Eat Healthy - CALCIUM Rich Contest

I am really thankful to all the foodies who participated and supported the Eat healthy- Protein rich contest. You can find the event round up details following the link. This time it is 'Calcium' and the rules are different.

CALCIUM - It is a Chemical element with atomic number 20. Wow! Don't you guys get reminded of our school days where we have to memorize the Atomic Table for our chemistry exams? hmm...memories....ok coming back to calcium. Calcium is essential for the normal growth and maintenance of bones and teeth, and calcium requirements must be met throughout life. Long-term calcium deficiency can lead to rickets and poor blood clotting and in case of a menopausal woman, it can lead to osteoporosis, in which the bone deteriorates and there is an increased risk of fractures. While a lifelong deficit can affect bone and tooth formation, over-retention can cause hyperclycemia (elevated levels of calcium in the blood), impaired kidney function and decreased absorption of other minerals.High calcium intakes or high calcium absorption were previously thought to contribute to the development of kidney stones. However, more recent studies show that high dietary calcium intakes actually decrease the risk for kidney stones. Vitamin D is needed to absorb calcium.

Though we have all the calcium supplement tablets, it is good to include Calcium in our daily diet for preventing a lot of complication in our later life. Especially women need more calcium for functioning properly in their later part of life. You know why. It is because women during pregnancy need a lot of calcium to support the bone growth of the child.

There are a lot of Calcium rich food. Here are a few, for you to use them in your recipe. These are just suggestions and you can use any calcium rich ingredient in your recipe.

-Yogurt, plain
-Yogurt, fruit
-Milk, low fat or nonfat
-Milk, whole
-Cheese, including American, ricotta, cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese
-Milk shakes
-Eggnog

Non Diary products with calcium:

Salmon ,Tofu ,Rhubarb ,Sardines ,Collard greens ,Spinach ,Turnip greens ,Okra ,White ,eans ,Baked beans ,Broccoli ,Peas ,Brussel sprouts ,Sesame ,eeds ,Bok choy ,Almonds.

Consume Calcium effectively:

1. Take Calcium sources throughout the day instead of all at one time. The body can absorb about 500 mg of calcium at one time from food and/or calcium supplements.

2.There are 52 mg of calcium in one tablespoon of dry milk, so add it to baked goods, puddings, soups and cereals often to increase their calcium content. Two to four tablespoons can be added to most recipes

3.Top baked potatoes with plain non-fat yogurt, which is similar to sour cream in flavor and adds a lot of calcium

4.Try to get all or most of your calcium from your diet rather than from supplements.

5.Use food labels to identify good sources of calcium and vitamin D.

How to read from a Food Label

This is probably a very frequent question asked by many people. It is really easy to read a food label. For example, if a food label reads that the food consists of 20% calcium, then it means it has 200mg of calcium per serving.

To know more about Calcium visit Wiki, to get information about Calcium Rich food visit Home and Garden.



Now coming to the rules,

This event starts from Aug 15, 2008 and will be till Midnight,CST of Sep 24, 2008.The voting will start from Sep 25,2008 and will run till Sep 29,2008. The winners will be announced on Sep 30th,2008.

1. Make any dish – be it Appetizer, Main Course or Dessert , Vegetarian/Non -Vegetarian, any cuisine and using any ingredient, anything under the sun that is Calcium rich and post the recipe in your blog /site and link it back to this announcement. I would greatly appreciate if you use the logo.

2. No need to send the picture, I will take it from your blog.

3. Subscribe to my blog via E-mail. - This is a must for Competing for Prize1. I am asking you all to subscribe because, last time, a lot of the participants missed the mega round up and missed the chance of voting for their favourite recipes. This time I feel it could be prevented by making the subscription.

4. Send me your
“Name”
“Recipe”
“Recipe URL”
"E-mail Id you used to subscribe"

to : letusallcook@gmail.com i.e. letusallcook(AT)gmail(DOT)com with the subject as Eat healthy - CALCIUM Rich.

5. You can send any number of entries. The more you send, the more chances of winning.

6. For Competing Prize 3 :Refer your friend to subscribe to my blog. Your friend need not have a blog, after subscribing, just ask your friend to send me a mail to letusallcook@gmail.com stating that 'You' referred him/her and their mail id which they used to subscribe. For every friend you refer, you get an extra chance to win the top 10 spots.

Your friend can refer their friends too, by doing so they too get a chance in winning a prize. Same rules, for each person they refer, they get an extra chance to win the prize. Just ask them to mail me with the details mentioned above.

7.Not having a blog is no excuse to let you get away with your passion for cooking. Non-Bloggers don't worry, there are always ways to achieve your passion :) please do send me the same details as above to the mail given and I will post it in the round-up with your details. Your recipe will also be counted for winning the prize 1.

8.Older entries on blogs can be accepted only if they are republished during this event period with a link-back to this announcement.

Optional but would recommend:

1. I would greatly appreciate if you add this logo linking to this event in your side bar AND/OR blog about this contest so that the event will be known to more people and will become a great success.

2. Add my blog as your favourite in Technorati.

3. Do add my blog in your blogroll and let me know. I want to add yours too.

This time we have

PRIZE 1: This winner will be chosen by voting. I will be using Randomizer to select 10 recipes and the winning recipe will be selected by voting. So, the more number of entries you send the more chance to win the top 10 spots. Each entry is 1 point i.e if you send 2 entries, you will have twice the chance of winning. The Prize is $20 gift card.

PRIZE 2: The person with maximum number of entries, in addition of getting more chances to get the top 10 spot will also get a special prize of getting featured in my blog for a month. This is truly to appreciate their contribution.

PRIZE 3: The person who refers more number of friends will get a special prize. This person need not have a blog. Just have to refer friends to subscribe to my blog. The winner will get a Prize worth $15.

As of now there are 3 Prizes but, if I get any sponsor, I will surely add more prizes. I am working with people out there to get this contest sponsored. However, if you want to sponsor or know someone who can sponsor this event do contact me at letusallcook@gmail.com. Your participation is highly appreciated.

Hope to see more entries this time and looking forward to your support to make this a great fun filled event.

Do take a look at the previous EH contest details, the roundups and the winners.

Do contact me if you have any queries regarding this contest and the prizes.