Fragile bones are weak, delicate, and brittle... fragile bones have no substantial support structure.

'Osteoporosis' does not mean 'fragile bones'. It means you have less bone density than when you were 30.

Osteoporosis is often called a dis-ease. It is simply a response of our body to the things we eat, drink, and do.

Regarding exercise, osteoporosis is related to something we don't do.

Low bone density by itself is not a problem. Low bone density is only a problem if the bone structure is fragile.

• You can have low bone density and have strong bones.




• You can have low bone density and have fragile bones.

Fragile bones can be prevented.

The question is this: Who is at risk for 'fragility fracture'?

Density is only one factor. Quality of bone structure is the other.

People at risk are frail: They have low density bone and
poor quality bone structure.

The Story Begins Early

• Sally didn't start out with fragile bones, and she didn't inherit weak bones from her parents.

  Sally became fragile and frail with the passage of time. She made a few simple decisions that created bone loss, leading to fragile bones. First came mild bone loss - osteopenia, which progressively got worse and became osteoporosis.

  Sally was just like many of us, and didn't think about the decisions she made. She was just doing what she saw others do, and what the television ads told her was normal.

  She didn't inherit bad bones from her parents; but she did inherit their poor eating habits. She was comfortable the foods she was taught to eat, and she didn't try much of anything out-of-the-ordinary through her entire life.

  Sally's mother didn't drink water much, she preferred soft drinks. These were available to Sally as a child, and that is what Sally drank, too. Sally and her mother had joined the 'popsi generation'.

  Sally always drank something sweet, with bubbles. Colas and soft drinks became her favorite beverage, and she had several each day, every day.

  Each day, every day, she lost a little bone strength and her bones became less dense.

  Sally didn't know this, because there were no signs or symptoms, and she did not feel sick or weak.

• Sally doesn't like vegetables, except for maybe one or two favorites, potatoes and corn. She prefers meat, and through her entire life it was unusual to have a meal without meat.

  And because she doen't like vegetables, she often left them on the plate. Sometimes she would have a salad. It was rare when she would peel an orange or slice an apple.

  Sally's digestion wasn't good, she commonly had heartburn but the antacids seemed to help. She didn't know the antacids neutralized the very acid required to absorb the nutrients she needed for good health, including the calcium she was taking.

  And over the years, she lost a little more bone strength, and began to develop osteopenia - mild bone loss. But Sally didn't know it, because there are no symptoms with bone loss.

• Although each individual bone in the body is considered an independent structure, all the bones together act as an organ.

  She was losing bone mass from every bone in her body, not just her hip or her wrist. The food she preferred to eat and the soft drinks she enjoyed was changing the chemical balance inside her body every day.

  Even though she took a calcium tablet because she had seen on television that she should, it wasn't being absorbed, and the calcium normally stored in the bone warehouse was slowly being used up to maintain 'normal' body functions.

  But Sally didn't know this, because no one told her. She didn't know it was contributing to constipation and digestion problems. The calcium pill companies, the soft drink companies, the antacid companies, the doctors... no one told her the truth about this.

  Menopause came and went, and the doctor said 'take estrogen' and she did. It helped in some ways, but it also made her uncomfortable, and then she learned it might be bad for her so she stopped.

  She didn't know there were safer, more natural ways to balance the hormonal hurricanes, and her doctor didn't mention it, so she just struggled along.

• Sally retired at 60.

  She had felt tired for many years. She was not really sick, she just didn't feel well.

  Her pancreas had been badly overworked by the sugar and artificial sweetners in the soft drinks; her kidneys had been overworked by the excessive levels of protein in her diet.

  Her cells were thirsty for real water, not just sweet fluids, and the energy cycle didn't work well without vitamin C.

  Sally was tired, and she found a comfortable chair and settled in.

  She found a remote control.

  And a turkey sandwich, and her favorite soft drink.

  And she rested.

  Actually, because she was tired, she stopped moving. Her muscles became a little weaker, and her bones did not have much muscle stress on them.

  Because they did not have much to do but sit mostly, her bones gave up density and a little more of their structure because they no longer needed density or structure. Muscles weren't being used much, either, so muscle mass went away.

  And every year Sally moved closer to osteoporosis.

• One day, the doctor said, 'Let's check your bone density.' And everyone was surprised at the results. Osteoporosis had suddenly struck Sally! She was diagnosed with a bone disease that came from nowhere!

"But I've been taking calcium for 20 years! How could this be?" asked Sally.

"We don't know, we need more research" said the doctor.

Instead of advising Sally to drink water instead of soda, and to exercise and take vitamin C, the doctor said, 'Take this pill, you'll need it the rest of your life.'

But the pill didn't help build new bone, it just filled up the holes so that by the next test the bone would be more dense. Not stronger, just more dense.

