Tania Lewis, Naturopath, Rutherglen VIC
Tania Lewis is a naturopath based in Rutherglen, Victoria, with fifteen years of clinical experience as a Registered Nurse. She works with women in perimenopause and post-menopause concerned about bone density, osteopenia, or a recent osteoporosis diagnosis. She supports bone health through nutrition, protein, and the wider metabolic picture, working alongside your GP rather than in place of medical care. She sees clients in Rutherglen and Yarrawonga, and consults online with clients across Australia.

Two silver-haired women in activewear sitting on yoga mats in a bright studio during a gentle seated stretch

When the scan comes back and the conversation stops

Maybe you’ve just had a DEXA scan, and a word you didn’t expect came back: osteopenia, or osteoporosis. You were handed a result, perhaps a prescription, and told to come back in a year or two.

Or maybe no one’s scanned you yet, but you know your mother broke a hip, your periods have stopped, and you’re wondering what’s quietly happening to your bones.

Bone loss is silent. It doesn’t ache or announce itself. The first sign is often a fracture, which is exactly why it’s so easy to leave unaddressed until it’s advanced. You want to do something now, while it still counts, and you want more than a two-year wait and a single number.

This page is for you if

You’ve been diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis and want to do more than wait

Your recent DEXA scan showed lower bone density than you expected

You’re perimenopausal or post-menopausal and worried about your bones

You have a family history of osteoporosis or fractures

You’ve been prescribed medication and want to support your bones through nutrition too

You’ve been told to “take some calcium” and left to work out the rest yourself

You want to protect your bones now, before a fracture makes the point for you

You suspect your bones, muscle, and hormones are connected, but no one’s joined them up

You want a thorough clinical assessment, not a generic protocol

What’s actually happening in your body

Your bones aren’t fixed scaffolding. It’s living tissue, constantly broken down and rebuilt throughout your life. Bone health comes down to keeping those two processes in balance. When breakdown outpaces rebuilding, bone density falls.

Menopause tips that balance, and it does so quickly. Understanding why, and what bone actually needs to rebuild, is what makes support possible rather than passive waiting.

Oestrogen and the bone remodelling balance

Your bones are continuously remodelled by two cell types working in opposition. Osteoclasts break bone down, and osteoblasts build it back up. Oestrogen is the brake on the osteoclasts, keeping breakdown in check so rebuilding can keep pace.

When oestrogen falls through menopause, that brake comes off. Breakdown accelerates, rebuilding can’t keep up, and bone density drops. The SWAN study, which tracked bone density across the menopause transition, found women lost around 10.6 per cent of their spinal bone density over the decade spanning menopause, with the fastest loss concentrated in the window from one year before to two years after the final period (Greendale et al., 2012). That’s why acting early, in that window, matters so much.

This is also why bone loss and other menopause symptoms arrive together. They share the same root: the fall in oestrogen. Your bones, your metabolism, and your muscle are all responding to the same hormonal shift.

Bone is protein, not just minerals

Here’s what “take some calcium” misses. Bone is roughly half protein by volume. Its collagen framework is the scaffold that minerals attach to, and without enough protein, there’s nothing for the calcium to build on.

Protein intake often drops in midlife, right when bones and muscle need it most. A review by Australian researchers Davis and Baber notes that comprehensive care of post-menopausal women includes attention to nutrition and physical activity, alongside any medical treatment (Davis & Baber, 2022). Protein isn’t optional for bone. It’s structural.

This is central to how I work. A food-first plan gets your protein to a level that actually supports bone rebuilding, rather than treating calcium as the whole answer.

The nutrient team behind bone

Calcium matters, but it doesn’t work alone, and taking it in isolation can be counterproductive. Vitamin D governs how well you absorb calcium in the first place. Vitamin K2 directs that calcium into your bones rather than your arteries. Magnesium is needed for both vitamin D activation and bone structure itself.

Get one of these wrong and the others can’t do their job. This is why a bone plan is about the whole nutrient picture and how well you’re absorbing it, not a single supplement. Gut health matters here too, because absorption happens in the gut.

Muscle and bone work as a pair

Bone responds to load. Muscle pulling on bone, and the impact of weight-bearing movement, are direct signals for bone to strengthen. As oestrogen falls, muscle mass declines as well, a process called sarcopenia, and the two losses compound each other.

Weaker muscle means less loading signal to bone, and it also means a higher risk of the falls that turn low bone density into fractures. Supporting muscle through protein and resistance movement is part of supporting bone. You can’t fully separate them.

Why it stays silent

Put this together and the danger becomes clear. Oestrogen falls, breakdown outpaces rebuilding, protein and nutrients often fall short, and muscle declines alongside bone, all without a single symptom you can feel. Bone loss gives no warning until a fracture, which is why the time to act is now, while support still changes the trajectory.

This isn’t rare. According to the Australasian Menopause Society, drawing on Healthy Bones Australia data, around 27 per cent of Australian women aged 60 and over have osteoporosis, and 51 per cent have osteopenia (Australasian Menopause Society, 2023). More than three-quarters of women over 60 have measurably reduced bone density, most of them without knowing it.

Why “normal” results don’t always mean normal

A DEXA scan gives you a number, and that number is genuinely useful. But a result labelled osteopenia often comes with little beyond “we’ll monitor it,” which can feel like being told there’s a problem and to do nothing about it.

The nutrient and metabolic factors underneath your bone density don’t show up on a DEXA scan. Your vitamin D status, your protein intake, your absorption, and your inflammatory picture all shape where your bones head next, and none of them appear on the scan that named the problem.

The gap between ‘not diseased’ and ‘functioning well’ is where many women in perimenopause and beyond find themselves.

This is where a fuller read helps. Functional blood chemistry interpretation reads markers like vitamin D, calcium, and inflammation against optimal ranges, so the factors driving your bone density are visible and addressable, not left to a two-year recheck.

A clipboard, pen, a pair of small hand weights, and dried herbs in a vase on a wooden desk

Two plain amber dropper bottles beside a rolled exercise mat, a resistance band, and dried herbs

How I work with this presentation

I’m a naturopath with a clinical background in acute nursing, which means I take a full history and read pathology closely. For bone health in perimenopause or menopause, the assessment covers:

Your bone density history, including any DEXA results and family history of fracture

A review of existing pathology, including vitamin D, calcium, and inflammatory markers

Your dietary protein intake, mapped against what your bones and muscle need

The full nutrient picture: vitamin D, vitamin K2, magnesium, and calcium balance

Digestive function and gut health, since absorption underpins all of it

Weight-bearing and resistance movement, and your fall-risk factors

My approach is food-first and addresses the nutrient, gut, and metabolic factors bone building depends on. I’ll help you get protein and nutrients to the levels bone actually needs, and support the muscle that keeps bone loaded and you steady.

I work alongside your GP and other treating practitioners, not in opposition to them. Osteoporosis is a medical diagnosis. If you’re on bone medication or HRT, that stays part of your care, and naturopathic support complements it. If your assessment points to medical review or specialist referral, I’ll say so plainly.

What clients commonly notice

In my clinical experience, the early wins in bone work are rarely something you feel, and that’s the honest truth of it. Bone rebuilds slowly, over months and years, and remodelling isn’t something you notice day to day.

What clients do notice sooner is energy and strength, as protein and nutrients are restored and resistance movement builds. Bone density change is measured on the next scan, not in how you feel this week, which is why I’m clear about realistic timeframes from the start. Meaningful change in bone is a longer project, and the value of starting early is exactly that it’s slow.

I don’t promise specific outcomes, and I don’t treat osteoporosis in place of medical care. What I offer is a clear picture of the factors shaping your bone health and a structured plan to support them.

Consultations and pricing

Initial Clinical Assessment — $220 (60-75 minutes)

A thorough assessment of your bone health history, nutrients, protein intake, and metabolism, after which you’ll receive a written treatment plan.

Follow-up Consultation — $150 (30-45 minutes)

A structured review of your progress, with refinement of your plan over time.

Clarity Call — complimentary (10 minutes)

A short phone call to see whether we’re a good fit. No clinical advice is given on this call.

Frequently asked questions

Can a naturopath help with osteoporosis or low bone density?

In my clinical experience working with women in perimenopause and beyond, bone health responds to the factors within our reach: protein, the full nutrient picture, absorption, and the muscle that loads bone. A review by Australian researchers Davis and Baber confirms that comprehensive care of post-menopausal women includes attention to nutrition and physical activity, alongside any medical treatment (Davis & Baber, 2022). That’s the ground naturopathic care works on. My role is to build a food-first plan around your specific gaps and work alongside your GP. I support bone health; I don’t replace medical treatment for diagnosed osteoporosis.

