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No other food is as supportive of bone health as leafy greens. In addition to a generous amount of calcium and magnesium, leafy greens also provide potassium, which prevents calcium loss, as well as vitamins C and K, which both play important roles in the optimal functioning of bone tissue.
Eating Leafy Greens Can Prevent Osteoporosis
An excessive emphasis is often placed on increasing calcium intake for the prevention of osteoporosis, when actually what is more important is calcium balance. It is still necessary to ensure you are getting adequate calcium in your diet but it is more important that calcium loss does not exceed intake.
Calcium loss is triggered by many factors including:
- High salt intake
- Low potassium intake
- Caffeine
- Alcohol
- Excessive consumption of animal protein.
Calcium in Dairy Products is Not Well-Utilized
Although dairy products are promoted as being the best source of dietary calcium their tendency to increase acidity in the body means that they actually produce a net loss of calcium.
Cheese is one of the most acid-forming foods and raises the acidity of the body much more than meat and sugar.
Dark leafy greens provide about 150 mg of calcium per 100 grams on average. If you are to consume a pound of greens a day and balance the other lifestyle factors known to be involved in maintaining bone health it will be unlikely that you will have a problem maintaining proper calcium balance.
Drink Green Juices For Optimal Nutrient Absorption
Juicing is an easy way to obtain the greatest benefits from leafy greens.
Juicing has the advantage of allowing you to ingest a greater amount of greens than would be possible by simply eating salads and steamed vegetables, or even by consuming green smoothies.
Additionally, the nutrients they contain are assimilated easily and quickly because they don’t require digestion.
Green Vegetables Provide a Highly Bio-available Form of Calcium
Even though broccoli may appear to have a low concentration of calcium in comparison to milk, the calcium that it does contain is in a highly bio-available form so that it is much better absorbed.
A 200 gram serving of broccoli will provide a similar amount of usable calcium as for 100 grams of milk, for the same amount of calories.
Try this Raw Food Recipe:
Broccoli Salad with Creamy Cashew Dressing
Cabbage is another wonderful source of highly absorbable calcium and studies show that the calcium from cabbage is also utilized to a far greater degree than from milk.
Leafy Greens are Rich in Vitamin K
Leafy greens also promote the health of bones by providing Vitamin K. Recent research has indicated that this vitamin may be more important than was previously thought. In addition to playing a major role in prevention of osteoporosis it is also involved in reducing the risk of diabetes, arthritis and age-related decline in mental function.
Vitamin K influences calcium metabolism and also activates at least three proteins that are necessary for the health of the bones. Just two cups of dark leafy greens provide the minimum daily requirement for vitamin K.