Sally went home, and sat in the chair, and took the pill. After 30 minutes had passed, she could have another soft drink, so she did.

And nothing really changed, except that summer the doctor got a cruise from the drug company that makes the pill he was encouraged to prescribe to his patients.

• And Sally would say "But it hurts when I walk." The same thing that was causing muscle loss, and bone loss, was also causing the joints to break down. The joints were stiff, and the doctor called it arthritis, and prescribed another drug.

  So Sally essentially stopped moving, and wouldn't walk.

• And eventually, she wouldn't get up out of the chair, except to go to the bathroom, or to get a turkey sandwich or another soft drink.

  And she continued to lose muscle mass, and joint function, and she continued to lose more bone mass and the structure of the bone became empty, weak, and fragile. The osteoporosis got worse.

  Eventually, Sally got a walker. She was stiff, and it hurt when she walked. The walker helped her get to the bathroom, to the kitchen, and back to her favorite chair. And she felt a little safer with the walker, because her sense of balance and coordination was not good.

  Sally's balance and coordination were not good because her muscles and bones no longer had much to do, and the messages from the nerve system to her muscles didn't work so well any more.

  Then, she got a scooter. "Medicare will pay for it, why not?"

  And she continued to lose a little more bone mass along the way, and scootered her way a little farther down the path of osteoporosis. And Sally moved a little closer to the risk of fragility fracture.

  Eventually, she got a special chair so that, when she pushed a button, it would push them up to a standing position. So she could get to the bathroom, or to the next cola.

• She sat there, and enjoyed the television, and she rusted. Her joints corroded, and she couldn't move very well anymore. "It hurts to walk", she would say. So she didn't.

  And Sally became a little more fragile, and her osteoporosis got worse.

• And she moved to the nursing home. She lost her coordination skills, because she didn't use her muscles and bones, and hadn't really moved much for years.

  In fact, Sally's bone mass just withered away, same as the astronauts in space without the effects of normal gravity. "Use it or Lose it", people would say.

  "But it hurts to walk", Sally would say.

  And with the walker, or the scooter, Sally could get to the bathroom.

• Except, one day, she fell, and suddenly she knew - the drugs hadn't worked. Sally had osteoporosis in a serious way, because her hip had broken and she couldn't move.

  And while she was stuck in bed healing, she lost bone mass faster than ever before... 1% per week... more than she should lose in a normal year. Sally's osteoporosis got worse, quickly, although she couldn't feel it.

  And she didn't heal well, because she didn't like vegetables, and she wouldn't drink water, and now she couldn't walk.

  And Sally never got out of the bed.

The End.

All right, I know... there are circumstances, and situations, and etc.

Let's resolve to be the best we can be within our circumstances, and then try to improve our conditions. Let's be the best we can be with hope in our hearts and smiles on our faces.

There is a moral to the story, and it is related to your vision of the future.

It is directly connected to how you look at aging, and how you see yourself as you get older.

Ask yourself... What is your vision of yourself at 75?.

How do you see yourself? Pushing a walker around, or walking briskly a mile a day, every day, rain or shine.

Of course you want to avoid fragility fractures.

And more than that, you can avoid osteoporosis by improving your quality of life right now, making a better life as you age.

You can make a difference in your own life. In fact, you are the only one who can.

Here are the rules:

• Drink your water... make it your beverage of choice, and enjoy a lot of it every day.

• Eat your vegetables... not just iceberg lettuce, but a variety of colors, red, green, yellow, veggies and fruits of all types, all year round. 60% of our daily food should be in the form of plants.

  A variety of plant-based foods, nature's best grown from the living earth - the best source of nutrition for your active life. This is will give your body what it needs to sustain life and health.

  If you don't eat veggies, you still need the nutrients they provide. I suggest you do what Lisa and I do to give us some assurance we are getting what we need... take a supplement, veggies and fruit in capsules (go here to learn why.)

  And take a little Vitamin C; it is required by the body to build collagen fiber, the strong, flexible material where bone cells attach.

• Move. Life is motion, so move. Walk. Walk, every day. Do something to move your muscles, and move your bones.

  Even standing makes a difference. Stand, just stand on your feet - stand for 10 hours a week (that is only 5 minutes an hour, 15 hours a day); this is enough to reduce your risk of fragility fracture.

  Or even better, walk for 4 hours a week, every week of your life... that is only about 30 minutes a day, every day. This is enough to significantly reduce your risk of fragility fracture.

  Dance a little, do some Tai Chi, some Yoga - these things increase your balance and coordination, which reduces your risk of falling. Falling is a major cause of broken bones.

How do you see yourself at 80, or 90, or 100?

Weak, frail, fragile? Or strong, vibrant, alive?

It is your choice. You must choose soon. The actions you take today will create the 'you' of tomorrow.

What do you really want?

Choose it, and then live it.

Dr. Martin McIntosh

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