Upping my calcium intake while also watching calories

Second vote for citracal with D3

Third for Citrical with D3, plus another D3, K2, Mag, B12, and C. I also eat a couple or three or four dried plums/prunes in the am.

Editing to add that I have low fat plain yogurt for breakfast or snack, enjoy 2% low fat cottage cheese, and eat salads with power greens. I recall reading that dairy should be low fat for BC ER+ survivors, including cheese. I love cheese but have lightened up on it due to the fat content.

Jewelweed - i hear you on the difficulty in getting your calcium from food sources. I have never eaten so much cheese in my life. I am finding that fortified, unflavored Almond milk is a great way to get a calcium boost. There is over 400 mg in a cup. I add a half scoop of vanilla collagen protein powder, then it is like an afternoon snack.

Hi,

I am also doing Citracal+D3. I watch my diet both for calcium intake and for calories. Kale, spinach, lettuce and other greens are regular part of my diet and I love them and they are very healthy for other reasons too, but they include only modest amounts of calcium. Canned sardines are also regularly in my diet and those have a lot of calcium. I have read about the salmon with bones but I don't know how you can eat salmon with bones, how do you do that, Threetree?

Regarding dairy, I either eat low calorie or high calcium, since both isn't possible. If some dairy product is high-calorie, better have an inordinate high amount of calcium, e.g. hard or blue cheeses like parmiggiano or gorgonzola; otherwise, I stick to low calorie dairy (eg plain nonfat yogurt, which has decent amount of calcium and helps gut health and weight loss); I avoid the type of dairy that has lots of calories, but not that much calcium to show for it (e.g. whole milk, ice cream, cottage cheese, mozzarella); by avoid I mean, I don't eat them every day, only occasionally.

Pls correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it the case that soy milk only has calcium because its fortified with it? In that case, doesn't count as "calcium from food" in my book. Better have the supplement in a pill that doesn't add more calories to my diet.

Interesting conversation

I agree that fortified foods would be considered the same as a supplement, if you are trying to categorize food vs non food sources of calcium.

Laughing Gull - I use canned salmon to get the skin and bones. I get Wild Planet canned salmon with skin and bones online, as I can't find it in the store. The stores have Wild Planet canned salmon without skin and bones, which is very yummy, but for the skin and bones, you have to go online. (Never thought I'd be touting the virtues of canned salmon!) I grew up eating sardines, so they were never a problem, but the idea of canned salmon, much less with skin and bones was just awful to me. I'd always only eaten fresh salmon. I read so many good things about salmon, especially with the skin and bones, that I decided to give it a try. The bones are more "substantial" in the canned salmon than they are in the sardines, but it really isn't bad. I alternate salmon and sardines throughout the week. I have one or the other several times a week.

I too do not believe that fortified foods count if you want to get all of your calcium from food. With the fortified stuff you are just getting the supplement in a food product, like soy milk, orange juice, etc.

One thing though that hasn't been mentioned here and I am just speculating off the top of my head, but it is my understanding that when we get nutrients from food, they are processed much differently than they are from supplements. Our bodies have a natural way of dealing with them so that we usually don't get too much of anything. It makes me wonder if we really need to find 1000 mg a day of calcium in food if that's our sole source. My understanding is that we don't absorb the supplements and fortified stuff nearly as well as we do the "real thing" in food, so to Jewelweeds concern about having to eat too much to get 1000 mg a day; maybe we don't need as much if we get it from food? I'm no expert and again, just speculating here, but it might be the case.

I've also read that most of us actually do get enough calcium in our diets, and that the problem is getting it to our bones. That's where the D3 and K2 comes in. That's what the prunes do to, apparently. They help get the calcium in our diets into our bones. (Canned salmon and sardines have lots of vitamin D also, in addition to calcium.)

Breakfast smoothie -- banana, organic frozen strawberries, Greek yogurt and apple juice or orange juice (depending on mouth sores) Maybe I will try adding kale sometime ... but not sardines!

My endocrinologist stressed the need to get 1200 mg of elemental calcium daily and he did comment that he didn't care from what source. I don't know however if this truly answers the question about if you get your calcium from food source only however. I did press him about what types/supplements were better and he indicated no preference. He sent me home with a food calculation sheet. I will try and find it today and post a pic. It was interesting. I agree it is very hard to get enough from food, thus the almond milk daily for me. I figure maybe (ha) I can process it better than chewing a calcium carbonate tablet. I alternate the almond milk with lactose free milk. They both have roughly the same calcium although the milk isn't fortified.

I wonder if 1200 calcium would be the same amount for a petite body or plus body size. Is it one size fits all? Also, the nutritionist told me to cut on red meat and dairy. I don't really like meat but leaving without cheese and cappuccinos? Oh no!

LillyIsHere, the calcium recommendations are RDAs based on gender and age, so 1200 for female >50, 1000 for 19-50. The RDAs are set to meet the needs for about 97-98% of the population for the particular demographic, so there are probably outliers, but no good way to really tell. There are probably people who need more or less, but that goes for all the nutrients.