Yeh, I've had some before. I put vanilla and cinnamon in it to cut the tartness. And I looked at the sugar content in ice cream vs vanilla yogurt when I thought I was eating too much ice cream. I knew the yogurt with fruit (jelly) on the bottom was high on sugar, but was surprised to see that "plain" vanilla had so much sugar, too. I just need to view milk as medicine, hold my nose, and drink it. I'm thinking that 2% won't add too many calories to my diet.
Have you thought about stop taking ALL supplements for a few months to see how you feel and then get a blood test to see what’s what? Sometime supplements and prescription meds can fight each other and create more problems, so I have been told. All supplements can have an affect your Kidneys and other organs as well. I would eliminate all supplements and vitamins for a few months and see how things rolled, especially if you are on prescription meds too. Just take the prescription meds only and eat a good diet for a while. Just my 2 cents worth--or dollar’s worth. (Inflation)
You can also get plain powdered skim milk and use that in recipes. You won’t even know you are having anything with milk in it, and it has all of the calcium as regular fresh milk. There are a lot of other high calcium foods, but I think that you do not use them because of concern about the kidney issues you have. Most of the nutritional advisors for vegans , like Dr. McDougall or Dr. Michael Greger , will also have good calcium recommendations that might work with your diet conditions. You can stir powdered milk into your yogurt (or plain milk) for added vitamins and calcium, add it to breads and cakes, stews, or a lot of different things when you cook them. Gayelord Hauser was big on recommending powdered milk and brewers yeast for a lot of nutritional deficiencies.
Actually, I did have a blood analysis done after abstaining from supplements for 6 months...but I did not do a 24 Hour Urine Collection. The process the lab I used is interesting. I talked about the analysis protocol here. I posted the results here. One interesting tidbit: I stopped taking calcium supplements and after 60 days my Urine Calcium Levels were lower but still too high. My nephrologist said that my system was still processing the excess. Blood serum levels of calcium are not correlated with urine levels, I assume because our skeletal systems regulate consistent blood levels of calcium and we dump any excess through our urine. And again, supplemented calcium is metabolized differently than dietary calcium, according to kidney dieticians. The cause of stones is minerals (specifically calcium and oxalate) and how some people's systems deal with them. High levels of Vitamin C (1,000mg or more daily) can cause stones in men because it breaks down into oxalate. I've not read anything else about any other vitamin influencing stones one way or another. The jury is out regarding the effect of probiotics, although some studies suggest that the gut biome in people with kidney stones is different than in those who do not, and this study claims to have identified a stone-preventing probiotic that had been classified in the lactobacillus group (speaking of milk & yogurt.)
These (seeds, cheese, yogurt, sardines, beans, almonds, whey, leafy greens, rhubarb) and others that are listed in an article on Healthline don't contain enough Calcium?
Yogurt & cheese help, but they still fall short of milk (you need 3 servings of milk a day.) A combination of milk and those other dairy products is the best answer. The issues with some of the greens and the beans (and the almonds) is that they contain oxalate, which is to be avoided. And while their calcium contents are higher than many foods, it's a small % of the daily amount. This LivingStrong article lists foods highest in oxalate. #1: Spinach #2: Rhubarb #4: Almonds #11: Navy beans #20: Lentils Sardines are an interesting suggestion as I love those and they have no oxalic acid and the calcium is highly digestible. Actually, I don't know what I'm all that worried about. I went over 20 years without passing a stone. The only risk is that my physiology may have changed. The urologist was "watching a couple of stones" I've had for a while, but it sounds like he lasered more than 2. I can't get an answer as to exactly how many I had when I showed up to the place versus how many he removed. These guys are too busy to go back and read notes for things like this. Perhaps the Patient Portal has it documented...
Foods high in oxalate cause stones AND block the absorption of calcium. Pyhtic acid (beans and some nuts) blocks the absorption of calcium. So does too much sugar and sodium. But too little sodium also hurts.
The calcium topic is rather amusing to me. Some people who have degrees in nutrition have explained it this way: Milk products have calcium, but also excess protein. The excess protein most of us get causes us to become acidic & our system uses calcium to neutralize the acid & return us to an alkaline balance. That leaches calcium from our bones. And animals that have huge bones - like horses, cows, elephants etc. don't drink milk; they get their calcium from greens & grains. And they don't take supplements. Why don't they get osteoporosis?
I had heard that milk is actually the perfect food. It is completely well balanced with the calcium/phosphorus ratio. Ingesting Almost anything else will throw it off. We are all doomed
@John Nopales - you said the magic words to get invite to my house- potatoes and beans - with cornbread - and love jasmine rice @John Brunner - did a doctor tell you that you needed more calcium? But if you want more without milk have some Tums,, rich in calcium- so my doctor said years ago. 2 a day usually
When we hear something like that, we need to consider the source. I remember that "Food Pyramid" in doctors' offices years ago - courtesy of the meat & dairy industry. . And paying a fortune to celebrities to show their "Milk Moustache."