Increasing Your Calcium Intake without Milk or Dairy

Whether you’re dairy-intolerant or simply looking for other ways to supplement with calcium, it’s easier than you think to find natural sources of it in everyday foods.

Cow’s Milk

Cow’s milk has three times more protein and almost four times more calcium than human milk. This amount is suited to a growing calf, but is in excess of human needs. This will create some waste matter in the body and present as symptoms of excess in humans, especially if our organs of elimination are blocked or stagnant.

The ratio of calcium to phosphorus in human milk is 2.35:1, but only 1.27:1 in cow’s milk. An optimal ratio is 2:1. An imbalance of phosphorus can combine with calcium in the digestive tract and prevent absorption of calcium.

The addition of Synthetic vitamin D in milk encourages calcium to be deposited in the wrong places causing cardiovascular injury and calcification of the kidneys (kidney stones) and other organs

Pasteurization and Homogenization

Pasteurization has eliminated many infectious diseases, but has also decreased the nutrient content and life-sustaining energy field of milk.

Homogenization, the process of breaking milk molecules into smaller pieces, allows elements of milk to pass through the intestinal wall unchanged by the digestive process. One such element called xanthine oxidase, is picked up by the lymphatic system and deposited in the bloodstream after passing through the intestines. As it courses through the arteries, it scratches and corrodes the inside of the arterial walls, causing lesions upon which the body deposits fibrin and cholesterol to avoid further damage.

Calcium

As a society, we have been brainwashed to believe that it is necessary to consume milk and dairy products in order to receive an optimal amount of calcium. When a person is calcium deficient it is because the body is unable to assimilate and utilize calcium properly. Many foods affect our body’s calcium balance, by either adding calcium in an unbalanced way, counterbalancing, draining calcium from the system, or causing calcium to be deposited in inappropriate locations such as soft tissue.
Calcium absorption is hindered by poor liver and gall bladder function, a lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, a diet high in meat (particularly red meat) and physical and emotional stress.

Insomnia and muscle cramps indicate calcium magnesium imbalance. To get sufficient calcium in your diet one should include plenty of alkaline foods to enhance absorption of calcium, avoid or limit caffeine (leaches calcium from the bones), and include more vegetarian meals and whole foods that are high in calcium.

The following list includes many foods that contain calcium in a natural, easy to assimilate form:

• beans and nuts (particularly, almonds, Brazil nuts, and walnuts)

• greens, especially broccoli, collards, chard, kale, parsley, watercress, spinach and dandelion greens
• okra
• sunflower seeds
  

• sesame seeds and tahini

• salmon, sardines

• soup made from bone broth

• seaweeds (wakame, kombu, hiziki)

• seeds

• soybeans and tofu
  

Foods that Affect Calcium Balance

Dairy products: the unbalanced relationship with phosphorus causes a fair amount of calcium to be incompletely absorbed or incorrectly assimilated.

Concentrated sugars: the acidic nature of concentrated sweeteners depletes the body of minerals that aid in the absorption and assimilation of calcium. They also deplete the phosphorus level in the body, thereby blocking calcium absorption.

High Protein foods: The acidic nature of these foods acidifies the blood, and acidified blood will dissolve calcium from the bones. It has been suggested that vegetarians have significantly lower rates of osteoporosis.

Nightshades: Due to their high alkaloid content, nightshade foods may subtly remove calcium from bones and deposit it in joints, kidneys, arteries and other areas of the body where it does not belong.

Wine, vinegar and citrus: because of their natural acidity, these foods require the buffering action of calcium during metabolism. If necessary, calcium will be taken from teeth and bones to accomplish this.  Lemons and raw apple cider vinegar are not acidic.

Caffeine, alcohol and salt: As with other acid-forming foods, these will demineralize the system through the action of buffering. 

By Michelle Pascal, Registered Holistic Nutritionist

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