BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Holistic Health What is the best source of Calcium?

Gretchen, what if you need supplements though? I had gastric bypass, and I have to take them. Is it true that Calcium Citrate is the best form to take?

Is your doctor telling you that you need supplements since you had gastric bypass?

Can your stomach not take a green smoothie with any of these high calcium vegetarian foods? Bok choy, turnip greens, watercress, mustard greens, collard greens, kale chickory greens, dandelion, escarole, dark lettuces, fennel, carob, oranges, tangerines, papayas, currants and figs.

Invest in a good blender like the Vitamix or Blendtec.

I've also had gastric bypass, and it's not only that the body can't break down the food as well to get the calcium (otherwise we could drink milk all day long). It is that because of the amount of intestine and stomach that has been removed, only a certain amount can be absorbed at one time.

Also, the calcium citrate is the easiest for our limited intestines to break down.

For those of us that have had the "classic" roux en Y bypass, we are missing a large portion of our stomach, and the entire duodenum.

Those people that have had lap-band done, however, don't have this same limitation, because they are not missing anything, their stomach pouch has just been squeezed off to make it feel fuller faster.

Hello,

I agree Collard green are the best source of calcium.

I was so pleased that you included the information that diary products can actually leech calcium from your bones -- not many people realise this, and/or don't believe it because it seem counter-intuitive to what we've been told continuously by marketers that "dairy contains calcium therefore it must be a good source of calcium".

I've cut down drastically on my dairy intake since I discovered that fact. I used to be a milk drinker and very fond of cheese and yoghurt. Now I just eat cheese as a treat, and I only have plain yoghurt on the occasions when I eat muesli for breakfast.

go for the deep greens!!!