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Osteoporosis, or porous bone, is a disease characterized by low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue, leading to bone fragility and an increased susceptibility to fractures, which most commonly occurs in  hip, spine and wrist but may also effect any other bone in the body as well. According to  a  leading osteoporosis organizations, one in four men and one in two women over age 50 will develop a osteoporosis-related fracture in her/his remaining lifetime. Hip fractures are the most common among people with osteoporosis are annually documented in over 300,000 cases.

I bet you are now wondering what the symptoms of Osteoporosis are. One of the trickiest things about Osteoporosis is that most people don’t realize that they have it until it’s too late. The most common scenario is when all of a sudden you bump your hip or fall, finding yourself having to go to the ER because now you have a hip fracture or collapsed vertebrae. That is why Osteoporosis commonly known as “The Silent Killer”. Bone loss occurs without any warning or symptoms most of the time. Although, sometimes you can visually see it in people who start to develop a hump like posture in there upper back which is often called Kyphosis.

Do you think you’re at risk?

Some studies have shown that people who are at a higher risk then others tend to live an inactive lifestyle, smoke, have a low calcium intake and drink excessive amounts of alcohol. Women also who have been through menopause may be at higher risk then others because of estrogen deficiencies, especially if menopause is early or surgically induced. Men who have low testosterone levels can be equally at risk as women. If you feel you are at risk there is a test can measure bone density on various sites of the body. This test is often referred as the Bone Density Test and is covered by medicare.

Don’t Believe the Myths

Over the years a lot of Myths have developed through the public eye on Osteoporosis. There is a common misconception that only old women get osteoporosis. Studies have shown that it can happen at any age in men or women if they have any sort of condition that requires them to take medications that can cause bone loss. Oddly enough these medications that cause bone loss are most commonly used in treating chronic asthma and arthritis. Also, many people think that Osteoporosis isn’t a deadly or serious condition. Just in hip fractures alone 20% of the 300,000 cases reported will die within a year after surgery. Surprisingly, some of the deaths occurred from blood complications that developed after the corrective surgery

What can you do to Prevent Osteoporosis?

The best way you can prevent and treat osteoporosis without the use overrated expensive medications is to strengthen your bones through weight baring exercise. Now keep in mind by “exercise” I’m referring exclusively to a low force, high intensity strength training protocol. This protocol is known for producing an increased bone density as high as 1% a week and is safe for young adults to senior citizens.

Unfortunately, when most people think of exercise, they think of excessive impact exercises such as running, jogging, and ballistic weight lifting. These high force exercises can actually cause injury in joints and make conditions worse.  On the other hand, with a low force, high intensity strength training you eliminate these high impact situation by using a slow cadence to move the weight which allows you to use a lighter safer weight to prevent injury.

Weight barring exercises is also great because, it helps create a stimulus in our body to build muscle. Developing higher quality muscles through strength training actually help’s protect our bones and support our skeletal structures and assists with increased movement throughout our body.  When we develop stronger muscles around the bones, we are in fact creating a barrier of protection to help protect our bones from forces, such as a slip or fall. The muscle will actually absorb the impact to help prevent any harmful forces from creating a fracture in the bone. Another wonderful effect from exercising using High Intensity Strength protocol is that it only takes 20-30 minutes one to two times a week to achieve results.

For those of you that are thinking that you can’t afford a gym membership or a personal trainer to exercise. You are wrong, the average hip fracture can easily cost up to $40,000. So, would you rather spend a few hundred per year on gym membership or on personal training to develop a healthy lifestyle and prevent disease? Or would you rather risk ending up spending over $30,000 in medical cost a year ,because you choose to live a lifestyle that no longer lead you to be able to care for yourself without the expense of constant assistance to do things yourself?

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Jonas Deffes, New Orleans Exercise Specialist

Provides the therapeutic benefits of health and exercise at companies and events throughout New Orleans along with his very popular New Orleans Boot Camp for women. I am very serious about building long-term relationships, achieving positive results and upholding my commitment to excellence.

I’m very excited that Be Fit NOLA is grabbing the bull by the horn and has challenged the people of New Orleans to join the Pound for Pound Challenge. From what I’ve seen of my Boot Camp classes – I know that people in this great city can rise to the challenge. I’m definitely here to help.

I’ve put together 5 easy weight loss tips to get you started:

1. Eat 5-6 Times a Day:  The hardest part to shedding pounds is fighting the hunger pains. No one likes to be hungry (p.s. that’s why you’re pledging to lose weight because in New Orleans we have 1000s of people who go hungry each day).  If you eat 5-6 times a day – three small meals of about 300 calories and 2-3 snacks of about 50-150 calories (depending on sex, activity level and amount of weight desired to lose) you will find it easier to stick with the lower calorie intake. By eating 5-6 times a day, you keep yourself nourished and you also keep your metabolism burning calories for you.

Many people think that not eating will help them lose weight; however, this simply does not work as well as some people might think. When your body doesn’t get the food it needs, it tries to conserve its energy…this means your body begins to burn less fat. In addition, when your body lacks the essential vitamins and nutrients it needs and gets from healthy food, you begin to feel tired and weak and can’t do as many activities…which means you burn fewer calories. Such a vicious and senseless cycle; prevent it by eating 5-6 times a day.

