Plant-Based Calcium For Athletes
- July 2020
- Hi Steph Simple Living Vegan
Dear Steph –
I have been following you for the last 15 years. I started rock climbing in my mid-20s and fell in love with the sport; and I fell in love with Moab the first time I visited too.
Fast forward 15 years, one child and one health crisis later, here we are in the midst of a pandemic and under strict SIP orders in the Bay Area. Lo and behold, I am running on concrete every day to keep my sanity and to get my exercise until I get the much dreaded stress fracture in my ankle :(( After 6 weeks of complete rest and an aircast, I am ready to start running again. My doctor told me to start taking Vitamin D supplements; and to either increase the calcium or start taking calcium supplements.
You are a spectacular athlete, and you are vegan. Can I please ask you what you do for calcium? I do have some dairy in my diet, but trying to figure out what else to do. I will take supplements if I have to; but my big goal is also to model good eating habits for my son – and if I can get enough calcium for healthy bones from plants, I want him to do the same thing 😉
Thank you so much in advance! You really are my hero 🙂
Lena
Hi Lena, I’m so sorry to hear about the stress fracture! Concrete is such an unforgiving surface–have you considered mixing it up with a treadmill for some workouts? I know this is all a far cry from being out on the trails, but maybe doing some of your mileage on a treadmill or an elliptical would be a little less impactful, while you’re recovering and training during lockdown time. I’ve been surprised that it’s possible to get on grass quite a bit, even when running in an urban area. Maybe you could find a route that allows you to get off pavement for some or most of it, also?
Here’s a link about calcium intake AND absorption (which is a really important factor), that I think you will find helpful: https://www.pcrm.org/good-nutrition/nutrition-information/health-concerns-about-dairy/calcium-and-strong-bones#:~:text=The%20most%20healthful%20calcium%20sources,host%20of%20other%20healthful%20nutrients.
And another one: https://www.heynutritionlady.com/conscious-calcium-plant-based-calcium/
Basically the upshot is, many people don’t think cows milk is the best source of calcium because our bones may not retain all the calcium it contains, and the important thing is actually keeping it in our bones after ingesting it. Animal protein may also leach calcium from our bones, which also reduces the amount of calcium they will end up with. Dark green vegetables and white beans have a lot of calcium, and (with the exception of spinach) the calcium they contain is highly absorbable. Chard, broccoli and kale are some of the best options in this category. When I’m making dinner, my two major food groups are greens and protein. If it doesn’t have those, I don’t feel like I’m having a proper dinner.
Right now I have lots of chard growing in my garden, and one of my staple dinner or lunch options is beans and greens. I never eat canned beans, I prefer to soak and pressure cook. Recently I was given a gift of heirloom dried beans from a farm in California called Rancho Gordo: these are the most delicious beans I have ever eaten, and now I order several bags at a time and they are a cabinet staple. The cassoulet is my absolute favorite: https://www.ranchogordo.com/collections/heirloom-beans/products/cassoulet-tarbais-bean, they are big, tender and incredibly delicious. I also love the cranberry, marcella and yellow eye beans. I soak one cup (half the one pound bag) in hot water for half a day or overnight, and then I pressure cook them with some salt, dry basil, oregano and coriander on the lowest setting for just 5 minutes so they don’t lose their skins. Then I keep them in the fridge so I can add them to sauteed greens, put them in salads or eat them on toast with tomato and olive oil (which is very delicious!!). I really can’t say enough about the Rancho Gordo beans, they are just infinitely more delicious than the dried beans I was buying at my health food store!! They also allow me to make a 5 minute dinner, by having them already cooked and in the fridge.
If I want to make beans and greens, I just chop up several cloves of garlic and then give the chard a few big chops too, and saute it all with olive oil for a few minutes. At the end, I squeeze half a lemon over it, add some apple cider vinegar, and stir in some of the prepared beans I already have in the fridge: it’s a delicious dinner and also a great leftover to be able to have the next day!
With regards to supplements, I take vitamin D also, and magnesium. Most people are magnesium deficient, especially athletes, and magnesium is also an important player in calcium absorption. I take B12 too, algae omega 3, vitamin C and iron (a note: most people recommend that you don’t take iron at the exact moment you are eating calcium rich foods). To make it super easy and less of a “burden”, I drink a pint glass of water as soon as I wake up, then refill it and drink down the vitamin B, algae omega 3 and magnesium. My C, iron and D are all chewables, so I chew those up afterward. Having this as a morning ritual makes it easy for me to stay consistent (and start the day with good hydration!), and I have noticed a real difference in my energy levels by staying consistent with the Bs and magnesium in particular. As a sidenote, D and C are also highly recommended as a protective measure during this time of covid. Sometimes it feels “unnatural” to take supplements: shouldn’t the body get everything it needs from food alone? My opinion is that as an athlete, I’m consistently pushing my body to do more than it might do under “natural” circumstances, and as a result, the system needs more assistance in order to repair and increase. Training itself is “unnatural” compared to not training, so in my opinion, targetted nutrition and supplementation also need to be a part of the big picture of training.
One last thing to consider: the supplement Cissus Quadrangularis
I hope this helps out, and that you can get back to running and feeling good!
Steph
