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:
Or should I eat one and avoid another… Read on to find out: are all oils bad?
My name is Kelly Gibson and I am a Nutrition Coach in Chandler Arizona (not to be mistaken with a Nutritionist or Dietitian). I have been following an oil-free diet for the past 2 years. I’m also a Personal Trainer and when I talk to my Personal Training clients about Nutrition I get asked the question “why?” all the time. Before I answer that question let me be honest with you. Unless I am cooking 100% of my meals from scratch, it’s quite difficult to eat an oil-free diet. When I go out to eat, I typically ask for steamed vs fried vegetables and ask for sauce on the side. When I shop for groceries I make sure most of the foods I buy don’t contain oil; I do have a hard time finding oil-free selections when it comes to frozen meals, sauces, and salad dressings (to name a few). Sometimes, there’s just no way around it if you want a specific item, even if I take the time to read ingredient labels. Most menu items at my favorite restaurants in Tempe and even pre-packaged foods at grocery stores across the East Valley already contain oils. Heck – I can barely find more than 3 gluten-free vegan cookbooks that offer oil-free recipes! That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but it does mean I have limited options when I am already eating gluten free and vegan. Of course, if I made homemade meals for everything I ate then I would not have a problem. I would say I eat about 95% oil-free (as often as I can). So are all oils bad or should I pick and choose a certain one?
Kelly Gibson, Certified Nutrition Coach
I’m not too worried about that 5% oil though, because there is truly no person on the planet who eats a perfect diet and there are, in fact, some benefits to having healthy fats in your diet. Personally, I choose to get majority of my healthy fats from whole food plant-based sources. Some good examples of healthy fats are nuts, seeds, avocados, and some fruits. But wait… everyone has told you that fruits are sugar. Some may argue this, but the truth is, fruits have healthy fats, proteins, and fiber too! Take a banana for instance. It has all of those nutrients, but yes – primarily made up of nutritious fruit sugars.
I studied Plant-Based Nutrition at eCornell University and they discuss the benefits of eat oil-free and also the cons with eating oils. Even though it may come from plants, oil is 100% fat (To be more specific, 100% of calories come from fat) with no added nutrients. This not only weighs you down because it is more dense than protein and carbs which are both 4 calories per gram, but it’s much easier to overeat oils because fat is 9 calories per gram. So are all oils bad? Perhaps, if you are looking to lose weight or have low cholesterol.
I also like to make the comparison of olives to olive oil. I add diced or sliced olives to my meals many times if a recipe calls for olive oil. It takes 30 small black olives to equate in calories to 1 tablespoon of olive oil! Our bodies become satiated easier when we take the time to chew our food, which we can’t do with oil. So, oil just simply takes up too many of my calories for the day and I love food too much to sacrifice 30 bites for a little added flavor to my meals. Since I get more bang for my buck when I eat low-fat meals, I LOVE being oil-free.
Coconut Oil – Is it Better or Worse than the Rest? Another downside of consuming oil is that our the endothelial lining of arteries become inflamed within 30 minutes of consuming foods with saturated fats. What does that mean? Increased risk of clogged arteries, heart disease and ultimately – heart attacks. Oils, meats, dairy products, and many nuts contain high amounts of saturated fats. I highly recommend limiting these foods to half a serving per day or replacing them altogether with a healthier source of whole food sources of fats. Omega 3 fatty acids are the most critical in American diets today, mainly because oils represent about 95% of our diets at a 20:1 ratio of Omega 6:Omega 3 fatty acids. Luckily I have swapped it around by eating oil-free and adding foods high in omega 3s such as chia seeds. You can do it too. It’s quite easy!
If you need help with your diet, contact me for support on your journey to a healthier more fit you with Nutrition Coaching. Kelly Athletics provides nutrition services that give you the freedom to choose what you eat. I teach you how to create habits that allow flexibility to enjoy food and eat healthy simultaneously! Whether you are ready for baby steps or diving right in to a new diet, you’ll get results quick with me!
Try one of our Vegan Recipe Plans to experience some oil-free deliciousness!
Written by Kelly Gibson on Sept 15, 2014
Contact Me for More Info to learn out how to eat oil-free or reduce your oil intake with Nutrition Coaching:
Sources: http://www.nutristrategy.com/nutrition/calories.htm Online Personal Training | Online Personal Trainer | Scottsdale Personal Trainer | Mesa Personal Trainer | Chandler Personal Training | Tempe Fitness Trainer | Phoenix Personal Trainer | AZ Personal Trainer
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:
