11 Dairy-Free Calcium Sources

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By Liza Barnes, Health Educator

	74 mg
Oranges	1 cup	72 mg
Almonds	1 oz	70 mg

Here are some tips on how to incorporate many of these foods into your diet to increase your calcium intake:

• Cook a vegetable stir-fry and toss in diced tofu made with calcium sulfate.
• Add steamed and minced greens like collards and kale to casseroles, soups and stews.
• Use calcium-fortified non-dairy milk (like soy or rice milk) instead of water in recipes such as pancakes, mashed potatoes, pudding and oatmeal.
• Stir a drizzle of blackstrap molasses into your oatmeal.
• Use almond butter instead of peanut butter.
• Add calcium-rich beans like baked beans and black-eyed peas to soups, pasta sauces, salads and burritos.

If you're not regularly eating enough of these foods to meet your calcium needs, you may want to consider a calcium supplement. After you consult your doctor to make sure this is right for you, your next step is choosing a supplement. Here are some guidelines that will help you:

• Choose a brand you trust. Generic supplements might be a lower quality and might not be absorbed as well.
• When comparing the potency of two different types, compare them by the amount of elemental calcium they contain, which should be listed on the label.
• Choose one with the abbreviation "USP," which means that the supplement has met the standards of the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) for quality, purity and tablet disintegration or dissolution.
• Do not use calcium supplements made with unrefined oyster shell, bone meal or dolomite as they may also contain toxic substances like lead, mercury and arsenic.

In addition to eating the right foods and/or supplementing, there are a few other tips everyone should follow, whether eating dairy or not, to keep their bones strong.

• Reduce your sodium intake. Increased sodium in the blood can cause your body to compensate by pulling more calcium from your bones to maintain balance. Cut back on your salt intake and your bones will stay strong.
  
  
• Eat your veggies. In addition to their calcium content, many vegetables and fruits are good sources of potassium. According to the NIH, this mineral may help decrease calcium excretion in people who eat high sodium diets- particularly in postmenopausal women.
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