Nutrition expert explains why you should add to your diet

Houston – Magnesium comes from food or supplements and our lifestyle influences us to absorb this mineral.

A blood test only shows when a person is severely depleted of magnesium, not just a slight deficiency.

That’s why nutritionist Tammy Carney says she never recommends dietary supplements except for magnesium.

“It’s going to be like a miracle cure for people who lack it,” Carney said.

The daily recommended amount is 400 milligrams, but it’s hard to get that much from food alone. So Carney says she almost always recommends taking the pills.

“It’s very difficult to get it from food. Our land is depleted. We have a highly processed, refined diet that doesn’t have much magnesium. But also, our way of life is depleting. So it’s things like stress that increase our need for magnesium. Carney said. “We all have stress, caffeine, alcohol, excess sugar and sweat. We live in Houston, right? Some medications increase our magnesium needs. Some people take diuretics for high blood pressure. They take acid blockers for reflux. Some antibiotics also increase our magnesium needs. People who drink dark colas have phosphoric acid, which increases our magnesium needs. So you can see that our way of life is causing problems. So not getting enough from food, but for us the lifestyle that is disappearing is causing people to be lacking.

Some foods that contain magnesium are:

• Cashews

• Almonds

• Sunflower seeds

• Unthreshed wheat

• Beans

• Quinoa

• Leafy leaves

• Dark chocolate

• Avocado

“I recommend people go with canned magnesium. So things like glycinate,” she said. “If you go to the store and you get oxides and carbonates … they’re all cheap, but they don’t work,” Carney said.

Carney recommends magnesium citrate when someone is experiencing constipation because she says it relieves that symptom.

She also recommends taking it at night because it helps with sleep. Start with 400 mg and go up if you don’t feel great or if you are very sleepy.

Of course, people with chronic pain should ask the doctor before combining with other treatments.