Remember my blog about potassium? well, it's time to celebrate another essential nutrient...

Magnesium is an important electrolyte that the body uses for normal functions (your nerves, your insulin production, etc).

Along with my multivitamin and fish oil, I take a magnesium supplement, in the form of magnesium citrate (400mg per day, not all of that is absorbed). Before I started taking this supplement, I had terrible pain in all of my muscles, fatigue, chronic constipation, and migraines all the time.

Last week, I accidentally stopped taking my magnesium because of being busy with school. Lo and behold, the muscle pains, fatigue, constipation, and migraines came back. Two days ago I began supplementing again, and today I am already feeling back to my energetic, painless self!

So, apparently my body does not get enough magnesium from my diet (although I do make a point of eating lots of spinach and almonds). This deficiency may have something to do with my gluten problem: I suspect (and will be able to confirm once i get my health insurance back) that I have celiac disease, which is a disease where gluten (from wheat and other grains) slowly attacks and destroys the villi in your small intestine, thereby compromising nutrient absorption. This can lead to all sorts of nutrient deficiencies until I am on a gluten-free diet long enough for my intestines to heal.

I've been gluten-free (minus two slip ups) for only a few weeks, so apparently my intestines are still not fully healed. I'm also missing out on a lot of magnesium from whole wheat and barley, which used to be a good chunk of my diet, so it's probably good that I am supplementing.

I had also been taking midol over the past week, which contains a diuretic which flushes potassium and magnesium out of your system, thereby probably compounding my deficiency.

It's incredible how much better I feel now that I am supplementing this mineral again. It has really made all the difference in allowing me to workout and focus more clearly on schoolwork.


"The Magnesium Miracle:"
drcarolyndean.com
/magnesium_miracle/

"Magnesium and insulin resistance:" wholehealthsource
.blogspot.com/2010/02/magn
esium-and-insulin-sensitiv
ity.html

"Magnesium for pain-relief (Dr. Oz Show):" www.doctoroz.com/
blog/jacob-teitelbaum-md/m
agnesium-pain-relief

"List of high-magnesium foods:" www.vaughns-1-pag
ers.com/food/magnesium-foo
ds.htm

There is a magnesium blood test, so you can get that done if you suspect a magnesium deficiency in your own body (and have health insurance unlike me). Taking a supplement won't harm most people, but ask a doctor before starting one if you have kidney problems.

I you, magnesium.