HSOS #36: The Silent Thief: Taking Back Control of Your Bone Health

Okay ladies, buckle up because this episode is the one your future self is going to thank you for. Kim is diving deep into one of the most underestimated topics in women's midlife health: your bones. And no, walking every day and eating yogurt is NOT a complete bone health strategy (sorry, not sorry). Kim breaks down the fascinating biology of what your bones are actually doing right now.  She explains why menopause hits the bone density fast-forward button in a way that catches so many women completely off guard.  Kim gets into exactly what works: resistance training, impact training, and the key nutrients and supplements that genuinely move the needle. Whether you are 42 and just starting to think about this or 62 and wondering if you missed your window (you did NOT), this episode meets you exactly where you are.

  LET'S TALK.  

 Welcome to Her Season of Strength, where women over 40 reclaim their bodies, their energy, and their voices, without apologies. I'm Kim Duffy, registered dietitian, personal trainer, mom, and your biggest hype woman when it comes to aging like you mean it.

 This show isn't about chasing skinny or counting wrinkles. It's about building real strength: physical, emotional, and hormonal. Each week, I'll share straight-talking nutrition tips, sustainable fitness strategies, and conversations that help you feel powerful in your skin once again.

 Menopause is not an ending. It is only the beginning. This is your season of strength.

 WHAT I COVER IN THIS EPISODE:  

 ◆  The surprising truth about what your bones are ACTUALLY doing inside your body right now and why the museum-exhibit mental image most of us have is completely wrong

◆  The two clinical terms every woman over 40 needs to know and why neither one has to be your destiny

◆  The silent thief that steals your bone density with zero symptoms 

◆  Why the one exercise Kim would recommend above ALL others for bone health might be simpler than you think and how to start no matter your fitness level

◆  The cardio truth nobody wants to hear

◆  A surprisingly simple daily habit that research shows can meaningfully improve your hip bone density

◆  The vitamin most women are deficient in 

◆  Kim's 4-pillar bone-building action plan that you can start this week plus the one diagnostic test she says every woman over 50 should have on her radar

To learn more about Kim's 12-week Band and Body Workout, click here.

Links & resources for this episode:

Fit After 50+ Program: 8-Week Nutrition Coaching & Strength Program for menopausal women.  Join the interest list today for the best discounts, bonuses and updates about the next program coming Fall of 2026!

Free cheat sheet: "20 Tips to Crushing Menopause"

Join my free weekly newsletter list and get a new high protein recipe sent to your inbox every Thursday. 

Find me on social media: Instagram I Facebook I Tiktok

Transcript

[00:00:00] Hi there, and welcome to Her Season of Strength, where women over 40 reclaim their bodies, their energy, and their voices, without apologies. I'm Kim Duffy, registered dietitian, personal trainer, mom, and your biggest hype woman. When it comes to aging like you mean it, this show isn't about chasing skinny or counting wrinkles.

[00:00:20] It's about building real strength, physical, emotional, and hormonal. Each week, I'll share straight talking, nutrition tips, sustainable fitness strategies. And conversations that help you feel powerful in your skin. Once again, menopause isn't an ending. It's only the beginning. This is your season of strength.

[00:00:39] Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to Her Season of Strength. I am so glad you're here today to discuss a topic that one of my clients asked me to cover. And that is bone health. You might say, I don't need to worry about my bones. My bones are strong. I walk every day. I drink milk, eat yogurt. What more do I [00:01:00] need to do?

[00:01:01] Well, what if I told you that one in two women over the age of 50, well have an osteoporosis related fracture in her lifetime? One and two? That's crazy. What if I also told you that hip fractures are one of the leading causes of disability and loss of independence in older women, would that get your attention?

[00:01:27] So today I wanna cover a few things. First, I wanna talk about what is actually going on inside of your bones, because they're not this static, hard, unchanging, things like that. Most of us picture. Then I wanna discuss a little bit about kind of what are the real world consequences of bone loss that nobody really talks about.

[00:01:52] This is the part that I really want you to stay for. I wanna talk about exactly what we can do about it, because we can still do something [00:02:00] about it. It's not just this lost cause. I wanna chat a little bit about resistance training, impact and cardio exercise, and really. The specific nutrients and supplements that could make a really big difference for your bone health.

