Throw Back Tuesday: Osteoporosis and all that!

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This post is from 2019. Some things have changed. I don’t go to the same doctor. The new one has different protocols and I’m on a new med. My bone density test showed significant improvement (which they said would never happen). The goal is to get weaned onto another med and maybe having a medication break for a few years. We’ll see how it goes. As for the diet, my IBS regulates my diet more than anything else. It hasn’t changed and according to the news this year, it’s still safer to eat cake than lettuce!

Last week I had an appointment with my endocrinologist. That’s a doc who takes care of bone density meds or at least the one I’m on. I was hoping that I could take a break from meds but sadly, that’s not the case.

I’ve done all I can do on my own, kicking up my exercise routine and calcium intake. I turned to Google. Maybe there was a diet that would help. Some foods may be etching away my frame.

Argh! What I found is the same for any medical or health condition. It’s the same diet for cardiac issues or a strep throat. Cancer or leprosy. Gout or the black plague.

Cut back on salt. Cut back on fats. Cut out processed foods (goodbye bacon, we’ve had a good run!). Eliminate all foods from the white food group (that’s the group that contains the tasty potato chips, ice cream, etc.) except cauliflower (which is at the bottom of my favorite list).

Increase foods from the bland and tasteless green food group. (No kale, you are not going in my shopping cart!) Maybe green apples would do. I’ll put a lime in my margarita!

Cut out caffeine. Cut back (or eliminate) red meat. Soda is bad for you because of the phosphoric acid. Don’t use artificial sweeteners. I can go on and on.

So far I can eat celery and carrots.

I need an illness that requires copious amounts of ice cream and potato chips every week along with healthy doses of chocolate. It should be accompanied by a medication with the side effects of removing wrinkles.

Back to reality and no, I’m not giving up everything. Maybe just a tweak or two. I already eat healthy so there won’t be much change. Except for potato chips and bacon. Maybe.

43 thoughts on “Throw Back Tuesday: Osteoporosis and all that!”

  1. Keep the cake. And you are right that the protocols move, the balance side especially. The bone guidance used to be almost entirely about density numbers, and now the part that gets the attention is not falling in the first place, because a fracture needs both a weak bone and a floor. Slow weight shifts and single leg work do more for that than anything on a scan.

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  2. “Significant improvement, which they said would never happen” is a line more people need to read. So many folks get that first scan result and assume the only direction is down. Glad the new doctor and the routine are paying off. And I am keeping “safer to eat cake than lettuce” for later use.

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  7. I just had my cholesterol tested last week, and it was depressing news. I usually hover on the low side of the cut off for normal, but now I’m on the slightly high side, but then I didn’t fast for the test, as now they say you don’t have to, but I’m thinking I should have, so I could be spared the lecture about statins. The new guidelines are so strict. I don’t know what else to do, other than live on lettuce, as my diet is pretty healthy already, except for a few treats. My mother lived to be 98 and did not watch what she ate at all, and I do not have the genetic gene. When you’re retired, food is one thing you look forward to!

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    • My cholesterol numbers are good although they hover near the high limit (just under 200). My doctor isn’t wild about statins so there are no discussions on that. According to him borderline cholesterol alone is not an indicator that you need statins. I have routine blood tests next week. We’ll see if there are any surprises.

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  8. I don’t have TV, so I only hear the radio ads for different medications and it seems like the list of side effects is longer than the actual ad for the medication. By the time you’ve heard the side effects, you’d probably steer clear of that med unless you absolutely had to take it. I have to laugh at how, through the years, doctors/research tell us we shouldn’t eat some things, then turn around and say “oops, we made a mistake – eat all you want!” I can remember that for eggs in particular, coffee too. Now it’s beneficial to eat eggs, not just the egg whites either and coffee in moderation is great. Who is going to drink that 25-cups-a-coffee part of the study that makes it bad? Red lipstick and eating red licorice was bad news at one time too. We should be like your sister who now eats whatever she wants, including pastrami sandwiches!

