Stop the Madness – Part 2

After writing the post “Stop the Madness” last week, I took some time to browse all of the great information I received in the comments and logging all of my food so that I can see where my calcium intake stands without adding in supplements. Cheryl of Gluten-Free Goodness shared this great site that has all kinds of good information on it. According to the chart on the page, I need 1000mg/day. I got down to work by making a list of the higher calcium foods that I already eat on the list:

• yogurt (Greek)
• cheese
• salmon
• spinach
• ice cream (daily habit)
• corn tortillas
• broccoli
• cream cheese
• figs
• almonds (almond butter)

Then, I signed up for MyNetDiary to help track my vitamin intake. It has tons of foods listed, including many gluten-free, and allows you to add your own. I liked this site because I was able to get the free app for my itouch and it is user friendly.

I normally don’t weigh all my food, but did this AM to get an idea of amounts so I can get the right amount of calcium in my food. I was a little shocked to see that my large fruit bowl may be classified as a little more than large – it weighed in a 1.03 pounds! Oops!! LOL! I weighed each fruit that I put in my bowl. Now wonder Aaron was laughing at me a couple weeks back saying I was eating too much fruit. I chose the following this AM:

• watermelon
• cantaloupe
• cherries
• blueberries
• raspberries
• blackberries
• strawberries
• plum
• peach

So, all of that added up to 206 calories, 6 grams of fiber and 4% of my daily calcium. I also had some rice cakes with PB & fruit spread.

I am looking forward to really seeing what fun foods I can add to my diet that can help my calcium intake. Some that I am looking into are:

• chinese cabbage
• kale (love kale chips, but keep forgetting about them)
• cottage cheese

I will make sure to update you guys on my “study”. Yesterday I consumed 70% of my RDA of calcium through my food. I am interested to see the data over a period of a week to a month.