Davis, S. R., & Baber, R. J. (2022). Treating menopause: MHT and beyond. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 18(8), 490-502. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-022-00685-4

Why did my bones lose density so quickly after menopause?

Oestrogen is the reason. The SWAN study tracked bone density across the menopause transition and found the sharpest loss in a tight window, from one year before to two years after the final period, with cumulative spinal loss of around 10.6 per cent over the surrounding decade (Greendale et al., 2012). Oestrogen normally restrains the cells that break bone down. When it falls, breakdown speeds up and outpaces rebuilding. That’s why acting early, while the loss is most rapid, makes the biggest difference.

Greendale, G. A., Sowers, M., Han, W., Huang, M. H., Finkelstein, J. S., Crandall, C. J., Lee, J. S., & Karlamangla, A. S. (2012). Bone mineral density loss in relation to the final menstrual period in a multiethnic cohort: Results from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 27(1), 111-118. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbmr.534

Australasian Menopause Society. (2023). Osteoporosis [Information sheet]. https://www.menopause.org.au/hp/information-sheets/osteoporosis

I’ve been prescribed medication. Is there any point seeing a naturopath too?

Yes, and the two work together rather than against each other. Bone medication and HRT address one part of the picture. Nutrition, protein, absorption, and muscle address another, and clinical guidance recommends those measures for all post-menopausal women regardless of medication. I factor your prescription into your plan, and I never ask you to stop it. If anything I find suggests a conversation with your prescriber, I’ll tell you.

Isn’t calcium all I need for my bones?

No, and calcium alone can even be counterproductive. Bone is roughly half protein, so without enough protein there’s no framework for calcium to build on. Calcium also depends on vitamin D to be absorbed, vitamin K2 to be directed into bone rather than arteries, and magnesium to be used at all. Taking calcium in isolation misses most of what bone actually needs. A bone plan is about the whole nutrient picture and how well you absorb it.

What’s the difference between seeing a naturopath and seeing my GP for my bones?

Your GP diagnoses osteoporosis, orders your DEXA scans, prescribes bone medication, and monitors it, which is essential and something I rely on. My focus is different and complementary. I look at the nutrition, protein, absorption, and muscle factors that shape your bone density, and I have longer to do it. The Initial Clinical Assessment runs 60 to 75 minutes, which gives room to map the full picture and leave you with a written plan. I support bone health; I don’t replace medical diagnosis or treatment.

How long before I see a difference?

Bone is honest about its timeline. It rebuilds over months and years, and change is measured on your next scan, not in how you feel week to week. What you may notice sooner is improved energy and strength as protein, nutrients, and resistance movement take effect. The value of starting now is precisely that bone change is slow, so the earlier you begin, the more the trajectory shifts.

Have more questions about how naturopathic care works or what to expect from a consultation? Visit the FAQ page. For the shared collagen story, see Skin changes in perimenopause and menopause, for the absorption side of bone health, see Gut health in perimenopause and menopause, and for the related symptoms of fatigue and weight change, see Fatigue, weight gain and low energy in perimenopause and menopause.

You can find me in person, and online across Australia

In person —
Rutherglen, VIC

74 Main Street,
Rutherglen VIC
Wednesday, Thursday

In person — Yarrawonga, VIC

31-33 Belmore Street, Yarrawonga VIC
Friday

Telehealth

Available to clients anywhere in Australia.
All consultation types are available via telehealth during the Rutherglen hours.

All appointments are booked online. Full prepayment is required.
A 48-hour cancellation and rescheduling policy applies.

Ready to take a proper look?

Bone loss is quiet, and it’s fastest in the years around menopause, which makes early action the whole point. The Initial Clinical Assessment gives you a thorough look at the nutrient, protein, and metabolic factors shaping your bones, and a written plan to work from.

If you’re not sure whether this is the right fit, the Clarity Call is a good place to start. It’s ten minutes by phone, no obligation.

Book an Initial Clinical Assessment

Book a Clarity Call

This page is general information, not personal medical advice. It doesn’t replace individual assessment or care from your GP or treating practitioners. Osteoporosis requires medical diagnosis and management. Book a consultation for advice specific to your situation.

Bone health and osteoporosis in perimenopause and menopause