[00:02:15] So this is, this is one of the most empowering conversations that we can have because unlike a lot of things in our health, this is an area where your actions, they genuinely can, can meaningfully move the needle. So let's dive into it. So let's start at the beginning, because I think one of the biggest reasons women don't take bone health seriously enough is that we have just a completely wrong mental image of what bones actually are.

[00:02:44] So if you close your eyes for just a second, or you know, don't, if you're driving or, or walking, and I don't want you to get in an accident or run into something, picture a bone. What do you see? You see? You know, something hard and white and kind of like what you'd [00:03:00] find in a museum, right? Like something inert or static, um, something that just kind of exists.

[00:03:06] But here's the truth. Your bones are actually living. They're dynamic and they're constantly changing tissue. They're made up of collagen, and yes, that's the same stuff we talk about for like skin and hair and nails, plus this mineral matrix. That's mainly made up of calcium and phosphorus, and that gives them their structure, that gives 'em, you know, what makes them rigid.

[00:03:33] And every single day your body is breaking down old bone and building up new bone. And it's happening right now. It's while, you know, while you're sitting here, this is happening. And there's two key players, and I promise this isn't gonna be some big biology lesson, but I feel like, um, in order for you to truly understand kind of our bone health and, and what our bones are doing, um, there's two players and one are called [00:04:00] osteo, meaning bone blasts.

[00:04:02] And these are our bone builders, right? They're laying down new bone tissue. And then the other thing, the other one is called osteoclasts, and they are your bone breakers. They dissolve and they resorb old bone. So in a healthy system, in a balance system, these two teams are kind of working in harmony, right?

[00:04:25] The builders and the breakers are staying in balance, but here is where it kind of gets important for us ladies. That balance tips in your favor when you're young. So you reach what's called peak bone mass. So that's kind of the maximum density and strength that your bones will ever have, and that's somewhere in our late twenties, after that age, around 30, that process, it starts to shift, right?

[00:04:51] We're still making new bone, but those osteoclasts that are breaking down the bone. They're gonna [00:05:00] start to edge out the builders and we begin to lose a small percentage of bone density each year, roughly half a percent to 1% annually. And that might not sound like much in your thirties. It isn't a crisis, but here where menopause changes everything, estrogen like we've talked about.

[00:05:21] And time and time again how important estrogen, estrogen is in the body. And I want you to really hear this. Estrogen is one of the primary signals that tells those osteoclasts or those ones that are breaking down bone to slow down. It's basically that you know that referee keeping the bone breakers in check.

[00:05:41] Now when our estrogen drop sharp sharply in perimenopause and menopause, those breaks come off and bone loss really can accelerate dramatically. We're talking like two to 5% per year in those first five to seven years after menopause, and that can add up really [00:06:00] fast. So here's two terms that are worth knowing and understanding.

[00:06:05] Osteopenia, it means that your bone density is lower than optimal, lower than it should be. It's kind of that early warning sign. Whereas osteoporosis means that your bone density has dropped significantly and your fracture risk, that risk of you breaking a bone is, is quite elevated. Neither of these is kind of your destiny.

[00:06:30] It's not. It's not a forever. It's like, oh no, you know, I can't do anything. But you need to know they exist and you need to know the path that leads there and the path that will, you know, move you away from it. You know, if you think of your bone density, kind of like this bank account, right? You make your biggest deposits when you're young and after 30.

[00:06:51] You know, you're drawing down more than you're putting in, or I should say withdrawing more than you're depositing, right? So our [00:07:00] job is to keep making deposits into our bones and slow that withdrawal rate for as long as possible. So now you know what's happening. Let's talk about why, why the heck do we care about this?

[00:07:12] Because I wanna give you kind of that real picture. I don't wanna scare you, but I wanna motivate you because knowledge is power and you deserve kind of the, the full picture, the full story, the most serious consequence of osteoporosis is fracture risk. Right, and not just the kind where you, you trip and, oh, I broke my wrist, or I sprained my ankle or something.

