Are you dense?  Unfortunately, you need a professional to answer that question for you.  Last week I was talking to a friend whose doctor told her that because she is a short (under 5'4") woman, that she needed to have a bone density test. 

It turned out that she's not as dense as she thought, and needs to take action.  To say she was surprised is an understatement.  She's under 50, active, and eats a well balanced diet.  How can this be?  Well, the Cleveland Clinic says: "After age 35, bone breakdown out paces bone buildup, resulting in a gradual loss of bone mass. Once this loss of bone reaches a certain point, a person has osteoporosis." Maximum bone density is generally reached by age 30, so maintenance becomes very important.

What to do?  Well, of course there are pharmaceutical options, but sometimes they come with other complications, and who wants to deal with that? 1200 mg of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

Step 1:  Eat a diet rich in calcium.  Need a boost?  Here are some non-dairy options:

Calcium-fortified soy milk  1 cup  350
Calcium-fortified orange juice  1 cup  350
Spinach  1 cup  291
Blackstrap molasses  1 Tbsp.  172 

Step 2:  Take calcium supplements (keep in mind that the body only absorbs about 500mg at a time).

Step 3:  Do weight bearing exercises.

Step 4:  Take more steps!

No bones about it; we all need to take steps to protect ourselves.