How much calcium do vegan kids need and how to incorporate it in a vegan diet?

Hi there, it's Gen. And welcome to another week of the podcast. So this week, we're going to be talking about calcium, and whether your kids need calcium and how much they need. Before I start, I have two bits I wanted to talk to you about. So I wanted to remind you about my upcoming recipe book that is coming out in April, which is gonna be really awesome. So it's super boosted vegan snacks. And it's packed full of really high nutrient snacks that your kids will really love. 

Because I find that snacks are really the key to getting your kids healthy, if their snacks are full of all the nutrients that they need when you can really relax around dinner and dinner can just be easy. So yeah, keep an eye out for that there is a form down in the show notes, so you can sign up for the waitlist, so you get all the updates and know when it gets released. And the second thing I wanted to let you know about is I have opened my books for a limited number of one on one sessions. 

So in my sessions, you fill out a questionnaire and talk about what your kids are eating. And then I will do a full assessment of it and tell you which nutrients your kids need, and which ones they're getting enough of. And then we will actually work together. And we will come up with foods based on what your kids and your family are already eating in order to make sure they're getting the extra nutrients. 

So it's definitely not a session where I just give you a list of foods and you're left to make sure your kids eat them. That's not how I work, we really work together to come up with solutions that will work for you. And to come up with a plan to make sure your kids are getting all the nutrients they need. You also get access to my online recipe collection as well. 

Yes, so if you're interested in one of those, then there is more information about those down in the show notes as well. So back to today's show. Today, we are talking about calcium. Now vegan calcium is quite controversial. There's a lot of opinions out there. Mainly, I think, because it's tied in with dairy. And there's a lot of stuff out there, that tells us that we need to have dairy for calcium, and that dairy is one of the main sources of calcium. 

And it is also linked to soy, which is another controversial one because there's a lot of misinformation out there, talking about how dangerous soy is, which honestly originated from the dairy companies because soy is a really good alternative to dairy products. And so obviously they need to not have as eating that and not see it as a viable alternative. 

Now, I'm not going to go into depth about the stuff around soy, soy is healthy, but I will do a later podcast. Otherwise, I'll end up talking for hours. And you don't have time for that. So today, I'm just going to talk about soy a little bit. And I will go into more depth in another podcast about it. So we're really taught that kids need dairy for calcium. And it's not true. Kids do not need dairy for calcium. But kids do still need calcium. 

There is a lot of stuff out there that just says that you don't actually need to worry about calcium. That's not true, you do still need to make sure that your kids are getting enough calcium, it just doesn't need to come from dairy. Calcium is required for strong and healthy bones, I'm sure you've heard that. There are some other nutrients in there that are important as well things like magnesium and vitamin D and phosphorus and stuff. 

But calcium is one of the main building blocks of our bones. So our bones are made up of calcium. Now, in addition to our bones, calcium is actually needed for our heart as well and in our muscles. And so we actually have a small amount of calcium in our bloodstream at all times. Now, when you go and actually get a blood test for calcium, it's actually the calcium in our bloodstream, that is what is measured. 

And the calcium that is in our bones can't be measured through blood tests and stuff, you actually have to measure it through bone density scans, you can do it otherwise, you can't measure it very easily. And the thing is that if the calcium in our bloodstream goes low, then we're pretty close to dying, basically, because it's needed to keep our heart going. 

Often people will tell me that they've had a blood test for calcium and it came back fine. But the thing is that we have to have that calcium in our body and our body actually draws the calcium out of our bones to make sure that the calcium in our bloodstream stays steady because is it so important. So unfortunately, blood tests aren't a good and a good indicator for if your kids are getting enough calcium, the only way that you can really test it is through bone density scans. 

So it's really important that we do make sure that we're giving our kids calcium to make sure that they're getting enough. The other problem too, is that when it comes to bone density, we build up our bone density through childhood until about our 20s. And then once we get to our 20s, our body stops building up the bone density, and it just maintains what we've got. 

So unfortunately, if your kids aren't getting enough calcium in childhood, in order to build up enough bone density, then they're going to go through their lives with low bone density, which will end up with osteoporosis and things when they're older. So yeah, calcium is really important that we are concentrating on it. And it's quite difficult to make sure that unlike iron and zinc tests, where you can actually just test and just see how much they have. Calcium is a bit harder. So we doing really need to be aware of it. 

So how much calcium do your kids actually need? Kids up to three years need about 500 milligrams, which is around about a serve. Yeah, I'll talk about servings in a minute. Yeah, so they need about 500 milligrams goes up to about 700 for kids up to eight years old kids from nine to 13. Because kids as they're going through preteen and teenagers are growing a lot, they need quite a lot of calcium. 

