Non-Dairy Calcium Rich Foods You SHOULD Be Eating
I'm not vegan or vegetarian. But I've never been a huge fan of dairy products. Except for cheese of course!
I've always struggled to get my calcium intake. And Lately, for the last couple months, I haven't felt so good.
When I made my self some cereal using the Soymilk I've been drinking lately. I finally realized why I've been dealing with constant nausea the last few months.
I may be allergic, or sensitive to Soy products and I had no idea!
So I started researching ways I can add more calcium to my diet because I had to throw the soy milk away. (I'll probably go back to almond milk. Or force myself to drink dairy milk)
What are the Benefits of Calcium
- Strong Bones and Teeth
- Nerve signaling
- Secretion of hormones and enzymes
Calcium Rich Foods
I'm going to go through these quickly :)
Sesame Seeds
Amaranth
Kale
Hemp Milk
Spinach
Broccoli
Edamame
Because of the high protein content of dairy, it is acidic. In order for your body to neutralize the acidity (the body is always working to maintain homeostasis), it leeches calcium out of your bones and into your blood. So, consumption of dairy leads to osteoporosis. You actually get a net calcium loss from consumption. There haven't been any scientific studies that show clear benefits to dairy consumption. Nothing to indicate that it "Does a body good."
Even the milk industry struggles to demonstrate these effects in industry-sponsored studies. The best they can come up with now is that it's the Bovine Growth Hormone in milk that "does a body good" and "helps growing bodies" or whatever nonsense. Baby cows gain 600lbs in two years and cow growth hormones are probably great for them. Good for baby cows - designed by mother nature to be the perfect food for baby cows. Any good for humans?
Look at the literature and decide for yourself! For me, it's quite clear: Dairy is contributing to the first world's growing health epidemic, and is being pushed on us relentlessly with huge farmer subsidies and propaganda campaigns from the dairy consortiums - The Dairy Farmers of (insert wherever you live here), who have not your health in mind, but their profit margins.
Thanks for listing the myriad of ways we can get calcium. It's in lots of stuff! The population has been brainwashed to think that milk = calcium, when really it's the opposite. Say goodbye to your bones if you drink the daily recommended intake of milk. If you want to increase bone density, the best way is to eat your leafy greens and exercise.
But leave my pizza alone... I need it.
By the way, how can a post have 33 views but 70+ votes? I guess it's people upvoting without reading the article. That's pretty sad.
WOw! Brilliant comment! I didn't know this stuff! Thanks for educating me. I guess by going the "Greens" route. I'm still taking the healthy way even if I'm not actually helping my calcium intake.
This is really scary to learn. There are so many articles that go both ways, It's kind of hard to know what is actually true and what isn't. I feel like we were raised on so many beliefs that arent' accurate at all!
I love that you mentioned exercise. Because i'm not a big "dairy" eater. Throughout my life I have always focused on exercise to help strengthen my bones.
I guess my current diet is doing my body good. Not adding milk to it. Hahah.
Yeah that happens a lot! Lol. I feel like we upvote a lot on Steemit but we don't read all of it .
It's this whole generation and only getting worse. You see it manifest badly on Reddit: People become outraged about an article headline, but are clueless about the actual content. We live in an era of miserably low attention spans.
When it comes to the information I spouted, I really encourage people to do their own research. It's really critical that we don't take anyone's word for granted! Maybe I'm a Big Lettuce astroturfer!
I think you could really take your posts to the next level by citing your sources (preferably academic sources published in peer-reviewed journals of high reputability). It's important, especially when we're talking about something with health implications, that we empower people to investigate for themselves. No one should take anyone's word for granted (that's what got us into this mess), so don't take mine for granted either.
Teach a man to fish, all that jazz.
I really like Almond Milk now. It's funny because once we stop eating so much dairy it almost feels unnatural going back. I really don't think humans were meant to drink cow milk anymore. I think we have just adapted to doing so over the years, but stopping for several years and then drinking a glass of whole milk for example, I got so sick that I haven't tried it again since. I have never been lactose intolerant, so it's kind of odd that it would just randomly start making me sick, or is it? Who knows anymore.
I agree ! It feels really weird. LOL
I love almond milk too.
Wow weird! I wonder if that would happen to me if I tried Dairy milk. I haven't had it in years. Thats why I wanted to see alternatives to Dairy milk haha.
LMAO actually my biology teacher says people who aren't lactose-intolerant are descendant from mutants, because originally humans would become lactose intolerant after a certain age.
He also calls humans "milk vampires" LMAO XDDDD
nice lol
Have you tried Chia seed? I add it to yogurt or cereal every morning. It's very high in Calcium, iron,antioxidants
I LOVE Chia seeds! I forgot to add this one.
HEMP ALL THE WAY!!!
Very good post, @kaylinart. Sesame, amaranth, spinach & broccoli are all part of my regular diet. I still eat dairy, though, but mainly in the form of youghurt (fermented with probiotics) which I prefer to prepare myself. Well done!!!
Yummm Edamame. Great post, thanks for sharing :)
I wonder if eating bones will raise one's calcium level.
It is a good way to get more calcium. I bought some soup bones and roasted them for a hour at 400 degrees cause I heard you want to roast the bones before you make your bone broth. Then at low temperature with lots of water and those soup bones I cook it for 3 days straight. You do get lots of bone broth plus those bones are soft enough to eat if you want to do that. I did eat some of those bones, but later I just decided to take a hammer and smash the bones into very small pieces. I use those pieces to increase calcium in my soil for my garden. I use the bone broth to drink.
As I like to say a balanced diet is a healthy diet. Everyone with a little bit of reasearch can come up with ways to fix up their diet, to include all the necessary nutritions and at the same time keeping it healthy. All the information is readily available out there if only people wanted to promote and improve a bit their own healhy lifestyle. And I am not saying a major change in a diet, because those are not sustainable long term, I am very much against those. What I mean is just simple changes and substitution with foods that give same or even better nutrition value and contain less calories.
Another great post! Keep it up :)
Great @kaylinart! I actually need to change my healthiness, and this is good to my adventure! Resteemed!
Thank you :)
You listed plenty of my favorites. Nice post!