Vitamins

• The first thing you can do to protect your skeletal system is to make sure it's properly nourished. Your bones need calcium to maintain their integrity. Calcium can be found in leafy green vegetables (broccoli, green beans, spinach), beans, milk and specially fortified foods. It's also usually added to daily vitamins for those who'd rather take a pill in the morning with breakfast. The second thing is to make sure that you get enough vitamin D, whether from food, supplements or good old-fashioned sunlight (15 minutes daily ought to do it). Vitamin D controls how the calcium you're getting is used.
  
  

Things to Avoid

• A third imortant way to protect your skeletal system is to avoid smoking. People who smoke, especially those who smoke regularly and for a long period of time, tend to lose calcium, which makes their bones a great deal more vulnerable to fractures and damage. A fourth step is to get as much of your protein from plants as possible. Animal protein may cause calcium to leach from the bones and pass into the urine. If, however, you intend to smoke and consume meat, you should boost your calcium intake to help compensate.
  
  

Exercise

• A fifth thing you can do to protect your skeletal system--but by no means the least important--is to exercise. Exercise strengthens the muscles, which are attached to the bones, but it also provides a lot of help to the bones themselves. The act of exercise keeps calcium in the bones, and it keeps them strong. People who tend not to exercise will also tend to lose calcium from their bones as they remain more or less sedentary.