When it comes to bone and heart health, the recommendation from the experts is to get more calcium through our diet rather than using calcium supplements. One of the best natural sources of calcium is kale. Kale is also rich in Vitamins C A, K, and flavonols. One cup of raw kale has roughly 200 mg of calcium. Another plus: the calcium in kale is more easily absorbed than the calcium in milk.
The Challenge: Making Kale Yummy
I knew that I wanted to incorporate kale more often into my diet but found the taste a bit of a challenge. I also wanted my clients to start using kale and had to find an appetizing way to encourage them.
Most of my clients tell me they have tried to include it, but find it somewhat uninteresting to eat. I too was challenged and started looking up ways to incorporate into my diet.
I started by replacing it in recipes that I would otherwise have used spinach. Sautéed garlic in a little olive oil, add chopped kale, cook until the kale is bright green, drizzle a little lemon juice is how I have been eating kale for most of 2011. But with the New Year, new recipes were in order – hence the Kale salad was found and modified.
Kale Chips … Ahoy!
Now about the kale chips…the Globe and Mail had a recipe, delicious but a little too crispy and needed too much attention from me when the oven was at 350 degrees.
I thought I would spend some time and search for alternative recipes. I found one online at Organic Authority. At Organic Authority, they bake the kale at 275 for 10 minutes then turn them over for another 10 minutes. I did not have a full cookie sheet and so I followed the advice for the first 10 minutes of the recipe (but then after 7 more minutes they were ready). They turned out much nicer and were immediately consumed! Yum!!
You can find this recipe here.
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