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Can I Get Too Much Calcium?

Can I Get Too Much Calcium or Should I drink more Milk?

We are all taught to drink milk for calcium.  We hear it on the radio, at school, from our parents, and all of the milk advertisements.  After years of hearing the same thing over and over again, you’d think we get the hint right? But the latest research raises the question Can I get too much calcium or do I need more?

It turns out, cow’s milk isn’t all that great for us after all.  Tons of people have stopped buying milk and are now getting almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk, and other dairy-free alternatives. You may have noticed this trend the past few years is that more and more people are going dairy-free.  I’ve written about how drinking cows milk weakens bones, and consuming more than 600mg of Calcium has NO benefit to bone health.  Even more interesting, dairy products don’t seem to improve bone health in children, prevent stress fractures in adolescents or women.  Osteoporosis is, in fact, best prevented by reducing sodium intake and consuming more plant-based sources of calcium like leafy greens, beans, fruits, and vegetables (NOT milk).  So by asking the question can I get too much calcium, the answer is yes.  

Unfortunately, milk is in many of our processed foods, put in our meals at restaurants, and even slipped into some of our multi-vitamins and protein shakes.  How will we ever manage to go completely dairy-free?  Luckily I am a fully committed vegan who knows about all the cool vegan options!  Just contact me below if you need more ideas or guidance on your journey to a plant-based or dairy-free lifestyle.

Here are 3 dairy-free alternatives to standard cow’s milk products:

Tofutti: Cream Cheese

Follow your Heart: Vegan Gourmet Sour Cream

Earth Balance: Organic Whipped Buttery Spread

 

For more dairy-free or plant-based ideas, Contact Me:

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    Written by Kelly Gibson on 3/8/2017

     

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    Cantaloupe Truffle Bars

    Cantaloupe Truffle Bars with Soy Caramel Sauce

    Homemade chocolate is the best! Try these truffle bars topped with chocolate.

    cantaloupe-truffle-bar-soy-caramel-sauce-kelly-athletics
    Cantaloupe Truffle Bars  w Soy Caramel Sauce

    Do you ever think that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to give up chocolate to lose weight? No worries! You can absolutely incorporate chocolate into a healthy diet, and make healthy chocolate snacks and desserts without putting on a pound! In fact, you will LOSE weight quickly if you learn how to make plant-based chocolate treats (i.e. vegan chocolate) like these truffle bars. Why is plant-based and vegan chocolate better? For one, most milk chocolates are high in fat, and typically include “milk fat” as a key ingredient. Secondly, dairy is the MOST common food allergy in the United States, especially in infants and children. Typically, adolescents and adults don’t realize they are allergic because their bodies have gotten used to having high quantities of milk in their diet over the course of several years. http://www.foodallergy.org/allergens/milk-allergy

    First melt some dairy-free chocolate over a double boiler, drizzle it onto wax paper into rectangular shapes. Then, allow the chocolate to cool while heating up non-GMO soy milk, sweetener and corn syrup on the stove. Then, put hazelnuts and dried pitted dates in a food processor. Mash this into the shape of a granola bar and place onto the cooled chocolate rectangles. Grab a small scooper (or even a measuring spoon) to make melon balls from a cantaloupe. Place melon balls onto the granola bar, drizzle more dairy-free chocolate sauce on top, then dip in soy caramel sauce on the side.

    For the full recipe, get this amazing book or email me to send you a photo of the recipe by: Great Chefs Cook Vegan

    For more tips on Vegan Nutrition, try Online Nutrition Coaching at Kelly Athletics.

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      Do Physicians Recommend a Plant-Based Diet

      If you’re Concerned about how your diet impacts your health…

      You might be wondering, Do Physicians Recommend a Plant-Based Diet?

       

      According to Kaiser Permanente, a well-known company that publishes medical journals to physicians, has encouraged medical doctors over the past year to reconsider the types of diets they recommend to their patients.  Specifically, this article discusses proper diet MD should recommend for diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.  They say “Healthy eating may be best achieved with a plant-based diet, which we define as a regimen that encourages whole, plant-based foods and discourages meat, dairy products, and eggs as well as all refined and processed foods.”  The article discusses the positive effects of eating a plant-based diet to reduce cholesterol, BMI, high blood pressure, and glycated haemoglobin (a protein with red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body.) The vegan diets used in this study included nutrient dense plant-based foods, encouraging lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, lentils, peas, seeds, and soybeans, among other beans. It was amazing to read through the results found in a 16-week study, showing that plant-based diets improved ALL of these medical issues better than a combination of medication and exercise. So, do physicians recommend a plant-based diet or are they neglecting to stay up to date on current nutritional research?  Turns out, there are quite a few MDs recommending a plant-based diet including the President of the American College of Cardiology!  Here is a list of other plant-based doctors.

      In this article by The Permanente Journal, I concur with their conclusion that those on a vegan diet need to focus on planning, reading labels, and discipline.  As a Vegan Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach in Phoenix area, I am sometimes overwhelmed (in a good way) with the abundance of new vegan options at restaurants and health food stores.  But then, I become stumped at the majority of restaurants and grocery chains who still offer 98% animal-based products.  I just took my first trip to Winco Foods in Gilbert AZ today, hoping to find yummy vegan grub, but I left with none other than avocados, green tea, oil-free frozen hash browns, gluten-free cupcake mix for Halloween, and Gardein vegan chicken for my husband to try. I read every ingredient on the labels and leave behind anything containing animal products (this definitely takes discipline.) No worries though, we are fortunate to live in Chandler where there are loads of great vegan options at health food stores, and nearby vegan restaurants in Tempe & Phoenix.  As always, we have the world wide web to find a plethora of homemade plant-based recipes to try.

      Written by Kelly Gibson, October 12 2014

       

      Considering a plant-based diet? Contact Me for More Info on my Plant-Based Nutrition programs:

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        Source: http://www.thepermanentejournal.org/issues/2013/spring/5117-nutrition.html, photo from www.natural-health-cafe.org

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