The top supplements are the foundation 5 If you take these there isn't really any need for anything else, unless you want to increase your rate of progress further These are: - Magnesium - Fish Oil - Probiotic - Multi Vitamin or Greens Drink - Vitamin D3 So I'm not gonna go into depth about all of these, but here are 8 signs you need more magnesium in your diet Do you get crazy sore from training? Does anxiety about work just eat you up inside? Do you find yourself tossing and turning all night, never to get a good night’s sleep? All these are signs that you’re not getting enough magnesium. This often-overlooked mineral affects more than 300 processes in the body, which is why it can feel like your health (and life!) are falling apart if you don’t get enough. Magnesium deficiency is rampant—there’s been a gradual decline of dietary magnesium from a high of 500 mg/day in 1900 to barely 225 mg/day today, which is well below the RDA. The drop is due to changes in diet and soil quality. Here are some of the most common signs of magnesium deficiency, followed by recommendations for getting your levels up. #1: Trouble sleeping. Increasing magnesium intake is one of the most effective ways to improve sleep. For example, it helped a group of stressed-out subjects with chronic insomnia to relax and get better sleep in a 2010 study. #2: Muscle cramps or excessive soreness. Magnesium is necessary for your muscles to contract and relax properly. If you’re deficient in magnesium, muscles are more likely to spasm and you may suffer from more severe delayed post-workout soreness. The lack of attention to magnesium deficiency is a shame because it is easy to solve and has a profound effect on health—it’s associated with death from heart attack, which is one reason that the soldier’s heart function was tested daily with an ECG. #3: You’re overwhelmed by stress. Magnesium is the most powerful relaxation mineral. Lack of it causes an overactive sympathetic nervous system. This results in excessive cortisol release as part of your stress response, which can cause anxiety and a racing mind. In fact, it’s a vicious cycle because magnesium is essential for the metabolism of cortisol—without it, you won’t be able to calm yourself and are likely to end up bowled over by stress. #4: Depression. Pair anxiety and poor sleep together and it’s enough to make anyone depressed! Magnesium’s role in keeping your mood up goes further: Serotonin—a brain chemical that elevates mood—is dependent on magnesium. Most anti-depressant drugs try to improve serotonin levels, but getting your magnesium levels up is natural and may be just as effective since it solves multiple problems at once. #5: You have high blood sugar or are prediabetic. If you’re doctor has told you you’re prediabetic it’s a good bet low magnesium is involved. The mechanism at work has to do with the role magnesium plays in carbohydrate metabolism. During episodes of high blood sugar, the kidneys are unable to retain magnesium creating a downward spiral of magnesium deficiency and subsequently diabetes. #6: High blood pressure. Many times people who follow a healthy diet are surprised to find they are pre-hypertensive. Stress is generally thought of as the reason, but it’s actually a symptom, not the cause. Lack of magnesium is the real culprit because both are a result of nervous system overdrive. #7: You have trouble focusing. If you have brain fog or feel like you’re getting more and more ADD, lack of magnesium may be the cause. Magnesium regulates a key receptor in the brain that supports memory and learning. Supplementing with magnesium has been shown to increase attention span, which researchers suggest is due both to its calming effects and the fact that it improves brain activity. #8: Bad digestion or constipation. Your gastrointestinal tract is basically one big muscle, which is why lack of magnesium causes poor digestion and problems going to the bathroom. The bowel isn’t able to relax when magnesium is deficient, but if you overdose on magnesium, especially cheap magnesium chelates like magnesium oxide, you’ll experience the opposite effect—diarrhea and urgency going to the bathroom. This is the reason you want to start increasing your intake of magnesium through diet—leafy greens, Brazil nuts, almonds, cashews, avocados, meat, fish and dark chocolate are all high in magnesium. Here is a list of magnesium-rich foods from Cedars-Sinai. Then you can pad intake with a high-quality magnesium supplement that is not bound with oxide. Instead, magnesium bound with glycinate and taurate are higher quality and better absorbed by the body.
