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nutrition

Signs You May Be Deficient In Magnesium

Posted on by Manup1965

Do You Have A Magnesium Deficiency?

magnesium
Signs of magnesium deficiency are everywhere in the United States, if you know what to look for. Unfortunately, the symptoms are so incredibly common that they constantly slip under the radar! Hardly anyone, especiallydoctors, notice that the ailments we suffer from on a daily basis are actually magnesium deficiency symptoms… and we’re all paying for it.
Just about every single person you come into contact with – especially those with a health problem, but even those with only minor complaints – are suffering in some way from this nationwide deficiency. Including you!

What Exactly Is Magnesium?

Magnesium is life.

It is the 4th most abundant mineral in the body, right next to sulfur (which is JUST as important).

Along with being a mineral, magnesium is also an electrolyte. “Sports drinks” (aka sugar-filled scams) claim to contain electrolytes such as magnesium, potassium, and sodium because we sweat away these important nutrients during exercise, and their deficiency is what leads to the common problems athletes face, such as muscle cramping! But believe me – electrolytes (especially magnesium) do so much more than treat and prevent muscle cramps.

First off, electrolytes are what allow us to be living, electrical beings. They are responsible for all electrical activity (and thus brain conductivity) in the body. Without electrolytes like magnesium, muscles can’t fire, your heart cannot beat, and your brain doesn’t receive any signals. We need magnesium to stay alive, point blank. As soon as we don’t have enough of it, we start to lose the energy and conductivity that keeps us going. Technically, as soon as we become deficient, we slowly begin to die, getting more aches and pains day by day, feeling worse year after year. I can’t stress it enough… signs of magnesium deficiency are everywhere, if you just look.

Magnesium is a cofactor in over three hundred reactions in the body, necessary for transmission of nerve impulses, temperature regulations, detoxification in the liver, and formation of bones and teeth. However, magnesium shows its true power in cardiovascular health. The Weston A. Price foundation writes, “Magnesium alone can fulfill the role of many common cardiac medications: magnesium inhibits blood clots (like aspirin), thins the blood (like Coumadin), blocks calcium uptake (like calcium channel-blocking durgs such as Procardia) and relaxes blood vessels (like ACE inhibitors such as Vasotec) (Pelton, 2001).”

Nearly EVERYONE has signs of magnesium deficiency but we don’t realize it…

Symptoms include:

  • Constipation
  • High blood pressure (Hypertension)
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Insomnia
  • Behavioral disturbances
  • Lethargy
  • Impaired memory/thinking
  • Seizures
  • Fatigue
  • Sleep disturbances
  • Pain
  • Muscle cramps
  • Chronic back pain
  • Headaches
  • Migraines
  • Muscular pain
  • Tendonitis
  • Anger
  • Aggression
  • ADHD
  • Brain fog
  • Tension
  • Anxiety disorders such as OCD

Anything that makes you tense and tight could potentially be due to magnesium deficiency. If you can’t relax or you can’t stop — think magnesium! Full-blown health problems can even be tied back to this crucial mineral. Most people with ANY chronic disease or issue benefit greatly from magnesium supplementation therapy. This is because chronic illness = stress, and stress depletes magnesium. The following are conditions that are likely to have magnesium deficiency as a part of the puzzle:

  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  • Adrenal Fatigue
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Heart Disease
  • Atrial Fibrillation
  • Heart Palpitations
  • Osteoporosis (yes, magnesium is more important than calcium for bone health!)
  • Diabetes
  • Sudden Death in patients with Congestive Heart Failure
  • Kidney Stones
“Similarly, patients with diagnoses of depression, epilepsy, diabetes mellitus, tremor, Parkinsonism, arrhythmias, circulatory disturbances (stroke, cardiac infarction, arteriosclerosis), hypertension, migraine, cluster headache, cramps, neuro-vegetative disorders, abdominal pain, osteoporosis, asthma, stress dependent disorders, tinnitus, ataxia, confusion, preeclampsia, weakness, might also be consequences of the magnesium deficiency syndrome.”
 – Journal of the American College of Nutrition