So kids nine to 13 years need about 1000 milligrams, and kids from 14 to 18 years need 1300. So teenagers definitely need a significant amount, because they're growing so much. And so they're building up so much bone mass in their bodies as they grow. So basically what I found with this is that for young kids, so up to about eight years old, you need to be making sure that they're having one or two really significant calcium sources. And I'll tell you what those are in a minute. 

And then there is calcium in most vegan foods. There's generally a small amount in sort of legumes and vegetables and fruits as well, and in grains and stuff. So there is a small amount. So I find that you can generally meet the amount that they need from one or two really high calcium serves. And then the rest will come through diet. Unless they're really fussy eaters, in which case, I probably recommend you booking a session in with me, and we can just go through and just make sure that they're getting enough. 

When you get up to nine to 13 year olds, I find that they need two to three significant calcium sources per day. And then they should be getting enough from the rest of what they're having. And then all the teenagers their 14 to 18 year old definitely need three really good serves of calcium a day. And they need to be having a good diet, which has got a decent amount of whole grains and veggies and legumes and stuff to kind of build up the rest. So that's my general rule that I see. So young kids need one to two preteens tend to need about two to three servings a day. And teenagers tend to need a good three serves.

Now one of the biggest questions is obviously do you need to be giving your kids a plant based milk. Because if we're sitting there and we're taking out dairy, do we need to replace it with a plant based milk? The short answer is no. Once your kids have weaned they don't actually need to be drinking any form of milk. It's just that plant based milks tend to be one of the easiest ways to make sure your kids are getting enough calcium. 

But you definitely don't need to be giving them any milk or any sort of plant based milk. And they can get enough calcium from their diet. So from the food that they're eating, and then just have water. But I do find that giving a plant based milk is easier because the other foods that I will go through soon that are high in calcium don't tend to be very kid friendly. So kids don't always like to have two or three serves of things like greens and tahini and chia seeds and things like that.

 Yeah, if your kids happily ate all of those foods, then that is fine. They definitely don't need a plant based milk. But if you feel like they don't, and you're having a bit of trouble then I really do recommend a plant based milk. One of the other things with plant based milks is that sort of our society our Western society is very milk focused. And so we're so used to drinking milk in our coffees in our drink. Oh, obviously kids don't have coffee soothing. I'm currently on a coffee detox. So it must be the first thing that comes to mind for me. 

Yeah, in drinks, kids are used to drinking milk in breakfast, smoothies, and it's just really part of the sort of foods that we eat. And so it is quite easy when especially if you are omnivore or you're a new vegan, it's really easy to just switch across from a dairy milk to a plant based milk. And it works quite easily with a lot of the food that we eat. So if you're giving your kids a plant based milk, what is the best plant based milk? 

Well, the best of the milks is a fortified soy milk. Other milks like almond milk, especially, are really low in fat, and protein. And the problem that you have there is that kids, especially young children, can really fill up their stomachs with almond milk because our stomachs fill by volume, not by the density of the food that we're eating. And so it can be really common where they actually fill up their stomachs with almond milk. But it's actually really low in any sort of substance. 

If you look at especially the commercial almond milks, they're basically only 2% almonds, they've got a little bit of oil in them, and then they're mostly just water. So kids can fill up on them and not actually get enough nutrition. And that's where malnutrition can occur. And kids can stop putting on weight and stop growing properly, because they're not actually getting enough from the milk that they're having. 

So soy milk is really, really good. Now, as an Australian, having traveled to the UK and the US, I have to say our soy milk is a lot better than yours. So I can see why people in other countries might be looking for other alternatives because our soy milk is just amazing compared to what I found over there. Still, having said that, soy milk is definitely the best especially you need one that is fortified with calcium, it needs to be around 100 milligrams of calcium per 100 mils. 

So when you give your child a cup of milk, they'll be getting around 250 to 300 milligrams of calcium in it. It's also really good if you can find one that's fortified also with magnesium, phosphorus, and vitamin D, because those are actually nutrients that we get from dairy milk. And so if you're just replacing dairy milk in a diet, it's really good to try to do a one to one replacement of those nutrients. 

If you are looking for other milk, plant based milks that aren't soy based, if you've got soy allergies, or your kids don't drink soy milk, oat milk is quite good, but it is quite low in protein and fat as well. So one thing that you can actually do with oat milk is blend in some cashews when you're making it and that will actually increase the protein and the fat content as well. For older kids, teenagers, that's probably not so much a problem because they're probably eating a lot of other foods. 

