INDIAN Women Don't Get the Recommended Daily Amount of Calcium.
In
fact, most get less than half. Surprised? Maybe it is our concern about
calories that led so many of us to cut dairy products. Or perhaps some
of us have just outgrown our taste for milk. Whatever the reason, the
majority of women aren't getting enough calcium for their own bones, let
alone a developing baby's. So most women are calcium-deficient at the
time they conceive.
Your
Daily Prenatal Vitamin/Mineral Supplement Probably Doesn't Give You
Enough Calcium.
Most
of the daily prenatal formulas only contain about 200 to 300 mg of
calcium - about 1,000 mg less than you and your baby need every day. So
check the label on your bottle, or talk to your doctor. You'll want to
make sure that you are getting enough calcium every day through natural
food sources and supplements.
Breastfeeding
Demands Extra Calcium.
Breastfeeding
mothers continue to require 1,200 mg of calcium a day after their babies
are born. During pregnancy, the mother's body will try to store calcium
to product breast milk. When the baby is nursing, however, is a time of
high calcium demand, and to produce the most nutritious milk, you'll
need a highly nutritious diet.
Learn
What it Takes to Get the Calcium You Need When You're Pregnant and
Nursing.
Low-fat
or skim milk is the best source of calcium - and you won't have to worry
about calories from these. Other good sources are cottage cheese and
yogurt, greens such as collard, kale, and turnip, as well as salmon and
sardines.
One
glass of milk provides about 300 mg of calcium. To get the amount of
calcium in one 8-oz. Glass of milk, you would need:
4 cups of cooked broccoli
3 cups of cooked kale
4 ½ oz of salmon with bones
CASH
Tablets are an Excellent Source of Calcium.
The
calcium you'll get from CASH tablets is as well absorbed by your body as
the calcium in milk. CASH are chewable, portable, economical,
nonperishable - in short, very convenient. And CASH is the calcium
supplement most often recommended by doctors. Each CASH tablet gives you
the same amount of calcium that you would get in an 8-oz. glass of milk.
After
the Baby, Keep Taking Calcium for Yourself.
Don't
lose your daily calcium habit just because you're no longer pregnant of
nursing. Remember, your normal daily requirement is 1,000 mg a day.
Until about the time of your late 20s, you yourself are still building
new bone. During that time, and especially after that, you need the
calcium for maintaining that bone strength and preventing osteoporosis,
the bone-thinning disease that strikes older women. Not to mention
needing calcium for all the other vital roles it plays in keeping you
healthy.
Your
Unborn Child Will Draw the Calcium It Needs From Your Body.
Nature
helps provide for the new baby's development by taking calcium from the
mother's body, right from her bones, if necessary. But you can ensure
that there is enough calcium to go around if you increase your intake,
even before you are pregnant, and every day while you are.
The
National Institute of Health recommends that adult, nonpregnant women
should get 1,000 mg of calcium a day (90% of us aren't making that
number, remember). Three glasses of milk will supply that much calcium;
three CASH tablets will, too.
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