Dairy free?
If you don’t eat dairy, you can still meet your daily calcium needs. Take your pick from these tasty, calcium-rich foods, the calcium content of which we’ve compared to a cup of dairy milk.
1 Almonds
These have the highest calcium content of all nuts. Just a quarter of a cup provides
around 100mg calcium.
¼ cup almonds = calcium in ¹⁄³ cup milk
2 Broccoli
As well as an antioxidant boost, adding one cup of cooked broccoli to your dinner also provides 60mg calcium.
1 cup cooked broccoli = calcium in ⅕ cup milk
3 Legumes
Beans, such as borlotti or haricot beans, contain small amounts of calcium, so add half a cup to dishes for around 60mg calcium.
½ cup legumes = calcium in ⅕ cup milk
4 Shellfish
Oysters, mussels and clams filter seawater to get food, accumulating minerals like calcium in the process. A dozen raw oysters provides 125mg calcium.
12 raw oysters = calcium in ⅖ cup milk
5 Seaweed
Seawater has many minerals, so seaweed does, too. Half a cup of raw seaweed contains 50mg calcium, so order a seaweed salad or sushi wrapped in seaweed for your next Japanese takeaway.
½ cup raw seaweed = calcium in ⅙ cup milk
6 Silverbeet
This leafy green is also a good source of iron and vitamins A and K. Add it to frittatas or use for pie filling with spring onions, eggs and cottage and/or feta cheese.
¾ cup cooked silverbeet = calcium in ⅓ cup milk
7 Soy beverages
Soy milk is naturally low in calcium, so extra calcium is usually added to this milk during its manufacture.
1 cup calcium-fortified soy milk = calcium in 1 cup milk
8 Tofu
Calcium is often used to thicken the soy milk that is used to make tofu. Choose tofu that is labelled ‘calcium-precipitated’ or ‘calcium sulfate’. Try adding diced tofu to stir-fries or miso packet soups.
100g tofu = calcium in ½ cup milk
www.healthyfood.com
