Food NE/RD

I get a lot of vegans in my private practice– and they usually are thrilled that I can reassure them that YES a vegan diet can be amazingly healthy and then we go over there food choices together and make sure they are getting all the macro and micronutrients they need.

One that often comes up is Calcium (Ca+).  Sure we have been brainwashed into thinking that we can only get calcium from a milk mustache but actually there are plenty of vegan sources to get your RDA (for men and women under 50 years old that’s 1000mg and if you are > 60 yo its 1200mg).  Here are some ideas I recently shared with a client (who by the way- doesn’t eat nuts or seeds- which are another great source of Ca+)

Morning ideas:

Fortified juice/non-dairy milk (6 oz)   200-260mg

Fortified High Fiber Cereal (eg. Total RB) (8 oz)  1000mg

Blackstrap Molasses (1 tbsp) on toast  130mg

Lunch and Dinner ideas:

Protein Sources: per 1 cup serving

Garbanzo beans, cooked  340 mg

Soybeans, cooked   450 mg

Tofu, firm  (w calcium suffate) 400 mg

Tempeh  215 mg

Vegetables – per 1 cup serving

Turnip greens, cooked  450 mg

Nettles, blanched  428mg

Spinach, cooked  250 mg

Collard greens, cooked  260 mg

Mustard greens, cooked 100 mg

Bok choy, cooked 158 mg

Kale, cooked 100 mg

Broccoli, cooked 100 mg

Misc sources:

Blackstrap molasses (1 tbsp.) 130 mg

Tahini (2 tbsp)  128mg

Dried figs (3 oz.) 100 mg

Dried apricots (3 oz.)  80 mg

Nettle (cold) infusion:

1 cup dried nettle leaf (available in most health food stores in the bulk culinary herb section)

4 cups cold water – steep overnight, strain and drink.

Nettles can also be used like spinach in soups, eggs etc…