Are you worried about getting enough calcium? Are you avoiding dairy products because like most people, you just can’t tolerate them? Here are some tips to make sure you get enough assimilable calcium, without supplementing.

1. Eat a lot of greens, especially the dark ones!

They are a great source of vitamins and minerals, including calcium and magnesium. Kales, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, dandelion, bok choy, and mustard greens are excellent. Add them to your salads, smoothies, casseroles, soups, and stews. They promote alkalinity in the body.

2. Eat nuts and seeds, as well as their milk and butter!

The best ones are almonds and sesame seeds. Fresh almond or sesame milk, as well as their butter (almond butter and tahini), are really good to add to the diet. Flax, chia, and hemp seeds are also excellent!

3. Add beans to your diet

Beans, especially black-eyes peas and white beans, are an excellent source of calcium. Baking beans with blackstrap molasses is a great idea as molasses is another excellent source of calcium.

4. Add pseudo grains to your diet

Grains such as quinoa and amaranth, which are actually seeds, are an excellent source of calcium, as well as protein and fiber. They are also gluten-free. Eat them as porridge in the morning, add them to soups, make salads with them, eat them as a side dish, make patties, etc.

5. Add organic, fermented soy to your diet

Occasionally, organic soy products can be added in the diet. But I’m talking about the REAL soy food, not the highly processed ones. You can add some organic tofu, sprouted if possible, miso or tempeh to your diet. Homemade soymilk made with organic soybeans is fine too. Always consume soy in moderation and, due to its phytoestrogens, it shouldn’t be given to young children.

6. If not vegetarian, make bone broth

Homemade bone broths provide bio-available calcium and magnesium for the body, as well as many other minerals and important components for bone and joint health.

7. Avoid processed foods

Avoid eating a lot of processed and fast food, sodium, pasteurized dairy products, soda, alcohol, and coffee, as it promotes acidity in the body and flushes alkaline minerals out of the body.

8. Get some sun!

Vitamin D is important for calcium absorption. Make sure you go outside everyday or every other day.