Ok before I start today's tip, I want to state that the subject of dairy for some reason is wildly controversial. The pro-dairy forces have us convinced that we will fall apart without massive consumption of milk and cheese each day. And the anti-dairy forces consider it poison.
Like any controversial issue, I am not even going to touch this one! But I do think it is really important to work to get as much calcium as possible from non-dairy sources each day.
Here is my reasoning- foods high in calcium tend to be the green stuff that is proven to have massive, overwhelming health benefits. And the stats show that is is hard for us to eat a lot of greens each day, but easy to consume dairy. Let me try and walk you through this idea. One cup of milk has a little more than 200mg of calcium in it. Two cups of cooked broccoli has a little less than 200mg of calcium in it. One cup of collared greens has about 350mg of calcium. A cup of chick peas/garbonzo beans has about 150mg of calcium. Two cups of sweet potato has about 150mg.
Now the idea here is not to get you to eat less dairy (but most experts say go for the low fat stuff.) But the idea is to get you to eat more of the greens. My thought here is that by focusing on including greens in your daily calcium intake you provide yourself with another incentive, another reason.
And one of the main building blocks we try and teach is to constantly find the "reason" to do things. Makes us more likely to do it! Joel Fuhrman goes into this issue in depth on pages 173-179 in his nutrition manual Eat For Health. Readers of me might note that I reference him a lot, and that is true. We are always looking for new material and the latest research, so if there is something that might interest me, please let me know.
I so agree with this! I still eat a little cheese (on a veggie burger) or a cup of yogurt here and there, but I'm done forever with cow's milk. So, I love finding other sources of calcium, and I hadn't thought of chick peas, which I love!
I just read one of Dr. Fuhrman's books, and thought it was excellent. I wish I had the fortitude to do a fast, but I'm working up to it!
Posted by: Laurie McClain | March 02, 2009 at 11:48 PM
ive always been told how fattening dairy is.
but i just cant get over my love for yogurt and milk! these two foods are probably two of my favorites, and its hard to cut down on those to eat veggies. i really love veggies too, but nothings like the creamy taste of yogurt or milk for me. :(
Posted by: christine | March 10, 2009 at 06:22 AM
In response to your request for further information on this topic, I would recommend "Save Our Bones" by Vivian Goldschmidt. The book explains that since calcium is also high in acid, the calcium in milk is exhausted as it neutralizes the acid; therefore we do not get much benefit from the calcium in milk.
Posted by: Mary Beth | September 03, 2009 at 06:47 AM