[00:07:32] It's that though, those things are not fun either, but hip fractures are the most common. And then there's height loss and that surprises a lot of women compression fractures in our spine. Those small bones of your spine or your vertebrae can cause you to actually lose height over time and sometimes two, three, or even four inches, it can happen, happen really gradually, and many women [00:08:00] don't even know it's happening until someone points it out.

[00:08:04] Related to that is what sometimes we call it kyphosis. I know that's a big word. You might know it as kind of that, that dowager's hump on our upper back, that forward rounding of our upper back, and it happens when. Uh, the front of the vertebrae compress and the spine actually curves forward. And this is not a, you know, just a cosmetic issue.

[00:08:29] When our spine curves forward like that, that can affect our breathing capacity. It can affect our digestion, it can affect our balance. It, it can increase our risk of falling. And it can really, you know, change how we're moving through the world. Not to mention it can also cause pain. Micro fractures and compression fractures in the spine can actually cause, you know, chronic, you know, nagging pain that can affect our sleep and it can affect our daily life.

[00:08:58] It's kind of a quality [00:09:00] of life issue that's, you know, really very real for many women. Here's the thing that that gets me the most about osteoporosis, though. It's called the silent thief for a reason. You feel nothing while it's happening. There's no pain, there's no alarm, no signal. The first symptom for many women is the fracture itself, which is exactly why we need to be proactive and not wait until something breaks to start paying attention.

[00:09:28] The good news, and there's lots of it, it is that we know exactly what works. So let's just talk about that now. 'cause this is, this is where I want you to lean in. This is where we take our power back. First of all, is one that you know you're gonna say, I hear you talk about that all the time. And if I could give you just one piece of advice for your bone health, just one thing, and it would be this.

[00:09:52] Pick up something heavy and do it consistently. Resistance training, it's the single most powerful tool we have for [00:10:00] maintaining and building bone density in midlife and belong beyond because here's why. There's a principle in exercise science called the menos stat. Basically, bones respond to mechanical stress by getting denser and stronger when our muscle contracts and it pulls on our bone.

[00:10:20] Think about like a squat where your, your quadriceps are contracting and they're loading your femur in your hip. It sends a signal to that bone. We need more here. And those osteoblasts, remember those bone builders, they're gonna respond. They get to work and the research is really solid. Studies consistently show that resistance training maintains and can actually increase bone mineral density.

[00:10:46] Especially at the hip and the spine, which are those two sites where fracture risk is is highest, and it's not experimental or emerging science. This is like well established. It's been replicated. [00:11:00] So what exercises actually deliver that bone building signal? You want the big compound movements, things like squats or deadlifts, hip hinges, rows, presses, lunges.

[00:11:12] These movements load the spine and the hips most effectively. Which is exactly where we need the most protection, right? These are not complicated exercises, but they do require learning proper form, and I would strongly encourage anyone who is news to these movements, you know, work with a trainer, even just for a few sessions to just get your technique down.

[00:11:35] Okay. Proper form is so important and I don't want you injuring or hurting yourself. So then, then you might say, well, how often and how heavy do I need to lift for bone? Ben, benefit, you want to strength train two to three times per week. And here's the key word, progressive overload. And I know you've heard me talk about this.

[00:11:55] You need to gradually increase the resistance over time just to, it keeps to [00:12:00] stimulating that bone building response. If you're doing the same weight for the same amount of repetitions month after month, your bones are gonna adapt and stop responding. Our bodies are very efficient that way, so we have to kind of keep nudging that load upward.

[00:12:18] Keep challenging our muscles. Now, I know some of you're thinking, Kim, I'm 50 something years old. I have no business lifting heavy things. I hear that fear and I wanna address it directly heavy for you is not the same as dangerous for you. Okay? Heavy is relative. It means challenging enough to stimulate that adaptation.

[00:12:42] And in that adaptation is where we get stronger, right? And where we build that bone. With proper form and, and progression, that's appropriate. Resistance training, it's extremely safe for women in midlife and in fact, it is one of the most protective things you can do for your joints, [00:13:00] for your balance, your metabolism, your bones, all, all those things at once.

