Mighty Magnesium - Are You Getting Enough?
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he reason why I have entitled this article Mighty Magnesium is because I believe after years of research and reading about this amazing mineral that magnesium is the most important nutrient that your body needs. According to Dr. Carolyn Dean MD, ND, author of The Magnesium Miracle and Dr. Mildred Seelig M.D., author of The Magnesium Factor, magnesium activates 325 enzymatic processes in the body. My journey into understanding its importance started many years ago when I worked as a Director of Nursing. The doctors would prescribe magnesium intravenously when patients came into hospital with heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, seizures, migraines and toxemia. Studies indicate that if the magnesium was given within 3 hours of the onset of the stroke or heart attack that it would help to reduce the incidence of death by 50%. However I really didn’t understand how important magnesium was until it changed my sister’s life in 2004. Debbie had suffered with severe migraines,averaging 3-4 a week since the age of 12. When she was 46 she discovered a powdered magnesium supplement that became ionic in hot water and started taking it twice a day every day and it reduced her migraines down to one every 5 weeks. I started researching the benefits of magnesium at that time and began taking the powdered magnesium for insomnia, fibromyalgia and bone density issues and the product helped all three health issues very quickly. Dr. Dean states that while it is difficult to diagnose a magnesium deficiency with a blood serum test (because only 1% of magnesium is found in the blood), you can determine if you have a magnesium deficiency by looking at symptoms of deficiency. There are over a hundred magnesium deficiency symptoms or cofactors that can lead to deficiency. These are listed in the first chapter of her book. Many people today talk about the importance of getting enough calcium through diet and supplementation. According to Carolyn Dean, 80% of the population in North America are magnesium deficient and have a very unhealthy (10:1) balance of calcium to magnesium. So how does this unhealthy balance occur? Many North Americans eat a diet that contains large amounts of dairy and animal protein. Dairy contains a ratio of 10 calcium to 1 magnesium, animal meat contains 5 calcium to 1 magnesium and many of our processed foods are fortified with calcium. Magnesium is found naturally in leafy greens and unrefined nuts, grains and seeds but it is almost impossible to get enough of this important mineral in our foods because our soils are so deficient of minerals. Caffeine, alcohol, sugar, processed foods, stress, perspiration and too much calcium will contribute to magnesium depletion. Calcium and magnesium both play a very important role to help keep us healthy but an imbalance can lead to many health problems. Let’s look at the roles that these two minerals have in the body:
Calcium tenses and excites muscles and nerves while magnesium relaxes them. Calcium constipates the bowels and thickens blood while magnesium is a gentle natural laxative and it helps to keep our blood thin. Calcium builds up in the body while magnesium is depleted every twelve hours. When you look at the list of magnesium deficiency symptoms in the table of contents in Dr. Carolyn Dean’s book you can understand why the depletion of this significant mineral can wreak such havoc on our overall health. Some of the health issues she states are caused by magnesium deficiency include anxiety, depression, insomnia, high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease-including heart palpitations and heart attacks. Magnesium plays such an important role in balancing blood sugar levels and preventing insulin resistance. Dr. Dean has two chapters dedicated to pregnancy, safe labour and delivery, women’s issues such as PMS, dysmenorrhea, menopause, infertility and miscarriage. Her list also includes osteoporosis (magnesium is responsible for activating two hormones involved in preserving bone structure and suppressing bone breakdown), and a chapter on fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Magnesium is also important for energy production. Magnesium activates Vitamin D to help our bodies absorb and assimilate calcium. When our bodies are not getting enough magnesium it can lead to health issues such as hardening and narrowing of the arteries, gall stones, kidney stones and calcium deposits in the joints and muscles (one of the contributing factors to arthritis and fibromyalgia). This amazing mineral also activates melatonin, our sleep hormone, serotonin, our ‘happy hormone’, our B Vitamins which help to reduce stress and balance the output of our adrenal hormones and activates Omega 3’s which are necessary for brain function and inflammation. As the owner of Natural Calm Canada and a woman in her fifties I have come to understand how important it is to get the right balance of a healthy lifestyle with lots of exercise, nutritious food and the right type of supplementation. Our Natural Calm products provide an effective and absorbable source of magnesium and calcium through our ionic powder that dissolves in hot water and through our transdermal magnesium chloride oil –which is sourced from sea water. For more information about our products go to www.naturalcalm.ca. All profits from the sale of our products go to help orphans in Africa via Organics 4 Orphans (www.organics4orphans.org). Linda Bolton, Owner Natural Calm Canada
www.naturalcalm.ca or call 1 (866) 854 2256 www.organics4orphans.org Combining organic farming and natural medicine to help orphans in Africa
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