I have been on WeightWatchers and they want you to get 3 servings of milk a day if you are over 50, as I am. I don't see a concentration of calcium in your menus. Any advice?
Dr. Gourmet Says...
It is certainly not necessary to drink milk and could explain any difficulty
you are having losing weight. Three glasses a day adds up to
about 300 calories even if it's skim milk (each 8 ounce cup is 91 calories
but most folks pour more than 8 ounces). That's a lot of extra calories
each day you don't need. The research on Mediterranean diet shows that
dairy is part of a healthy diet, but most of that is processed products
like cheeses or yogurts.
If you are eating healthy, fresh food, you should be getting enough calcium. The "recommended" daily intake of calcium that the FDA requires be reported in Nutrition Facts labels on foods is based on is 1,000 mg per day. So if there's 30%, that's 300 mg. Note that every Dr. Gourmet recipe reports the amount of calcium each day by that FDA guideline.
By having cereal with milk or meals with cheese or yogurt you will be getting a fair amount of calcium and most Dr. Gourmet recipes have higher amounts of calcium. Tracking your meals in The Dr. Gourmet Diet Plan Food Diary will let you keep track of your calcium intake. You can follow The Dr. Gourmet Diet Plan menu plans or simply use the Food Diary to track all of your nutrition information.
If you are creating your own menus this is also easy to track. Simply go to the Dr. Gourmet recipe that you are using and click "Add To My Recipe Box" and then go to your Food Diary inside The Dr. Gourmet Diet Plan software. Choose the day you ate that meal and click the My Foods link in the "I ate something else" column. The recipe will be there and you can add it to your Food Diary. If you are using your own recipes, you can enter them into the Recipe Box and keep track of them in your Food Diary as well.
Here's a link to a list of foods that are especially high in calcium that can help you in choosing recipes. You can search for Dr. Gourmet recipes by entering ingredients in the search box. You can do the same using Google.
http://www.drgourmet.com/specialdiets/lactoseintolerant/calciumfoods.pdf
It's clear that you do not need to drink milk to get enough calcium, so rest easy. Cheese, yogurt, spinach, fortified cereals, broccoli, navy beans, oysters, oranges and soy products are great places to start!
Thanks for writing,
Timothy S. Harlan, M.D.
Dr. Gourmet