Why Bone Health Matters — No Matter Your Age

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Transcript: Why Bone Health Matters — No Matter Your Age

Season 10, Episode 17  | May 20, 2025

[MUSIC]

 

Hello, everyone! I am back with another episode of Life Time Talks, and this one is on a health topic we hear about a lot. But maybe depending on our age, we don’t give it quite so much time or thought. We are talking today about bone health and why, regardless of our age, it’s worth talking about.

 

My guest today is Sandra Tadros Guirguis. She is a certified inspirational speaker, bestselling author, and renowned expert in holistic wellness. As a practicing clinical pharmacist, group fitness instructor, and personal trainer, she integrates evidence-based strategies for physical and emotional health.

 

Sandra regularly teaches high energy fitness formats, like XTREME HIIT, SHRED, and MAXOUT Total Body at Life Time and speaks on topics such as women’s health, bone health, burnout, and holistic well-being.

 

She’s been featured on CP24, CTV News, Life FM radio, and the cover of Lifestyle magazine, and she’s also been interviewed in several magazines and on podcasts. Sandra’s workshops and seminars are known for practical tips, positive energy, and inspirational content. Sandra, thank you so much for joining me.

 

Hi, Jamie. Thank you so much for having me.

 

We have a lot to get through today. You and I actually met each other back in 2024, when I was visiting some of our Toronto clubs up in Canada and had a chance to hear you speak on the topic of bone health. And I’m so thrilled to get to that.

 

Before we do, though, we’re going to get to that, I want to talk a little bit about you and understand how you got into this space of holistic wellness. You have a very diverse background, so I’d love to hear a little bit about that from you. And also what brought you to Life Time, how you ended up teaching some classes there.

 

Sure. So my professional journey began in pharmacy school at the University of Toronto. And through that program, what I was really fascinated about is a lot of times when you think of what does a pharmacist do, people often think straight of the medications. But what I really liked about the curriculum is we learned for every care plan, just as medicine and general pharmacy practices, what we call non-pharmacological strategies. So that’s your lifestyle measures. So best practice for anything, for diabetes, for high blood pressure, for women’s health, for bone preservation. It was always, well, here are all the non-drug strategies.

 

Sleep is another area of specialty that I do a lot of work in, for example. And there’s this amazing published study that showed great sleep hygiene strategies were at least as effective, if not more, than the sedative medications. So just getting people to set an alarm for that circadian rhythm, put away the electronics, avoid caffeine after noon because of its 20-hour half-life, and so forth.

 

So I like this holistic approach. Started using fitness in my own life and at the time when — I think I shared with you, Jamie, that my late husband had passed away, and I had since remarried. That was a really tough time. My children were young. And I remember doing, when he was really sick, mommy and baby fitness, where my daughter was in the little carry-on, and we would go. And though I would be crying at home, I would go and feel so rejuvenated.

 

That’s when I started to co-teach with the instructor, eventually get my certification. And I got so passionate about exercise, I think especially knowing, hey, if people are exercising, their blood glucose is coming down. Their systolic blood pressure is coming down. Look at all these benefits, and I love it. If I encourage them on the preventative side, I’m less likely to see them in clinic.

 

So I had gotten into fitness, and then Life Time Mississauga opened near my house. And this has been a game-changer in my life. I didn’t even know that gyms existed like this, that had evidence-based strategies and articles that were top of the line. Here’s your VO2 max, and here are the benefits of training like this and training like that. And here are the supplements. And how do we build community with our socials?

 

I even mentioned it in my book, in the acknowledgments, because this was the community that carried me when I was grieving, and I loved it so much. So eventually I was like, well, I would love to teach at Life Time. And almost a decade ago I had gotten involved there, and it’s been the best.

