Popping Joints | What To Do?

"My bones are bothering me constantly. They pop without even trying. What should I do?"

There are many possible causes for this, both coming from a lack of iron and calcium:

• Refined sugars
• Excess of animal protein especially from dairy
• Excess of toxins/proteins/sugars in general
• Lack of magnesium or vitamin D (which will lead to not absorbing calcium)
• Lack of vitamin C (which will lead to not absorbing iron)
• An unbalanced calcium to phosphorus ratio in your diet

Sugar, acidity, and too much phosphorous all cause calcium to be stripped from the bones.

Refined Sugar

Whenever the body gets too much sugar at once (I.E. when someone eats refined sugar), some of the sugar (most of the sugar) must be eliminated. Excess sugar in the blood is dangerous and sharp, damaging to capillaries. In order to expel the sugar as safely as possible the body uses calcium to bind to the sugar. If there isn't lots of calcium excess hanging around, then it will come right from the bones.

Anyone who eats refined sugar regularly develops bone problems. Sugared drinks, soda, candy, etc, are the very worst things you can do for your bones, even worse than milk.

For more information about refined sugars, check out the book Sugar Blues.

Dairy

Milk is also high hazardous to bones. While consuming excessive amounts of calcium from dairy and supplements does result in short-term bone mineral density, the long-term effect is the opposite.

In Greece the average milk consumption doubled from 1961 to 1977 (and was even higher in 1985), and during the period 1977 to 1985 the age adjusted osteoporosis incidence almost doubled too.

In Hong Kong in 1989 twice as much dairy products were consumed as in 1966 and osteoporosis incidence tripled in the same period. Now their milk consumption level is almost “European” – and so is osteoporosis incidence.

Those are just a couple of examples, but if you look it up, this is the case all around the world. More dairy leads to more osteoporosis.

Phosphorous

Grains, seeds, beans, nuts, and legumes generally have a lot more phosphorous than calcium. In fact, in a chart I created for Vitamin Confusion Solution, I was only able to find two foods in this class of foods that had more calcium than phosphorous.

For every bit of phosphorous we consume we must have calcium to balance it. Most diets today are rich in phosphorous but low in calcium. This is due to diets high in meat, grains, and beans. Many typical "health foods" such as whole grains, including quinoa and long-grain brown rice, have more than triple the amount of phosphorous than calcium. Almonds, amaranth, pine nuts, chicken, kidney beans, etc, all have more than twice as much phosphorous than calcium. This is why we're seeing an epidemic of tooth decay.

The solution is leafy greens. All leafy greens contain more calcium than phosphorous.

Halogens: Fluoride, Chlorine & Iodine

Fluoridated water and chlorinated water play a huge role in overall health, and through their body-wide adverse results, the bones are also done harm. This is explained in detail in the book Empty Harvest.

To reduce risks from fluoride and chlorine:

• Consume iodine (a halogen like fluoride and chlorine essential for thyroid health) 
• Use fluoride-free tooth paste (baking soda, good gums, tooth soap, etc) 
• Consume distilled water or reverse osmosis water (filters generally don't remove fluoride)

Provide the body with the minerals and vitamins required to build strong bones:

• Kale, 
• Chard
• Collards
• Chia seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Berries, especially currants and cranberries 
• Raw seaweeds such as nori and dulse (iodine source)
• Fresh wheatgrass juice
• Sea salt and/or celery salt (dehydrated celery)

To your health and bones!

~ Raederle