Jennifer Miller

What 80-year-old athletes told me

I worked in a hospital for 26 years. My job was to take medical histories and vitals. Most of the people over 75 who sat in my chair were in rough shape. Some needed two hands and an aide to get from the wheelchair to the scale. Then there'd be the random lifelong athlete. 80 years old and you'd NEVER guess it. One prescription, if that. Perfect posture. Forearms like rope. A retired mail carrier who still walked four miles before breakfast. A woman of 82 who swam laps three mornings a week. A farmer who hopped onto my exam table like it was a tailgate. I asked every one of them, "What's your secret?" Every single one said the same thing. Never stop. I retired in March. I'm 63. Every morning now I walk two miles with one scoop of DensiaPlus in my coffee. Here's how I got to the coffee part. At my retirement physical, a nurse half my age sat me in the same kind of chair I'd used for 26 years. She took my blood pressure. Then she measured me. 5 feet 4 and three-quarter inches. My driver's license says 5'6". Then she asked what supplements I take. "Calcium," I said. I'd written that word on thousands of forms. Calcium. Calcium with D. Calcium chews. It was the answer I heard most from women my age. That night I thought about those 80-year-olds. Never stop. I walk every day. I thought I had that part covered. But in 26 years I'd never once thought about what I was feeding the bones doing all that walking. Bone is living tissue. Most of the adult skeleton is replaced about every 10 years, and it depends on daily nutrition. Never stop is half of it. The other half is what you feed it. And bone isn't a rock. It's a frame of collagen with minerals laid down on it. Collagen is about 90% of bone's organic framework. A calcium pill brings the minerals. Nothing in it feeds the frame. I'm not a doctor. In 26 years I never told a patient what to take, and I'm not telling you. I'm telling you what I take. That's why I use DensiaPlus. Here's what's in one scoop: 9 grams of collagen peptides. Studies on collagen peptides commonly use 2.5 to 15g a day. 660mg of calcium, the citrate kind. Calcium helps build and maintain strong bones.* Vitamin D3, which helps your body absorb calcium.* Without enough D, you absorb only a small fraction of the calcium you eat. Vitamin K2 (MK-7), which activates osteocalcin, a protein that helps bind calcium into bone.* Magnesium. About 60% of the magnesium in your body is in bone. Vitamin C, which is needed for normal collagen formation.* Copper, which is needed to cross-link collagen fibers.* Week 1, I put the scoop in my coffee before my walk. It's unflavored. The coffee still tastes like coffee. Week 3, I hadn't missed a morning. Week 5, I took the calcium bottle and the bag to my doctor and let her decide what stays. That's her call. She also told me to lift something heavy twice a week. Month 2, I signed up for a strength class at the Y. Mondays and Thursdays. Six of us. The oldest is 84, and she has opinions about my form. Month 4, still not one missed morning. That's habit, not a result. I don't know what the tape measure will say at my next physical, and nobody can promise you a number. But I know what I'm doing every morning. And I'm not stopping. If you take one calcium pill and think your bones are handled. If your license says a taller woman than the one in the mirror. If you walk every day and never once thought about what your bones are made of. If you've started getting out of chairs in two moves. Those 80-year-olds were right. Never stop. Just don't stop at moving. DensiaPlus is built the way bone is built. 9 grams of collagen peptides for the frame. 660mg of calcium citrate and 198mg of magnesium for the mineral. 1,320 IU of vitamin D3 to help absorb calcium and 132mcg of vitamin K2 (MK-7) to help bind it into bone.* Vitamin C and copper to help form collagen.* Zinc and boron to round it out. Unflavored. No gluten, dairy or added sugar. One scoop in your morning coffee. That's the whole routine. Right now, buy 3 bags and get 2 free, plus 30% off when you subscribe. That's 5 bags for the price of 3, then 30% off that: 58% off a bag. It's covered by a 90-day money-back guarantee, empty or full. Never stop. Feed it. Gwen Albright, 63, retired hospital intake tech, 26 years of histories and vitals P.S. If you take a blood thinner like warfarin, talk to your doctor before starting anything with vitamin K, this included. Calcium can affect how some medications are absorbed, so ask your doctor or pharmacist about timing. Keep taking anything you've been prescribed. Your doctor makes those calls. P.P.S. Buy 3, get 2 free, plus 30% off with subscription. Send this to the friend who's going to be one of those 80-year-olds.