Why is calcium so important to your body?
-Builds strong bones and teeth
-Important in muscle contraction such as your heart
-Plays a role in hormone secretion
-Helps lower blood pressure
-Helps lower LDL (lousy) cholesterol by about 10% and possibly boost HDL (healthy cholesterol)
-Helps prevent colon cancer

Where do you find calcium in food?
Dairy sources:
Milk, yogurt, cheese…most of you probably know these good sources already. I’m a dairy fan because of the nutrient package including calcium, potassium, magnesium and vitamin D. One serving typically provides close to 300 milligrams of calcium.

Examples of non dairy sources:
Canned salmon or sardines
Baked beans and black-eyed peas
Kale or turnip greens

Fortified foods:
Cereal, bread, tofu, soy milk, (be sure and shake the containers of soy milk and orange juice as calcium can sink to the bottom)

Look around you. Calcium-fortified foods are every where such as calcium fortified juice, bread and cereals. Fortified means ‘added to’ so it did not originally occur in the product. For example, orange juice was not a good source of calcium until calcium was added to the juice or fortified.