Dairy free calcium

#1

I would just like to ask any dairy free members on here - how are you getting your calcium? I prefer not to eat fish bones because I already eat a lot of fish and want to keep heavy metals down. Internet has mixed information on the content of calcium in bone broth. Also from internet research, supposedly leafy greens are the best absorbed source of calcium but I have my doubts because I eat a lot of kale and my calcium is still low.

#2

I am not dairy free but researched this topic once… Sesame seeds are rich in calcium but poppy seeds are even better. I love both so I probably could eat a lot of them if felt the need and at some point, I ate a decent amount of them anyway, a very big help in getting calcium.
I had a lactose free year without leafy greens (never really ate leaves because I disliked most) but as I never went to a doctor, no idea what my calcium did.

And there are always supplements if one must…

#3

Some of the dairy free milks are fortified with calcium I believe, almond milk is zero carb too!

#4

Almond milk always has the weird additives unfortunately.

(Bob M) #5

You should always doubt this, because plants have so many anti-nutrients, you almost never get anywhere what’s supposedly in them. This lists kale as being about 50%:

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Another one lists 41%.

Interesting, I didn’t know that some calcium is in calcium oxalate, which is one reason it’s not that well absorbed.

Even the dairy products aren’t great, if they are combined with food.

I wonder how much we need, though? How do the carnivores eating mainly meat get calcium?

#6

Yeah, meat has very little calcium. Eggs don’t have much either. It seems one doesn’t need so very much in the absence of plants, similar to some other nutrients…
Though I eat dairy, my intake still probably nowhere around the standard requirement either as I keep the dairy amounts low…

#7

I am dairy free. I do eat a lot of fish & fish bones. The plant milk I use has some added calcium.

My calcium levels are normal though, probably thanks to daily use of Vitamin D3 + K2.

(B Creighton) #8

Pastured eggs. Grapefruit and oranges. I know you said you don’t want more fish, but I also eat the whole canned sardines from Wild Planet. They are relatively low in mercury.
JustMo’s suggestion of supplementing Vitamins D and K2 are important for healthy calcium levels. I supplement 10,000 IUs of D3 all winter and K2 year round because our modern non-fermented foods lack it. I’m not sure why you are dairy free, but I am able to eat goat yogurt despite not being able to eat hardly any cow dairy unless it is A2 and grass fed.

(KM) #9

Real carnivores eat the bones. And shells.

#10

I hardly ever eat chicken and don’t really want to buy it just for the bones. I would like to try to make beef bone broth but it seems like it would be impossible to cook the bones down enough to get any decent amount of calcium out of them.

(Bean) #11

I ended up supplementing. I’m a meat only carnivore, though. I’m also celiac and, as a women, have a closing window for when I can best absorb calcium.

#12

I use Alpro Almond no sugars, I checked it on the Yuka app, it lists E170 & E412 as additives with limited risks…I’ll take that…

#13

Overnight in a pressure cooker works wonders.

(Bob M) #14

I think if you have gelatinous stock/bone broth, that would have calcium? But I don’t know. I do think the move away from eating the whole animal to eating only the meat part is probably not a good thing. I’m trying to eat more of the whole animal, but it’s not easy to do, as it’s hard to find some parts of the animal. And then when I get a part of the animal, I have no idea what to do with it.

I think the idea is that vitamin D helps calcium get absorbed and K2 helps the calcium to go to the bones.

Here’s a complex study involving the vitamin D theory (a lot done in mice):

As always, the evidence is conflicting.

Right now, I’m eating dairy (raw milk – yes I know this is going to kill me, yogurt, cheese), but I’ve also not eaten much or any dairy for periods too.

Maybe it’s like vitamin C, where the levels are radically different for keto/carnivore folks?

#15

I get a lot of vitamin d from sockeye salmon. K2 is the hard part for me being dairy free. I eat very small bits of sauerkraut but I’m not sure that’s the kind of K2 that helps you absorb calcium. I do eat an egg each day. I think it might have K2.

If its ok to ask what kind of raw cheese do you eat? What made you go dairy free during certain periods?

(B Creighton) #16

Maybe I will die too. Most of the year I make yogurt from raw goat milk. My rationale is that I add L. reuteri and gasseri to my culture, and these make bactericins to kill off most bad guys. I haven’t died yet, but I am not recommending anyone else to do this. Of course they could pasteurize it first.

#17

Just take calcium, nobody gets everything from food, that’s not real. The soil is dead, and half the calcium in food is fortified in anyway. Anybody that cares about nutrient content (everybody should) should get tested after a couple of months when you think you’re covering your bases and see if you’re actually pulling it off or not.

(Philip H Kern) #18

This might not help you at all, but I am lactose intolerant, can’t drink milk or ice cream, and can’t tolerate whey protein. I’ve found, however, that I have no problem at all with thickened cream. It contains 62 milligrams of calcium per 100 grams. It might be called something else where you are, but it is common here in Australia. It has a better than 10 to 1 fat to carb ratio–100 ml having only 3 grams of carbs. And I would never consume 100 mills in one sitting. I use it to make an incredible 4 ingredient keto chocolate pudding–takes about 2 minutes.

(KM) #19

In the US we call it “heavy cream” or “whipping cream”. Yes, very useful keto product even for people with mild dairy sensitivity!

(Ohio ) #20

Word.

To the OP, my first thought was Broccoli. But I’ll also through out there that I’ve read ppl w/ dairy issues can sometimes get away w/ high quality, hard cheeses. So just throwing that out there.