Amazingly, the article referenced above even mentions neuro-vegetative disorders as a possible result of magnesium deficiency. This would include comas. Stress hormone production requires high levels of magnesium and stressful experiences can immediately lead to complete depletion of magnesium stores; could this be a contributing factor to why we see comas after traumatic accidents/injuries? As I mentioned above, magnesium is an electrolyte responsible for brain signals and conductivity. Without magnesium, people in comas may not be able to come to and resume conductivity. Many people with diabetes also fall into diabetic comas. Diabetes is listed as another possible consequence of magnesium deficiency. Could this be a factor in diabetic comas as well? Something to think about and research further!

Cravings

Do you crave chocolate? Why, when people are stressed out, do they go for chocolate? Chocolate is one of the highest food sources of magnesium.

Magnesium is associated with so many disorders that Dr. Carolyn Dean of the Nutritional Magnesium Associationhas devoted an entire book to discussing how she has treated thousands of patients for a wide array of diseases, with magnesium as the primary component. Her book, The Magnesium Miracle, is a must-read if you have any of the magnesium deficiency symptoms above, or any health problems in general – as there is likely a magnesium component to everything. Check out 50 Studies Suggest That Magnesium Deficiency Is Killing Us.

Why Don’t Doctors Find Magnesium Deficiencies In Tests?

Unfortunately, conventional medicine has not woken up to the amount of research that has been done on magnesium deficiency.

One of the reasons Western Medicine is so off base with magnesium is how they test it: with blood tests.

Blood tests do not yield ANY information about magnesium… why? Because the body controls the levels of blood magnesium very tightly. If the magnesium in the blood drops just a little bit, you’re going to have a heart attack. It’s that sample. So to prevent this, the body will rob all of its cells, tissues, and bones of magnesium in order to keep the blood levels constant. If you do a blood test for magnesium, the cells could be completely empty while your blood levels remain constant.

What’s worse is that magnesium is not even in your blood. 99% of the magnesium in the body is stored in the cells that get robbed, while a mere 1% of your body’s total magnesium is in the blood. These tests are a complete waste of time, and they’re not educating doctors to this reality.

“A serum test for magnesium is actually worse than ineffective, because a test result that is within normal limits lends a false sense of security about the status of the mineral in the body. It also explains why doctors don’t recognize magnesium deficiency; they assume serum magnesium levels are an accurate measure of all the magnesium in the body.” – Dr. Carolyn Dean, The Magnesium Miracle.

Why Are We So Deficient?

Here’s the short(ish) version: Number one, we’re being poisoned by our food. Number two, we’re increasingly stressed out. We’re running our engines on high to keep up with life and it’s draining us. Stress hormone production requires high levels of magnesium and stressful experiences lead to depletion of magnesium stores.Number three, we’re eating more sugar than ever. For every molecule of sugar we consume, our bodies use 54 molecules of magnesium to process it. Fourth, low levels in the soil and modern farming techniques deplete stores of magnesium. And lastly, magnesium is depleted by many pharmaceutical drugs and estrogen compounds such as oral contraceptives, antibiotics, cortisone, prednisone, and blood pressure medications (“Drug-induced nutrient depletion handbook,” Pelton, 2001). Diuretics in coffee and tea (caffeine) also raise excretion levels. Oh and by the way – flouride competes for absorption with magnesium!

Nowadays, nearly everyone is magnesium deficient – no test needed. Refined/processed foods are stripped of their mineral, vitamin, and fiber content. These are anti-nutrient foods because they actually steal magnesium in order to be metabolized. When consumed, they demand that we supplement with magnesium or we are destined to break down eventually due to severe deficiency. Like I said, sugar is the worst offender. Every single molecule of sugar you consume drags over 50 times the amount of magnesium out of your body.

