How to Get More Calcium in Your Diet (Even If You Can't Drink Milk)
Getting enough calcium is vital for healthy teeth. The easiest way to get that calcium is with a few glasses of milk. However, due to lifestyle choices and lactose intolerance, not everyone is willing or able to get in their three glasses (or about 800 mL) of milk. For those who are lactose intolerant, vegan, or just don’t like the taste, getting enough calcium can be a challenge.
The first step to overcoming these hurdles is knowing what foods can help you easily get enough calcium daily. Doctors recommend 1000 mg of calcium daily, but that increases to 1,200mg for women 50+ and men 70+.
To help you create a grocery list that will keep your teeth and bones strong, we’ve gathered a list of various foods that are high in calcium.
High calcium vegetables
Calcium is widely available in a variety of fruits and vegetables that you can easily add to your diet.
Look for vegetables like:
Beans, like garbanzo, kidney, navy and even canned baked beans
Broccoli
Chinese cabbage,
Edamame
Acorn squash
Dark greens, like turnip and collard greens along with kale
Papaya
Dried figs
Oranges
Beverages with extra calcium
If you’re transitioning from milk, swapping in a new beverage is a great, easy way to ensure you get enough calcium to keep your teeth and bones strong and healthy.
Great, calcium-rich beverages include:
Fortified milk-alternatives like almond or soy milk
Calcium-fortified orange juice – check the label to ensure it the fortification includes calcium (and be careful how much you drink as it is acidic and can eat away at enamel)
Calcium-rich meats
For those who don’t drink milk because of lactose intolerance, or a distaste for it, certain meats, especially those canned with bones, are high in calcium.
This includes:
Canned shrimp
Canned sardines, if canned bone-in
Canned pink salmon, if canned bone-in
Other/fortified foods
Some foods are fortified, which means extra vitamins and minerals have been added. That doesn’t necessarily mean calcium has been added, but it is one of the minerals that often is. Just make sure that when you’re shopping for these fortified foods you check to make sure calcium is included.
These can include:
Fortified cereals
Tofu made with calcium sulphate
Fortified breads and English muffins
Almonds are another great source of calcium that are both vegan and lactose free. As a bonus, they’re also super portable, making them easy to snack on. For those who are lactose intolerant, or simply don’t like the taste of milk, remember there are many different types of dairy products, some of which are low in lactose, including lactose-free milk, hard cheeses, heavy cream, kefir, probiotic yogurt and butter.
Other ways to increase your calcium intake
There are a lot of supplements out there that can help you to increase your calcium intake. However, don’t be won over by high numbers, because your body can not process your full daily requirement in one go. While taking the supplement is a start, maintaining a high intake of calcium throughout the day will be much more beneficial
Top tip: it’s easy to calculate how much calcium a food product has based on its nutrition label. Add an extra zero to the per cent of total recommended amount. So, if the label says it contains 30 per cent of your daily calcium requirement, it has 300 mg of calcium.
Your body has more calcium than any other mineral, which makes getting enough very important to your health. And now, you have more tools to ensure you get the proper amount of calcium to keep you healthy.