I had no idea that there was SO much information out there about health and what to eat/what not to eat until I started eating that way. It’s so amazing how God is literally causing this change to happen in our lives. The other day I had chicken and it tasted bad…BAD. I’ve never had meat and thought “man, this is horrible!” However, today my research and heart was drawn to different things we need to include in our diets whilest not eating meat (or eating meat in moderation). There are several good things in meat that benefit us, but several things that do not. My first question was “Ok, if we’re not getting our protein from meat anymore, then how do we get it?” There are SO many veggie options out there with amazing amounts of protein in them. I also found that if you’re NOT eating meat and finding your protein in veggies then you aren’t getting all the different types of amino acids (so watch out for that). HOWEVER, it IS possible to not eat meat and get everything you still need. Protein is definitely an important PART of our diets, but it’s not all of it. So, eating large amounts of protein will not harm you, but it won’t necessarily do great things unless you include all of the other things your body needs to operate well.

So, then I started thinking about Calcium. A simple, not very recognized, ingredient that is needed in our bodies. We’ve tried all kinds of milk out there and honestly we liked them all, but only one really got our attention that we actually really enjoy! Coconut milk! Of course! Always heard about it, but never thought of it as an option in our lives. Well, now it’s all we drink! But it doesn’t have calcium. I looked into powdered calcium that you can put into drinks (or smoothies in our case) and found that it’s important to take magnisium along with it if it’s going to be supplimental. I’m not against suppliments, but if I can get something naturally instead of in a pill, why not?! Right?? So, back to veggies I went, trying to find those that had large amounts of calcium to see what we could do. According to my research we should have 1000mg of calcium per day…but how do we get ALL of that out of veggies?? Impossible really. Well, I found two seperate lists of veggies/foods that contain BOTH protein and calcium! So, I decided to combine them so we knew what we could eat to fulfill both of these needs our bodies have just by what we eat. There are several different calcium “infested” (I say infested because there simply isn’t another word for it – some of these are LOADED with calcium) veggies that were not listed on the protein list…however, it’s still needed! My thought was, if we could get both in one then why not?! But I’ll also list those that have a ridiculous amount of calcium, just because it’s kinda cool/crazy how much they have! Of course, there are different variations, and I’m sure, several different veggies out there that could be included, but here’s what we like, and what we personally can do on a day to day basis. Btw, depending on the way you eat the veggie, (raw, boiled, canned) the amount of calcium will vary.

Fruit/Veggie                     Protein                         Calcium

Asparagus 1/2 cup              36.10%                            21mg

Broccoli 1 stalk                    33.60%                         112mg

Celery 1 cup                         11.24%                         41mg

Carrots 1 cup raw                  6.46%                           42mg

Bok choy                                                                 158mg

Beet greens                                                             164mg

Collards                                                                    266mg

Mustard spinach 1cup                                                 284mg

Soybeans 1 cup raw                                                   504mg

(holy soybean batman!)