[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/emotions-and-bone\/beauty-is-bone-deep\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/emotions-and-bone\/beauty-is-bone-deep\/","headline":"Unhealthy weight loss and bone health","name":"Unhealthy weight loss and bone health","description":"Print PDF eBook Facebook Twitter Gmail LinkedIn Pinterest I was very pleased to be interviewed by Vogue magazine for a story in their January 2011 issue that related one woman\u2019s experience with an osteopenia diagnosis. But when the issue came out, I was struck by the picture on the cover. It shows Natalie Portman, a […]","datePublished":"2011-01-11","dateModified":"2026-04-22","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/author\/brownbetterbonesgmail-com\/#Person","name":"Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/author\/brownbetterbonesgmail-com\/","identifier":72,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e08d87bd45250c6616e1752933a6576aba077f335d97ee337a0cde5e435cbd3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e08d87bd45250c6616e1752933a6576aba077f335d97ee337a0cde5e435cbd3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Center for Better Bones","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Better-Bones-AMP.png","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Better-Bones-AMP.png","width":150,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/image.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/image.jpeg","height":1109,"width":2120},"url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/emotions-and-bone\/beauty-is-bone-deep\/","about":["Emotions & Bone"],"wordCount":540,"keywords":["bone health"],"articleBody":" Print PDF eBook\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFacebook\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTwitter\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGmail\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLinkedIn\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPinterest\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tI was very pleased to be interviewed by Vogue magazine for a story in their January 2011 issue that related one woman\u2019s experience with an osteopenia diagnosis. But when the issue came out, I was struck by the picture on the cover. It shows Natalie Portman, a 29-year-old actress, looking wisp-slender in a sexy, low-cut dress. The picture was advertising Vogue\u2019s story about her latest film, Black Swan, in which she plays an emotionally disturbed ballerina. The photo reminded me of the many \u201cthin and worried women\u201d I see at the Center for Better Bones. Becoming thin by way of unhealthy weight loss is detrimental to bone health.I use this phrase a lot when it comes to bone health, but what I really mean is thin and stressed \u2014 seriously stressed. These may be women who are prone to anxiety, worry, and other fear-based emotional states, but they\u2019re also women who are stressed physiologically, either from too much physical exercise (from something as demanding as ballet) or from the less-than-ideal nutrition that many girls and women use to reach the wafer-thin look that\u2019s expected of models in the pages of a magazine like Vogue – unhealthy weight loss is not ideal, it’s dangerous.Either one of these stresses, emotional or physical, can have a powerful impact on bone health, but put them together \u2014 as in the case of Natalie Portman\u2019s character in Black Swan \u2014 and you have a woman whose bones, sooner or later, will suffer.I don\u2019t know how many emotionally disturbed ballerinas there are in the world, but there are a lot of girls and women who strive to be model-thin, and who grow anxious or despondent if they can\u2019t reach that \u201cbeauty ideal\u201d \u2014 an ideal of thinness that Vogue and other fashion magazines actively promote.\u00a0 Some women are born with a fine-boned body type, and that\u2019s OK \u2014 I’m certainly not suggesting that thin women can’t have healthy bones! But many women can only reach (and keep) that shape by greatly restricting what they eat and drink, by exercising very hard many hours each day, or by combining the two practices. None of this promotes optimal health. In fact, it can create a tremendous amount of emotional stress that our bones may pay for in the long-term.I love that Vogue\u2019s article is raising awareness of the need for women to maximize their bone health through natural means. But when I look at the women represented in its pages, I can\u2019t help but think about future osteoporosis diagnoses. Such women could free themselves from a lot of emotional and physical distress simply by setting a goal of being healthy rather than thin. Because contrary to what popular wisdom tells us, the two aren\u2019t the same thing.If there\u2019s anything I wish would come back into fashion, it\u2019s the idea that beauty = health \u2014 or more to the point, that beauty is bone deep rather than skin deep!For more information about how to achieve healthy bones naturally, take our Bone Health Profile. Stress also depletes key nutrients \u2014 read about how nutrients support bone health under stress."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Emotions And Bone","item":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/emotions-and-bone\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Unhealthy weight loss and bone health","item":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/emotions-and-bone\/beauty-is-bone-deep\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]