Does the body good

After Sophie's one year well-baby visit, her Doctor suggested we try going dairy-free for 3 weeks to see if things would move, ah-hem, more smoothly in the #2 department. It worked. Hallelujah. My on-again, off-again love affair with Trader Joe's hit a bumpy patch as I scoured the shelves for dairy-free food options. Their "cheese alternative" might be lactose free, but most people that have a dairy sensitivity react to the milk protein, casein, not lactose. TJ's cheese alternative sure enough had casein in the ingredients :(

I consulted with another dear Doctor friend about Sophie's diet, and she is getting plenty of the good fats she needs even without having milk, cheese or yogurt included in her daily meals. The good fats that she eats come from flax seed, almond milk, peanut butter, sunflower seed butter, and regular organic butter/olive oil which I cook/bake with.

What about the calcium though? I found a list of the top 15 non-dairy calcium sources online. Gotta keep my baby healthy!

Sesame Seeds
A quarter cup of sesame seeds has 351 mg calcium.

**Spinach
A cup of boiled spinach has 245 mg.

Collard Greens
A cup of boiled collard greens has 266 mg.

Blackstrap Molasses
One tablespoon has about 137 mg.

Kelp
One cup of raw kelp has 136 mg.

Tahini
Two tablespoons of raw tahini (sesame seed butter) have 126 mg.

**Broccoli
Two cups of boiled broccoli have 124 mg.

Swiss Chard
One cup of boiled chard has 102 mg.

**Kale
One cup of boiled kale has 94 mg.

Brazil Nuts
Two ounces of Brazil nuts (12 nuts) have 90 mg.

Celery
Two cups of raw celery have 81 mg.

**Almonds
One ounce of almonds (23 nuts) has 75 mg.

Papaya
One medium papaya has 73 mg.

**Flax Seeds
Two tablespoons of flax seeds have 52 mg.

**Oranges
One medium orange has 52 mg.

**Sophie eats most of these willingly. Spinach - in a quesadilla with Tofuti and chicken.Oranges - easy. Flax seed - ground up it goes in tofu smoothies and waffles mostly. Almonds - she drinks 16oz of almond milk a day. Kale - she has been known to gobble up some kale chips. Broccoli - offer it, she'll turn up her nose. Puree it and put in spaghetti sauce, and it goes right down!