 

At one point, we were shopping for houses. And when I first met my husband, I was like, oh, but I can’t move away from Life Time. And he was like, what do you mean? It’s a gym, right? I’m sure there’s other gyms everywhere. And I’m sure all the different gyms and chains are great. But when he joined, he saw that it was so much more than that. It really is a health club and family. So that’s how we got there.

 

Oh, I love that so much. And I love that we all come to fitness or our healthy lifestyles through different means, how we get there. And it can help us deal with so many different things in our life. So I appreciate you sharing that.

 

And I love that you’re part of the Life Time community. Actually, I noted too, prior to hitting record as well, I think you’re our first international guest, officially, up there in Toronto. So excited to be able to chat with you about these things and just to hear a little bit more about your story. Thank you for sharing that.

 

Thank you.

 

We want to talk about bone health because, as I said at the top of the show, it’s something that we’ve — I’m in my early 40s. I’ve only just started really thinking about this.

 

And part of that was because I heard you speak on it. And I think it’s really important for all of us to know this is something that’s happening when we’re young. We’re setting the stage for bone health when we’re in our teens and 20s. We may not realize it. So let’s dive into that. I want to know why is it something that’s important for all of us to be thinking about, regardless of our age and where we’re at right now?

 

So bone health will affect everything, how we move independently later in life, how it’s built in the early teen years, where it peaks, what happens, especially to women in that menopause transition when the protective effects of estrogen decline. It matters over the lifespan. And it’s silent.

 

People often tell me, well, how do I know if my bones are weak or not? And the truth is, most people don’t know. The vast majority only discover it when there’s a fracture. At that point, you’re high risk. And we’re trying to mitigate further damage. But we’ve lost a lot of time here. And then I notice, when I’m speaking with patients who are relatively young.

 

I had a lady that was in her mid-50s last week, and we were chatting and she’s like, how could this have happened? And she didn’t realize that things like going into menopause under the age of 45 and smoking, and the choice of birth control in earlier age, people who take steroids for gut health for a prolonged period of time, all of these things add significant risk factors. Even with alcohol and all the new literature showing that zero drinks are really recommended. But more than that, in at least three per evening significantly damages bones.

 

So I think there’s such a lack of awareness on all of the risk factors and the lifestyle things that we’re doing, that put us really in a bad position for later on.

 

And why? People will say, so what’s the big deal? So if I do fracture, well, the research is alarming. Something like 37% of people will die within a year of a hip fracture. We think of fractures as one of the worst case scenarios. And how do you prevent fractures, while prevent the bones from getting weak in the first place?

 

So talk a little bit about how bones are formed, if you don’t mind. Can you speak to that for a little bit? Because I think that’s always interesting. Let’s go back to those science classes a little bit, where we began learning about these things. We probably all need a little reminder.

 

Absolutely, yes. So bone, if you imagine the skeleton, is formed constantly. So sometimes people think that they’re done forming bone or they’re going to start forming bone. It is ongoing live always.

 

And if you imagine, within a bone — did you ever play the game Pac-Man, the little yellow guy that goes around in the arcade? So depending on how old or young the listeners are. He’s a little yellow guy, and he went around chomping things. I like to think of that as the osteoclasts. They go through the bone. And they chop up and eat all the old bone, leaving craters and divots.

 

Osteoblasts come in, and they want to re-lay down bone cells. So what is breaking down old bone and laying down bone? And that’s the physiology that happens. When things are homeostatic and things are moving well, it’s very balanced.

 

In the cases of osteopenia, osteoporosis, the bone is getting broken down at an accelerated rate. And so the name osteoporosis comes from porus. When you look on the DEXA scan, in some of the imaging, they’re seeing with those T-scores that there’s holes in the bones, if you will. And that’s what we are really concerned about.

 

And so you start to see those. When do those things start to happen typically? We did talk about, if our bones are being built, the structures are formed in our teens and 20s, we’re really building our strong foundation, our scaffolding. They do start, bone density begins to decrease in our 30s, right?

