Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Do you avoid or seek out calcium? What do you eat to reach your goals?

flag	asked Jun 3 2011 at 6:06 Eric 22.5k●1●18●69

PaleoMouth · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-03 07:20:33Z UTC

I try to eat sardines somewhat often. However I don't think this is a really sustainable option in regards to achieving RDV's.

I plan on supplementing with Bone broth very soon, however it is hard to quantify how much calcium one recieves from this!

I have never thought about avoiding calcium, any information to share?

mari · Answer 2 · 2011-06-03 10:42:09Z UTC

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Mineral water gets me tons of calcium. I can easily hit the RDA. However, I do think the RDA is too high and that eating bone broths and/or sardines regularly should get you plenty of calcium. Its really not something I worry about though.

answered Jun 3 2011 at 10:42

mari
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And when I say I don't worry about it, its because calcium beyond a certain level seems to be either neutral or bad for bone health. K2, magnesium, vitamin d, etc. are all very important for bone health. – mari Jun 3 2011 at 10:43

DudleyP · Answer 3 · 2011-06-03 11:03:46Z UTC

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the responses to PersonMan's numerous posts on the subject make interesting reading

answered Jun 3 2011 at 11:03

DudleyP
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Cave Tomboy · Answer 4 · 2011-06-03 11:21:00Z UTC

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I've been taking Calcium supplements for years (female, pushing 50, osetoporosis in the family, allergic to dairy since 15 years old). However, since going Paleo (~3 mo), I stopped the supplements a couple of weeks ago. Also read something linking them directly to cancer. I've just started eating sardines for the Omega 3s, didn't think about the Calcium, that's a plus.

answered Jun 3 2011 at 11:21

Cave Tomboy
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	As long as it has the bones in it your getting good calcium. I personally choke down the bones only cause I know they are good for me! – PaleoMouth Jun 3 2011 at 11:42
	the bones in skate wings are particularly good and readily digestible – DudleyP Jun 3 2011 at 11:54

Thomas Seay · Answer 5 · 2011-06-03 14:46:18Z UTC

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Recently. Lots of H-D Ice cream.

answered Jun 3 2011 at 14:46

Thomas Seay

animalcule · Answer 6 · 2011-06-03 15:07:29Z UTC

I don't seek it out. I eat a lot of greens, some dairy products (mostly cream and butter though), and bone broths and sardines somewhat regularly. Even including these good calcium sources and eating an otherwise balanced, highly-nutritious whole foods diet, I don't end up reaching my RDA most days I track my nutrients. So my conclusion is I don't need as much as they are telling me.

I supplement vitamin D in the winter, get my sun in the warmer months, and do plenty of load-bearing exercise. I think those things are more important for bone health than supplementing calcium, or eating large enough amounts of calcium-rich foods to get the RDA.

Alchemille · Answer 7 · 2011-06-03 18:44:26Z UTC

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I take bone meal for calcium along with transdermal magnesium, fermented cod liver oil & pasture butter

answered Jun 3 2011 at 18:44

Alchemille
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CaveRat · Answer 8 · 2011-06-03 19:10:11Z UTC

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I was never much of a milk drinker, but have been making and drinking kefir lately and really liking it. Most of the lactose has been fermented away so it's low-carb and ok for the lactose intolerant (which I'm not).

answered Jun 3 2011 at 19:10

CaveRat
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Travis Culp · Answer 9 · 2011-06-03 17:08:52Z UTC

I've noticed that I get cardiac arrhythmias if I don't supplement with calcium. Anyone who eats cheese every day is probably fine. Presumably we historically got calcium and magnesium from drinking out of streams, though I haven't done much research into what the actual Ca and Mg content is in these sources.

I take 400mg of calcium in the morning and 400mg of magnesium at night. I try to sequester the calcium from dense sources of minerals such as meat and liver since it tends to decrease bioavailability of various things.

What is your paleo calcium strategy?

9 Answers