Hi everyone! I've been wholeheartedly tracking my caloric/sugar intake using MFP for a little over a week now and I realized that while avoiding sugars, I am lacking in vitamin C and calcium! My usual go-to's for these two would be skim milk and orange juice, but both have too much sugar for the plan I'm trying.
I noticed that my alternative to vitamin C, if I have it on hand, is Itoen green tea. However, what should I do for calcium? Anyone have any low sugar / low carb alternatives for calcium? I'd much rather not take supplements, but that would also be an option. I do eat cheese, but definitely nowhere near enough for a proper DV.
I really love the website World's Healthiest Foods whenever I'm trying to specifically maximize a nutrient or vitamin.
Here's their page on calcium, and on vitamin C. The short answer is - a variety of dark leafy greens can help you out in both departments! Adding some lemon into your diet might help, too.
Have you thought about yogurt and cottage cheese? I've been eating both, and recently noticed that my nails are super strong. I think calcium is the secret. There are a lot of things you can add to both plain cottage cheese and yogurt (greek or not) to change the flavor without adding a lot of calories. And, if you don't like the texture of cottage cheese - I didn't at first - put a wand blender in the carton and whip it up. Voila! Smooth texture!
Almond milk, I use it in my oatmeal, DH uses it on cereal my fave is unsweetened vanilla.
Baby spinach is good in smoothies, as a salad base instead of lettuce. I sometimes make a smoothie with almond milk, a banana, baby spinach and some peanuts.
Cottage cheese is good, too, funny you like it so smooth, today had some large curd, it was awesome.