Thursday, May. 13, 2004
Dear Diary:

The next time you're menaced by The Evil Lord Skeletor, you just tell him that you know Marn.

The mention of my name will make that sissy boy whimper with fear, for I, I am the Queen of the Skeleton.

Feel free to genuflect.

My doctor has been on my case for a while now to get a bone density scan done. Starting around their mid-20's, women start to lose bone. By the time they hit menopause some of them can find themselves with osteoporosis and bones so fragile that even a slight fall could have major consequences. I have friends my age who are at that place.

I've been putting the scan off because I'm a devotee of the ostrich school of medicine and our mantra is "what I don't know can't hurt me". My doctor has been giving me the big hairy eyeball, though, so I caved the other day and went for the scan.

The technician whistled when my numbers came up. Being me, I immediately assumed that my bones are about two seconds from becoming powder and all that's holding my skin up is the bone equivalent of spider web. Oh, it was a glorious few moments there until I got the great news that baby, I got bone. My bones are 11% more dense than those of the average woman in her 20's. I have 26% more bone than the average woman my age.

Excuse me while I take a moment to pound my chest and make territorial gorilla sounds.

There.

That felt good.

Oh. Wait. Maybe this has something to do with having an extremely thick skull. I have been accused of being thick-headed more than once �

Oh crap.

So why are my bones so strong?

I don't smoke. Yep, for women that affects their bones. I keep my caffeine goodness under four cups a day. I'm a moderate boozer.

This next part is going to sound weird, because we've all been told that milk builds strong bones and teeth. There's some somewhat controversial research that indicates our bodies might not recognize dairy calcium and actually leach from our bones to deal with it. My trainer, the daughter of a dairy farmer, has wiped dairy from her diet. I'm not that extreme, but I watch how much milk, cheese and yogurt I eat.

To get my calcium, I eat a lot of dark green and leafy. The darker the green, the higher the calcium in the plant. I eat eggs. I like canned salmon, and salmon salad sandwiches (with the bone mushed in with the canned fishy goodness) is a great source of calcium. I'm also a big fan of the almond.

Do I eat a perfect diet? Oh, puh-LEESE. Some pretty craptastic stuff enters my mouth from time to time. But I also make sure that a fair bit of decent food goes in, too.

Oh, and three times a week I throw around heavy bits of metal. It ain't just what you eat. It's how you use your body, too.

I was talking over all this bone density business yesterday with my trainer who's just finished a course through Tuft's University so that she can help women, especially older women, become stronger. She said her prof stressed that women don't have to toss around big weights to build bone. Even relatively light weights--weights as low as one pound if that's all you can handle--will do the trick. The deal is to get your body bearing weight.

Oh, and the younger you start the better, since women start to lose bone mass in their 20's.

The bonus here? Next week when I go in for my check-up and I get on the scale at the doctor's office, I can look that man in the eye and say,

"Hey, I've got BIG BONES" and he has to agree.

Seriously, how cool is that, eh?

--Marn

Mileage on the Marnometer: 390.85 miles. Ten percent there rubber duck.Ten percent there rubber duck. 25 per cent thereTen percent there rubber duck.
Oh man. This is going to be hard
Goal for 2004: 1,000 miles - 1609 kilometers

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