Some parents use a special diet free of casein while other parents simply cannot get their kiddos to eat more than 3 foods. We all know just how important calcium intake is. Most calcium comes from dairy products…however, for those who are on a dairy free diet, there are some other options.
Foods rich in calcium include low fat dairy products such as skim milk or ricotta cheese. Most kids will say YUCK, but sardines in oil are rich in calcium. You can find calcium in calcium fortified juices and other foods and a diet rich in dark leafy green vegetables will help the little bodies retain calcium.
It might be time to get creative for those picky eaters or for those on a special diet. A simple solution may be to add cheese to vegetables at lunch or dinner. Other solutions may require that you sneak in calcium rich foods into foods that they like. A food processor comes in handy. You can puree alot of the suggested foods and weave them into favorites like macaroni and cheese, or into the breading for chicken nuggets or even slip a little puree into a yummy smoothie popsicle.
Vitamin D….helps your body use calcium. The best source of vitamin D is natural sunlight. 15 minutes per day without sunscreen is all our bodies need. However, there are a few foods that contain vitamin D such as
- Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel, and Sardines.
- Egg yolks.
- Fortified dairy products, cereals and juices.
Eat fresh produce! Eat a rainbow of colors when it comes to fruits and vegetables. Eating more fruits and veggies keeps a diet alkaline and studies have found that alkaline diets retained more calcium. Consider V8 Fusion, which offers fruits and veggies in one serving.
Watch your salt intake. Salty food causes your body to lose calcium.
Consider making hearty dishes chock full of calcium and vitamin D. A plate full of foods combining milk, cheese, eggs, and certain fish will offer you a hearty dose of calcium. Think tuna noodle casserole, macaroni and cheese, ricotta pancakes, and salmon chowder.Check out the recipe book, Calcium Rich Recipes.
My son loved milk and dairy products, then one day, he decided he did not like any of it! I never had to go casein free as he nearly did it himself. Because of this, his labs revealed a low calcium. We make smoothies, and we turn the left over servings into popsicles. He loves yogurts, so we let him enjoy this option. He loves OJ, so we ensure that it is calcium enriched. We seek out calcium enriched cereals. We slip some veggies in with V8 Fusion (free of dye) and Fruitables. We supplement with Calci-Bears too.
We are looking into a good food processor so we can play sneaky chef. I have already done a bit of this by slipping in baby food jars of vegetables into banana bread or brownies. I want to step it up a notch. He loves Mac and Cheese so I want to sneak some goodies into this dish too. Check out The Sneaky Chef for some great ideas!
About Tiffani Lawton, R.N.
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