How to start tackling osteoporosis

Have I ever told you how and why I became a nutritionist? 🤓

Even though I grew up in a family where naturopathy and body wisdom were a natural mode of operation, becoming a therapist was not something I did from the start.

Most of my professional life was spent in an IT environment, developing or contributing to the development of businesses. Until one day I got an opportunity to take redundancy and my severance package allowed me to make my big dream come true.

My big dream was delicious, literally. 

I always loved food and baking, I always loved France and always wanted to create. 

I used my redundancy money to pay for a diploma course and train as a pastry chef at Le Cordon Bleu.  

Was one of the happiest years of that part of my life. 

Imagine nearly a year of wearing chef’s whites and high hats, licking spoons with chocolate ganaches, whipping creams, layering cakes, listening to French chefs cursing your technique left, right and centre yet knowing deep down inside that you are doing great, and doing what you love, wholeheartedly. 🍮

My post school life was equally enjoyable, I continued working at some of London’s greatest restaurants in pastry positions and eventually stepped away from it to create my own company. 

I became a chocolatier, launched my own brand of handmade gourmet chocolates and life felt great. 

Until one day, my very young back then son, was diagnosed with a strange and fairly rare for those days condition. 

His permanent teeth started coming through and doctors discovered that those teeth lacked enamel. 

And they were not even proper teeth. 🥴

The bone tissue didn’t form properly, it was more like a soft sponge rather than a dense bone. Looked yellow-greenish. And it was obvious that they were not going to last more than a year or two. 

The disease was poorly understood back then, no one could say for sure what caused it, but more importantly, what to do about it. 

The only solution doctors could offer back then was to have surgery and remove 7 of his permanent teeth there and then.

And of course, it would have had a terrible effect on his whole mouth and jaw. 

“But that’s not a problem”, I still remember very clearly our dental consultant’s words at one of London hospitals. “When he is 16 or 17, you’ll just need to do a jaw reconstruction, they cut the bones in 3-4 places, implant some extra parts, one year later he is good as new”.

What mother wishes this for her kids future, you tell me. 

Together with my son’s dad, we were determined to help him save his teeth.

So I put my researcher hat on and took a deep dive into modern science and natural healing options to establish what our options were. 

Hundreds of articles read and dozens of families across the world I spoke with later, I’ve concluded that it was not impossible to remineralise these teeth, to rebuild them. 

The solution was harsh and required a massive team effort from us as a family.

But it was worth it.

Together, we chose to go on GAPS protocol, which essentially had nothing to do with teeth. It was developed by Dr Campbell-McBride for people with neurological disorders. And was showing some amazing results and breakthroughs.

I understood very little about nutrition and its mechanisms back then. 

But instinctively I felt it was the right thing to do, it felt logical. 

To do some deeply healing work on the gut, and to saturate the body with high mineral and vitamin density nutrients.

It was quite a year, . 

I mean, the protocol consists of generous amounts of free-range meat, organ meats, wild fish, raw dairy, lots of good fat, fermented foods and lots, lots of vegetables and berries.

Literally, just that. Well, you could also add quinoa. And some supplements.

Sounds delicious, in reality - there is only as much of a bone marrow one can eat, only as many trips to biodynamic farms one can make to stock up on raw dairy, or being a 4 am regular on Billingsgate fish market. 

Only as many tears of a young boy one can hold space for when the boy is going to a party where everyone is eating a cake and he is coming over with a box of raspberries. 

Mentally, it was very hard, draining at times.

But all three of us agreed on one thing - physically we felt the best we’ve ever had.

Energy levels were bursting through the top, physical performance, mental clarity, and quality of our sleep. 

These were amazing. 

The best outcome out of it one year later was that we saved 4 teeth, only 3 were removed. And no jaw reconstruction was ever required. 

We also have learnt a valuable lesson of how our body can rebuild itself, remarkably, when given the proper environment.

And the rest is history. 

Those years became my foundation stones for training in nutritional therapy and continuing to spread the knowledge.

Why did I share this story with you?

Because recently on Instagram I talked about osteoporosis, another condition where bone density is compromised due to several factors.

Another condition where lots can be done.

And there were lots of questions in my inbox re strategies, supplements, etc. And I could see a common pattern in those questions, a common mistake of addressing the problem from the wrong end.

So I want to sum it up here for you a little bit and highlight what’s really important in osteoporosis management.

The very first thing to understand and manage to achieve the best results - you need to manage inflammation. 

⚓ That’s your very first step, before any calcium supplement. 

Chronic, low-grade inflammation plays a key role in bone loss by disrupting the balance between osteoclasts (bone-destructing cells) and osteoblasts (bone-building cells).

This means that if you want to reverse your osteoporosis, if you want to start rebuilding/remineralising your bones - you want to bring your inflammation to an absolute minimum. 

Without doing it, your body will continue leaking minerals from your bones to dampen the fire of inflammation in the body.

Once that is in motion, you also want to start paying attention to your digestive fire.

Taking mineral supplements is great, but it is only helpful if your body has the capacity to digest it.

- Do you feel at times that food sits in your stomach undigested an hour or so after the meal?

- Regular belching, burping?

- Maybe you feel really bloated?

- Maybe you have fairly regular heartburn or acid reflux? 

- You know what Gaviscon, Rennie’s, omeprazole or PPIs are?

- Vertical ridges on your nails, thinning or falling hair?

- Is the back of your tongue covered in white?

- You can see undigested bits of food in your stool?

- Food sensitivities/intolerances?

- Low iron?

Do you recognise yourself in any of these scenarios?

These are just some of the signs of low stomach acid. A magic liquid that helps you absorb all the minerals and put them to good use.

When it’s weak - your body struggles with absorption.

Ensuring your digestion is working to its max capacity is another priority with osteoporosis.

One more thing to address - your vitamin D levels.

It is shocking how many women are not being explained by their doctors the importance of substantial vitamin D levels for their bone health. Vitamin D is literally a shovel that pushes calcium into your bones. Make sure yours is above 100nmol/l (or 40ng). 

The last bit to address - is the nutrient density of your meals.

When comes to improving osteoporosis, can you get everything you need from food only?

If you were after my honest opinion, , then the answer is no.

Or let me put it this way - if you live on a sunny Italian island and have access to real foods grown under the sun, you consume free-range animals, you move and eat with seasons, your diet is full of colours - higher chances you have nothing to worry about.

If your food comes from a local Tesco - more help is usually needed.

You may find high-quality mineral multi or bone formula a worthwhile investment for your bones. 

If finding your way through the labyrinth of your health feels overwhelming, and you’d love someone to do all the thinking, planning, and strategising for you — my team and I are here, with our clinical experience, sharp analytical minds and compassionate hearts, ready to support your every health and wellbeing need.

Book your discovery call here