 

Yes. So every year, after that peak bone mass, which is late 20s to 30, we start to lose a little bit every year, say like 1% to 2%. It’s faster in women and earlier in women, which I’ll note. When women hit menopause, average age is 51. And I know I could do a whole other segment on women’s health.

 

But just really briefly, for those that are wondering what’s perimenopause and menopause? Menopause is really after one year of no periods. Perimenopause is the leading up to that. So if listeners are thinking, where am I in this? Where you’re having maybe fluctuating on-off periods, they’re late, they’re heavy, they’re short, all of that. So around that time and afterwards, starts to really pick up speed. Those five to seven years after menopause, women are losing 2% to 3% every year.

 

And so when you think about that, a woman’s peak bone mass at 30, she’s losing that much, and we’re not doing anything to slow it down or temper it. Then that means by 80 years old, she’s lost a significant amount of her peak bone mass. And we can’t have that. Not on our watch, Jamie. So we’re going to chat today about what people can do to really slow that down, and strengthen and stimulate bone growth.

 

Exactly. And that really gets back to — we know we talk a lot on this podcast about how we want to increase our healthspan and our lifespan, and this is just one other element of it. We don’t want to wait until we’re injured to start. So that’s part of our reason. Let’s take a proactive approach.

 

We also want to reassure those who maybe are in that phase of life already, where they maybe are worried about bone density, there are still things that you can do. So we’re going to talk about all of that and get into it.

 

Let’s talk a little bit more. I want to go into a little bit more depth about some of those risk factors that you mentioned. We know we’re going to get into the stuff that we can all do. We always want to leave this with a, what can you do in your own life? There’s so many things we talk about on this podcast. There’s things that are lifestyle habits that make a difference.

 

Let’s talk a little bit about the oral contraceptives again and other medications that people might be on, that could affect bone density.

 

Absolutely. And I’ll reiterate what you just said, that even if someone’s listening and they’re like, well, I’ve had three fractures and I have osteoporosis and I’m on the meds, that’s no problem. These are most of the people I speak with every day in clinical practice, and there is always things that you can do, and be encouraged, that’s why we’re here, to either help you prevent it or help you slow it down wherever you are on the spectrum. So thanks for saying that, Jamie. That’s definitely our goal here.

 

So in terms of risk factors, there’s a few things. So when we’re looking at oral contraceptives or birth control choices for young women under the age of 25, specifically, we try to avoid those really low oral estrogen contraceptive options, opting for ones that have some of the higher estrogen because the bone is still remodeling. And it’s important. It might not mineralize appropriately for the younger generation.

 

Also, people that have, for example, Crohn’s disease or severe asthma. And they have to take — I’m not talking about inhaled corticosteroids. I’m talking about oral prednisone or steroids that are really systemic, absorbed in the body for three months at a time. That can increase the risk.

 

People who are falling a lot so often, and it’s in the guidelines. We’ll say, have you fallen more than twice this past 12 months? That’s also a flag. Someone’s falling. Do we investigate more falls prevention?

I hope anyone here who’s listening and thinks, oh yes, I have a fall, and now I know how dangerous they are, I’m afraid to walk. But the challenge of that is the fear of falling causes lack of mobility, stiffness, and actually a higher risk of falling.

 

So, yes, we don’t want you to fall, but we don’t want you to be sedentary either. A lot of clinics will have a falls prevention program. There’s osteo occupational therapists that can come in the home, for example, and say, you can have railings here, you can have non-slip bath mats here. And I know they really don’t like area rugs. You can really trip on an area rug. So what can we do? Do you need a mobility aid to really, motion is lotion, still get you moving and not afraid to fall?

 

If a parent has had a fractured hip, that’s a risk factor. If people are currently smoking, and then if they’re having frequent alcohol as well. Those are the main risk factors that we say, with the exception of genetics or someone in the family’s had it, almost all, a lot of these are lifestyle or modifiable risk factors, as we call someone to quit smoking, reduce the alcohol, reduce the risk of fall, and so forth.