Well, what if you eat a healthy diet? Processed products are not the only foods that are devoid of magnesium. In general, magnesium has been depleted from topsoil, diminishing dietary intake across the board while our need for magnesium has increased, due to the high levels of toxic exposure we come across in our daily lives (air, water, plastics, chemicals, the list goes on!). The soil is depleted of magnesium because of the pesticides that are sprayed on all conventionally grown plants and worldwide pollution that affects even the cleanest fields. Pesticides also kill those beneficial bacteria/fungi that are necessary in order for plants to convert soil nutrients into plant nutrients usable by humans.

Are You A Cannabis User?

Cannabis has so many positive effects in terms of treating diseases such as epilepsy, cancer, and more (read 1, 2, 3and cureyourowncancer.org). Trust me, I’ll be the first to tell you I’m all for it – it’s a safe and effective herb with countless therapeutic benefits that the government has been hiding for years. The only way they want you using it is if they’ve patented one of its’ chemical compounds and can sell it to you for a profit.

However, we should also look at what happens to our body on a cellular level if we use cannabis on a daily basis. Would you take parasite cleansing herbs every day for the rest of your life, or even every few days? Probably not. You’d take them when you’re sick or during a monthly cleanse, or else you’d develop some side effects from overuse. We need to remember that cannabis is a powerful herbal medicine and should be treated in such a way.

It turns out that using marijuana tends to deplete the body’s stores of magnesium, with the result that the person feels more on-edge after coming down from the high.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t safe in moderation. It means that over time, if used consistently without proper balance via magnesium replenishment, it can and will cause magnesium deficiency.

The Best Ways To Get Magnesium

1. Eat magnesium rich foods grown on organic soil.

My Personal Favorite Foods

  1. Hemp Seeds
  2. Sunflower Seeds
  3. Pumpkin Seeds
  4. Sesame Seeds
  5. Whole Grain Brown Rice
  6. Spinach
  7. Almonds

My Second Favorite Option is to soak in epsom salt baths. This will provide not only magnesium, but sulfur for your liver as well.

OrganicOlivia

Is Fruit The New Candy?

Posted on by Manup1965

Is It Possible to Eat Too Much Fruit?

We’ve talked before about how the sugar in whole foods (like fruits and vegetables) is necessary and healthy. The clarification that is not made enough by the media or by health professionals is the difference between sugar in its natural state and sugar that’s been extracted from its natural package.

 

In one study, scientists found that adding blueberries to meals can blunt the affect of high-glycemic foods. But how many berries do you need to eat to benefit?

If you eat a bowl of sugary breakfast cereal and no berries, so many free radicals are created within two hours that your body goes into oxidative debt. The antioxidants in your blood drops to below where it was before breakfast. One quarter cup of berries doesn’t help much, but one half cup does.

What About Fruit for Type 2 Diabetics?

Most dietary recommendations for type 2 diabetics suggest eating fiber-rich foods including fruit. That’s because fruit is healthy and has been shown to improve artery function and reduce cancer risk. However, some health professionals restrict the amount of fruit they recommend because they’re worried about the sugar content of fruit.

But what does the research say? In one study, type 2 diabetics were put into two groups. One group was told to eat a minimum of two pieces of fruit a day, and the other was told to eat no more than two pieces of fruit a day. There were no positive effects or weight changes in the group that had reduced their fruit intake. (Editor’s Note: There were also no positive effects on HbA1c or waist circumference in the reduced fruit group.)

Therefore, the intake of fruit should not be restricted in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Fruit in Any Amount

New, emerging literature has shown that low-dose fructose may actually benefit blood sugar control. So having a piece of fruit with each meal could lower, not raise the blood sugar response. But what about fructose toxicity? The threshold for toxicity of fructose may be around 50 grams. The problem is that that’s how much fructose the average adult consumes in one day. That means that half of all adults are likely above the threshold for fructose toxicity, and adolescents currently average 75 grams.

Is that the limit for added sugars or for all fructose? If we don’t want more than 50 grams and there’s about ten grams in a piece of fruit, should we not eat more than five fruit a day? According to the Harvard Health Letter: “The nutritional problems of fructose and sugar come when they are added to foods. Fruit, on the other hand, is beneficial in almost any amount.”

