I'm dense!

..And quite excited about it, really. Friend Reese is a PhD candidate in nutrition and working on a study. I was one of her many subjects which meant I spent about 3 hours at different UT facilities having various tests done so she can add all the data up with her other guinea pigs for her research.

I had my body fat tested ~1 million different ways: MRI, laser scans, electrical currents (that I couldn't feel-- it's not hazing here, people), water displacement, air displacement and a DEXA scan. What is a DEXA scan? Glad you asked! I didn't know, either. It's a really low grade x-ray (1/30 of radiation you get say, at the dentist's office) and it scanned my whole body for both bone mineral density and soft tissue. Turns out: my bone density is ~2 standard deviations above average for my size. Been awhile since your last statistics class? Me too. That means I was literally almost off the chart.

The guy who runs the machine was all: "What's your background?!" and Reese says "oh my gosh.." [meanwhile I slightly freaking out thinking "what on earth did they find and what does he mean by 'background'?"] and then he says "did you do ballet?" and Reese continues "do you drink a lot of milk?"

While the answer to both is yes, WE know (as in me and you) that it clearly is not because of any physical activity I participate in (see here) and while I do drink quite a bit of milk, I wouldn't call it freakish amounts. Surely not enough for super-bones. So the 'why' remains a mystery to me.

Anyway, this news has been *REALLY* fun for me. Not only can I quit worrying about pending osteoporosis (since my profile is the poster child for brittle bones) - but it's just really fun to know that. Don't know why. AND it is really fun to use as explanation/excuse/justification for things. (Poor Mr. Price) Not to mention just good conversation piece:

Examples!

• Eating the butter garlic sauce with our pizza this weekend: "You know, I should probably stick with eating this stuff regularly... it might be the reasons my bones are so strong"
• "Honey, will you be sure to pick up some blue bell at the store? Got to keep fortifying my bone density!"
• While he is walking around the house, getting his attention and saying "If you look really closely.... you can see my strong bones!"
• "Is that your mom?" [he nods yes] I continue with a whisper "don't forget to tell her about... my bone density" =)

Oh, the excitement and humor just doesn't seem to end when it comes to bone mineral density.


Footnote: I did not divulge my lack of physical activity to the DEXA scan guy. I figure it's best to not out myself as a lazya$$ and blow his theory about why my bones are so crazy-dense.