MAGNESIUM—THE ANTI-STRESS MINERAL!!

MAGNESIUM…The Anti-Stress Mineral
By Charles Poliquin

Sleep better, be less fatigued, make your brain work better, get rid of stress, and support your health with magnesium. And lose abdominal fat and have a leaner body composition. Magnesium is the answer!

Certainly one of the most important nutrients needed by the human body, magnesium is involved in all of these issues, as well as at least 300 essential biochemical reactions, including protein synthesis, testosterone production, insulin sensitivity, calcium absorption, and regulation of the sympathetic nervous system. Plus, magnesium has been shown to enable the metabolism of vitamin D, meaning it is essential for bone health and treatment of osteoporosis.

Three things you should know about magnesium to begin are:

First, Americans are chronically deficient in magnesium and this pattern of scarcity is evident across the Western world.

Second, the standard test used by medical doctors for magnesium measures serum magnesium levels in the blood, but only about one percent of this mineral is found in the blood. Rather, about 66 percent is found in bone and 33 percent in skeletal and cardiac muscle. In order to effectively asses magnesium levels that reflect how it works in the body you need to test content in the red blood cells. It’s very common for individuals with serum magnesium lab results in the normal range to be deficient in magnesium.

Third, magnesium plays a role in physical performance and muscle function, meaning that athletes and recreational trainees are commonly deficient because strength training increases magnesium requirements. I present the many reasons you should make sure your magnesium levels measure up below with detailed research with MY TAKEAWAYS if you just want the quick tips. At the end you’ll find a link to a magnesium supplementation guide.

1. Sleep Better and Reduce Insomnia
Magnesium has a calming effect on the nervous system, meaning that if you are deficient your heart rate and sympathetic nervous system will be sent into overdrive. Additionally, lack of magnesium has shown to alter electrical activity in the brain, causing agitated sleep and frequent awakenings.

A recent study of people with poor sleep quality as measured with the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index found that taking a magnesium supplement decreased chronic inflammatory stress levels and improved sleep quality. Researchers suggest that adding magnesium to their diets decreased the participants’ sympathetic nervous activity, effectively reducing stress and allowing them to relax. Take note that in this study, lower magnesium levels were also associated with a higher body mass index, indicating the connection between body fat percentage and magnesium levels.

A second study supported the relationship between low magnesium levels, sleep deprivation, sympathetic nervous system stimulation, and elevated heart rate response to exercise. Participants were chronically sleep restricted and it was found that a decrease in magnesium levels coincided with increasing levels of sleep deprivation. At the same time, norephinephrine concentration increased—an indication of sympathetic nervous stimulation—which was suggested as the reason for the diminishing magnesium levels. Meanwhile, heart rate was elevated after a fatiguing exercise test, lending support to the connection between los magnesium, high stress, and anxiety.

MY TAKEAWAY: Take Magnesium to help you sleep restfully throughout the night and de-stress.

2. Improve Brain Function and Fight Depression
Magnesium is essential for a great memory. Supplementing with magnesium has been shown to increase brain function by improving brain electrical activity, meaning elevated learning and memory functions. This has implications for depression and a chronic low mood as well. Magnesium plays a major role in neurotransmitter release, which affects the discharge of brain chemicals such as serotonin that makes you feel good.

Research from MIT has shown that magnesium regulates a key receptor in the brain that supports memory and learning. Adequate magnesium content in the cerebrospinal fluid is essential for maintaining the plasticity of synapses. Further, magnesium is necessary for the proper activity of many enzymes within brain cells that control cellular and memory functions.

MY TAKEAWAY: Magnesium makes your brain work better and improves memory!

3. Raise Testosterone Levels and Build Muscle
Magnesium is necessary for energy metabolism and physical performance and new research shows that taking it increases testosterone levels. A 2011 study tested a group of sedentary men who received 10 mg of magnesium per kilogram of body weight a day (Group 1), a group of male tae kwon do athletes taking the same magnesium protocol daily (Group 2), and a group of tae kwon do athletes who did not take magnesium (Group 3). Group 2 had the greatest increases in testosterone levels after tae kwon do practice, followed by Group 3, while Group 1 had the lowest levels (no practice or exercise), indicating that magnesium supplementation raises testosterone levels when combined with exercise. This suggests that adequate magnesium in the body not only increase testosterone when training but also has a performance-enhancing effect.

