Good teeth, strong nails, and shiny hair all require calcium. Getting it from food is half the battle, the main thing is to help it assimilate and make it work.
Tip 1. Keep your balance.

Alone, calcium is poorly absorbed. A balance with magnesium and phosphorus is needed. If these minerals are deficient (and almost all city dwellers are deficient), the calcium you eat will be useless. Moreover, with magnesium deficiency, calcium is not only not absorbed, but is intensively excreted.
Your actions:

Eat cottage cheese as often as possible. It contains calcium and phosphorus in the optimal proportion, as well as enough magnesium. An alternative to cottage cheese is eggs, fresh herbs, some varieties of fish (for example, horse mackerel). Another option is beans. Pea soup, salads with beans, tofu contain calcium, magnesium and phosphorus in an excellent ratio. Magnesium is also rich in cocoa and whole grain bread.

Tip 2: Minimize losses.

Certain foods can interfere with calcium absorption. First of all, it is salt, caffeine and fat. They prevent calcium from absorbing excess phosphates, phytic and oxalic acids. These compounds are found in sorrel, spinach, rhubarb, and beets. You should not refuse them completely, but it is better to eat little by little.

Your actions:
2-3 cups of coffee a day won’t hurt, but if you drink more, drink at least half a glass of milk for every extra cup. Eat dried apricots: they are rich in potassium, which stops the loss of calcium. Skip margarine, creamy spreads, canned sauces: the hydrogenated fats in them interfere with the absorption of calcium.

Tip 3. Take supplements.

According to the latest recommendations, people over 25 years old need 800 mg of calcium per day, and pregnant women who are breastfeeding and women over 50 years old need 1200-1500 mg. Plus, doctors advise taking 100 mg of vitamin B6 daily, as well as 400 mg of magnesium oxide. This will improve your mood and help remove excess fluid.

Your actions:

It is better to choose calcium in the chelated form (intracomplex). In it, the mineral is protected from interaction in the stomach and due to this it is better absorbed. Take them during or immediately after a meal. I chose seaweed calcium fortified with vitamin D.

Tip 4: De-stress.

When stressed, the body begins to intensively produce the hormone cortisol. One of its side effects is impaired calcium absorption in intestines and increased excretion by the kidneys. The more we are under stress, the more calcium we lose and the more fragile we become – in the most direct sense.

Your actions:
Learn to relax. Pay special attention to your nutritious diet to compensate for the loss of minerals. When stressed, it is good to eat some dark chocolate. It contains a lot of antioxidants – vitamins A, C, E, as well as selenium, magnesium, iron and potassium.

Tip 5. Move more.

The less we move, the worse calcium absorption occurs. Our body seems to decide that with a passive lifestyle, strong bones are an unnecessary luxury. Running, walking, exercises with dumbbells are especially useful for bone tissue growth. The main thing – without fanaticism.

Your actions:

It is quite enough to spend 400 – 450 kcal per workout. This is a standard strength set in the gym plus half an hour on the treadmill. Remember that calcium is lost with sweat, therefore, with active training and frequent visits to the sauna, losses must be compensated. A glass of low-fat kefir and a handful of almonds are a great snack after the gym.

Tip 6. Choose products.

In milk and its derivatives, calcium is in the form of lactate, which is easily digested and almost all of it gets to its destination. Slightly worse (by 70-80%) calcium is absorbed from broccoli, leafy greens (except spinach), almonds, turnips, fish. There is a lot of calcium in an easily digestible form in sesame: 100 grams is the daily norm for adults. On the beneficial properties of sesame and spring recipes, I invite you to read the article Sesame.

Your actions:

It is not necessary to eat sesame seeds in handfuls. It is enough to drink 1 tbsp every morning. sesame oil on an empty stomach. A great “calcium” lunch is a salad of leafy greens and broccoli, seasoned with cottage cheese or sour cream and sprinkled with sesame seeds. And for dessert, calcium-rich almonds and figs.

Tip 7. Be friends with the conductors.

Supplement your diet with substances that “conduct” calcium inside. The absorption of calcium in this case will be optimal. First of all, it is vitamin D. It increases the absorption of calcium by 30-40% and normalizes its balance with phosphorus. In fact, it is not just a vitamin, it is a prohormone: from it the parathyroid glands produce substances responsible for calcium metabolism.

Your actions:

Vitamin D is especially rich in the liver, eggs, as well as many seafood – shrimp, crabs, herring, sardines, salmon, mackerel. In addition, it is synthesized in the body under the influence of ultraviolet rays. Therefore, as soon as the weather allows, try to spend at least half an hour a day in the sun.