Bone giorno!

It’s a balmy day, soothingly warm and breezy. It’s a great day for jogging or walking — or malling, a good form of exercise, as long as you don’t stop to buy, according to a bone doctor. As the sunny Italian greeting goes, “Buon giorno!” But today, at a media event at New World Hotel, we may as well be greeting each other “Bone giorno!” as Anlene pulls out all the stops to help beat women’s silent killer: osteoporosis.

After a hearty lunch capped by a most delectable selection of desserts using Anlene milk, we sit back and rest our tired bones as we imbibe gems of wisdom from women who are beautiful living proofs of the fact that osteoporosis could be prevented if women were aware of the importance of bone health.

Love Yourself, Love Your Bones

TV host/news anchor Karen Davila takes the microphone and declares, “If we think of our own mortality, we are all prone to this disease (osteoporosis). So loving yourself is keeping yourself healthy. And it’s more than just going to the derma or making yourself beautiful on the outside. It all starts with taking care of something integral to your body, which is your bone. I’m now 40 and I have two children. What struck me was the fact that at the age of 25, our bones start breaking down. In fact, we lose bones at 25. Think about it; everyone in this room needs to have stronger bones. It’s the one thing we have in common: We are all victims of osteoporosis.”

Karen turns to the women in the room and asks, “What happens when we have osteoporosis?”

She replies, “We lose our lives — we lose the joy of everyday living. You can’t play with your kids, you can’t even climb a flight of stairs. You go to the bathroom and you have to have a cane. That’s how real it is in our lives, and we will all get to that point. There’s no escape — we will all be 70, 80 one day. But the difference is this: How do I age strongly? How do I age that I’m not kuba (hunchbacked)? That I don’t slip in the kitchen or bathroom and end up with a hip fracture — either dying or never walking again?”

Now, that’s pretty scary. We could almost hear our bones rattling.

Karen elaborates, “I really wanted to speak to women and say this: Loving yourself and caring for your family is about first taking care of the most important part of your body, your foundation, and that’s your bones.”

 Karen goes on to tickle our brains, “Did you know that endorphins (the happy chemical) get excreted only when you do three things? 1. When you’re eating chocolates, but that will make you fat; 2. When you’re having sex, but sometimes, you may not have a partner; 3. When you’re exercising. And it’s all intertwined. When you exercise, you take care of your body, you lead the best life that you can lead.”

And Now, The New Anlene Ambassadress

Nope, Karen is not the new spokesperson for Anlene. She’s here to introduce Anlene’s new spokesperson. “Somebody who lives an active life and is a good example not just in terms of how she conducts herself in public office. She probably wakes up at 4 a.m. and hits the road and runs. Definitely, this is a woman who not only drinks Anlene but also believes that keeping a healthy lifestyle is really what makes a person truly successful and honestly very happy,” Karen goes on to describe the new Anlene ambassadress.

Introducing our bone icon — Senator Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the Committee on Health and Demography, chairperson of the Committee on Women, Youth, and Family, founder of Pinay in Action crusader for Filipino women, lawyer, mom, triathlete.

“ To change the way we look at the need to really be part of a healthy lifestyle — this is what I have been campaigning for all my life and I’m just happy there are more people interested in what I have been trying to say all along,” speaks Pia, the youngest elected female senator in the history of the Philippines.

 Pia actually forgets her age (don’t most women?). “I’m really proudly 44. I have two girls (Maxine and Nadine). I lost a son when he was a baby; I wouldn’t mind having more.”

A triathlete, she runs, bikes, swims with a passion. “It really depends on my schedule for the day and what I’m training for,” she points out. “Like today, I only exercised for 45 minutes. But there are days when I exercise for four hours. My favorite event is the Ironman 70.3. That’s 2 km. of swimming, 90 km. of biking, and 21 km. of running. But the important thing is to enjoy what you’re doing. I’m not saying that everyone has to be triathlete. You can be a runner, you can be a walker, you can be a yogi.

I enjoy what I’m doing. I’ve made friends for life on the road. I go through my work while I’m doing my meditative runs. So this is what I do: Anywhere from 45 minutes one day, sometimes five hours. Sometimes, I bike to Tagaytay, run the track oval there, have coffee, have merienda, that’s my outing. I don’t have a social life.”