MY TAKEAWAY: If you’re not taking magnesium you’re missing out on the greatest testosterone response and leaving muscle gains on the table.

4. Get Stronger and Maximize Protein Synthesis
Magnesium supports protein synthesis because it enables enzyme function in the body. Additionally, research shows that magnesium supplementation paired with resistance exercise can make your stronger. This study found that a group that took eight mg per kilogram of body weight a day of magnesium while strength training three times a week, improved strength significantly more than a control group that only trained. Researchers suggest that magnesium plays a role at the ribosomal level in protein synthesis, and taking it while strength training leads to significant strength and muscle mass gains.

MY TAKEAWAY: Optimal magnesium levels are necessary for muscle development.

5. Decrease Inflammation: Improve Heart Health
Inflammation is not only an obstacle to recovery from hard workouts; it also contributes to heart disease, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, and diabetes. A study by George Washington University found that magnesium deficiency led to increased inflammation in the body, affecting blood vessels, cardiovascular, and intestinal tissues. Cardiovascular tissue inflammation can lead to heart disease because it increases oxidative stress, while intestinal inflammation causes digestive disorders.

Magnesium deficiency also decreases lipid metabolism and increases blood pressure, negatively impacting the health of the arteries and ultimately causing atherosclerosis. Research shows that adding magnesium to the diet in the form of 365 mg magnesium twice daily for six months can reduce the likelihood of experiencing exercise-induced chest pain. Research participants had previously experienced chest pain before the study. Taking magnesium also allowed them to improve exercise duration by 14 percent over a control group.

MY TAKEAWAY: Magnesium is critical for cardiovascular health because it decreases inflammation.

6. Get Stronger Bones: Prevent Osteoporosis
Calcium is necessary for stronger bones, but it does nothing if you don’t have adequate levels of magnesium and vitamin D. Magnesium activates cellular enzyme activity, allowing the body to convert vitamin D into its active form to help with calcium absorption and bone building. Magnesium leads to the release of the hormone calcitonin, which helps to preserve bone structure and draws calcium out of the blood and soft tissues and back into the bones. Plus, magnesium suppresses parathyroid hormone, which breaks bone down.

Research studies point to the importance of the calcium to magnesium ratio (ideally in the 1:1 range), and the integrated role of vitamin D and magnesium in bone health. Support for the relationship between these two minerals was from research that found that giving a vitamin D supplement to obese women who are deficient in both vitamin D and magnesium resulted in an increase in magnesium concentrations. Interestingly, for non-obese women with the same deficiencies and supplementation, magnesium concentrations increased but not significantly.

MY TAKEAWAY: Your calcium supplement is useless without adequate magnesium. Combine calcium and magnesium in equal doses… and don’t forget the vitamin D.

7. Improve Insulin Sensitivity: Prevent Diabetes
Low magnesium levels will decrease your insulin sensitivity, making it harder for you to lose fat and get lean. It will also hamper the body’s storage of glycogen, meaning a longer recovery from workouts. Also, increased insulin resistance and poorly controlled diabetes results in more magnesium loss, magnifying the whole problem.

A review from the journal Biological Trace Element Research reports that magnesium plays an important role in carbohydrate metabolism, while influencing the activity of hormones that control blood glucose levels. Low magnesium can cause insulin resistance, which may result in the kidneys being unable to retain magnesium during episodes of hyperglycemia, creating a downward spiral of magnesium deficiency and subsequently diabetes.

MY TAKEAWAY: Magnesium supports a lean body comp AND prevents diabetes.

8. Prevent Metabolic Syndrome: Magnesium and Pregnancy
Low magnesium levels are common in pregnant women and have been found to increase risk of the development of diabetes and metabolic syndrome in the child after birth. Metabolic syndrome is an inflammatory condition, and lack of magnesium results in a stress effect that activates the sympathetic nervous system, increasing oxidative stress and inflammation. Are you getting the point that all these health problems interact? Metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, elevated sympathetic activity, decreased sleep, and cortisol release (which I’ll get to in #9) are all inter-related.

