Real stories from real women about bone health

“I’m young, and I thought had healthy bones... then I broke my leg!”

Rosalina, a young, professional woman, had always just assumed her bones were healthy. As a child, she had grown up drinking milk regularly, and spent her days as a rough-and-tumble tomboy, climbing trees, riding bikes, and generally being a daredevil. But at age 26, Rosalina suffered a nasty leg fracture that required complicated surgery to repair. She was laid up for weeks and began to reevaluate her bone health. That’s why, during the initial stages of her recovery, Rosalina joined the Personal Program for Better Bones. Rosalina says the Program helped speed healing of the broken leg, and showed her what changes she needed to make to ensure healthy bones for the rest of her life. Here’s her story:

“When I first heard about the Program for Better Bones, I didn’t think it applied to me because I’m 26 years old — I’m young, and I thought I had healthy bones. But then I broke my leg. I was standing on roller skates in line at a concession stand and a person behind me fell and kicked my left leg out. I went down hard on my right and it just broke my leg. It was a pretty bad break involving both bones in my lower leg. I had to have two plates and 16 pins put in during surgery, and I was in the hospital for two days. It’s been a long recovery process.

“At that time, the doctors didn’t really talk to me at all about my bone health. They just put me back together and said to start eating better, drink more milk, and get more calcium, but that was the most they told me to do. If they thought the break was strange, the doctors didn’t say anything about it. They never said that my diet might be influencing my bone health.

“But before the injury I had taken the Bone Health Profile and found out that I was at high risk for fracture. At the time I thought, okay, it just means that I have to change my diet and lifestyle a little, but I have many years for that — because you don’t think that, at age 26, poor bone health is a reality.

“I had learned that coffee and soda prevent calcium and other essential nutrients from getting into your bones. Knowing that, I thought I would heal that much faster if I changed my diet. So my driving force was that I wanted to heal my break, and fast — but I also wanted to heal it right because if not, I could be dealing with this same problem later in life, and that’s the last thing I wanted.

“So I began to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into my diet. I wouldn’t say I’m 100% alkaline but I am trying. I also took out a lot of carbohydrates that I didn’t need. I was only drinking one glass of milk every other day so I now drink three glasses a day. I take the Better Bones Program, and I take vitamin D also. I take one 1000 IU capsule every day — I wasn’t getting enough sun because I’m inside at work all day. But I try to spend my weekends outside.

“When I went to my bone doctor after 3-3 ½ months and had another x-ray, he was astounded at the amount of bone mass I was able to rebuild in that short period of time. He said, ‘Look at all that new bone. It looks great!’ And I asked him if it could be attributed to taking the Better Bones Program, drinking more calcium, changing my diet, trying to de-stress. He said, ‘Whatever you’re doing, it works! Just keep doing it and you really will be fine.’

“And I could actually see on the x-ray where the new bone had grown. I started taking the bone vitamins and nutrients about six weeks after the break and have been on them ever since — and I did the diet and lifestyle changes, and from there, it all multiplied and just seemed to work wonders. In physical therapy, they said I was ahead of the game — as good at three months as someone who is about six or seven months out. I had the same flexion and could do the same activities as people who are much further out from their injuries. I mean, that’s insane! I’m still healing the injury but I’m not walking with a limp!

“There were a lot of different things I changed lifestyle-wise, and eating is a big change as well. I really try to notice what I eat. I actually cut out coffee and soda, which both have caffeine. So now I have to watch myself. At dinner, instead of having soda like I used to, I’ll have some milk. It’s really conscious decision-making throughout the day. And it surprises me but the new choices are becoming habit. Before it was kind of annoying but now at dinner, it’s just milk automatically for me though it took two or three months to get to that point.

“I not only have to watch what I take in for caffeine, but I also have to watch what I take in for sugar. I backslide sometimes. I got a cappuccino the other day, and I just felt horrible! It was like an instant reminder: stomach upset with any kind of massive sugary food or drink. Sometimes it’s worth it and sometimes it’s not — but at this point, for me, it’s just not. You don’t really know how crappy you’ve been feeling until you change your diet and start taking care of yourself.

“Making the changes stick is a mental game. You have cravings for things, but your body also craves the good stuff. Now that I have all the vegetables and the fruits in my diet, I crave them. When I go to the grocery store, I just want fresh vegetables. We used to always cook out of a box but now, I try to keep away from the middle of the store like they tell you to, and stay in the outside aisles of the store where the fresh food is.

“[Eating this way] just makes me feel much better; I notice it in my body. For lunch I try to have leftovers, but every once in awhile I’ll bring in a Healthy Choice meal. So I pay a little bit more for the lunches than I used to but, on the upside, I’m not feeling as horrible as I would have before.

“For women who think they can’t handle the diet, I thought I was pretty stuck in my ways but when push comes to shove, your body is a temple, as they say, and you have to take care of your body and then it will take care of you. You just get through it and, as women, I think we have more will power, more energy, more everything. When I watch mothers, I think, oh my gosh! You can do so much! You conquer so much that you can surely conquer a diet. The diet was probably the easiest thing I’ve done consistently. When you start eating healthy, it becomes a habit. Of course, you’re going to have your bad days when you backslide but you can catch yourself the next day, and say, okay, let’s get back on track. We had our day off!

“Stress was a major factor in my life and after the break, since I was home a lot, it helped me de-stress. Now that I’m back to work, I really try to keep myself de-stressed. And I think that being able to think about things for awhile, helped me to figure out how to de-stress myself. This has changed how I respond to certain kinds of events now. I’m more cautious and I also try to think ahead because I am still healing from the break six months later. I don’t try to take on more than I can carry, like I used to. I also learned that if other people come to me with their problems, I don’t always have to take on that burden.

“I have also lost weight which I attribute to being 100% de-stressed, and stopping the caffeine and the soda. I have more energy throughout the day. And it’s consistent as opposed to when I’d have coffee in the morning and then I’d crash in the afternoon and have to get another coffee to get through the rest of the day. I don’t have those dips and those highs. And I just feel better.

“I’ve always been a positive person but I feel more positive now and I think that a lot of it is because of all that’s happened. My bones healed faster, I feel better and I think that helps me feel more positive and look at things from a different perspective. It’s a source of pride: I take care of myself. I can do this. Hey look at this! I did this! When you set a goal and accomplish it, that’s really huge.

“I’m definitely going to continue with the Better Bones Program. It’s a really good program and it’s worked for me. I’m 26 and I’m young. I thought I was almost invincible, and somewhere along the line, the stress, the coffee, the whole nine yards of everything in my life just depleted my bones. It’s a big myth that calcium is the only bone builder. It has a lot to do with vitamins D and K as well, and what’s stealing the nutrients from your bones. If I had known that when I was a lot younger, I might have been able to start the approach earlier. But it makes sense, because now I’m getting the right nutrients and I feel different. It’s a whole-life approach.”

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Last Modified Date: 05/26/2011