 

Yeah, that makes total sense. And again, when it comes back down, do we have some choice around these things? So how can we — it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy our life to a certain degree as well, but still, what’s the moderation there ideally?

 

You mentioned the difference. Obviously women go through menopause. That’s the difference between them. Are there any other differences between men and women in how we build bone density, simply based on our physiology?

 

Yes, so basically the male bones tend to be denser and stronger just hormonally and how they’re built. And they don’t start to lose bone until almost andropause, which is mid-60s almost.

 

So women bones will not build as strong, typically. Of course, there’s outlying things, like if you’re doing lots of exercise that stimulates bone strength and bone growth. But just if you’re looking at average women and average men, men will build stronger bones, and women will have that sharp decline after menopause because estrogen is very protective over the bone. So when that starts to decline, so can the bones.

 

Good to know those differences. So you mentioned, if you’ve fallen twice in the last 10, 12 months, that’s a sign that maybe there’s something going on. Are there other signs or symptoms that someone’s bone health might be suboptimal or compromised, that, oh, I should go get this checked out or I should see someone about this?

 

So the really tricky thing with osteoporosis or bone density is a lot of times, we don’t know until there’s a fracture. But what I do tell people is if you have any of those risk factors, especially early menopause, under the age of 45, or even below the age of 40 and any of these risk factors, go check.

 

But one of the things that you can sometimes visually tell in someone that’s had a compression fracture, which is this fracture in the spine, is there’s that hunched over posture or loss of height. So loss of height, and that’s usually measured when people will go to get a dual X-ray ultrasound, the DEXA, that’s again that gold standard measure. When people go a lot of times, they will measure height. And if I’m seeing a patient in clinic, I’ll go in the EMR, the electronic medical record, and I’ll actually look at what the difference is in their height. And if it’s a progressive loss, that’s significant. At that point, maybe we’re considering doing a lateral X-ray to see if there is a compression fracture, if there’s been significant loss of height.

 

Got it. Those are great things to know. Are there other ways to test your bone health? I know one thing we’re going to get to is the literal physical test that some people can do to see where are you at. But are there any other things? If I went to my doctor, is it the DEXA? Is that the thing I could ask for? Is there something else that we would want to check for?

 

So the DEXA is really the gold standard. And in terms of choosing wisely, it wouldn’t be something that anyone would just say, hey, I want to go and check my bone density, if there’s no reason to believe that there is concern.

 

So when we stratify who should get certain imaging or certain testing, it’s usually after a certain age and/or certain risk factors. These are really the people that it would be appropriate, or clinically evidence-based, to go and get that imaging done.

 

Sometimes people who are at risk as well will have some blood work done. Generally, you can do vitamin D levels, and vitamin D is one of the things that’s difficult for us to get outside of supplements.

 

As a pharmacist, sometimes people bring in full golf carts of supplements and say, which ones do I need? We always say, try to get what you can from food, and the ones that you can’t make up the balance. These usually, especially if you have darker skin like myself, we have a harder time getting from the melanin and the sun. So most people will need vitamin D, and that can be tested.

 

There are other things, like calcium and parathyroid hormone, but those are really not for the general public. Those are when there are specific metabolic concerns. Usually an endocrinologist is then doing that extensive testing. So for the most part, people who are at risk are going and getting the dual X-ray.

Cool. Let’s talk about that stand-up test that I know that you’ve talked about. That’s one way something all of us can probably do when we’re done listening to this or having this conversation today.

 

Yes. So one of the things that through being a Bone Fit provider, you learn certain things on how to move, and we will touch on those, how to safely bend, how to safely turn for anybody. Because even if you are 20 or you are 80, you have bone density that’s low or not, we should all be moving with spine-protective measures, in terms of habits. So I will get to that in a second.

