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How data, digestion, stress, and self-awareness can radically change the osteoporosis conversation
One of the biggest reasons women feel confused, overwhelmed, and powerless after an osteoporosis or osteopenia diagnosis is that they’re given very little context. A scan. A number. A prescription. And almost no guidance on what’s actually happening inside their bodies.
In Episode 146 of the Stronger Bones Lifestyle Podcast, I sat down again with Dr. Anil Bajnath, MD, a board-certified physician and founder of the American Board of Precision Medicine, to dive deeper into what bone health really requires. This conversation was about more than medicine — it was about bio-harmonizing the body, restoring resilience, and using modern tools wisely without losing our humanity.
Precision Medicine Puts the Power Back in Your Hands
What I love about precision medicine is that it shifts the focus away from “here’s a pill” and toward personal responsibility with support. It recognizes that your genetics, lifestyle, digestion, stress levels, sleep, movement, and environment all shape how your body ages — including how your bones remodel and repair.
Dr. Bajnath explained that we are moving toward a future where vital signs aren’t just blood pressure and heart rate, but things like:
- Sleep quality
- Heart rate variability (HRV)
- Blood sugar patterns
- Stress resilience
- Recovery capacity
These markers tell us far more about fracture risk and long-term bone health than a single DEXA scan ever could.
Wearables, Trackers, and the “Vital Signs of the Future”
I’ll be honest — I’ve been hesitant about wearables. EMFs, blue light, constant data… it can feel overwhelming. But what Dr. Bajnath shared helped me see them differently.
Wearables like the Oura Ring, Apple Watch, Garmin, or a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) aren’t meant to be worn forever. They’re tools to create awareness. Even wearing one for a couple of weeks can reveal patterns you’d never see otherwise:
- Is your sleep actually restorative?
- Are stress hormones driving inflammation?
- Are certain foods causing blood sugar spikes?
- Is your body resilient — or barely coping?
That information empowers you to make changes before breakdown happens.
Gut Health, Blood Sugar, and Bone Strength Are Deeply Connected
This part of the conversation lit me up, because it confirms what I see every day in my work. When I run stool labs on women over 60 with osteoporosis, the patterns are striking:
- Poor digestion
- Low gut immune function
- Dysbiosis
- Chronic inflammation
Dr. Bajnath explained that blood sugar regulation is closely tied to the gut microbiome. A CGM can show real-time food reactions without expensive testing. If your blood sugar spikes after certain foods, that inflammatory response doesn’t just affect energy — it impacts bones, hormones, and tissue repair.
We also talked about the most common dietary triggers:
- Gluten
- Dairy
- Corn
- Sugar
These foods repeatedly show up as drivers of gut barrier breakdown, immune activation, and inflammation — all enemies of strong, fracture-resistant bones.
Stress Will Override Everything
This may be the most important takeaway of all.
You can eat perfectly. Supplement carefully. Exercise intelligently. But if chronic stress is running your nervous system, it will override every other effort.
Stress affects:
- HRV
- Digestion
- Hormone balance
- Blood sugar
- Inflammation
- Bone remodeling
This is where yoga, breathwork, meditation, and mindful movement are not optional extras — they are foundational medicine. As I shared in the episode, yoga has trained me to be intentional about what I consume: not just food, but news, media, conversations, and environments.
Preserving your being is preserving your bones.
Bio-Harmonizing Instead of Bio-Hacking
I loved when Dr. Bajnath embraced my term bio-harmonizing. Not fighting the body. Not pushing extremes. But restoring balance.
Whether it’s Ayurveda, precision medicine, yoga, or functional nutrition, the goal is the same:
- Reduce inflammation
- Support digestion
- Improve resilience
- Restore communication in the body
That’s how bones rebuild. That’s how aging becomes healthier, not scarier.
Actionable Steps You Can Start Today
- Prioritize sleep as bone-building time
- Reduce inflammatory foods temporarily
- Support gut health before adding supplements
- Manage stress daily with breath and movement
- Use data tools briefly to gain insight, not obsession
- Choose balance over extremes
My Takeaway
This episode reinforced my mission: we must move beyond scan, diagnose, pill. Bone health is a whole-body, whole-life conversation. Precision medicine gives us clarity, but awareness and lifestyle give us power.
When we bio-harmonize the body, bones respond.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Oxalates, also known as oxalic acid, are naturally occurring compounds found in many plants, vegetables, and fruits. They are part of a plant’s defense mechanism against predators and can be found in high concentrations in foods like spinach, rhubarb, beets, nuts, chocolate, tea, and certain beans.
Regarding bone health, oxalates can bind to minerals such as calcium in the gut, forming calcium oxalate. This compound is not easily absorbed by the body, meaning the calcium that could have been utilized for bone strengthening is instead excreted. This process can potentially lead to lower calcium availability for bone health, which can be particularly concerning for individuals at risk of osteoporosis or other bone-related issues.
However, for most women, dietary oxalates do not pose a significant threat to bone health, especially if their diet is balanced with enough calcium and they do not have a history of kidney stones.
Your gut is crucial for stronger bones for several reasons:
- Nutrient Absorption: The gut is where most nutrient absorption occurs. For bones to be healthy and strong, they need a variety of nutrients, particularly calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and vitamin D. A healthy gut efficiently absorbs these essential nutrients from your diet and facilitates their transportation to the bones.
- Gut Microbiome and Bone Health: Research has shown that the gut microbiome (the community of bacteria living in your intestines) can influence bone density. Certain gut bacteria help in producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) like butyrate, which have been shown to promote bone health. SCFAs can enhance the absorption of minerals necessary for bone strength and play a role in reducing inflammation, which can negatively affect bone health.
- Hormone Regulation: The gut helps regulate hormones that are involved in bone metabolism, including insulin, thyroid hormones, and sex hormones like estrogen. For example, estrogen is vital for bone density, and gut health can influence estrogen levels through the enterohepatic circulation, where estrogens are processed in the liver and intestines.
- Reducing Inflammation: Chronic inflammation, which can stem from poor gut health, is linked to many conditions that compromise bone strength, such as osteoporosis. A healthy gut helps to reduce systemic inflammation, protecting bones from inflammatory damage.
- Immune System Modulation: The majority of the immune system is located in the gut. An imbalance in the immune system can lead to autoimmune conditions, some of which affect the bones. Maintaining gut health helps to ensure the immune system works correctly, protecting against autoimmune reactions that could impact bone health.
In essence, maintaining a healthy gut contributes significantly to stronger bones by ensuring the effective absorption of vital nutrients, regulating hormones, reducing inflammation, and supporting a healthy immune system. Therefore, a diet rich in bone-healthy nutrients, prebiotics, and probiotics, along with lifestyle factors that promote gut health, is key to maintaining strong bones.