Greetings and good wishes for the new year to all our new subscribers AND to long term readers. My hope for each of you is that this year you will send me a note saying you are unsubscribing because your last dexa scan shows NORMAL or ABOVE NORMAL bone density! .

Since it is January the annual ads are here: "Start our diet now and lose 10 lbs." "Get back in shape". "Feel better. Look better! Diet now!." Please, please if you have osteopenia or osteoporosis do NOT do it. Do NOT diet..especially NOT now. .

I know that being overweight can be a problem but research a few years ago showed that when people lose weight through dieting, 10% of the weight lost is bone. So if you lose 10 pounds you will have lost 1 pound of bone! AND if and when your regain the weight it is seldom bone that is regained. YOU could be in worse Osteopenia Osteoporosis shape that before dieting.

OK...but you may have flab. That is not attractive AND being seriously over weight can be a heath hazard of its own. What to do?

What to do instead

Or get a pedometer and be sure you are doing at least 10,000 steps a day. If you now walk down of flight of stairs for your bones, start walking up. Add a flight every 2 or 3 weeks. Dance more.

Remember muscle burns more calories than fat so adding muscle is an easy way to burn off the fat and lose bumps and bulges.

Another interesting piece for those wishing they were thinner. Studies have been done comparing chronically correct weight or slightly underweight people with those who are chronically over weight [whether by a few pounds or much more]. Seems the biggest different between these two groups is that the thin folks move more. They twiddele, shift around in their seats, pat, tap, adjust clothes.....All those things that probably drove their first grade teachers to say, "Will you PLEASE sit still." And those of who learned to sit still....perfectly still for long periods, we never got corrected for jittering BUT we often have a weight problem'. So if you want to lose weight work it off, do not diet it off this time.

Our direction - a Reflection.

When I started Osteopenia3.com in 2005, there was the National Osteoporosis Society and a few, very few other sites. Now there are hundreds. And nearly all of them have a product to sell. The have well laid out pages, pictures, testimonials and they often quote or refer to studies. (But extremely few cite any study that shows a problem or lack of success with their product....even when such studies can be found in the literature)

Now, I want to be upfront. I am not trying to sell you some product of mine. I do not have an ebook or a program for you to buy. Yes, I do reviews of products - and always cite any negative reports I find as well as positive studies for each product. .

When I started this site I decided to make it a place where readers could find science based information about the CAUSES of bone loss and ways to REVERSE bone loss. I envisioned something like the Townsend Report for Doctors. Only this would be about one condition, not many AND it would aimed towards the public at large, not doctors. .

I decided I would cover not just alliopathic medicine or even Western alternative medicine but seek out what is used in other traditions: Ayurvedic medicine, TCM )traditional Chinese medicine and report what practices have scientific studies to back them up and which do not. ( I have not yet covered homeopathic medicine - mostly because I have found it hard to find research studies in the area...but I am working on it.) Just as I have been reading studies for herbs and other remedies used by indigenous people. Yes, they will get on the site in time.

Why am I saying all this? It is the beginning of a New Year. I need for both of us to be clear about what this site offers. Plain layout, straightforward language (and yes, thanks to all those who have sent me corrections for where my proof reading or Spell Check did not pick up. I THINK I have made all the corrections sent as far ). There is science based information for EVERYTHING on the site and when there are no scientific studies, I tell you that too.

Maybe I am just reaffirming the mission of this site - for you and for me. ( But I recently had a web review of the site and was told I needed pictures, swirling lines, more color to attract readers.) I have thought about that. Yes, the site is plain (and now search engines are now giving higher ranking to sites with graphics). But I can either spend my time doing research , tracking down potential new treatments, updating the research on old ones or working on graphic designs for each of the 227 pages on the web site.

I have chosen to do the first.

I can only hope that my lack of graphics will not turn you off. Please do not assume that my plain pages is a mark of 'less than'.

And when you are visiting other sites ask yourself if they are pushing one approach for everyone? Do they say who should not use a product? (This is especially true for machines - all of which have some caveats.) Do they tell you what other products could be used instead of theirs?

Please, I know I have ssaid this sort of thing before. But it is a new year and I been thinking these thoughts for sometime. I realize that Osteopenia3.com is not for everyone. I aim for a thoughtful audience. . . those who want to know, who want to know all the possible options AND they want to know what sort of evidence there is that any one thing is likely to work....as well as what is likely to work'

And I promise in this new year to continue to research and to put the results of that research on the site so you can read it at your leisure and print it out if you want to share it with your medical provider. End of rant....and I shall not do this again any time soon. .

Be well, be happy and build bone building things into you daily routine. See you in February.

.

Kate