Calcium on a vegetarian/vegan diet

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fishyfishyboo
fishyfishyboo Posts: 1 Member
edited March 2017 in Food and Nutrition
Hi everyone! I'm curious, do you guys watch your calcium intake on mfp? I'm a vegetarian and yesterday I was talking to a friend who studies food & diet ethics. He asked about what I do to get enough calcium in my body and I showed him the mfp app, we scrolled through some of my days and he stated that my calcium intake was quite low.

This got me doing some research yesterday evening and I found that -if I want to have a good amount of calcium going in my body every day- I have to eat certain foods, and a pretty high amount of them. For example sesame seeds, beans, basil and dark leafy greens.. I eat these foods already, but not a lot of them. From now on I'll be looking for tofu that has been made from/with calcium strains and some fortified plantbased milks, but do you guys maybe have any other suggestions/experiences?

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  • Tricia7188
    Tricia7188 Posts: 136 Member
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    I found that even when eating a non veg varied diet(mostly whole nutrient dense foods PLUS at least a couple servings of plain Greek yogurt a day! And meat here and there still) I STILL haven't been getting enough calcium which has seemed very odd. Moving forward im tweaking my diet and experimenting more and more with plant based foods just for health/cost effectiveness. And I'll be making sure to check that the MFP entry even has Calcium content listed, because I suspect alot don't take the time which would make it look low.
  • Duchy82
    Duchy82 Posts: 560 Member
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    Just to say the calcium values are not always accurate in the food entries on mfp, not all packaging will list calcium even if the food does contain calcium. Iron values are the same.

    Other than that op if you don't eat any dairy I can't be off too much help, sorry, it's not really something I focus on (and I'm not veggie/vegan so get most of mine from dairy).
  • HeliumIsNoble
    HeliumIsNoble Posts: 1,213 Member
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    I tracked it for a bit. I found I generally hit mfp's minimum threshold through my chocolate soya milk habit alone, but I've been trying to get into the habit of taking calcium tablets as an insurance policy.
  • bookwormie
    bookwormie Posts: 32 Member
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    I've been wondering about this myself, have the same concern. I've been vegetarian for years but vegan for Lent (although maybe I'll continue with it after). I always eat dark leafy greens everyday, trying for every meal. Collards and kale are better than spinach for calcium. Tofu also has a lot and I think white beans. You can make white bean hummus and use it on veggie sandwiches.

    I also add a cup of soy milk (Silk has a lot of calcium) to my breakfast smoothie, since I'm not nuts about the taste of soy milk, but the smoothie hides the taste. I use a protein powder in the smoothie that also has calcium and other vitamins (designed for vegetarians) and usually have kale in the smoothie as well.

    Occasionally I take a supplement if my calcium level for the week looks really low. I don't like to, but calcium is important.
  • bearclanfit
    bearclanfit Posts: 15 Member
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    I am not a strict vegetarian/vegan, though I've had a vegan diet for several months at a time. There are two supplements I highly recommend: iron and a calcium, magnesium, zinc combo. Sometimes vitamin D is also important for your calcium absorption. I take those 3 daily. Iron is difficult to get from vegan/veggie diet.

    I have a green smoothie with at least a cup of kale and spinach each. My vegan protein powder only contains 10% dv of calcium. Thus I still take the supplement. Good luck.
  • Savannahmiamaddie
    Savannahmiamaddie Posts: 54 Member
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    You could take a calcium supplement. Either take a slow release brand or you have to take it twice a day. You're body can't absorb enough if taken in a single dose. You need vitamin D3 too. Women need to take at least 400 IU a day.

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