[00:13:05] You know, so if you're a a beginner to strength training, start where you are. Resistance bands count. I have a 12 week resistance band workout on my, um, on my website, and I'll drop the link in the show notes, but it's a great place to start. Not to mention, it doesn't mean that you have to buy loads of dumbbells or, you know, build up this home gym.

[00:13:29] Basically, you can buy a set of bands and they can, they're, they can do, they're amazing for getting you started. Okay. Not to mention body weight. There's so many things we can do with body weight. Body weight, squats are gonna count. A set of dumbbells you can do at home counts. Something is always, always better than nothing.

[00:13:49] You know? You don't have to have a gym membership or a personal trainer to start building bone. You just need to start doing something, okay? And you need to be doing something consistent and [00:14:00] progressive. So next I wanna talk a little bit about cardio because I know a lot of you have a cardio routine you love, you know, and I want to give you an honest picture of how different types of cardio actually affect your bones so you can make kind of informed decisions and choices and build just that well-rounded complete strategy.

[00:14:21] So first of all, impact and plyometric training. This is one that surprises people when you jump. When your foot hits the ground, that ground reaction force, it sends this powerful mechanical signal through your bones, especially your hip bones. Research on plyometric training shows significant improvements in hip bone density, and some really interesting studies show that even simple jumping just 10 to 20 hops a day can improve your hip bone density in pre and perimenopausal women, women.

[00:14:58] It doesn't have to be [00:15:00] some major full jump training program. It can be as simple as hopping in place for like 30 seconds while you're waiting for your coffee to brew. I incorporate in plyometrics with, in all of my training sessions, and I know I've had some new clients coming in, women who, like, I have not, you know, jumped or hopped since I was in elementary school.

[00:15:22] So they, they say, you know, this seems odd. You're, you're having me skip or, or jump, you know, and it can be very challenging, very hard. Like they're not used to it and their body isn't. You know, like leaving the ground. And um, it is amazing to me how much better, how much more adept they get at how much it helps their balance, but also how it helps with their bone health.

[00:15:47] So now I wanna just touch on walking because walking is wonderful. Walking is great for your cardiovascular system, your blood sugar, your mental health, your longevity. I love walking and I, I believe it's a, [00:16:00] it's a wonderful thing to incorporate in with. Um, a more advanced program, but it is low impact activity.

[00:16:07] It has relatively modest effects on bone density compared to resistance training or those higher impact activities. So if walking is your primary form of exercise, don't give it up. That's not what I'm saying. But don't rely on it as your bone health strategy. Jogging and running provide more meaningful impact.

[00:16:27] Loading van, walking, you know, those ground forces are higher and the hip and spine do benefit. If you're a runner, great, but just be mindful of injury risk if you're ramping up from nothing. Now let's touch on cycling and swimming. Because I know so many of you love these activities. They're wonderful.

[00:16:47] They're joint friendly, they're great for our cardiovascular system, our mood, our stress levels. I'm absolutely not telling you to give them up, but here's the truth. Both cycling and swimming are non-weightbearing activities. [00:17:00] Your bones are not going to be loaded against gravity, and that means they're not gonna provide.

[00:17:07] Much direct bone building stimulus. So if cycling or swimming is your main form of cardio, I want you to hear this. Clearly. Your bike and your pool are your friends, just not your bone's best friends. So pair them with, you know, a good resistance training program and maybe a little bit of plyometrics or some jumping, and you've got a beautifully complete approach to your health.

[00:17:31] So you knew we were gonna be getting here eventually. Let's talk about food and supplements, because what you eat is absolutely foundational to bone health, and there's a lot of noise and confusion out there about this topic. I wanna kind of cut through that and, and just give you a little bit of practical information that you can actually use.

[00:17:53] First of all, calcium. Let's start with that obvious one. It is the primary mineral and bone, [00:18:00] and most women, especially women over 40, are not getting enough of it. Women over 50 need about 1200 milligrams per day. Now, before you run out and you know, you buy a giant calcium supplement, hear me out. Food first is always the goal, right?

[00:18:15] The best food sources of calcium are gonna be dairy, like yogurt, cheese, and milk. They're gonna be the, the most bioavailable sources. So the best absorbed. So if you do dairy, fantastic, lean into it. Some other sources are gonna be like canned salmon sardines with those little bones. Those help to give us calcium.

