Calcium - Are You Taking The Right Stuff?

 

Calcium is the most used mineral in your body. Yes, it does help you to have strong teeth and bones, which are clearly important to have.

Have you ever been lying in bed at night and feel like your legs are dancing? No matter how you lay or what position your legs are in they just feel restless (Restless Leg Syndrome, as they name very accurately depicts). Calcium can help!

Muscle’s cramping? Do you find especially during/after exercising your muscles start to cramp? (Mine is always my toes, they end up cramping so hard I have to half walk half gimp around for a good five minutes until they finally release.) That’s because your muscles are lacking in calcium and trying to steal it from your bones to raise their own levels. So once again, extra calcium is your go-to!

If you’re having terrible menstrual cramps, calcium can help ease that pain. A study done by PubMed found that women taking calcium and vitamin D3 were “effective in reducing menstrual pain intensity.” Dr. Tori Hudson also did research that found calcium, when taken with D3, helped to alleviate the pain of primary dysmenorrhea (the pain of the menstrual cycle).

We have often discussed why it’s so important to take care of your health now, because as we age, we lose our ability to bounce back as quickly from diseases, injuries and just everyday wear. Our bones may be one of the most obvious ways we see this. Bones in general become more brittle over time, as they are a living tissue. As bone cells die, new ones are made to replace the old ones. As we age however, this process often slows down; the less new cells made in place of old cells the more brittle and weaker our bones become. Osteoporosis is just one disease that can happen when our bones become weakened overtime. A stooped back, loss of height, and easy breaks are all common symptoms. 

Plant Calcium Powder

 

But once again, calcium can help to save the day! According to the Cleveland Clinical, because calcium is what moves in and out of our bones as they are forming, if we are sure to get plenty throughout our life times this can help to alleviate osteoporosis. Post-menopausal women are the most likely to get suffer from osteoporosis, and as we discussed earlier, since it also helps to alleviate menstrual cramps, it is important for women specially to get plenty in their daily diet. The Cleveland Clinical recommends everyone take at least 1,000mg of calcium a day, and that number goes up to about 1,300mg as we age and for pregnant or breastfeeding mothers.

Let’s discuss about the common misconception of the necessity to drink milk for strong bones. Unfortunately, despite the hundreds upon thousands of ad campaigns starting in the 90’s that we need to drink plenty of milk to meet our daily intake of calcium, this is false. Cow’s milk is meant to supply nutrition to calves. What is meant to turn a calf into a full-grown cow does not have the same nutritive values that we need for our bones to be strong and growth.

ThougthtCo. did research on this very matter and states that cow’s milk is high in calcium but also high in protein. Now paradoxically, excess protein sucks calcium from our bones…  Dr. Kerrie Saunders states, “North America has one of the highest consumptions of dairy products, and also the highest incidence of osteoporosis” the article further states. So we are drinking more milk to get more calcium while simultaneously getting more protein which in turn is then leeching the calcium we are trying to get from the milk in the first place and causing more harm. It’s a nightmare of a situation… Personally, I would try to find a better source of calcium. (With that being said, don’t become too worried about eating protein and it then taking from your good calcium supply. Everything in moderation. From my personal research milk has more negative side effects on the body then positive- think inflammation and lots of mucus creation as well as being high in sugar, so I have found a dairy substitute for most everything.)

 

Liquid Plant Calcium

Calcium supplements, seeds and nuts, figs, rhubarb and some fortified foods such as flour and cornmeal are goof sources of calcium. An important thing to note- calcium is best absorbed with magnesium, phosphorous and D3. The nice thing with taking these simultaneously, is not only will you get the benefits of each, but they will help each other to work to their best abilities. *Side note: vitamins are expensive, and it’s easy to get carried away with the thought you need to take everything right now or you might combust, this is not the case. Take what you can afford, and you WILL start noticing positive side effects. Take care of the most important problems now and add in the extras as you can! It’s all going to benefit you in the long run! 

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