Calcium

The Critical Role of Calcium
Do you get enough dairy? You should! Research is piling up that shows what a critical role dairy's calcium plays in weight control (your best choice: organic low-fat plain yogurt). Even small deficiencies of calcium change fat-burning signals in the cells and have a dampening effect on metabolism.
Grass-fed dairy products have saturated and trans fats, but they also include the best kind: conjugated linoleic acids, or CLAs. Shown to improve body composition, CLAs help to drive fat out of fatty tissues, where it can be burned up more easily. The combination of these healthy fats with dairy's high protein also stimulates the appetite-suppressing hormone CCK (cholecystokinin). Organic free-range dairy tastes better and has no antibiotics or hormones and more omega-3s. Bonus: The zinc in dairy also helps to support healthy levels of appetite-suppressing leptin.
Most dairy foods in this country are fortified with vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium. Adequate vitamin D not only helps prevent osteoporosis, it has also been linked with lower risks of cancers, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, glucose intolerance, and even MS.
Here are a few tips to help you get your one to two servings per day:
Take your milk straight. One eight-ounce glass of organic low-fat milk has 290 mg of calcium — almost a third of your daily needs — and more than eight grams of protein.
Don't drink chocolate or other flavored milks. And steer clear of soy milk — while it is high in calcium, it's also high in potentially dangerous phytoestrogens.
Look for brands of yogurt (and occasionally ice cream) with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavorings, sugar, and other sweeteners — organic is best.
Wean yourself from sugared (or, heaven forbid, artificially sweetened) yogurts by taking your one-cup serving and replacing 1/4 cup with 1/4 plain, then 1/2 cup, then 3/4 cup. Once you get to 100 percent plain, use strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries to sweeten your yogurt.
Try high-protein Greek-style yogurt — the thicker consistency comes from being strained through muslin so the watery part is removed.
Go easy on the full-fat cheese — it's tasty, sure, but don't forget that taste packs a pretty hefty caloric wallop.
Steer clear of low-fat dairy products with thickeners and gums — I'd rather you eat a small dollop of real sour cream or a reasonable portion of full-fat cottage cheese than confuse your hormones with synthetic gunk.


Say Yes to Yogurt


It is so key to have one to two servings of dairy per day. The best dairy food is, by far, yogurt, primarily because of its probiotics. The probiotics in plain organic yogurt join up with the bifidobacteria, the "good bugs" that mostly live in your gut, to help fight against infections and protect you from yeast overgrowth. Bifidobacteria also digest the foods we eat, allowing your body to take in critical vitamins, including enzymes that metabolize cholesterol and bile acid. Without these microbes, the whole digestive system would screech to a halt.