Strong Women, Strong Bones: Everything You Need to Know to Prevent, Treat, and Beat Osteoporosis - Hardcover

The Strong Women have done it again. First Strong Women Stay Young broke new ground by showing women how strength training--exercising with weights or against resistance--can delay the signs of aging. Then Strong Women Stay Slim showed women how strength training could keep the pounds off. Now Strong Women, Strong Bones teaches women how to prevent and treat osteoporosis through exercise (strength training, weight-bearing aerobic exercise, stretching, and balance) and nutrition. Tufts University researcher Miriam Nelson and award- winning health writer Sarah Wernick again team up to bring you the latest science, translated to reader-friendly language and practical application. You learn how osteoporosis works, your personal risk factors, and exactly what to eat and what exercises to do to keep your bones strong. These authors have become popular because their information is up-to-date and based on cutting-edge research, so their advice is trustworthy and it works. And they make it simple--even if you haven't exercised since high school (and even if high school was a very long time ago!) you can follow their safe and clearly illustrated "bone-boosting workouts." Their nutritional advice won't make you load up a shopping cart with an alphabet soup of supplements like many books--instead, you'll load that shopping cart with fruits, vegetables, soy, high-calcium foods, and a calcium-vitamin D supplement. "Support your bones," advise the authors. "They support you." Strong Women, Strong Bones shows you how. --Joan Price

AN INTERVIEW WITH MIRIAM NELSON:

I often speak to professional and community groups - it's part of my mission to spread the word about strength training and women's health. Last year I noticed that more than half of these questions concern osteoporosis. Increasingly, women know that it's so important to maintain their bones as they get older, but they're uncertain about the best strategy to follow. I decided to write this book so I could pull together all the information women - and men - need to beat this terrible disease.

My research and the research of others have taught me a great deal about osteoporosis. But I've learned just as much from the women with whom I've worked. I know that the pain of osteoporosis is not just physical. It causes emotional pain and fear - changes that sap the vitality from too many women who still have meaningful lives to lead.

I will turn 40 a month after this book is released. I'm more aware than ever that I'm at risk for this disease: I'm a woman; I'm white; I'm slender; and I have a family history of osteoporosis. And I'm also aware that I can take steps now to keep my bones strong for a lifetime. That's why no matter how busy I get, I work hard to maintain my active lifestyle and healthy diet.

Whatever your age, I urge you to heed this terrific slogan from the Massachusetts Osteoporosis Awareness Program: "Support your bones. They support you."