It is never too early or too late to begin thinking about building up some bone strength to fight osteoporosis. At just the ripe old age of 35, our bodies can already start losing some bone density. It’s a perfect time to start thinking about it today. Even if you haven’t thought about it too much yet and are nearing your golden ages of life, it is never too late to start! Just wait till you read how much of an impact a daily probiotic can make over the age of 70.

Here are 4 really simple strategies to begin building the all-important bone strength that is vital for healthy and happy bodies as we age.

Pack In Protein
Sometimes I think we hear about protein so often--”Protein! PROTEIN! PROOOOTEIN!!!!” we become kind of desensitized to it. You hear about how important it is all the time--but you wonder why is it so important again?? Just one of the many great things about protein is how great it is for your bones---whether you get that in animal or plant-based form. No matter which side of the fence you are on, you can and should get plenty of protein in your diet. Protein is basically the glue to our bones, holding together minerals like calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium that keep them hard and strong.

Aim for 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight and up to 0.56 grams for adults over age 50. To put that in perspective, 3 ounces of chicken breast contains 26 grams of protein and 1 cup of beans has about 14 grams.

Lift a Little
Adding strength, or weight training, to your regimen does way more than just shred body fat. It really helps build and keep your bone strength as well. Strength training actually stimulates new bone development! It works best with heavy lifting but you can also achieve similar results with lots of repetitions with light resistance.

Lifting light three times a week, no matter what age you are, increases bone mineral density by as much as 8 percent! Choose a dumbbell that’s 20 perfect of the max weight you can lift (so 4 pounds if you are capable of lifting 20). For each exercise, do as many reps as you can in 5-minute bursts over the course of an hour-long workout. Let’s get physical…..PHYSICAL!!

Drizzle Olive Oil
Not only is olive oil super delicious and fantastic for your heart, did you know that is helps support your skeleton as well? Consuming about 4 teaspoons of olive oil per day was associated with 4 percent higher total bone density on average, compared to having none. It’s time to ditch those crappy oils in your pantry that are doing more harm than good, like vegetable and canola oil and make the easy switch to olive oil. What a simple way to make a huge impact!

Do A Gut Check
Yay!! Yet another reason to get all those gut-healthy foods into your diet that I am so big about! Start with something easy like choosing a daily probiotic--taking a daily probiotic alone reduced bone density loss by about HALF after a year with women ages 75 to 80! How incredible is that?!

The breakdown of bone is increased by inflammation, so the researchers suspect that that healthy gut bugs’ anti-inflammatory effects can stave off some of this loss. Feel free to add fermented veggies like cabbage or kimchi, drink kombucha, and try adding cultured butters to your diet for some easy ways to introduce gut-building, healthy bacteria into your body.

What ways are you trying to build your bone density and fight osteoporosis? I found these four ideas to be so easy to add to any lifestyle and I hope you agree! Please share your thoughts in the comments below.