[00:18:36] You can also get, um, tofu with, uh, that's made with calcium sulfate. Just look at the label. There's also fortified plant-based milks. Um, leafy greens like kale and Bach choy, although the calcium in these, um, is not quite as well absorbed, um, especially in spinach. [00:19:00] Okay. Your body doesn't absorb the calcium that's in there as well.

[00:19:03] So one important thing to note on timing of calcium supplementation is your body can only absorb about 500 milligrams of calcium at one time. Efficiently. Right? So spread your intake, especially if you're doing a supplement. Spread your intake throughout the day rather than taking it all at one time. A supplement, you know, you might take a supplement in the morning, maybe you have a serving of dairy at lunch, maybe you have some greens at dinner, something like that.

[00:19:29] That's a better strategy for your calcium intake than one big dose all at once. Next is vitamin D. Um, you cannot absorb calcium without vitamin D. It's kind of the gatekeeper. It regulates the calcium absorption in your gut and without adequate levels, all calcium in the world is gonna do you very little good.

[00:19:53] So the problem is that very few foods contain meaningful amounts of vitamin D, fatty [00:20:00] fish, like salmon, mackerel, sardines are the main food sources. Egg yolks have a little bit in there. You know, you'll have other foods that are fortified, but realistically, most women need to supplement Vitamin DA reasonable starting point.

[00:20:15] Um, I usually recommend two to 4,000 IUs daily. Um, but I usually ask, tell women to, to have their vitamin D levels checked first, because if you are deficient, if your levels are much lower than that, you might be, need to be supplementing higher amounts. Right. Um, and if you're living, you know, like me, you're living up here in Minnesota, in the great white North, you're gonna need higher amounts in the wintertime when you're not getting that sunshine.

[00:20:45] And that's where that two to 4,000, I usually recommend 4,000 I use in the wintertime, 2000 in the summer. But like I said, we're gonna base that off of your, your actual lab values. And if you, if you do [00:21:00] have a deficiency or are not. Next is protein, and that's kind of one that surprises people. I know you hear me talk about protein all the time, but protein is critically important for bone health.

[00:21:11] If you'll remember that collagen makes up about 30% of our bone matrix. It's that, you know, that framework that the minerals attach to. So without adequate protein, we can't build and maintain that framework. And protein also helps us to build the muscle mass, um, that pulls on that bone and stimulates that bone building.

[00:21:34] So for women in midlife, we aim for a 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. If you're not tracking, just make sure that you have a solid protein source at every single meal. Usually I recommend at least 25 to 30 grams of protein per meal. That would be like, you know, have some eggs at breakfast, chicken or fish at lunch.

[00:21:55] Greek yogurt is a snack. You know, maybe you have some kind of lean protein at dinner, some [00:22:00] beans and legumes, and you know this, that protein in and of itself is one of the most impactful nutritional changes that women can make. The next mineral is magnesium. It's kind of that. Supporting player. It doesn't get a lot of credit, but it works right alongside calcium and vitamin D and deficiency is surprisingly common.

[00:22:23] Many women are low without even knowing it. You can get, um, good sources of magnesium in your nuts and seeds, your beans and legumes, your whole grains, and then also those dark leafy greens. But if you're not eating these regularly, you might wanna consider a magnesium supplement. Um, usually a magnesium glycinate at bedtime or, or a magnesium citrate, just depending on, um, what you're looking for.

[00:22:51] And if you, uh, have any kind of issues with constipation or diarrhea, you wanna make sure you're using the proper magnesium [00:23:00] form else it can, um, challenge those things. Right. Next is vitamin K two, and this is one that I. I don't think a lot of women know, because this is one that I always talk about when I am, um, doing a nutritional assessment with a client for the first time.

[00:23:19] Um, we talk about vitamin D, but also vitamin D with K 2K, vitamin K two, it, it does something remarkable. It directs calcium into your bones and away from your arteries. So think of it as that traffic controller that makes sure that the calcium ends up where it belongs. Um, because we don't want it in our arteries.

