In part one of this article, we learned that animal protein leaches the calcium out of bones, causing the disease of osteoporosis and, consequently, spontaneously broken bones in the spine, hips, legs and arms. Would a collapsed bone in your back affect your health, fitness, and your very life? You bet it would!

When does osteoporosis start? Some expert sources say that the stage is set for whether a woman gets osteoporosis or not by the time she reaches 40 years old, before menopause; for a man, by the time he reaches 50 years old.

Bone decline often starts way back when we are adolescents and even young children. And if you take a close look at what our children eat today, it is downright scary to think where their bones and their bodies are headed in their not so distant future.

Apparently, no matter how many milligrams of calcium we consume, it doesn't make up for years and often a lifetime of constant leeching of calcium, which literally causes our bones to dissolve.

Other substances that leech the calcium out of our bones besides beef, chicken, turkey, fish, pork, eggs, and possibly even dairy products are:

Caffeine in any form, especially coffee, leaches the calcium out of our bones; yes, even one cup a day

Pop leeches the calcium out of our bones. On the average, each American drinks about 1,550 quarts of pop every year. That's 3 quarts every week. How much pop do you drink, or someone you love? What damage to your body is it causing?

Refined sugar leeches calcium out of our bones

Salt leeches calcium out of our bones

Alcohol, even one glass of wine a day, leeches calcium out of our bones

Smoking leeches calcium out of our bones

Drugs ? antacids, diuretics, steroids, antibiotics ? leach the calcium out of our bones. If you are taking any of these drugs, including Tums (yes, even as advertised with calcium), consider what they may be doing to your bones, not to mention other parts of your body.

Lack of weight-bearing, long bone exercise leaches the calcium out of our bones. An example of long bone exercise is walking. Walking is overall the best form of exercise there is; and it is easy and very cheap. Just put on a pair of sneakers and go!

And, by the way, the perfect length of time to walk is one hour. Even our government now recommends (it's about time they caught on) that we need to exercise 60 minutes every day; no, not 30 minutes 3 times a week, but 60 minutes every day.

Take a look at some astonishing statistics about you and osteoporosis in Part 3 of ?Are You Missing Something? Like the Inside of Your Bones.?