10 Non-Dairy Foods That Are Chockful Of Calcium (Slideshow)

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“How do you manage for calcium with no milk products?” asked several of my friends when I was following a three week vegan cleansing diet.

The question surprised me. I have never liked milk, don’t digest it well, and didn’t miss drinking it at all during my vegan phase.

That doesn’t mean I have to ingest a large calcium supplement the size of a horse pill in order to take in enough calcium. There are plenty of milk-free ways to get adequate calcium in your diet.

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body, according to the National Institutes of Health. 99 percent of the body’s calcium is stored in bones and teeth for structural support.

To make sure we get enough of it, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has developed Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for calcium: an average adult needs 1,000 mg–1,300 mg of calcium daily. This number is slightly higher for lactating and pregnant women.

You probably think of Chinese cabbage, collard greens, maybe almonds, in terms of non-dairy sources of calcium, but there are many more. Here are just 10, for starters:

Black Eyed Peas: Not only are black eyed peas a good source of calcium, these little beans also contain potassium, folate and other nutrients.

First Photo: thinkstock; second photo: Maddog 20/20

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Kathy P.

2:41PM PDT on Oct 14, 2012

helpful for me ! i'm lactose intolerant :)

October 14
send a green star

Sarah M.

5:08PM PDT on Sep 11, 2012

thanks

September 11
send a green star

Joy W.

5:45AM PDT on Sep 11, 2012

Thanks for sharing.

Heidi A.

1:27AM PDT on Sep 11, 2012

I don't know where you got your information but there are a few flaws.

1. Orange juice(unless fortified with calcium) has virtually NO calcium.

2. Vegetable ARE wonderful sources of very many, many nutrients however, they also contain some not so wonderful compounds that completely interfere with the good nutrient absorbtion, so the net effect is nil. This is true for calcium content in almost all vetetables. The interfering compound is called oxalate. This is not found in dairy products, only plants. Oxalate completely binds all calcium from being absorbed by the body and actually acts as a mild toxin as a defense mechanism for the plant against herbivores..thats right , plants don't want to be eaten any more than any other living thing. They have built in defenses for this event.

Anyway for a vegan, one needs to supplement with calcium citrate(most absorbable form) from some kind of fortified food or a supplement alone.