Calcium

Calcium works alongside vitamin D in helping to build healthy teeth and bones, in addition to this calcium can help with:

• Lowering the blood pressure and regulating the heartbeat
• Regulates the contractions within our muscles
• Helps the blood to clot
• Maintains the cell membranes
• Helps the body to absorb vitamin B12

All dairy products are rich sources of calcium and growing children need 4 servings per day and adults need about 3. The foods listed below contain about 400 milligrams of calcium.

• 3 ½ oz of sardines including the bones
• 12 ounces cup of café` latte coffee
• 1 cup of plain low fat yogurt
• 1 ½ to 2oz of cheese

Foods containing 100 milligrams of calcium

• ¾ of a cup of cottage cheese, this can either be low fat or full cream
• 1 cup of cooked broccoli
• One small taco
• 1 English muffin
• 1/3 of a cup of almonds
• 4 dried figs
• ½ a cup of frozen yogurt

How much calcium do we need?

As a general rule most adults will need roughly 1000 milligrams a day of calcium, adults over the age of 50 will need slightly more, around 1200 milligrams per day.

Children need calcium to help build strong bones and teeth and should have about 1300 milligrams of calcium per day. Certain factors such as medical conditions, lifestyle and medications can all affect the calcium intake, for example calcium from sweet potatoes, beans and spinach can sometimes be absorbed poorly into our body.

Drinking a lot of coffee can have an affect as this contains caffeine, which reduces the absorption of calcium. If you smoke then you may not get enough calcium as smoking can decrease the absorption of calcium.

If you think you may not be getting enough calcium in your diet then you can take extra supplements, taking supplements will not have the same effect as receiving calcium through food as they cannot provide the same nutritional benefits of food but they help.

If you do take supplements of calcium there are certain guidelines that should be followed:

• If you take high amounts of calcium supplements then be sure to get at least 18 milligrams of zinc per day.
• Take your calcium supplements with meals and don’t take them all at once spread them out throughout the day.
• Make sure you know the dosage as not all supplements contain the same amount of calcium .

Protein is needed by our bodies for our muscles, skin, hair and internal organs, protein travels around the body in blood as hormones, red blood cells and enzymes. Protein is the only food source of nitrogen and is made up of chains of amino acid and there are 22 amino acids, eight of these acids are called the essential amino acids because our bodies cannot make them we must get them from our diet.

What does protein do?

• Anti bodies which consist of protein are essential in helping our bodies fight and resist diseases.
• You use up protein in everyday living just to keep your body running smoothly.
• Everyday we lose protein in the form of hair, skin and nails.
• Protein is supplied to the body to help heal and repair injuries.
• For growing children protein is needed for growth of the entire body.
• If you have an operation protein is needed to help build your body back to fitness.

Where do we get protein from?

Protein comes from the food we eat and are classed as either complete or incomplete proteins, complete proteins come from animal products such as chicken, fish and dairy products and they contain all the essential amino acids which are needed to help keep our body fit and healthy.

Incomplete protein are found in plant foots such as grains, nuts, beans and vegetables and provide a limited array of amino acids. Incomplete proteins must be eaten in a vast amount to enable us to receive all that is needed for protein building.

Incomplete and complete proteins can be combined together to compliment each other, for example many cereals are low in lysine but high in cystine, kidney beans are high in lysine but low in cystine.

Examples of combining proteins are, rice and beans, bread and cheese and cereal and milk. Recent studies have shown that the combinations don’t have to be eaten at the same time, the necessary building of muscle and tissue is still done providing they are eaten during the course of the day.

Foods which are good sources of protein

• 1 60c can of tuna fish – 40g
• 3oz of salmon – 23g
• 8ox of milk – 8g
• 4oz chicken breast – 35g
• 8oz of yogurt – 10g
• 1oz of cheddar cheese – 87g
• 1 egg – 6g
• 4oz of cottage cheese – 14g

How much protein do we need?

The body’s protein needs on a daily basis depend on your age, sex and weight, on average the amount of protein you need can be worked out by multiplying your weight in pounds by the numbers shown below:

• An adult who doesn’t exercise much – weight x 0.4
• An adult who exercises on a regular basis – weight x 0.5
• An athlete – weight x 0.6
• An adult who is body building for muscle mass – weight x 0.7
• A growing teenage athlete – weight x 0.9
• 5 ways to increase your protein intake
• Increase the amount of meat you have in your diet
• Blend a cup of milk, yogurt and your favourite fruit
• Add shredded cheese or cottage cheese to you salad
• Add protein when you snack, drink milk with cakes and biscuits, use peanut butter on an apple
• Mix protein into foods for example, make an eggnog of egg substitute, milk and sweetener.