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Calcium - Essential Mineral for Healthy Body

Do you remember those days, when our mother used to run behind us asking us to finish that one glass of milk in the morning and we always refused to drink??
She used to trick us sometimes & sometimes threaten us with her dangerous look(her wide opened eyes) accompanied by a dialogue - "Drink this milk fast, it has calcium and if you don't drink this you will remain small & weak forever." Mothers felt that one glass of milk is the easiest and most beneficial remedy to make their child stronger, taller and sharper. Also it is one of the easiest source of most essential minerals & Calcium. 
That's the reason mothers all over the world still seriously take efforts to make milk fun and tastier for their children by adding various flavoured powders (viz chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, dry fruits and nuts powder) that are available in the market. Especially, in India, milk is considered as very essential part of one's everyday diet. 
During busy schedules when we skip our meals due to lack of time we are advised to take a glass of milk by our elders as a quick replacement. 
Once we hear the word "Calcium" the first thing that comes to our mind is healthy bones and strong teeth. But in this blog I would like to share few other important things that we must be aware of calcium. Yes it's high time that we should understand that the role of calcium is not only limited to the growth of bones and teeth. Various studies have proven that calcium plays a vital role in carrying out various other important functions in human body like-
* Calcium helps to carry messages from brain to other parts of our body.
* It fights infections and helps to maintain good immunity.
* It helps with the process of blood clotting.
* It is essential for maintaining normal blood pressure
* It plays an vital role in muscle movement and cardiovascular function.
Sometimes it may happen that in spite of consuming suffice amount of calcium our body becomes the victim of calcium deficiency. Here comes the role of Vitamin-D. It plays a key role in absorption of calcium from the food that we consume. So it's really mandatory to keep in check of our Vitamin-D intake too in order to get maximum benefit of calcium.
In general,women are more prone to calcium deficiency due to various hormonal changes taking place within them at various stages of life. They face calcium deficiency at highest level during pregnancy, menopause, lactating period etc. 
Children too are more prone to calcium deficiency due to their inappropriate eating habits like they are very choosy eaters. Some kids don't eat enough food, some love to eat only junk food and try their best to avoid all home cooked foods with the help of their cute tantrums. 

Talking about the adults commonly, we must blame the fast life and their unhealthy eating habits. 
Now Let's try to understand how calcium deficiency develops. At initial stages when the body experiences calcium deficiency it tries to maintain the required level by taking calcium directly from the bones that results in decline in our bone density making it weak. 
Long term Calcium and Vitamin-D deficiency gives rise to various serious ailments like-
* Osteoporosis - A condition where bones become weak and brittle that leads to easy bone fracture of back, neck, hip, spine, wrist etc accompanied with permanent crucial pain.
* Hypocalcemia - A condition where blood has too little calcium that results into muscle cramps, fatigue and tingling sensation.
* Rickets - A condition of softening and weakening of bones in children due to lack of Vitamin-D and Calcium in their diet.
* Difficulty in sleeping
* Cavities and teeth decay
* Muscle cramps
* Hairfall problems
* High blood pressure
* Fatigue
* Difficulty in loosing weight.

Now you might have realized very well the importance of calcium and vitamin-D in order to maintain optimal health and good quality life. 
If you are a victim of this deficiency,you need to really take care.
Also, the calcium deficiency can be prevented/easily cured by including essential amount of calcium to your diet. At first, it's mandatory to take the help of doctor if you are facing any of the chronic ailments due to deficiency of calcium and vitamin-D and follow the prescribed calcium supplements and your next step should be of following a regular diet which will provide you with the daily dose of required amount of calcium and vitamin-D naturally. 

To increase the intake of calcium in our food there are many food items available.
Some of the calcium rich foods that you can regularly include in your diet are: *Milk and various milk products like Cheese, curd, cottage cheese etc
* All dark green leafy vegetables especially Spinach.
* Vegetables like broccoli, Lady's Finger, Cluster beans etc
* Sardine Fish
* Sesame seeds
* Kidney beans
* Dry fruits and nuts etc
Also it's really important to add Vitamin-D rich food items like:
* Egg Yolk
* Salmon Fish
* Fish cod liver oil
* Mushroom
* Fortified Soy milk and Orange juice etc and another richest natural source of Vitamin-D is Sunlight which you get at no cost.
Do take sunbath on daily basis i.e. expose your body for 15-20 minutes at Morning/Evening hours when the sun rays are not very harsh.
Sunlight is the best medicine not only for Vitamin D deficiency but also for all ailments.It really helps boost our immunity.
We all have learnt the importance of calcium since school days from our science teachers, also we might have read many articles on newspapers under health column, but still we can see children, women & many elderly people becoming prone to this calcium deficiency. 
And the blame goes to the busy schedule.We have replaced all healthy food stuffs with unhealthy stuffs like fast foods, fried foods, processed and packaged foods. 
Take care and take efforts to have healthy home cooked food and watch what you eat and make sure to give your body daily source of calcium and Vitamin-D.

I hope you find this blog an eye-opener & do remember the wisest ayurveda saying - "When you eat food like medicine,there is no need for medicine."

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Also let me know what are your thoughts on this in the comment section below.

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