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      • Your SIL is smart to eat it then! This morning’s news was about Xylitol … so I caught part of the story on the radio news then had to look online as I thought they said toothpaste. It’s a sugar additive … now you and I have been around for the saccharine scare a while ago. I never used it but lots of people used those little pink packets in coffee or tea. Then it was sorbitol so that made me quit using the sugar-free pudding and also sugar-free powdered creamer in my coffee. The plumber told me all toothpastes have sodium lauryl sulfate, so that clogs up the drain. Sigh. Pretty soon we will resort to a glass of water and a toothpick and just let our teeth go! :)

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        • Since I have IBS I don’t (intentionally) consume anything that ends in itol because it’s connected to sugarless products. All can cause diarrhea. As for toothpaste, I read a long time ago that you only need a pea size dab and that would take a long time to clog any pipes so I don’t worry. I occasionally have a diet soda which contains aspartame but you gotta die of something!

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          • I didn’t know that about the itol products causing any gastric distress – wow, good to know for everyone, especially you. I used Maxwell House instant coffee for many years and suddenly every time I drank it, I had stomach cramps that had me doubling over. I didn’t figure it out the first or second time as it had been a staple in our house for decades. The third time I said “wait a minute!” I Googled and sure enough other people said the same thing and it turned out they had a different product but didn’t advertise it, but people said it had a chemical smell (which I didn’t notice). People had the same symptoms, so I switched to Nescafe Clasico. I like it as it’s robust.

            Also, I had the same thing happen with Cheerios. I bought some to mix in with yogurt and I had the same reaction with the doubling over with stomach cramps, something I’ve never had before. Googled and found the same info online – they changed it. Today I went to have a Chobani Greek yogurt. I just opened the four-pack yesterday. I like the individual ones as they don’t get watery like if you buy the container. I picked it up and the foil top was raised up like a blister … the rest of them were like that too. I know the one I had yesterday did NOT look like that. I subscribe to a site that sends e-mails for recalls and salmonella outbreaks and I check the FDA website daily. I started doing that with my canaries as the Dole romaine lettuce so often had contamination issues.

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  10. Being healthy when you get older isn’t easy, is it? My Dad has been reminding me that he must be doing something right since he just turned 96 last week. I say the key to it is moderation. I’m guessing that means only one piece of chocolate cake at any sitting. ;)

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  11. Kate; I truly sympathize with you regarding your osteo issues, especially the part where you seem to have improved! I have had multiple diseases over the past 50-or-so years, including having been diagnosed with CKD 35 years ago along with the obligatory, “. . . . it will never improve; the only thing that will happen is that it will get worse and it will eventually kill you.” Well, the inescapable truth is that it HAS improved over the past 35 years and I am no longer facing immediate dialysis! And, believe it or not, my Type 2 diabetes is now completely under control (blood sugar averaging 129 now), thanks to diet and a regimen of inteligent self-medication. So, there IS hope for all of older affectees! Hang in there . . . . . .

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    • Medicine has come a long way. My mother (she died in 1986) and my brother (age 96 now and alive) both have/had asthma. My mother suffered a lot with it. My brother’s is much better managed. Better meds and better protocols.

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  12. Yes, IBS kept me from eating the recalled lettuce. No raw veggies here or fruit. I do miss my lettuce wedge salads though. #teamcake here… red velvet please. I won’t ever be able to give up potato chips because Jerry keeps bringing them home and you know how hard it is to eat just one! Love V8 Deliciously Green. I don’t care if it’s healthy or not! This is a funny post, Kate. I went back and read my comment from 2019… you are right, lots of things have changed. The post was funny back in 2019 too!

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    • I eat a bit of some fruits now and then but I’m careful. I can eat melons but anything too acidic can do me in. Oddly I have no issue with balsamic vinegar. Makes no sense to me. I never heard of V8 Deliciously Green. Hmmmm….

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  14. What I’ve found is that the more I eat the foods I “should” eat, the better they taste and the worse artificial highly processed foods taste.

    Don’t take that to mean that I only eat healthy food, but if you look at my grocery receipts, you will see WHOLE foods listed for the most part, starting with produce, beans, legumes, fruit, nuts, seeds, etc.

    Steamed cauliflower is nothing to get excited about, but roasted cauliflower & broccoli with a touch of olive oil, salt, and pepper is delicious and nutritious.

    Good Luck finding food that tastes good and is good for you!

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      • We don’t buy potato chips, but we do get tortilla chips with just 3 ingredients ~ corn, oil, salt. We try to eat them in “small doses” with hummus. :D

        I don’t buy flavored chips because the ingredients list is way too long and way too scary.

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