In a heart-to-heart woman-to-woman talk, Karen asks Pia, “When you do all these exercises, you get intimate with your body. What did you learn from all this?”

Nattily dressed for the occasion, Pia tells her predominantly female audience: “My No. 1 accessory, something you will always see me with, is my lunchbox. I don’t really accessorize that much, but thanks to the stylist who helped me look this way today. I go around with my own food because I really have to be sure of what I eat because again, I’m 44. But even when I was in my 30s, I was very conscious of my food intake because for me, healthy living is not just exercising, which you see me mostly doing. The other component there is nutritional intake. That is where my planning comes in. I eat a lot of healthy food. I’m a vegetarian by choice a few days a week. I eat a lot of green and leafy vegetables, a lot of tofu. I’m not a milk drinker per se, but I make sure to incorporate dairy products into my food.”

She gingerly adds, “Being an endurance athlete, I look for healthy proteins which I need to build muscle. But the trouble with protein is the fat. Lechon kawali is a no-no because it’s covered in fat. In the case of Anlene, they have the nanocalcium — less quantity but filled with calcium. I put it on oatmeal, add it to fruits.”

Boning Up On Calcium

Pia confesses that she became very conscious of boning up on calcium when she got pregnant. “Pregnant women release calcium to the baby growing inside of them. I was already increasing my calcium intake, not being a milk drinker even then. But now, what I’m more conscious of is I also have a 16- and 12-year-old and the time for them to take in calcium is now. Our kids can still build the calcium supply in their bodies. As for us, maintenance na lang, iwas disgrasya. I’m very conscious of that; I’ll even backtrack and say, ‘Kulang yata ako sa fruits, kulang yata ako sa calcium today.’ And I’d take something before I go to sleep.”

And now, let’s hear it from the expert, Dr. Miles dela Rosa, vice president, Osteoporosis Society of the Philippines Foundation, Inc.: “There’s a study that one out of two Filipinos dies of osteoporosis or is at risk of osteoporosis. For a 10,000 population, 160 would have a hip fracture. The number may look small, but did you know how much economic burden one hip fracture can cause? The basic family unit is disrupted. They get an extra yaya, for instance. And the sad part is you can prevent these fractures from happening.”

How much calcium should a regular body have a day?

Dr. dela Rosa tells us: “The revised RDA (recommended daily allowance) is basically 800 to 1,000 mg., a bit lower than in the States, but that’s what’s required. But if you take a cross section of whether we really take that much, we don’t. The other problem is the calcium is useless without vitamin D. And they say we live in the tropics, we don’t need vitamin D. But the call center agents, they work at night, they hardly get any sunlight, which you need for calcium to be absorbed.”

Louise Chavez-Yu, Anlene senior brand manager, is happy to announce, “The Anlene shooter is a tiny ready-to-drink pack that’s loaded with 650 mg. of calcium. It’s like only three sips, compared to regular milk which has only 200 mg. in one big glass. It gives you the calcium you need without the fat. It’s got vitamin D, magnesium, zinc to help the body absorb calcium.”

Dr. dela Rosa stresses, “We all know that bone is necessary for us to walk, to run, but we forget that bone is also a mineral bank. It’s alive and renews itself. This renewal process should be continuous. From 0 to 25 years old, you make a high peak bone mass by taking a lot of calcium, doing a lot of exercises. But if you’re a person with a lot of bad habits, then your bone mass is way below. So when you reach 35 and you need calcium, there’s no other place to get it but from your bone.”

But did you know that not all milk has calcium? And that not all milk brands have the same amount of calcium?

A glass of Anlene contains 500 mg. of calcium while Anlene Gold has 600 mg. per glass. To meet your daily calcium needs and reduce bone breakdown, drink two glasses of Anlene a day. Anlene is the only milk clinically proven to reduce bone breakdown within four weeks.

Spilling The Facts

Karen spills more milk facts: “Did you know there’s a difference between filled milk, full cream milk, and skimmed milk?

Louise explains, “Filled milk means only 30-40 percent is cow’s milk. The rest are extenders like milk fat, vegetable oil so it’s cheaper. Full cream milk is 100-percent cow’s milk so it’s okay, but it also has all the fat that comes from the cow. As an adult, you don’t want that.”

