I’ve been almost completely dairy free for about sixth months now (I developed lactose intolerance 3 years ago, but used to be able to eat cottage cheese, yogurt and cheese; sadly, a little lactose-free milk for my cereal is about all I can handle now). When I went dairy-free, I was worried about getting enough calcium, so I did an investigation into foods outside of dairy that are high in calcium. Luckily, I already ate many of them!
Calcium-rich foods include: Tofu, cabbage, bok choy, figs, apricots, edamame, turnip greens, kale, brussel sprouts, canned salmon & sardines, cooked oats, roasted almonds, sesame, navy & white beans, and chickpeas.
You can also eat foods that are calcium-fortified (i.e. they add calcium) like select brands of cereals, soy milk and orange juice.
For more information about calcium intake, calcium deficiency and calcium-rich foods, check out this link.
Are you dairy-free? All of my recipes are! Check out some of my favorites here, here and here.
Many of my Twitter friends are dairy-free too! Be sure to check out:
Dairy-Free Betty — lots of yummy dairy-free ideas (blog link)
A Life of Sugar & Spice — dairy & gluten-free (blog link)
The Blissful Chef — great vegan recipes (blog link)
awwh thanks girl!! 🙂 Great post too, it's so important to know what are good calcium sources!! 🙂
Both of my kids are lactose intolerant, so I stopped buying dairy products over a year ago. I've since learned that lots of calcium-fortified foods don't contain any magnesium, so your body can't use all the calcium they contain. We eat lots of the calcium-rich foods like the ones you mentioned, and recently we started enjoying So Delicious coconut milk beverages, instead of soy or rice milk. Not only are they very tasty, but they have a balanced amount of calcium and magnesium. So Delicious makes coconut milk ice cream, coffee creamer, yogurt, and kefir, too, and you can get some coupons at their website, if you'd like to try them. 🙂 http://turtlemountain.com/products/coupon.html