 

But one of the things that we ask people to do, if they can do so safely, if you’re sitting on a chair, are you able to rise without using your hands? And then take a couple of steps. So the get-up-and-go test. So a lot of times if we’re having to really use a lot of pressure, this may indicate that we would like to strengthen the bones to have a bit more of that strength and mobility to get up and go.

 

Got it. So that’s a good one there. You mentioned the spine-protective stuff. And I know that’s really important. You also mentioned a sign is if you’re hunched over and all those things. Let’s talk about the spine and how critical it is in our bone health and in that phase of life. Not phase of life, but really just, we have our spine our whole lives, so we need to protect it.

 

For sure. But you’re right. At certain stages, it’s definitely more fragile, but yes, all the time. So the first thing that everyone can probably do is notice how they’re sitting in the day. So you can exercise, and you can stretch. But if you spend eight hours a day sitting, that can do a lot of damage on the spine.

 

I actually posted something on my Instagram very recently. This research came out and showed that people who every 45 minutes got up and did 10 bodyweight squats or a three-minute walk, had 21% better blood sugar control than the person that just did one 30-minute walk a day.

 

So it really reminds us about these micro snacks and breaks. So if you’re someone that sits all day, I sit all day, can you get up every 45 minutes or an hour? Can you recheck your posture also for your bone health? And we’ll talk about why that’s so important.

 

So if you look at me from the side, majority of people sit in front of their computer in this hunched over, C-spine, shoulders are drooping forward and chin is jutting out forward. Every millimeter that your chin comes forward puts a lot of strain on your spine, your cervical spine specifically.

 

So we don’t want to do that. So we want to sit with our back all the way, pushed at the back of the chair, shoulders pressed back and chin tucked in. So if I looked at you from the side. I would see your beautiful ears above your shoulder, above your waist.

 

And same thing, physiotherapists will often say, avoid a laptop where your elbows shoot out to the side. It’s a lot of pressure on the shoulder. Can you have your elbows down by your side 90 degrees, maybe with an external keyboard? And your eyes should hit the top 2/3 of your screen also. So a lot of things that we can do just in how we sit in the day.

 

And then if we are bending, we don’t want to round our spine. We want to, as if you’re pushing the door closed with your bum behind you, straight spine, using the legs to get low and come up.

 

And we also don’t want to twist forcefully. If you’re carrying something, you just pulled up to your car, you were like me, you went to Costco to get two things, but you came out with a full cart. You’ve now pulled up. Every time, right? Can you bend over safely, quarter turn your feet to face the trunk and then release safely?

 

And on the Osteoporosis Canada website, there is a whole segment of Too Fit to Fracture, and they have short videos, tearaways you can give members, clients, patients, whoever you see as well, that can help reiterate these really important safe movement strategies.

 

So really protecting that spine and doing that, but also just setting yourself up to not have injuries of multiple types, when that happens.

 

Exactly. So let’s get into — we already mentioned exercise, the role of it in protecting our bones and helping to build our bone density, maintain it as well. One thing you said in the notes before our show was exercise is considered medicine for the bones. So let’s talk about that. What kind of exercise? What does that look like?

 

So exercise stimulates bone growth and remodeling. Weight-bearing exercise, and we’ll talk a little bit more about what is weight-bearing and what isn’t, actually triggers osteoblasts. Remember we talked about class and blasts? So really, really promotes.

 

And then what happens when your bones are strong? Well, your muscles are strong too. And when you asked me about the signs, something I just thought about. When we talk about grip strength, if you’re having trouble opening a jar, carrying certain things, this is usually a red flag too because our bones and muscles pull together. So if you’re having weak strength and weak musculature, there’s quite a chance that your bones are weak too.

 

So when we look at longevity, Dr. Peter Attia wrote this book, Outlive, and he had all these parameters for based on your age, how much should you be able to carry in a farmer’s walk? Is it 75% of your body weight? Is it 100%? Again, based on if you’re female or male. We really want to make sure that we’ve got that overall strength because strength, muscles and bones, they pull on each other.

