Body, not books--

I've always said the blog would be reserved for talk about words, poetry, and stories--the realm of books and literature. This post is not about books, except perhaps on the ability to carry a stack of them or pick up your O. E. D. as you grow older. Instead, it's what I wish somebody had said to me years ago. If someone you love is a woman or smallish man--particularly one who is slight, of European extraction, and pursues a sedentary occupation (like writing books)--find out if she/he knows anything about getting her vitamins and minerals (sufficient calcium and vitamin D and others) through foods, about hewing close to an alkaline diet, and about getting enough weight-bearing exercise. If you are that person, do a little research. Sixteen percent of women over fifty in the U.S. have osteoporosis, and four percent of men. I call that common. It's not easy to increase bone mass after fifty, and the current osteoporosis drugs are, to me, rather fearsome.