Hey guys, Dr. Axe here, doctor of natural medicine and founder of draxe.com.
Hey, in this video I'm going to be talking about the many benefits of magnesium and how
to get more magnesium-rich foods in your diet every single day.
Let's dive right in.
Magnesium is probably one of the most important minerals in your body and it's critical for
so many things as we're about to talk about, number one here being it increases your energy
levels.
If you're a person with low energy, it could be you're deficient in probably one of two
things, either magnesium or B vitamins.
You need to get magnesium and B vitamins in your diet to really help improve your overall
energy levels.
In fact, magnesium's responsible for more than 300 different cellular functions in your
body, so it's essential to living.
You got to have plenty of magnesium.
Number two, it calms your nerves.
It's actually known as the body's relaxation mineral.
If you feel anxiety or stressed-out, simply taking magnesium can help calm your body and
support your nervous system by helping balance out that parasympathetic and sympathetic nerve
system.
Magnesium is very calming.
Number three, it's been shown in medical studies to improve sleep, including insomnia.
If you are a person that has trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, it could be due
to a magnesium deficiency.
So doing some magnesium, about 500 milligrams right before bed, is a great natural sleep
remedy.
What I like to do or recommend my patients do, take 500 milligrams of magnesium and then
rub on some lavender oil.
Maybe even do a cup of chamomile tea.
That one, two, three punch is great for improving your overall sleep.
Number four, it can help ease constipation.
I've taken care of thousands of patients with inflammatory bowel disease and digestive issues,
including constipation, and I would say that magnesium is the number one remedy that can
help that.
Very similar, 500 milligrams once to twice daily can help, along with doing some oil
such as flax oil, probiotics, and certain foods to help lubricate the colon, like figs
can be great for easing constipation.
Number five, it relieves muscle aches.
If you're a person, whether it be an athlete or non-athlete, and you're getting muscle
cramping or muscle aches, that can be due to a magnesium deficiency, also sometimes
potassium.
You want to make sure you're getting more of those hydrating foods.
In fact, you may not know this, magnesium is known as one of your body's main electrolytes,
so you got to have it for hydration and for fighting muscle aches.
It also helps regulate absorption of other nutrients in your body.
In fact, I'll talk about this in a little bit.
In order to properly absorb calcium, you also need magnesium for the health of your bones.
So again, magnesium is even critical for absorbing and regulating other nutrients in the body.
Number seven, it supports the health of your heart.
Fifty percent of Americans at some point in their life come down with heart disease.
In fact, heart disease is up there with cancer.
Those are the number one and number two killers in America today.
The good news is magnesium helps reduce blood pressure or balance blood pressure.
It's also even been shown to be good for arrhythmias.
It helps relax your smooth muscle, which is what your blood vessels are, so it really
helps relax the heart, your cardiovascular system.
Magnesium is absolutely one of the top supplements somebody could take to reduce the risk of
a stroke, a heart attack, also helping with arrhythmias.
But most importantly or most commonly, it's used as a natural treatment for high blood
pressure and overall, just helps the health of the heart.
Number eight, prevents migraine headaches.
A number of people struggle with both migraine headaches along with tension headaches.
Magnesium is a good natural remedy for both.
It works for prevention of migraines as well as a great natural treatment for tension headaches.
Number nine, it improves bone health.
Calcium has gotten so much press over the years.
Here's the truth.
Magnesium is just as important when it comes to your bone health because here's the truth,
you're not going to absorb near as much calcium if you don’t have the proper levels of magnesium
in your diet.
So now let's dive in.
I want to go through really practically, the top ways to get magnesium in your diet and
the most magnesium-rich foods right now.
Number one is spinach.
We know spinach is an incredible super food, high in vitamin A, lutein, zeaxanthin, and
also very high in magnesium as well as calcium.
Doing a spinach salad or sautéing some spinach with some garlic, coconut oil, and sea salt,
a great natural side dish.
Chard, similar thing.
I love cooking up some chard in some coconut oil.
Very similar with spinach.
Pumpkin seeds are very high in magnesium.
You can make a natural trail mix with pumpkin seeds, maybe some raisins with pumpkin seeds,
or throwing some pumpkin seeds in a smoothie or making it part of a cereal or snack.
Great way to get those in your diet.
Yoghurt or kefir, both high in calcium and magnesium.
I recommend when buying yoghurt and kefir you buy certified organic and grass fed whenever
possible.
Almonds.
This would also include almond butter.
Again, great as part of a natural snack mix using almond milk or an almond butter with,
let's say, apples or celery, a great magnesium-rich snack.
Black beans are also very high in magnesium.
These are great doing as part of a chicken dish or a side item in a meal.
Avocado.
Whether you're just doing the straight avocado, I love doing avocados and burgers or making
homemade guacamole.
The great thing about avocados is they're also high in the mineral potassium, so really
one of nature's greatest electrolyte-rich foods.
It's great for, especially, your heart health.
Figs here as well, I mentioned earlier.
These are very, very good for constipation.
They're good for overall bowel health, they're very high in antioxidants but also one of
the most magnesium-rich foods available today.
Dark chocolate is a magnesium powerhouse.
Now listen, not milk chocolate.
Make sure when you're buying chocolate it's 70%-plus pure dark chocolate.
You're going to be getting a great dose of magnesium along with some bitter antioxidants
that have also been shown to be good for the heart.
And bananas.
We know bananas are very high in both potassium and magnesium, another great electrolyte-rich
super food.
Let me give you a reminder.
Here are nine major benefits of magnesium.
Again, increases energy, calms your nerves, improves sleep, can help with bowel health
and constipation, relieves muscle aches.
I would include in this people that have restless leg syndrome at night, magnesium is a great
natural remedy.
Regulates nutrients and actually improves the absorption of nutrients like calcium and
phosphorous in your diet.
Supports your heart, reducing or balancing blood pressure.
Can prevent migraine and headaches, improves bone health, and this is just scratching the
surface.
By the way, if you want to learn more about the benefits of magnesium, make sure to search
my website draxe.com.
Also hey, make sure you subscribe here to this YouTube channel.
I've got a lot more great advanced nutrition content coming out on the best essential oils,
the best vitamins, the supplements, and some recipes in going over how to use food as medicine.
Again, you can do a Google search online for Dr. Axe Magnesium.
I've got a great article online as well.
I want to say hey, thanks for watching.
Don’t forget to subscribe.
This has been me, Dr. Axe, talking about the many benefits of magnesium and magnesium-rich
foods.
Hi, Dr. Axe here.
I want to say thanks so much for checking out this YouTube video and also don’t forget
to subscribe if you want to get more great content on things like herbs, essential oils,
natural remedies, and how to use food as medicine.
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Thanks for watching.