 

So weight-bearing specifically, people will often see that in the guidelines and say, what’s weight-bearing exercise? And quite simply, it means carrying your body weight around. So that is things like, I’ll often say, well, out of these three which one’s weight-bearing? They’re all great exercises, but which one specifically strengthens your bones?

 

And I will say, dancing, swimming, and lifting weights. And people will pause for a minute and I’ll say, they’re all great exercise, and we recommend all three. And then they’ll think and they’ll say, well, with swimming, the water’s carrying me. And I’ll say, that’s right, so please continue to swim. It’s so good for so many things.

 

But if you’re doing your math and you’re thinking, well, I want 150 minutes of weight-bearing exercise a week, 30 minutes, five days a week, I want to make sure that it’s strength or dance. Balance should be done daily, whether it’s Tai Chi.

 

I always tell people, try to brush your teeth for 30 seconds, one leg. And on the other, as long as you can do so safely. And if you use your non-dominant hand, you’re making even more neurological pathways. So, so much benefit of that balance for your brain, for your bones, and for making new brain pathways. So really looking at weight-bearing exercises.

 

I just love that you can do this part of your routine. I’m standing there in the morning, and I can do that. And it’s just the little simple things. It doesn’t have to be that you have to get to the athletic country club, the health club to do this. There are things that we can do throughout our days that qualify as weight-bearing.

 

Yes, we want to have that intentional exercise routine, but there are just parts of our daily life, as you said, like getting up every 45 minutes, standing on the one foot, if you can do it safely. There’s some of those little tips and tricks that we can just sneak into our lives to make it a little bit more feasible, in some cases.

 

Yes, you’re exactly right. One of the seminars I was doing about preventing burnout, I had worked with the organizers, and they had gotten everyone in the company water bottles. And I said to them, if you’re drinking your 2 or more liters, your 30ml/kg of body weight of water a day, you’re going to have less workplace drama. And everyone was like, how? I said, well, imagine you’re going to be getting up so often to either refill your water bottle or to go to the washroom. You’re not going to have time for any drama. And they just laughed and thought, very true.

 

So again, you make this small atomic habit of I get up and I refill my water, and I go to the washroom, and I’m hydrating, and you’re moving.

 

Keep moving however you can. And then move as much as you can throughout the day. Again, that’s just so important.

 

Again, even just us sitting, I think about this too. I sit a lot during my days. I do have my sit-stand desk that I will utilize. But the mobility, I noticed it in my hips immediately, if I don’t really be intentional about it. So it’s again, we got to keep our mobility as best we can and go from there.

 

I love the idea of the sit-stand desk. Are you enjoying it?

 

I love my sit-stand desk. And one of the latest trends that I’m seeing around the office more are the walking treadmills. So people are doing that and getting even for a half-hour, a few extra steps in. They’re moving their bodies more, and that is helping them as well.

 

That’s been good. Actually I did that yesterday in the office, and it was fantastic. I’m like oh, OK. If I do this once a day for 20 minutes, that’s just getting a little bit extra, right?

 

Yeah.

 

So a little bit of more body weight movement and getting my bones hopefully stronger in the process. So that’s the movement part of it. Oh, go ahead.

 

Sorry, I was just going to add one thing. It doesn’t have to be that long. So you see how you just said, well, it was 20 minutes, and that was great. I will also mention Health Canada, and a lot of the guidelines say that someone who’s thinking, oh, 30 minutes, I can’t put that all together, but benefit is actually seen in as little as a 10-minute interval.

 

So if you do a brisk walk for 10 minutes, by the time you walk back, your cortisol, your stress hormones come down, your endorphins have come up, and you have strengthened your bones and if you’ve done so much. So don’t be discouraged. If it sounds like a lot, you could do three 10-minute blocks, 20 and 10. However you want to slice it. So thank you for pointing that out.