MY TAKEAWAY: Magnesium deficiency in pregnant women can lead to diabetes and metabolic syndrome in the child.

9. Stress: Magnesium Necessary for Detox of Cortisol
Remember that magnesium affects the sympathetic nervous system and norepinephrine release, which causes cortisol release as part of your stress response. Magnesium is essential for the detoxification of cortisol as well and adequate levels help return you to more relaxed state.

MY TAKEAWAY: Magnesium supplementation lowers cortisol levels.

10. Digestion: Magnesium Deficiency Causes Constipation and Digestive-Related Diseases
There are a number of symptoms of magnesium deficiency including constipation, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, muscle tremors and twitching, and poor mental function. Normal digestion involves two to three soft bowel movements a day, but the average person has a hard bowel movement once every two days.

Studies shows that magnesium improves digestion and researchers suggest the beneficial effect of dietary fiber on a healthy gastrointestinal tract is due to its high magnesium content. An added benefit to faster transit time through the GI tract is to reduce the risk of disease including colon cancer and diabetes.

MY TAKEAWAY: Magnesium improves digestion and eliminates constipation. This lowers diabetes and colon cancer risk.

11. Treat ADHD and Hyperactivity
Studies of children with ADHD consistently point to low magnesium levels as a cause. 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. A mere 200 mg daily will do the trick.

MY TAKEAWAY: Take magnesium to improve focus and decrease ADHD.

12. Abdominal Fat and Central Obesity: Waist Circumference Can Suggest Magnesium Deficiency
This may be the single most valuable point highlighting the essential role of magnesium in weight management: because of magnesium’s role in glucose regulation, insulin sensitivity, and its ability to decrease inflammation and anxiety, lower cortisol, improve HDL cholesterol levels, and stimulate protein synthesis, adequate levels are absolutely critical for a lean body.

Magnesium is particularly important in treating obesity, because extremely overweight individuals commonly have metabolic syndrome and chronic low-grade inflammation, which is magnified by typically low magnesium status. Additionally, research shows that high abdominal fat levels are related to excessive cortisol, low magnesium, and greater risk of all the related health issues listed above.

MY TAKEAWAY: Adequate magnesium is crucial for treating obesity and a lean body comp.

Lose weight, increase energy and relieve depression by boosting brain chemical dopamine – Here’s how to do it!

(NaturalNews) Increase energy, lose weight, feel happier and eliminate depression by raising the levels of the brain neurotransmitter dopamine with simple dietary changes.

Dopamine is naturally produced by the brain and controls the body’s movements, stimulates metabolism and proper body weight, supports the circulatory system and governs the brain’s information flow. Too little dopamine in the system is responsible for a lack of response in an individual, deadening the ability to feel emotion and creating a sense of indifference. In addition, low dopamine levels slow the metabolism, contributing to weight gain, low energy, sluggishness and depression. Too little dopamine can cause unwanted bodily movements, jerking, twitching and slurred speech. Proper levels of dopamine are necessary to prevent conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. In the right amounts, dopamine encourages weight loss and helps the body maintain its proper weight.

Foods that boost metabolism and restore dopamine levels
It’s important to maintain proper dopamine levels to enable an individual to experience their feelings of pleasure and have the ability to generate the energy to live life. Adequate dopamine raises the body’s energy levels and increases metabolism promoting weight loss and well being. A variety of foods can help boost metabolism while increasing the body’s ability to function at its optimal level.

· Proteins are high in amino acids which contribute to the production of chemicals that stimulate dopamine in the brain. Foods such as eggs, fish, poultry and red meats are all high in protein and great for increasing metabolism. Fish in particular, is high in protein and contains healthy Omega 3 fatty acids, which contribute to increased brain function. The best proteins are those that are organic and do not contain antibiotics, hormones or pesticides.

· Red beets restore dopamine levels and produce a sense of well being. Beets contain the amino acid betaine, which acts like an antidepressant, creating feelings of pleasure and joy.

