Moronacity

I am somewhat intrigued by the fact that I’ve taken some hard falls – swan dives, superman dives, endoes from hell – and walked away like it was nothing. Sure, my muscles, skin, and blood vessels have been abused from strains, scrapes, cuts, and bruises, but my bones have been just fine. I have never broken a bone. Why is that when I’ve had the ideal clavicle-busting crash? I walked away with a tight, stressed lower back that took several months and some roadie time to stretch back to the normal and heal, but that was all.

I have a theory. I take in a lot of dairy. Oh, yes. I am the queen of dairy. Milk, cheese, and yogurt are major staples in my diet, you know, the big staples that can hold twenty pages together. We’re talking major staples.

Today’s Science Lesson

Blood-calcium levels are of the utmost importance when promoting bone health. In an effort to maintain appropriate blood-calcium levels, the bones are constantly being broken down and rebuilt. Calcium plays a very important role in most chemical processes of the body, including muscle function. If calcium levels are low, bones will lose calcium so the rest of the body can function properly.

Bone health isn’t just about getting your dairy, though. Other vitamins and minerals are very important in promoting calcium absorption. Without proper levels of those vitamins and minerals, all the calcium in the world won’t save you.

There are two primary ways I get my calcium, and many people even laugh when I mention the first one.

Ovaltine

Ovaltine made with skim milk is a rich, chocolaty way to get your daily dose of milk. While you may go with rich, chocolaty Ovaltine, you also have the choice of malt or, my personal favorite, chocolate malt. I have glasses that hold two cups of milk, so I get both servings at once.

Compared to chocolate milk, Ovaltine contains fewer calories at just 170 calories when made with skim milk. I prefer to use only ¾ of a serving, so that brings my calorie count down to 150. One serving of the powder contains 45% of the recommended amount of Vitamins A and C (based on a 2,000 calorie diet), 8% of calcium, and for people like me who tend toward the anemic side, 15% iron. Look at those figures, again. The powder alone contains 8% of the recommended value of calcium! If you use the approximate ratio I use – one serving of Ovaltine to two cups of milk (30% calcium per serving) – you’ll get 68% of the recommended amount of calcium for a 2,000 calorie diet.

Don’t Forget the Ovaltine – Why You Should be Drinking this Tasty Treat
Nestlé – Ovaltine USA
Ovaltine – Wikipedia

Stonyfield Yogurt

I started regularly eating yogurt for the benefit of the live active bacterial cultures on digestion. When I first decided to start eating yogurt on a regular basis, I was disappointed to find that all of the yogurt I had previously liked contained high-fructose corn syrup. I don’t eat that, so I didn’t eat the yogurt.

After a nasty side effect from an antibiotic, last year, I decided it was time to try yogurt, again. Since live active cultures were exactly the right buggers for the job of keeping that nasty side effect at bay, I decided to go with an organic yogurt. I found that Stonyfield was the lowest in calorie out of the organic yogurts. It also contains a blend of six active live cultures and 35% of the recommended amount of calcium.

What I found kind of odd about Stonyfield was the consistency. It wasn’t that congealed, sour stuff I was used to. Instead, it was creamy and flavorful. I didn’t like it. I loved it!

I prefer a serving of the strawberry yogurt mixed with a serving of Udi’s vanilla granola. It is a tasty, nutritious treat that is filling and makes a great meal in itself.

Health Benefits of Probiotics (Active Culture)
AboutYogurt.com: Live and Active Culture (LAC) Yogurt Facts
The Straight Dope: What’s with the “live and active cultures” in yogurt?

Endo Shmendo

With the exception of the Udi’s granola, all of the aforementioned products contain generous amounts of calcium and vitamin D, a vitamin that is paramount in the process of calcium absorption. Using these figures and a 2,000 calorie diet, which, in reality, I think is less that what I really eat, I get 125% of the DRV of vitamin D, and 103% of the DRV for calcium, and that’s just from these products, alone. When considering the other foods I eat, it is likely that I get a little more.

Translating into the great language of mountain biking, this means that I may continue to endo in the stylish fashion of superman and swan dives without the likelihood of breaking my clavicles. Kind of makes you want some rich, chocolaty Ovaltine, please!