 

Break it up however you can. Let’s talk nutrition and supplementation. You’ve alluded to some of this already. You mentioned calcium. We’ve talked a little bit about vitamin D. But let’s talk about why does nutrition and other lifestyle factors important when it comes to our bone health?

So our bones are so delicate in terms of the nutrients that go into them. So things like calcium and vitamin D and vitamin K all play factors in bone absorption. But also, things in our nutrition or diet, like caffeine, alcohol and smoking, can negatively impact calcium being absorbed or even excreted more in the urine. So it plays a vital role. If we don’t have enough calcium in the bones, they cannot build strong. So we want to make sure that we are getting it in into our bodies from nutrition.

 

As I mentioned, we generally tell people, try to get everything you can from your diet. So for calcium, that’s a lot of dairy or fortified dairy. So someone that has soy milk, making sure it’s calcium-fortified.

D is a fat soluble vitamin, like A, D, E, and K. That usually does need to be taken in a supplement and is best absorbed after food. And K, you can get in a lot of the green leafy vegetables as well. So there’s a lot of places we can get it.

 

With calcium specifically, there are recommendations based on your age, how much people should be getting. If you look up calcium calculator, it will take you directly to an interactive tool by Osteoporosis Canada, where you can actually go through and click off all the foods you have in a day. They’ll say, how old are you? Male or female? OK, here’s how much you’re getting, and here’s the balance.

 

And this is very empowering because you can look at it and be like, oh, I’m only 300 milligrams short. Well, I’ll have another yogurt, right? Or you may say, wow, I’m really off. Can I make it up and diet? If not, I’m going to go get a supplement.

 

With calcium supplements, one thing to note is people that are on medication to lower stomach acid, we’ll double check, do you have to be on this medication? Some of the PPI class, with time, may increase the risk of fractures. But of course, someone that has a hernia or post-surgery or needs it, the benefit outweighs the risk.

 

But people who are on medication to reduce stomach acid would need to take the calcium citrate. So the citrate type of salt, when supplementing there. And also trying to limit the caffeine intake, alcohol, and smoking.

 

So really obviously with all of these things, we want people to consult with a health care provider, someone they’re working with, and go from there as well. Always do that.

 

For everything. For everything, to check with their primary care provider, for sure.

 

Any other lifestyle factors that you would say, they make a difference with bone health, bone density, helping us maintain?

 

Even just NEAT. So the non-exercise activity thermogenesis that’s happening from moving. So I tell people who count their steps or do whichever, continue to move, continue to move in functional ways, bend and reach.

 

And even people who exercise, there’s those six fundamental movements. Do you push, do you pull, and so forth? So just continue to move, continue to prioritize your sleep because that’s when all good things happen metabolically. Our immune, our scaffolding, everything is happening. So putting away those electronics an hour before bed.

 

And eating enough protein is also huge. So protein makes up a big part of the skeleton as well. So even someone who doesn’t want to count or calculate their macros, if you just imagine a plate, half of it is green leafy vegetables and some orange vegetables, a quarter is a lean protein, and a quarter is a complex carb, and your drink of choice is water, you’ve got a great start.

 

And then, as always, just as Jamie said, you have specific concerns or questions, find a team that can really support you that way.

 

Absolutely. Sandra, did we miss anything? I want to make sure we didn’t. Were there any points that we didn’t quite cover, that you want to just touch on or leave our listeners with, before we go into the final question?

 

I think it is never too late for men, for women to think about their bones. A lot of times I had spoken to people and I thought, oh yeah, osteoporosis, isn’t that for old ladies? But I will first remind our listeners that now, with life expectancy being so much older, people are living longer, when a woman’s, on average, going through menopause at 51, we’re spending almost half of our life postmenopause.

