ANS BASEBALL ACADEMY

"5 Ways to Build Better Bones"

1. Eat a balanced diet - you probably know that foods rich in calcium help strengthen bones. But according to Lauren Graf, a dietician at New York's Montefiore Hospital, eating potassium-rich fruits and vegetables such as bananas, oranges, cantaloupe and sweet potatoes can also make bones stronger.

2. Get enough vitamin D - to absorb calcium you need vitamin D, found naturally in some foods (eggs, liver and fatty fish, such as salmon and sardines) and added to others. Your body also creates vitamin D whenever the sun shines on your skin. In fact, just 15 minutes a day in the sun without sunscreen can help satisfy daily requirements (400 IU for kids from infancy through adolescence).

3. Shake off excess salt - too much salt (more than 1900 milligrams a day for kids ages 4 to 8 and 2300 for those 9 and up) can leach calcium from bones. Most of the extra salt in our diets comes from processed foods, so your best bet is to opt for low-sodium products and use table salt sparingly.

4. Skip the soda - most sodas contain phosphoric acid, an additive that some experts believe can remove calcium from our bones. For a healthier alternative, make "sparklers" from juice and seltzer or try a home soda-maker kit, which lets you add fizz to plain water and customize flavors.

5. Make time for exercise - "You can consume all the calcium you want," says University of Wisconsin pediatrics professor Frank Greer, "but for good bone health you also need weight-bearing activity." Fortunately that includes anything that makes your body work against gravity, such as walking, hiking or dashing after a soccer ball. To really toughen up bones, Greer recommends kids challenge gravity for at least 60 minutes a day.

Family Fun Magazine