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My Calcium Conundrum

I remember testing the paleo waters almost a full year ago, and all of the nitpicky questions I had (or was I looking for excuses…?). One that stuck with me for a while was the issue of calcium. For the first two weeks of my 30-day paleo challenge I meticulously tracked all of my food in FitDay and calcium always came up short of the RDA.

I was concerned. I mean, calcium is like really important right? Especially for womenses. If we don’t get enough calcium our bones will get brittle and we’ll become warped hunchbacks in our old age.

I looked up lists of calcium-rich foods and tried to get more in my diet, but it wasn’t easy. I realized that I’d have to eat two pounds of spinach and a full can of sardines every day to get the 1000mg RDA of calcium. I started wondering if the paleo concept got something wrong in the dairy department.

Let me be clear, it’s not that I didn’t challenge conventional wisdom and thought that RDAs were the almighty word of the food gods. I already had a good idea, for example, that there was strong evidence that the 400IU RDA for Vitamin D was pathetically low. Somehow I was just so much more sure that I needed a buttload of calcium. At least I was sure until I started reading, and then things got murkier.

Here There be Discrepancies

See, first I had to realize that there are populations of people in the world who get less than half the accepted RDA of calcium and yet have fewer incidence of osteoporosis. Why? Is it something they eat, something they don’t eat, or something they do?

Secondly, because we people of North America are so informed about our need for calcium we put it in dang-near everything. We calcium-fortify a whole bunch of our foods, and most women following a standard North-American diet meet the 1000mg RDA of calcium regularly, but at the same time test low or deficient for calcium. That ain’t right!

The Science-y Part

Calcium is just part of a big picture. It’s like one spring or gear in a giant clock tower. It may be a very important gear, but it still won’t turn without all the other gears, pendulum, etc.

Looking at calcium intake means nothing if the body isn’t absorbing and using that calcium properly. To do this we have to look at the “other gears.” Specific to calcium absorpsion we need magnesium, vitamins D and K, and boron. Is this boron yet? Hah. So guess what kinds of foods provide goodly amounts of calcium AND magnesium? Fish and leafy greens!

But that’s not all! Calcium absorption is also affected by the environment in the body, the acid/alkaline balance. The paleo diet, full of fruits and veggies, promotes a more neutral acid/alkaline balance in the body which is better for calcium absorption (among other things). Dairy and grains are both acid-forming foods. In addition, grain also contain phytates; chemicals that bind and prevent the absorption of calcium, zinc, iron, and magnesium.

Holy epiphany batperson!

Though dairy does contain a good amount of calcium, what goes in the food hole doesn’t always stick around. If we set up our internal environments to encourage the absorption and retention of calcium we probably don’t need to hit the 1000mg calcium RDA.

So How Much Do You Really Need?

I have no idea actually. Just like there is no way to know how much sunlight is safe and healthy for everyone there are many variables that determine your real calcium needs. What I can say is that if you are not getting 1000mg of calcium in your diet every day but you are eating a diet rich in leafy greens, no dairy or grains, and goodly amounts of fish you are probably doing just fine!

Personally I regularly hit 500mg of calcium a day and I no longer stress that I’m not getting enough. If you want to try and up your calcium numbers a bit or if you like graphs here are a few calcium-rich foods you could consider adding to your meal plan:

Sardines, Atlantic, in oil, drained, 3 oz: 325mg
Pink salmon, canned, with bone, 3 oz: 181mg
Collards, cooked from frozen, ½ cup: 178mg
Spinach, cooked from frozen, ½ cup: 146mg

Oh and for crying out loud don’t forget your weight-bearing exercise. I don’t know why I even have to say this on a blog that is specifically about women and strength training. Studies have shown that weight bearing exercise can improve bone density even in post-menopausal women.

Final thoughts? Squats and milk are so last year. Try squats and salmon on a bed of greens instead.

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What else have I been up to? Here’s a BLUT (big long update thingy):

Eating
I’m still mostly paleo with an occasional planned non-paleo meal. I’ve been on a fish and seafood kick lately so I’ve been playing with cod, salmon, scallops, and halibut. I also have some cheap lobsters coming my way soon and fishing season in my province starts this weekend!
Lamb is also plentiful in my area right now and I’ve bought some but am still figuring out what I want to do with it. The lamb liver is my most daring aquisition yet.
My usual non-paleo meal is some thin-crust pizza or a burger at a local “fancy” burger place. Last week my daughter turned fourteen though, so I made the most non-paleo birthday cake I could: a Mars Bar Nutella Cheesecake with an Oreo Cookie crust.
Oh, and I’m especially excited to be joining a CSA/food share program. Starting in June I’ll be getting a big box of local organic produce every week! I’m even signing up for the “family-sized” box with the hope that if I can’t eat that much vegetable matter I’ll be able to can, freeze, or dehydrate what’s left.

Lifting/Moving
I’m working my way through my pull-up program, though not as quickly as I had planned. I’ve missed a good number of workouts and am probably going to finish a full month later than expected if this continues.

I am LOVING my pullup assistance bands from Rogue. Being able to do the entire pull-up movement makes me feel so much more proficient than any amount of negatives, jumping pull-ups, or ring rows.

The assistance bands took some getting used to. Funny story. When I use the assistance bands I put one foot in the band and the other over the top of that foot to prevent the band from snapping forward and potentially taking out my eye. I was about halfway through a wall-ball/pull-up workout (Day 15 of my plan) when the band slipped off my foot and snapped behind me. Actually, it snapped up into my crotch. That wasn’t even the funny part. At that point I was getting pretty fatigued and those bands are a lot tighter than you would expect. It took me a good few minutes to finally work the band back down and under my foot. I’m just glad I didn’t have to ask for help.

Reading
I’m trying to get a handle on my reading. I seem to have five books on the go at any given time, and I never seem to finish any of them. I strongly believe that being a better reader will make me a better writer. I’m also inspired by Steve from the GeekFit podcast. He’s taken on a challenge to read 100 books in 2010. I don’t know if I’ll set a number, but I do want to read more in general (and actually finish reading what I start).

My current book is “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle“>Animal, Vegetable, Miracle“. I’m reading it as part of an informal book club started in the HealthProject subreddit. So far the book has completely stolen my heart. My ultimate life goal is to have a small house on a big plot of land and raise my own food. I am so jealous of the family in this book being able to just pack up their lives and go rural. Even though they write about the difficulties, they make it seem like such an easy choice.

Living
I’m walking the work/life balance as best as I can and trying to stay chill despite a long and daunting to-do list. A few weeks ago I put some vegetable seeds in some dirt and so far only one basil plant and pumpkin plant have sprouted. I sure hope that I see some tomato and pepper sprouts soon.

This will be my second year as a recreational fisherman (or fisherperson). Last year I simply purchased a license and bummed equipment from a very generous coworker. This year I put down about $150 on some basic gear: rod and reel, tackle, tackle box, a good knife, a multi-tool, rubber boots and some rain gear. The season officially starts today, but I don’t think my first day out will be until next weekend. There is a lake known to have some very large trout in the early season, and my belly says the bigger the trout the better! FYI – I am not a catch-and-release fisherperson; I am all about the eatin’.

I’m thinking about joining a dog-training club in my area, so I’ll be checking the club out this weekend. The training is known as “Schutzhund”, which I think translates to “Protection Dog”. It’s a combination of obedience, tracking, and protection. In Germany you can’t breed a German Shephard Dog unless it has achieved a certain level in Shutzhund. I see it kind of like CrossFit for dogs.

I’ll end this 900-word BLUT with a picture of my gorgeous redhead:

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