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Magnesium is one of the seven essential macrominerals which our body needs for optimal health, and which most people are deficient in. Even though many people try to compensate by taking magnesium supplements, they are known to interact with different drugs. It is therefore much safer and healthier to get adequate quantities from magnesium rich foods.
Magnesium is found throughout our body, but most of it, about 50%, is found in the bones. It performs some very important functions and is required for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. This explains why including magnesium rich foods in your diet is essential for optimal health.
Although it's possible to get sufficient amounts of this essential mineral from magnesium rich foods, how much magnesium your body needs, may depend on your lifestyle as well as on your overall health. For example, magnesium deficiency is quite common in those who lead a very stressful life and have unhealthy eating habits. Also, certain conditions, like parathyroid problems, kidney disease, and Crohn's disease may cause severe magnesium deficiency.
A diet with magnesium rich foods is essential for optimal health. Magnesium is one of the most important minerals and is vital for the proper functioning of the brain, skeletal system, and muscles. It is, however, required in large amounts to prevent many disorders and protect the body from chronic health problems, on a daily basis. The best natural source of magnesium are vegetables, nuts, milk, and whole grains.
Creating a menu based on magnesium rich foods is relatively easy. Here are a few of the foods that are rich in magnesium:
A deficiency of magnesium in the body may lead to various deficiency symptoms like neck and back pain, anxiety, fatigue, migraine attacks, muscle weakness and spasms, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, insomnia, abnormal heart rhythms, loss of appetite, etc. It is crucial to include magnesium rich foods in your diet because a chronic magnesium deficiency may even be a cause of diabetes, depression, and menopausal symptoms.
16 things magnesium rich foods can do for you:
Reduce osteoporosis and relieves back painWhen you know that inadequate magnesium intake can cause many serious health problems such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and insulin resistance, it is worth making the effort to routinely include magnesium rich foods in your daily diet and ensure your body gets enough of this essential mineral.
Stress, in particular, seems to deplete magnesium fast and one of the most common symptoms of magnesium deficiency is chocolate craving since chocolate is rich in this essential mineral.
One of the common causes of magnesium deficiency is an imbalance between calcium and magnesium levels. The fast pace of modern life often makes it difficult to maintain a healthy diet regularly and many people rely on nutritional supplements to sustain good health. As these supplements are easily available over the counter, people often buy them without professional guidance. Without realizing it, this may actually lead to an imbalance of minerals and vitamins in the body. It is very common to take calcium supplements to improve bone health, but by doing so, many people deplete their magnesium reserves unknowingly. In addition, the food industry has started fortifying their foods with extra calcium, by claiming that it is beneficial for the bones and teeth. For example, cereals and milk have added calcium in it. With the extra calcium in the body, the magnesium-calcium balance in the body is altered thereby, making it more important to include magnesium rich foods in the diet.
To understand the calcium-magnesium imbalance even further, if the magnesium-intake is low, the body tends to retain calcium in the body. This means, with time, large amounts of calcium gets accumulated inside the cells, which can cause calcification of the heart and blood vessels. So, if you take calcium supplements you should eat a lot of magnesium rich foods every day, or start taking magnesium supplements as well.
There are different opinions about what ratio should these minerals be taken, but most studies suggest that it is best taking calcium and mineral supplements in a 1:1 ratio. That way you ensure you get enough of both minerals without risking magnesium deficiency or arterial calcification.
There are over 100 inflammatory disorders which cause inflammation in the connective tissues or degeneration of these tissues. Some of the most common ones are:
While under certain circumstances, eg after injury, inflammation is a normal and even a desired reaction, if inflammation becomes chronic and turns into an inflammatory disorder, it can result in the immune system attacking itself causing chronic pain, swelling, or damage to healthy tissues.
A healthy immune system reacts to inflammation by launching a counter-attack and activating the NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) stress response in an attempt to destroy the pathogens and keep you healthy. Unfortunately, the immune system “attack” targets not only the invading pathogens, but the healthy tissue as well, and this can cause damage to otherwise healthy organs. If this is allowed to continue for a long time, you may end up with chronic inflammation, debilitating pain, and unexplainable fatigue.
Conventional medicine has still not come up with a long-term solution to chronic inflammation conditions. The best it can offer is temporary relief in the form of pain-killers which do not solve the problem but simply mask the symptoms.
Fortunately, NEM stress response model, as an alternative to steroids and pain-killers, uses natural inflammation remedies and looks at the body as a whole, taking into account how different organ systems interact as well as how they react to stress. According to the NEM model, inflammation is one of the six main circuits in how your body deals with stress.
According to the NEM model approach, inflammation is linked to the ability of your body to detox naturally. One of the benefits of magnesium rich foods is that it helps with a natural detox. In case of a magnesium deficiency, toxins begin to accumulate in the cells. These toxins not only worsens the inflammation but also causes oxidative stress leading to cell damage and cell death. This adds to the build-up of even more toxins and the cycle continues. The body struggles to get rid of these accumulated toxins and it continues to increase the inflammation.
Magnesium is one of the most anti-inflammatory minerals known today, so if you suffer from any of the inflammatory disorders, it makes perfect sense that you should eat as much of the magnesium rich foods as you can.
It is possible to manage and reduce chronic inflammation through a lifestyle change, so before reaching for drugs, examine your diet, stress levels, weight, fitness, and general health.
6 lifestyle changes necessary to avoid inflammation:
Maintain steady insulin levelsUnhealthy lifestyle not only causes obesity and chronic inflammation but also keep your adrenals and the immune system permanently activated. This, in turn, leads to depleting energy levels and overproducing cortisol. Sooner or later, your organs will start shutting down causing permanent damage and chronic health problems.
© Copyright 2020 Michael Lam, M.D. All Rights Reserved.
Magnesium rich foods ensure you get enough of this essential mineral to maintain a healthy brain function, strong bones, and steady heartbeat. Magnesium prevents muscle cramps and being the most anti-inflammatory mineral, it helps you deal with inflammatory processes and enables the natural detox process.
