Magnesium 101: Its Powerful health benefits and how to get more in your diet

Magnesium is an all-too-important mineral for the human body that few people are aware of. Yes, most of us have heard of magnesium, but only a few are actually aware of the huge role it plays in our bodies. The human body is like a sophisticated machine that runs on certain fuels. Those fuels include vitamins and minerals. In order to maintain your health and keep your body in mint condition, you have to feed it properly (and that includes magnesium). Magnesium is essential to the ‘basic nucleic acid chemistry of life’ and that means that it’s quite important to every living thing. So, let’s see why exactly you should increase magnesium intake and how to do it.

Magnesium in your diet and how to get it

It is common knowledge that we should all eat a lot healthier. The main problem with our diets is that they lack chlorophyll-rich leafy greens (magnesium forms the backbone of the chlorophyll molecule), and other health-promoting, magnesium-rich foods. To make things even worse, a common diet today is made of foods such as gluten, soy, yeast and dairy. Unfortunately, this irritates and inflames the digestive tract. And irritation there means reduced magnesium absorption. So, if you want to increase your magnesium intake, you need to add these foods to your diet: legumes (lentils, beans, peas etc.), seeds, whole grains (oats, barley, quinoa etc.), spinach and fatty fish. Dark chocolate is also rich in magnesium and it can be a great healthy snack. Besides the already mentioned foods, consider buying avocados and nuts. However, if you’re on a busy schedule and have no time to visit the grocery store, you can also go for reliable magnesium supplements. Just make sure that you get the dosage right and you should be perfectly fine. Nowadays, there are organic magnesium supplements that are becoming more and more popular and many people recommend them. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Magnesium health benefits

You’ve probably heard that many athletes add more magnesium to their diet in order to reduce muscle soreness. That’s probably the biggest reason why some people know that it is good to add magnesium to their diet. And that is true, however, let’s take a look at three really important impacts magnesium makes on your body.

• Magnesium supports bowel health

Constipation is an issue that burdens many people and it can be quite challenging to deal with. Magnesium aids energy production, digestion and enzyme formation. All of these are critical in healthy bowel movements. What’s more, magnesium also relaxes the intestines and colon, as well as draws water to the bowel, which allows for a softer and better-formed stool. This is yet another reason why you should increase your magnesium intake.

• Magnesium takes care of your heart

To improve your cardiovascular health, you need to maintain optimal magnesium levels. This mineral is linked with regulation of blood pressure, calcium absorption process and it even has a lot to do with a good heart rate. Magnesium also helps support optimal blood flow in veins and arteries and helps you exercise longer (one reason for athletes). Many health professionals recommend glycinate form of magnesium to support heart health since that form draws less water to the bowel and does a better job of getting into muscles where it’s needed.

• Healthy brain – more magnesium

When it comes to anything and everything related to the brain, proper magnesium levels go a very long way. If you want to wake up feeling great and well-rested, ready to focus on tasks ahead while also remembering every small detail from the previous day, you need an ample amount of magnesium to achieve that. On top of aiding the health of your nerves themselves, magnesium also helps with occasional head tension and discomfort. Therefore, increase magnesium intake and you’ll feel more relaxed.

Recommended daily intake

The recommended daily intake for adult men is 420 mg per day and for adult women, the figure stands at 320 mg per day. Achieving the optimal daily intake can be quite challenging, and that’s why you need to choose foods that have been mentioned above instead of something that is maybe tastier but less healthy. Of course, diet supplementation is a great option too.

Conclusion

As you can see, optimal magnesium levels really help your body far more than you’ve ever imagined. The best thing about this mineral is that the above mentioned isn’t all there is to it. Magnesium has a positive impact on many more conditions. However, now you most certainly have enough reasons to boost magnesium intake. Take action, this is your body at stake.

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