Jun 12, 2024

Vitamin Essentials for Healthy Living

Calcium & Vitamin D Essentials
Clevelandclinic.com asserts that calcium is a vitally important mineral for teeth, bones, muscles, blood clotting, and nerve function. Our bodies can’t produce calcium on their own. Instead, through food or supplements, we can get what is needed for healthy living.
Without sufficient calcium, the body steals minerals from our bones, which can cause the bones to weaken and lead to conditions like osteoporosis or bone fractures. Calcium also helps the platelets in our blood to clot which stops bleeding. As we know, prolong bleeding is dangerous - can lead to death. Sand to prevent tooth decay or tooth loss, calcium is also highly recommended.
Calcium is partly responsible for the neurotransmitters that send chemical information from one nerve to the next nerve, muscle or gland cell. These messages direct movement to our limbs, relay signals to let us know heat, cold and other sensations. The messages help to keep our hearts regulated and transmit other information that is internally related to parts of our bodies and our surroundings.
The daily recommendations:
Babies zero to 6 months need 200mg.
7–12-month-olds need 260mg.
1-3 yr olds- 700mg
4-8 yr olds – 1,000mg
9-18 yr olds – 1300mg
19-70 yr olds – only need 1,000mg
Whereas females ages 51+ need 1200mg.
Weight and height can alter these standards. Remember to discuss specifics with your primary care physician. Low calcium numbers may NOT be evident until there’s a real problem like fatigue, muscle pain and tingling in the hands and feet.
Dairy is noted as the BEST source of calcium. 8 ounces of low-fat vanilla yogurt has 388 mg of calcium – plain yogurt has less. The non-dairy sources are almond milk, fortified orange juice, spinach and black beans. Tofu prepared with calcium sulfate is another excellent source. Those who are lactose intolerant, dislike dairy or are vegans may need to add supplements to get the recommended daily requirement. We are advised to spread the calcium intake throughout the day vs. trying to get the daily requirement into a single timeframe AND NOT take a calcium supplement right after taking a multivitamin. According to the Mayo Clinic, “Calcium can affect how the body takes in the nutrients iron, zinc and magnesium. And we shouldn’t take a calcium supplement at the same time as a meal that's high in iron.”
The human body is uniquely designed. We are God’s workmanship, fearfully and wonderfully made. He didn’t leave anything to chance. We are made in His PERFECT image and created so all our organs and body parts work amazingly well together. Internist, Dr. Jonathan Reisman declares that there is a hidden world inside us designed with messages within our system and how things can terribly go haywire when something goes offbeat.
So, it is critically important to care for our wonderfully designed bodies. And calcium is one of the means for doing so.
To absorb calcium, we must have Vitamin D. Through direct sunlight, we can get the proper amount of vitamin D needed. However, most of us wear sunscreen and protective clothing while outdoors (and we should); therefore, our ability to get the required vitamin D source from sunlight is lessened. Fortunately, there are other great sources like fortified milk, fortified cereal, egg yolks, mushrooms, fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines and multi-vitamins. The recommended daily dosage for vitamin D is 400 international units (IU) for children up to age 12 months, 600 IU for those ages 1 to 70, and between 800 and 1,000 IU for those who are 70 plus. Beware: The Mayo Clinic advises against taking more than the prescribed amount.
AARP makes it easy listing a few meal options:
Breakfast: they suggest adding cheese or a couple of sardines to our eggs OR mash salmon, tuna, sardines or mackerel with cream cheese and spread over a bagel.
Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwich, or mix canned tuna, sardines or salmon with mayo or Greek yogurt, with onions or carrots.
Dinner: Bake salmon, or make fish tacos with chopped cabbage, cilantro, sliced radish and mix mayo and hot sauce together.
These are just a few suggestions. Let’s work to get the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin D in our diets. They are essential to our overall health.

Clevelandclinic.com
Mayoclinic.com
AARP

Leatha Foreman #1226 6/12/24