams are also high in fat and calories, so although it tastes great, lower fat dairy foods like milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese are better bets for everyday ways to build your bones. Think of the calcium in ice cream as an added bonus to help keep your bones strong!