· Apples boost brain power and help with weight loss. Apples are high in quercitin, a potent antioxidant, and may help prevent neurodegenerative diseases and stimulate dopamine production.

· Drink a daily dose of watermelon juice, which is high in vitamin B-6, an important nutrient for dopamine production

· Foods containing folate help the brain produce more dopamine. Good sources of folate are found in most leafy green vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, lentils, garbanzo beans, black beans, and papaya. Plant sources of folate must be eaten raw to provide enough folate as a nutrient source.

Amino acids, vitamins and herbs boost metabolism by raising dopamine levels in the brain
· Tyrosine is the main amino acid that triggers dopamine production in the brain. Foods high in tyrosine are bananas, strawberries, blueberries and prunes.

· Include a multivitamin containing vitamins B, C and E to help produce additional dopamine supplies in the brain, notes Franklin Institute’s, “Science Learning” website

· According to Blessed Maine Herbs, certain herbs are recommended to help the brain produce higher amounts of dopamine, such as fenugreek, ginkgo biloba, Indian ginseng, red clover, nettles, dandelion and peppermint. In particular, green tea contains polyphenols, which can increase dopamine output. These can be taken as supplements or consumed as herbal teas. Because herbs may cause side effects, it is necessary to use care when adding them to any health plan. An herbal practitioner should be consulted for directions how to use herbs and in what dose.

Sluggishness and lack of energy may indicate a serious disease in addition to low dopamine levels. If symptoms continue or do not respond to dietary changes or increased supplementation, see a health practitioner.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036986_dopamine_brain_chemical_metabolism.html#ixzz2EgHQIOXr

20 Benefits of Walking!!

1. Helps with Weight Management

2. It’s Accessible to Everyone

3. Doesn’t Require Special Equipment

4. One of the Easiest Ways to Get More Active

5. Reduces Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety

6. It’s a Low Impact Exercise

7. Lowers Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL)
Cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol)

8. Raises High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) Cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol)

9. Lowers Blood Pressure

10. Reduces the Risk of Some Cancers

11. Helps Reduce Risk adn Aids with the Management of Type 2 Diabetes

12. Improves Mood

13. Helps Maintain Strong Bones

14. Reduces the Risk of Heart Attack

15. Less Likely to Lead to Injuries

16. Reduces Stress

17. Reduces Risk of Heart Disease

18. You Don’t Have to Pay For It

19. Builds Aerobic Fitness

20. Helps Maintain Lean Muscle

Walking Your Way Into Better Health Every Step Of The Way!!!!

from MotiveWeight.Blogspot.com

The Four Happiness Neurotransmitters and Your Brain

Mesolimbic dopaminergic and serotonergic pathways. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If your high in Seritonin, you’re positive, confident, flexible, and easy going.

If you’re sinking in Seritonin, you’ll tend to become negative, obsessive, worried irritable, ad sleepless.

If you’re high in Catecholamines (norepinephrin, dopamine, and adrenalin are in this group), you’re energized, upbeat, and alert.

If your Catecholamines have crashed, you can sink into a flat, lethargic funk.

If you’re high in GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), you’re relaxed and stress-free.

If there’s a gap in your GABA, you’ll be wired, stressed, and overwhelmed.

If you’re high in Endorphins, you’re full of cozy feelings of comfort, pleasure, and euphoria.

If you’re near the end of your Endorphins, you may be crying during commercials and overly sensative to hurt.

from the Mood Cure, by Julia Ross

Your Journey to Healing

Regions of the cerebral cortex associated with pain. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Self-knowledge is frightening.  Which means that for many people, healing is frightening.  When we look around ourselves and see just how dominant entertainment has become in our society, we must keep in mind the basic reason for which we love entertainment– because it allows us to pass time without reflecting on who we are, what we are, what we want, what we believe.  When we keep ourselves entertained by outside sources–movies and music and sports and video games–we don’t have to reflect, and we don’t have to look into our hearts.  And so many people wonder why healing is so difficult sometimes.