What do they mean almost? Can we eat ten fruit a day? How about twenty fruit a day?
We don’t have to guess. It’s actually been put to the test. In one study, seventeen people were made to eat 20 servings a day of fruit. Despite the extraordinarily high fructose content of this diet (about 200 grams per day = 8 cans of soda), the investigators reported no adverse effects (and possible benefit actually) for body weight, blood pressure, insulin, and lipid levels after three to six months.

More recently, Jenkins and colleagues put people on a 20 servings of fruit a day diet for a few weeks with no adverse effects on weight, blood pressure, or triglycerides and an astounding 38 point drop in LDL cholesterol.

There was one side effect, though. Their bathroom habits became very regular.

So what’s the bottom line?
Fresh fruit promotes good health and is an excellent source of calories. So when it comes to nature’s candy, feel free to enjoy it in abundance.

 

BY FORKS OVER KNIVES

Dr. Greger’s Sources:
R Törrönen, M Kolehmainen, E Sarkkinen, K Poutanen, H Mykkänen, L Niskanen. Berries reduce postprandial insulin responses to wheat and rye breads in healthy women. J Nutr. 2013 Apr;143(4):430-6.
A S Christensen, L Viggers, K Hasselström, S Gregersen. Effect of fruit restriction on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes–a randomized trial. Nutr J. 2013 Mar 5;12:29.
Top 5 ways to reduce crippling hand pain. Harv Health Lett. 2013;38(9):4.
B C Blacker, S M Snyder, D L Eggett, T L Parker. Consumption of blueberries with a high-carbohydrate, low-fat breakfast decreases postprandial serum markers of oxidation. Br J Nutr. 2013 May;109(9):1670-7.
J L Sievenpiper, L Chiavaroli, R J de Souza, A Mirrahimi, A I Cozma, V Ha, D D Wang, M E Yu, A J Carleton, J Beyene, M Di Buono, A L Jenkins, L A Leiter, T M Wolever, C W Kendall, D J Jenkins. ‘Catalytic’ doses of fructose may benefit glycaemic control without harming cardiometabolic risk factors: a small meta-analysis of randomised controlled feeding trials. Br J Nutr. 2012 Aug;108(3):418-23.
D S Ludwig. Examining the health effects of fructose. JAMA. 2013 Jul 3;310(1):33-4.
R H Lustig. Fructose: it’s “alcohol without the buzz”. Adv Nutr. 2013 Mar 1;4(2):226-35.
B J Meyer, E J de Bruin, D G Du Plessis, M van der Merwe, A C Meyer. Some biochemical effects of a mainly fruit diet in man. S Afr Med J. 1971 Mar 6;45(10):253-61.
D J Jenkins, C W Kendall, D G Popovich, E Vidgen, C C Mehling, V Vuksan, T P Ransom, A V Rao, R Rosenberg-Zand, N Tariq, P Corey, P J Jones, M Raeini, J A Story, E J Furumoto, D R Illingworth, A S Pappu, P W Connelly. Effect of a very-high-fiber vegetable, fruit, and nut diet on serum lipids and colonic function. Metabolism. 2001 Apr;50(4):494-503.

If You Love Nutella Then…..

Posted on by Manup1965

I’m sharing this article for all my Nutella Lovers

nutella

I used to love Nutella when I was kid–that is before studying nutrition and discovering its harmful ingredients. The scariest thing that people don’t know about Nutella is that it contains monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as E621. It’s cleverly hidden inside an artificial flavor called vanillin which is labeled on every Nutella jar. It also contains the toxic GMO emulsifier soy lecithin and palm oil whose extraction is ravaging forests and wildlife throughout the world. Continue reading →

How to Cut 1,000 Calories A Day (without eating less)

Posted on by Manup1965

How To Cut 1,000 Calories a Day (without eating less) Cut 1000 calories a day???

Man Up (9 of 15)

In simple numerical terms, 1 pound is equal to 3500 calorie. So, reducing your calories by 500 a day would equal 1 pound of weight loss each week. That means that reducing your caloric intake by 1000 would equal 2 pounds of weight loss each week. I’m going to show you how to do that without eating less!

