Dairy (milk products) is a problematic category of food for many people these days. I frequently advise no dairy to my new clients. After some length of time, if they’ve been following a health (and GI tract) healing program, they are often fine with some carefully selected dairy products.

While they are avoiding dairy, however, obtaining enough calcium is often a concern. The dairy industry has done a good job of brainwashing (advertising) the public into believing that one can only satisfy the body’s need for this important mineral by regularly consuming dairy products. Many of us in the nutrition world don’t see it that way. What is most important is to have a strong, healthy digestive system and minimally processed food that comes from properly raised plants and animals. In the absence of these two important factors, health concerns and food intolerances often develop.

If you can’t properly digest your food, there are consequences to be paid. Not extracting and absorbing all of the nutrients (like calcium, for example) is one of them. You may have a well-nourished toilet bowl in your home, rather than a well-nourished body. Having partially digested food in your intestines on a regular basis irritates the intestinal lining and can lead to inflammation, leaky gut, food sensitivities and many more health problems. In addition, the wonderful good bacteria that should be dominant within our intestines are themselves fed by properly digested food, while the undesirable organisms feed off undigested food. So, if this imbalance in our inner ecosystem wasn’t present to begin with, it soon will develop.

The second factor has to do with the milk, itself. The majority of cows that are producing milk for the majority of the dairy products being sold today have been raised indoors in crowded factory-sized facilities and not fed their normal food (grass). Then this unnatural milk is often ultra-pasteurized and homogenized and the result is a very difficult to digest food item. Avoiding dairy and other difficult-to-digest foods, while following a program to rebuild the health of the GI system is something that I routinely advise.

Other measures that can be helpful in strengthening and healing your digestive tract include taking digestive enzymes. Probiotics and prebiotics can also aid in the absorption of calcium (and all minerals). It is also important to have adequate Vitamin D levels for good calcium absorption and utilization. Calcium supplements can be taken, but it is generally advised to always take magnesium along with it.

So, if not having any dairy, from where do I get my calcium? From lots of foods – dark green leafy vegetables in the kale family are one good source. Canned sardines are another. And these foods offer many other important nutrients, as well. The greens, however, do need to be cooked in order to obtain the calcium and other minerals. There may be other nutritional benefits to eating them raw (which I advise to do only occasionally), but they must be cooked in order to release the minerals.

The list that follows offers alternatives to dairy for foods that are high in calcium:

• Collard greens (cooked)
• Rhubarb (cooked)
• Sardines (cooked/canned) with bone
• Spinach (cooked)
• Turnip greens – leaves only (cooked)
• Cowpeas/blackeyes (cooked)
• White beans (cooked)
• Kale (cooked)
• Okra (cooked)
• Beet greens – leaves only (cooked)
• Chinese/Napa cabbage (cooked)
• Broccoli (cooked)
• Chia seeds
• Homemade bone broths, where bones have been slowly simmered for many hours (see Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon or www.westonaprice.org for a recipe)