There seems to be no question that calcium is needed in a balanced diet to maintain good health. What does seem to be in question is the best way to get our daily dose of calcium, and whether eating dairy products are actually helpful or harmful.
If you are interested in supplementing your calcium intake without increasing the amount of dairy in your diet you could try making this simple egg-shell calcium powder which has been shared by Lisa Fitzgibbon. Lisa is an experienced registered naturopath and medical herbalist, check out Lisa Said So for realistic and holistic health advice or book an appointment at Oomph Health.
From Lisa …
WHO NEEDS DOLOMITE POWDER WHEN YOU CAN MAKE ‘DYNAMITE POWDER’?
You can easily make your own whole-food, egg-shell calcium supplement! I googled (as you do) a couple of different how-to’s, and they all had various ways to go about this. However, I’ve outlined what I would do.
Note: This is a fabulous way to repurpose something that you would otherwise ‘bin’.
01—GET CRACKING
Save your free-range, organic eggshells – you’ll need one-dozen of these.
02—LOVINGLY BATH YOUR EGG SHELLS — (AS YOU GO)
Remove all traces of egg, and rinse the shell in warm water. Make sure you don’t pull the membrane off as it’s full of nutrients.
Note: Eggshell membrane contains naturally occurring collagen, glucosamine, chondroitin, and hyaluronic acid which are essential for maintaining healthy joint and connective tissues3.
03—LOVINGLY PREPARE THE EGG-SHELLS
You’ve got some decisions to make, as people seem to use different methods depending on how ‘germ-phobic’ they are, or perhaps how enthusiastic they are to make Dynamite Powder as soon as they’ve rinsed their egg-shells!
Some people boil them first, then blast them in the oven.
Others just blast them in the oven.
Others still just leave them to air-dry.
The way I see it, if you are choosing not to have ‘bacteria’ you might also be choosing not to have ‘nutrients’.
As long as the eggs are free-range and organic, there is very little chance of them being contaminated with salmonella4. Therefore, I’m okay with good old-fashioned air drying.
Note: None of the sites I looked at, mention that there are two ways to arrive at egg shells – by cracking, or by peeling… I lump mine in all together. How many nutrients are left after boiling your ‘boneless chickens’ – it’s anyones guess?! I soft-boil my eggs, so I’m willing to have some faith!
04—LET THEM COOL
Obviously.
05—GRIND ’EM DOWN
I think I speak for everyone when I say, ‘No one likes to bite down on bits of eggshell’ — therefore process them into a FINE POWDER using a coffee grinder, or a Vitamix, or smash them with a rolling pin (which I find highly therapeutic)!
06—STORE THEM
Keep this in the cupboard — in a tightly sealed container
07—USE THEM
One tsp of ‘Dynamite Powder’ will give you around 750—1000mg elemental calcium.
Note: This is a similar amount to Lifestream’s Natural Calcium made from sea-vegetable.
Doses will range from:
1/4 — 1/2 tsp taken one to three times daily.
Simply mix powder with a little water or non-dairy milk and consume after food. Or sprinkle onto food, or pop into an ‘occasional’ smoothie.
Note: start on the smallest dose to begin with – once a day – to ensure you can tolerate it.
Check out these sites for more information:
Butter Nutrition
Mama Natural
Nourished Magazine
You can also make LEMON EGG (liquid calcium) by leaving a whole egg to stand in citrus juice for a few hours. The shell dissolves – leaving the whole egg sitting in the liquid calcium; magic! I’ll let you Google that one for yourself!
Lisa Fitzgibbon is a qualified (2006), experienced and registered Naturopath & Medical Herbalist. She runs her own private practice —OOMPH.
Lisa has been involved in the Natural Health industry for 16 years. She draws on her professional training and experience, as well as her own personal experience to bring you realistic, holistic health advice.
Make an appointment with Lisa here
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