Sport Fitness & Physique

Magnesium:

Magnesium is critical to human health.  A vital nutrient found in whole grains, legumes and green leafy vegetables (like spinach!) -magnesium is responsible for regulating heartbeat, blood pressure, blood sugar and over 300 more essential metabolic functions.

Magnesium deficiency is related to hyperexcitability, nervousness, restlessness, mood swings, depression and in severe cases even death.

The USDA estimates that more than two-thirds of the US population is magnesium deficient.

More on magnesium from the USDA here.

Most common multivitamins and magnesium supplements source magnesium oxide or magnesium chloride  in the manufacturing process.

Unfortunately, less than 30% of these compounds can be absorbed by the human body.  Supplement manufacturers generally use these compounds because they are inexpensive, compact easily and are easy to handle in an industrial environment.

That’s good news for manufacturers -bad news for you.

The best sources of dietary magnesium come from green leafy vegetables, nuts and some whole grains of course.

However, if you do not receive enough magnesium from your diet you may want to consider supplementing with a quality magnesium supplement.

But which magnesium supplement should you choose?

Look for magnesium supplements containing magnesium chelate, magnesium fumerate, magnesium citrate or magnesium glycinate.  These forms of magnesium are highly bio-available and are readily absorbed by the human body.

Naturally, I recommend Poliquin Supplements.

Poliquin’s Ubermag Plus is an outstanding magnesium supplement that I recommend to any client suffering from poor sleep, restlessness, lethargy, foggy thinking, moodiness, migraines, or insomnia .

Ubermag Plus contains a proprietary blend of four different magnesium chelates and has 300 mg of L-Tryptophan to help you improve your sleep.

If you need better sleep and you aren’t getting the magnesium you need from your diet, don’t shortchange yourself.

Invest in a quality magnesium supplement like Poliquin’s Ubermag Plus and get the rest you need.

To Your Good Health!

was that the participants consuming the most chocolate (averaging 7.5 grams daily) reduced their risk of heart attack and stroke by up to 39%!

The regular chocolate consumers also had lower blood pressure than their not so chocolate happy counterparts.

Lead author Dr Brian Buijsse (German Institute of Human Nutrition, Nuthetal, Germany) believes that if people were to increase their chocolate intake to only 6 g a day, 85 fewer heart attacks and strokes per 10,000 people could be expected to occur over a period of about 10 years. [1]

Dr Frank Ruschitzka (University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland) agrees. He said in a European Society of Cardiology statement: “Basic science has demonstrated quite convincingly that dark chocolate particularly, with a cocoa content of at least 70%, reduces oxidative stress and improves vascular and platelet function.” [1]

But don’t get carried away!

It’s all about balance.

Keep in mind that there are roughly 500 calories in every 100 grams of dark chocolate, so when you enjoy your healthful, flavanol rich chocolate -be sure you cut out an equivalent number of calories from another part of your diet.

A great way to ‘have your chocolate and eat it too,’ would be to cut grains and flour based foods from your diet. Many people are at least slightly allergic to the many allergens and antigens found in grains.

So indulge a little -but just a little….

Too much chocolate is just as bad as not enough.

To your Good Health!

[1] Source: Lisa Nainggolan, TheHeart.org