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Get Your Daily Calcium

Filed Under (Food, Health) by Isabel on 01-24-2008

There may be over 200 bones in the human skeleton, but our bodies don’t produce this essential mineral. The recommended daily intake (RDI) of calcium for women over 19 years old is 1,000 mg and we need to make sure we get enough from our diets. If we don’t, our bodies will drain calcium from our bones, leading to the dreaded osteoporosis.

New studies show that it’s better for your bones to get calcium from the foods you eat, instead of from supplements. Here’s a list of foods that can help you reach your RDI.

Food	Amount	Amount of Calcium in mg
Milk	1 cup	300
Hard cheese (cheddar)	1 oz	240
Nonfat or 1% cottage cheese	1 cup	155
Plain yogurt	6 oz	290
Ice cream	1 cup	218
Tofu	1/2 cup	258
Fortified soy or rice milk	1 cup	300
Fortified orange juice	1 cup	300
Black beans	1/2 cup	38
Pinto beans or chick peas	1/2 cup	40
Sesame seeds	2 tbsp	180
Tahini (sesame seed butter, used to make hummus)	2 tbsp	130
Almonds	1/4 cup	93
Almond Butter	2 tbsp	86
Brazil nuts or hazelnuts	1/4 cup	55
Bok choy	1/2 cup	75
Kale	1 cup	94
Broccoli	1 cup	178
Celery	1 cup	54
Cooked green beans	1 cup	58
Cooked butternut squash	1 cup	84
Cooked sweet potato	1 cup	70
Naval orange	1 medium	56
Raisins	2/3 cup	53
Dried figs	5 medium	135
Sardines (canned)	8 medium	370
Salmon	3 oz	180
Oysters (canned)	1/2 cup	60
Shrimp (canned)	1/2 cup	40