But for younger kids, especially if they're quite fussy eaters, I definitely recommend putting some nuts through as well. The other one that is quite good that seems to come on and off the market is pea milk is quite good. When it sounds funny when I say it out loud. Yeah, so pea milk is actually a really good one, it's quite close in nutrition to soy milk, which makes a lot of sense because they're both beans. So it's really good as well. 

It's just difficult to get I think here in Australia. We did have some for a little while, but I haven't seen it around for a while. And it's certainly not one of the ones you can easily get from a supermarket. I'm not sure overseas, how much you can get the pea milk stuff as well. So when you're looking at a plant based milk, you definitely need to look for something that has got a high amount of protein and fat in order to make sure that your kids are getting those nutrients from it. And then you're looking for something that has been fortified with calcium. And if you can get magnesium phosphorus and vitamin D in there as well then that is really good. 

The Vitasoy calci plus here in Australia is a really good brand. And the so good regular is a really good one too. It's a little bit cheaper because I do know that the Vitasoy can be a bit expensive. Other than plant based milk so what other foods are high in calcium? So as I said earlier, you're generally looking for sort of two to three really good serves of calcium. 

So when I say that I meaning around the 250 to 300 milligram of calcium amount, and then as I said there are quite a few other, there's calcium in most sort of foods and so they will, your kids will pick up calcium from other foods as well. So other really good sources are tofu is a really good one, which unfortunately, if you're soy intolerant or have an allergy to soy, isn't that great? But yeah, tofu is really good. 

So it's around 300 milligrams of calcium per 100 grams. Now, there is a lot about calcium versus magnesium set calcium tofu. So I've done research here in Australia and the majority of tofu that I found is actually magnesium set, and that has the 300 milligrams of calcium. So obviously a calcium set tofu is going to be much higher, it doesn't really matter which tofu you get, it's still a really good source of calcium. 

Tahini is also great two tablespoons of tahini has about 350 milligrams of calcium. Unfortunately, tahini is somewhat of an acquired taste, but I do have some tahini cookies that are on my website that I'll put the link for down below, which are a really great way to introduce your kids to the taste of tahini because it's quite bitter, and so kids often won't like it but these biscuits just give a hint of it and then you can slowly increase the amount of tahini in them, which will get your kids used to tahini. 

Another option is chia seeds, so they're 90 milligrams per tablespoon. So chia puddings, or putting chia seeds into overnight oats are a really great way of making sure your kids are getting enough calcium too. Now, if you have fussy kids, I bring back my Cheerios, if you're here in Australia, they're a really great option, they have 200 milligrams per half a cup. So they're another good one. 

And as I've said before, I really like Cheerios, because they're really low sugar for breakfast cereal, there are a lot lower in sugar than most other cereals. And they have added iron, zinc and calcium in them. And also, they have the crunch that I know that some kids who have sensory issues and really like crunchy foods, they have that kind of crunch for them. They're really good. 

Now, another one is greens. Green vegetables are really great for calcium, they don't actually have as much calcium in them. But the calcium that's in them is really easily absorbed. So they're actually a half a cup of greens is actually the equivalent of a cup of milk, which is really good. But obviously I know that not all kids are going to sit there and have half a cup of cooked greens. So that's why I talk about the plant based milks as well. So the greens that you want to look at broccoli, kale rocket, bok choy, baby spinach, English spinach, and chard, they are high oxalate greens, which the oxalates block calcium absorption, so they're not useful for calcium.

Now, there are some other foods that people tend to talk about a lot when it comes to calcium, vegan calcium, things like almonds, and molasses, and other beans as well. And even things like oranges I see as well. But these foods, they're actually quite low when it comes to the amount of calcium that they have, like a quarter of a cup of almonds only has 81 milligrams of calcium, which when you're sitting here trying to find maybe a thousand milligrams or more for your kids, they're not really going to be a significant source. 

I think I count those as foods that are incidental foods that they will get calcium from. And so they're really great to have in their diet so that there's just a general amount of calcium coming in from foods like that. But when I'm talking about the two to three serves that you need each day, those really do need to come from really high calcium foods like fortified plant based milks, tahini, chia seeds, or greens or tofu. 

So I hope that's given you a brief overview of calcium for your kids. If you need help and want to sign up for an assessment with me and a one on one session, then definitely there's information about that below and I'm happy to go through as I said, we will go through your kids diet and what they're eating and we will look at what they're having and then we will come up with strategies to make sure that they are getting all the nutrients they need from foods that they're actually going to eat. Because it doesn't matter what you put on their plate the nutrients only count in the foods that they actually eat so that's all I have for this week and I will be back next week to talk about vegan zinc.