Maybe you read my last post about lactose intolerance, where I basically told everyone that we're gonna be alright--we can eat our share of delicious cheese, but it's a nice gesture to our guts and friends to ease off on the high dairy meals. The missing piece to that topic is calcium, because calcium supplementation is recommended for folks who are lactose intolerant.1,2 For myself, I don't like the idea of capsule popping for the rest of my life, so I've been looking for other calcium sources and here's an example of one delicious solution:
Tomato-stewed sardines with fresh parsley and lemon juice on sprouted corn tortilla
Um. Yum.
Which brings me to sardines! They're the new perfect food: tasty, hip, sustainable and nutritious.
Have you eaten a sardine lately? I hadn't since my squeamish childhood days when my exposure to the fish was only through cartoons ripping on their flavor. But as an adult I find them delicious, more interesting and flavorful than a can of albacore, but with a similar angle on what it means to be a fish. Sardines are charmingly rustic with their edible, delicate bones and tender scales, reminding us of the days when normal people wouldn't flinch at the sight of non-flesh animal products. You know, back in the time of waxed canvas, brass buckles and hardwood furniture. Like these things, sardines are hot again. A piece in Edible San Francisco gives testimonial to the fish's popularity among the city's chefs and supplies us with some hardcore recipes for fresh sardines. (Fresh sardines!?)
As a bonus, sardines are sustainable. And they're healthy. First, because they are lower on the food chain than tuna and salmon, they accumulate less mercury and other toxins. Second, sardines are full of stuff that science has proven is good for us, (thanks, Science!) like phosphorus, omega-3 fatty acids, and calcium! Let's eat up!
Don't worry, I'm not suggesting that we replace our dairy intake with sardines. It's just one excellent food to incorporate for a well-rounded diet. When it comes down to it, lactose intolerant folks don't really get an easy-out with our calcium sourcing if we want to do it naturally, but the natural approach urges us ever-further in the direction of eating a wide variety of high nutrient foods like vegetables, fish, nuts, seeds and high-quality fats.
Sources:
1. Medscape for iPad app
2. The Merck Manual - Professional Addition app
Which brings me to sardines! They're the new perfect food: tasty, hip, sustainable and nutritious.
Have you eaten a sardine lately? I hadn't since my squeamish childhood days when my exposure to the fish was only through cartoons ripping on their flavor. But as an adult I find them delicious, more interesting and flavorful than a can of albacore, but with a similar angle on what it means to be a fish. Sardines are charmingly rustic with their edible, delicate bones and tender scales, reminding us of the days when normal people wouldn't flinch at the sight of non-flesh animal products. You know, back in the time of waxed canvas, brass buckles and hardwood furniture. Like these things, sardines are hot again. A piece in Edible San Francisco gives testimonial to the fish's popularity among the city's chefs and supplies us with some hardcore recipes for fresh sardines. (Fresh sardines!?)
As a bonus, sardines are sustainable. And they're healthy. First, because they are lower on the food chain than tuna and salmon, they accumulate less mercury and other toxins. Second, sardines are full of stuff that science has proven is good for us, (thanks, Science!) like phosphorus, omega-3 fatty acids, and calcium! Let's eat up!
Don't worry, I'm not suggesting that we replace our dairy intake with sardines. It's just one excellent food to incorporate for a well-rounded diet. When it comes down to it, lactose intolerant folks don't really get an easy-out with our calcium sourcing if we want to do it naturally, but the natural approach urges us ever-further in the direction of eating a wide variety of high nutrient foods like vegetables, fish, nuts, seeds and high-quality fats.
Sources:
1. Medscape for iPad app
2. The Merck Manual - Professional Addition app
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