[00:23:42] We don't want it forming plaques in our arteries, right? So there's food sources of vitamin K two, and that would be like nato, which is a fermented soybean product. Popular in Japan, but not a lot of people in the United States know or eat. A lot of it. You can also get it in [00:24:00] sauerkraut and certain aged cheeses.

[00:24:03] The MK seven form of K two supplement. It's the most bioavailable, just meaning the most absorbable and the form that I usually recommend. But one thing to remember, if you're on blood thinners like Coumadin or Warfarin, you're gonna wanna make sure to talk to your doctor before you supplement with K two.

[00:24:22] 'cause it can, um, interact with that medication. Okay. Um, so now let's talk about what to limit. When it comes to bone health, and that is excessive sodium intake because that that excessive sodium can cause calcium to actually leach out through your urine. Also heavy alcohol consumption can disrupt our bone remodeling and very high caffeine intake can slightly reduce calcium absorption.

[00:24:54] Now none of these need to be completely eliminated. You know, it's not about perfection, [00:25:00] it's just be, it's about balance and awareness. Right. Um. So let's bring all of this home here, because I want you to walk away from this episode with just a little more clarity on what to do next. So today we talked about how your bones are alive, right?

[00:25:20] And they're always responding to the stress you put on 'em to the food you're eating, and to the hormones moving in your body. Bone loss begins in our thirties and accelerates significantly after menopause. And while you know that's real and that's important fact, it's not a sentence, it's information and it's information for us is fuel, right?

[00:25:41] So your four pillar bone building action plan, and you can write this down if you're, you know, somewhere you can actually write one lift weights two to three times a week, compound movements. Using progressive overload. This is a non-negotiable for your bones, and everybody can be [00:26:00] doing this to some degree.

[00:26:02] Now you might have to, you know, you might say, but I can't do it on my shoulders, or I can't do squats, or I can't do lunges. There's, there is something that you can do, and I've talked about that before many times in, in the past. Um, episodes. Number two, add impact If you can, jump, hop, jog, even 10 to 20 hops a day can give your hip bones a, a stimulus.

[00:26:27] You don't need a whole, you know, plyometrics program. Just start adding a little impact to your day three. Eat for your bones protein at every meal. Calcium rich foods spread throughout the day. Magnesium rich greens and nuts and seeds. And know your vitamin D status and supplement. If you need that four, consider vitamin K two.

[00:26:51] Talk to your doctor. Make sure that you know, you're not on any blood thinners that it can affect. Um, but that is one. You can do a vitamin D three [00:27:00] plus K two supplement and get a DEXA scan. That's A-D-E-X-A scan if you haven't had one. Because this is a wonderful way to know what your bones are looking like.

[00:27:13] Do you have any current osteopenia or osteoporosis? It's gonna look at all the kind of important parts in your hips and your spine. Um, even comparing one side to the other, and, and you get, you wanna baseline so that you can trend it so you can watch it. So maybe you get one at 50, then maybe you, you know, get another one at 55 and 60 and just make sure that you're not.

[00:27:34] Seeing any significant progress towards osteopenia or osteoporosis, and please hear this, it's never too late to start. The research is beautiful on this. Women in their sixties and seventies who begin resistance training still see meaningful improvements in their bone density. It's never too late. You didn't miss your window.

[00:27:54] Your window is right now. So whatever season of life you're in, you know where [00:28:00] whatever starting point you're at. I want you to take one thing from this episode and do it this week. Just one. Maybe you schedule that bone density scan. Maybe you add some squats to your routine. Maybe you start putting a little Greek yogurt on your grocery list, throwing it in your smoothies.

[00:28:16] One thing. That's all it takes to start. And if this episode added any, you know, value to your life, if you learned a little something, if it motivated you, if it made you feel like you've got this, just take 30 seconds and follow the show Wherever you listen to podcast. It makes such a difference in helping this community of women grow and share this episode with a woman in your life who needs to hear it.

[00:28:40] You know your best friend, your sister, your mom, your coworker who keeps saying you, she should probably do something about her bones. Just send it to her literally right now. Drop it into text. She'll thank you and so will I. And remember, this is about progress over perfection. We're in this for the long haul and this is your season of strength.

[00:28:59] [00:29:00] Have an amazing day.