Extreme caloric deprivation is not the answer

Most quick fad diets will generally start you on a very low-calorie diet like 1200 calories per day. This is the absolute lowest you want to go but you really  don’t need to go that low anyway. Staying on extremely reduced calorie diets will not only slow down your metabolism but it can affect your mood, energy and all around sunny personality. All that and you still won’t keep losing weight… thanks….But no thanks.

I have a much better alternative for you!

4 ways to slashing 1,000 calories a day

Naturally, exercise is going to play an important roll in slashing 1,000 calories. Exercise not only burns calories but also boosts your metabolism, gives you more energy and releases the hormones serotonin and dopamine to improve your mood and the people around you will appreciate that part as well.

Step 1: Don’t drink your calories away

Fancy drinks will pack on those calories quickly. What is a fancy drink? All those colorful, whip-cream topped, high-calorie drinks are ‘fancy’ – full of empty calories.

Be careful, it’s not just sodas that will get you. Even certain brands of water and energy drinks can be ‘fancy’ with additives and sugars. A lot of bottled sugary drinks have about 35 grams of sugar per serving, and most of those drinks have multiple servings per bottle, making your sugar consumption for one bottle close to 70 grams of sugar.

It would be so much better for you to enjoy water with lemon or tea. There are so many flavors of tea – drink it hot or cold as desired – and you’ll never run out of variety. Soda, energy drinks, coffee loaded with cream and sugar; all of those drinks can be eliminated to help you cut 500 calories per day. You can contact me on our Man-UP Boot-camp tea line.

Amount of calories per day you can slash by replacing fancy drinks with water or tea is right around 240-280 calories

Step 2: Make exercise part of your routine

I recommend exercising almost every day. Before you stop reading… I’m not telling you to do hard core workouts everyday – your body deserves a rest. Depending on your goals, you want to workout 3-6 times a week. If you are far away from your goals, 6 workouts a week will help you reach your goals faster. However, if you’re closer to the maintenance phase of retaining your goals, then 3 workouts a week is good for you. Regardless of how many workouts you are doing, you still want to be active on your rest days. So no laying on that couch all day.

Depending on the type of exercise you’re doing, you can cut between .

Amount of calories per day you can cut by making exercise a regular habit 300-600 calories (depending on your size, workout intensity and duration) and that is just during the workout.

Step 3: Go hard or go home

Getting there is half the battle… but just half – But  you want full credit, right? So… you have to turn up the intensity! If you’re going to work out, give it 100%. The payoff is increased metabolic activity for up to 36 hours after your workout – commonly known as the ‘afterburn’ effect. This means that even more calories are burned after your workout. Your workouts don’t have to be long, but they do need to be intense and challenging.

Amount of calories per day you can cut by exercising intensely (conservative measurement) 50-100 calories

Step 3: Move it Move it..

Of course, you can do small things like parking in the far spaces, spending part of your lunch break walking around the block, taking the stairs instead of the elevator… Better yet, move more in ways that you can quantify like taking 100 stairs a day, walk 20 minutes in the morning, do 25 sit ups or mountain climbers on commercial breaks when you’re watching tv. These extra amount of moving can definitely help you cut calories throughout the day.

Amount of calories per day you can cut by moving more 160-210 calories

What other trainers don’t want you to know

If you are going to eat something that is “bad” for you, the best time to do so is right after you workout. That’s the time when your body is ready to use the excess sugar as fuel. As with anything, the key is moderation. If you plan on working out strictly so you can eat badly afterward, it’s best that you evaluate what you really want from an exercise plan.

Four steps to cutting 1000 calories per day isn’t much to consider when changing your lifestyle and becoming more healthy. In fact, these are some simple tips that hardly involve changing your eating habits (aside from choosing water and tea). While you should strive to eat as healthy and supportive foods, you can still slash 1000 calories just by exercising regularly and intensely and moving more.

Put these tips into action to start cutting 1000 calories per day and watch the fat burn off just in time for summer!