So this is important. And that it’s being built in the teen years. So talk to everybody about bone strength, about exercise, about healthy lifestyles and awareness early.

 

And the last thing I will mention is there’s a really alarming statistic that a lot of people are falling, fracturing, and not reporting it or not getting followed up on for their bone density. So someone that has fallen and not getting treated is really, really alarming.

 

So if you have fallen from standing height and fractured your hip, your thigh, something, please ask your health care provider, does this mean my bones are weaker? Do I need to be worked up for osteoporosis? Because the majority of the time, the answer is yes.

 

And I’ve had people say, but I felt like a cartoon. My feet went up this way, and I flailed my arms. The guidelines are really clear. It doesn’t matter how spectacularly you fell. If you’re falling from standing height and something’s breaking, there should be real cause for concern about the integrity of those bones.

 

That’s such a great reminder. Really take that seriously, get it checked out, go work with a health care provider.

 

So the final question. And normally, it’s my colleague David who’s asking the mic drop moment. But today, it’s me. And I don’t know that it’s necessarily mic drop, but it’s just something I’m interested in.

[CHUCKLES]

 

Sure.

 

So if you had to pick one type of movement that you would do over and over again, and let’s say it’s the only thing you could do, what is it? What’s your go-to movement? It could be a format of a class or whatever. But just what would that be for you and why?

 

I really love the weighted man maker, which is like a burpee push up and press, just because it’s so complete. Did I ever show you the black and white pictures of my grandpa in the Olympics for gymnastics?

 

I don’t think so. Now I want to know about that.

 

I’ll have to show you. But he always told me, imagine in the ’30s in Egypt, they were not working out at gyms. And I have the craziest pictures of him, a stack of chairs, he’s on the top chair in a handstand, with one arm supporting his whole-body weight on a pyramid of chairs. And so he had incredible strength. They all did. People don’t train like that anymore. And he said they did their bread and butter calisthenics. So it was like the push-up and the coming out.

 

So I find that the burpee format or that man maker, where you really get into a plank for your core, where you drop and push up, bring your legs in and come up, if I could only do one move, it would definitely be that. I would still maintain so much of my fitness. It increases your heart rate as well. And it can be done low impact, like walk out, walk in, or high impact. Jump. I think that’s what I would do. What about you?

 

Oh, man. OK —

 

Is that OK if I ask you?

 

No you absolutely can. I love when it gets back. A single movement, I love the squat. The squat is one of my favorites. It’s one move that — I started lifting weights when I was in high school, as part of the basketball program I was in. It was so empowering. I remember thinking, just so strong and like, oh, we are amazing, that we can do this. And the squat was one of the empowering moves. So I was like, I’d build up to it. And over a season, build that strength.

 

And I continue to love the squat. I think it’s one where it continues to challenge me still. And there are times when I’m like, how on earth did I lift that weight when I was younger? And I’m like, can I get back to it?

 

But it’s one where I feel like it’s so doable anywhere. I also love that you can take it with you. I can do a body weight, or I can add weight and make it more challenging. So it’s one of those things that just keep me going.

 

I like the squat a lot too. And you’re right, you can even squat pulse, squat hold, sumo, change your leg positioning. That’s great. I thought of the squat, actually, originally. That’s a great one too.

 

I know. Well, we got more of those. If people want any more tips on full body moves that you can do, we’ve got plenty of those at Experience Life’s website for us.

 

I want to make sure that people can find you, Sandra. After we end this episode, they can visit you on your website, www.stgwellness.ca, or follow you on Instagram @STG_wellness. Anywhere else you would want to point people?

 

That’s right. Those are probably the two that I’m checking the most frequently.

 

Awesome. Well, we’ll link to those. We’ll also link to all the resources that you mentioned in our show notes. But, Sandra, it has just been so great to see you again, to reconnect with you. And just thank you for taking the time to share your insights and your expertise with our listeners.

 

Thank you so much. It’s been such a delight.

 

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