Skimmed milk has an extremely low-fat percentage. In some countries, it is labeled as “fat-free” milk.

Did you know that women’s bones deplete faster than men’s?

Says Dr. dela Rosa, “It’s not because men are the stronger sex. It’s because the female hormone, estrogen, goes down faster, compared to men’s. Men also have their andropose (male menopause). But we’re still in the state of denial.”

Karen asks Pia, “If you didn’t have strong bones, could you do everything you’re doing now?”

“I’m sure not,” Pia quickly replies. “Because aside from my triathlon, I recently took up mountain biking where you fall a lot. I fell a few times and that already put me at risk. That may be a little extreme, but as a woman, I certainly hope I will continue to be strong into my 90s. I just lost my grandmother. She died at 91. She was my inspiration. She was an athlete who used to run against boys. At 87, she got a hip fracture. At that time, she was driving her own car, living alone as her husband had passed away. She had to come and live with us, much to our joy but not for her because her independence was curtailed. At the end of the day, it’s the quality of life that counts. Even if you just like to walk in the park, not having healthy bones would affect your quality of life down the road.”

As Pia takes on this Herculean challenge of being Anlene’s spokesperson, she notes, “I’ve taken up a lot of challenges. Prior to being a senator, I was giving talks on breastfeeding. When I became a senator, I got even more involved in issues with respect to health and women. I don’t even consider myself as the spokesperson for a particular brand, it’s the healthy living that I’m a part of. It just so happens that a particular company has that advocacy. So we’re aligned in that sense. I’ve worked on breast cancer, cervical cancer, liver cancer. So now, I’m more than happy to include bone health in that line-up.”

The truth is, Senator Pia Cayetano is a certified nutrition data freak. In the Senate, toting her ubiquitous lunchbox, she’d be asked what healthy food she brought for the day. When she sits down and puts a bottle in front of her, she’d look at how many calories are in it. “So it was interesting for me to find out that that small thing (Anlene) is packed with 650 mg. of calcium.”

Truly, big things come in small packages.

 Louise talks about Anlene’s big commitment to preventing osteoporosis: “Its advocacy is to raise the level of awareness about osteoporosis and empower women to prevent it; do what they want to do, and live life to the fullest. Over the last five years, Anlene has been going around the country — from Aparri to Jolo; Luzon to Mindanao — to visit barangays, communities, schools, offices — and give free bone scanning and one-on-one consultation on the state of their bone health, and advise them on how best to take care of their bones. These tests cost about P4,000 for a scan, but Anlene gives it for free and you don’t even have to buy the product. We’ve bone scanned close to a million Filipinos, and 50 percent is at risk.”

Pia addresses all moms out there: “The challenge is ours because we’re the managers of our homes. So whether we’re working moms or full-time homemakers, it’s our job to ensure that our children are ready for school, for their future, and what’s in the kitchen is very, very important. When I look at my kids every day, I want to be sure that aside from sending them to the right school, exposing them to the right activities, even their lifestyle, their eating activities are healthy. Of course, it’s a challenge. Milk drinking is not really a habit here. When I visit the US, when I open the refrigerator, I see gallons of milk. We have to educate our children about proper nutrition.”

Why Pia Prefers Younger Men

You probably know Pia’s dreams for the country, but do you have an idea of the man she dreams to be with?

“He’s got to be very fit naman,” she shares. “Six pack abs would be a dream. If not, basta naman pag naka T-shirt, flat naman ang bagsak. Somebody who enjoys the same things I do, even crispy pata on certain days. Kaya nyang sakyan ang hilig ko. It’s not that I’m predisposed to younger men, but they tend to have the lifestyle I enjoy.” 

But of course, Pia wants everyone to enjoy the lifestyle she enjoys. “My vision for the country is a healthier Filipino. It’s a lonely battle that I face in the Senate. When I go on the floor, there’s little interest, health has a small budget, nabawasan pa. Preventive healthcare has always been my vision — healthy living, eating well, iwas sa bisyo. My dad died of liver disease. The loss of income to people plagued with illness is staggering. I dream of a healthier Filipino at the least cost to every Filipino.”

So, bone up on a healthy lifestyle, everyone!