2. Drink Lots of Water: Here are some things you might not have known about the functions of water in the human body – Water:

• Transpsort nutrients and oxygen into cells
• Moisturizes the air in lungs
• Helps with metabolism
• Protect our vital organ
• Helps our organs to absorb nutrients better
• Regulates body temperature
• Detoxifies
• Protect and moisturizes our joints

(Source Mangosteen-Natural-Remedies.com)

Drinking (8) 8oz. glasses of water a day will have tremendous benefits to you and it will also curb your appetite.  Start drinking!

3. Avoid Processed Foods: Processed foods have been altered from their natural state for safety reasons and for convenience. The methods used for processing foods include canning, freezing, refrigeration, dehydration and aseptic processing. Not all processed foods are bad but there are the ones to avoid:

• Canned foods with lots of sodium
• White breads and pastas made with refined white flour, which are not as healthy as those made with whole grains
• Packaged high-calorie snack foods, like chips and cheese snacks
• High-fat convenience foods, like cans of ravioli
• Frozen fish sticks and frozen dinners
• Packaged cakes and cookies
• Boxed meal mixes
• Sugary breakfast cereals
• Processed meats

(Source About.com)

4. Reduce your Fat Intake: Fat contains twice the caloric density of carbohydrates and protein, so limit the amount that you consume. Fill your diet with lean protein (chicken with no skin, fish, egg whites, and leaner beef) and carbohydrates from plants and whole grains.

5. Add Fiber to your Diet: Two great things about fiber: it keeps everything in your stomach and digestive system moving – keeps you nice and regular. Secondly, foods high in fiber fill you up and help curb hunger pains. Check-out the Mayo Clinic chart of food high in fiber to know what to eat from now on. You’ll find fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds listed.

Just by following these tips, you will find that you are able to lose weight quickly and effectively, while ensuring that you are still healthy and able to keep doing everything you usually do activity-wise. This helps to ensure that not only are you able to continue losing weight, but you are able to enjoy yourself while doing it. These quick weight loss tips are a sure way to help get you on track towards the weight you desire.

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Jonas Deffes, New Orleans Exercise Specialist

Provides the therapeutic benefits of health and exercise at companies and events throughout New Orleans along with his very popular New Orleans Boot Camp for women. I am very serious about building long-term relationships, achieving positive results and upholding my commitment to excellence.

Many people feel they need professional help losing weight and to be honest, enlisting professional help will increase your chances of being successful and ensuring you lose the weight the right way. Here is a list of professional to consider reaching out to:

Family Physician: The first and most obvious place in New Orleans to seek assistance from is your doctor’s office. Whenever starting an exercise or weight loss program; it’s best to always make sure you get the green light from your doctor…particularly if you already have health issues.

Ask him or her about the best and safest way to lose weight. Your physician should give you a healthy diet plan to follow or one for you to use as an example to start eating better, so you can shed some pounds.  Your physician will probably be thrilled to hear that you’re ready to take your health in your own hands and lose some weight.

When it comes to losing weight, a lot of people are always looking for shortcuts. You might be tempted to ask for help losing weight in the form of diet pills and weight loss medications. This is a valid way that some people lose weight when they can’t seem to do it alone.  Ask your doctor if this is a good option for you. In most cases, starting a healthy diet and a regular exercise program is all you need.

However, your doctor will know your medical history and your current health and be able to advise you on which medications might be an option, or explain why you shouldn’t bother taking any diet pills/medicine.  Don’t be discouraged if your doctor is against the idea of prescribing weight loss medicine; millions of people have lost weight without taking pills or using other aids, and so can you.

Counselor/Psychologist: Other professional help losing weight that might be beneficial to you, besides your doctor, is a counselor or psychologist. While this isn’t an often recommended step in losing weight, for some people, it can be an important one. Quite a few people have trouble losing weight because they eat compulsively, and very often this has roots in an emotional or psychological cause. Changing your whole mindset on how you eat in New Orleans could possibly be one of the most difficult aspects of losing weight.

It’s very difficult to eat healthy or even just stop overeating if you have emotional triggers that cause this compulsive behavior.  Talking to a counselor or a psychologist can help you get to the root of what is causing your eating problems, and put you one step further down the road to healing yourself emotionally while you’re getting healthier.

Some local hospitals even have programs about nutrition and exercise. Ask about their different programs.  Most people who run such programs are happy to talk to you about them and help you get started on the right track.

Nutritionist/Dietician: If you can afford it, you might want to visit a nutritionist or dietitian because they can really offer you needed knowledge, advice and help with losing weight.  These experts on food, eating and nutrition can put together an eating plan that is designed to be right for you and the foods you eat. They will use your food choices and modify them into a healthy diet that will let you lose weight.

Personal Trainer: Also, a few visits or consultation with a personal trainer can offer you help losing weight by ensuring you’re exercising correctly.

As you have read professional help losing weight in New Orleans is a viable option for everyone who is willing to seek it out. Don’t hesitate! Get the help you need…a good place to start finding the help you need is in the Health and Fitness Directory.

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Jonas Deffes, New Orleans Exercise Specialist

Provides the therapeutic benefits of health and exercise at companies and events throughout New Orleans along with his very popular New Orleans Boot Camp for women. I am very serious about building long-term relationships, achieving positive results and upholding my commitment to excellence.

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