If my heart has been broken, the only way that I can heal is to get in touch with how I really feel inside, and why.  It’s very similar to having to heal a broken bone–we need to know where the pain is located, what caused the break, and what shape the bone is in right now.  If I’ve done something that’s hurt me deeply, like causing another person pain or doing something that violates my moral principles, then I need to look inside and find the source of my discomfort and then deal with it on its terms, not necessarily the terms that are the easiest for me to handle.

“Expanding our awareness of who we are.”  Frightening words, aren’t they?  One of the reasons for which people find these words so frightening is that they’re afraid that as they learn more about themselves, they’ll lose much of what they find comfortable now.  As I’ve grown in my life, I’ve given up things like television, and I know plenty of people who are completely unwilling to do something like that.  To me, though, it’s not a loss–it’s a gain of plenty of free time to do things that are much more important to me.

We’re all hurting.  But healing doesn’t necessarily come from a prescription or a trip to the doctor’s office.  Much healing comes from looking inside and recognizing the stress, the negative feelings and attitudes, the sorrow, the pain, the hopelessness that we keep locked up inside ourselves and that continues to gnaw away at us from the inside, causing much of our physical pain and discomfort.  We need to heal the spirit by knowing the spirit, and then our bodies will follow suit.

Healing in its fullest
sense requires looking into
our heart and expanding our
awareness of who we are.

Mitchell Gaynor

Healing is the journey.  The destination is yourself.  The full recognition of all the different aspects of yourself—your joy, your sorrow, your pain, your pleasure—all lead you to the source of who you are.  Only by having intimate contact with this source can you experience the fullness of your life.  Only by fearlessly looking within can you embrace the landscape of your life and open yourself completely to all the love and compassion that lives inside you.

Philip Berk

What Are Your Emotions Telling YOU!!!

Image via Wikipedia

We are Emotional Beings and we were created to feel the gamut of emotions.

To stifle your emotions is like trying to prevent heat from rising, no matter how we try to stuff them, they will ultimately find a way to come out.

This may be in the form of physical conditions such as upset stomach, tension headaches, sore eyes or more serious conditions the more we ignore and stuff  our emotions.

Or we may use sarcasm, snide remarks, humor, laughter or tears to release our emotions.

Many end up with addictions as a way of coping with their emotions and stuff them that way.

They only way to be free and who we were created to be is to release and let go and to feel and embrace our emotions and allow ourselves to feel the gamut in a safe and effective way that sets us free and brings about true and lasting healing.

What we release is released and what we retain is retained it is that simple.

So next time you feel a tension headache or an upset tummy with no physical reason for, ask yourself what am I feeling and why and wait for the answer and work through what comes.

Our society is so used to the quick fix, the instant cure, that we have forgotten that not all things can be fixed or cured by a pill.

Our feelings are a gift and we are to embrace them and what we learn in and through them as well.

Forgetting does not work it only covers up the problem, just as treating the symptoms of a disease or ailment does not cure the root cause.

Look for the root cause work on removing that and you will enjoy a happier and much healthier life with freedom and peace.

Blessings as you work through the gift of emotions!!

Spice Up Your Life!!

Did you know that spices are not just great tasting to add to your food to spice things up???

They have health benefits for a variety of issues regarding your health!

Cinnamon lowers your insulin levels thereby helpful in reducing blood sugars and your waist line

Ginger helps with nausea as well as helping with morning sickness in pregnancy, has anti inflammatory properties, and helps with metabolism

Curry helps the heart, Brain, lowers cholesterol, helps you lose weight and as an anti inflammatory(best in a pill form for this especially arthritis)

Garlic is an anti Bacterial, anti viral, anti fungal, as well as great for the immune system(in odorless gel cap form as well)

Rosemary helps lower blood pressure, an anti inflammatory, helps prevent cataracts

Oregano is an anti viral, anti fungal, anti candida, and boosts your immune system(can also get in oil form to fight off colds)

These are a few spices to liven up your foods, and your health and cost effective too.  Buy in fresh form to cook with or in pill form to get in higher doses.  Use about 1/2 teaspoon daily for adults, and half that for children.

To your Health and Well Being!!

Complulsive Behavior Patterns

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Addiction:

If you have a compulsive behavior pattern such as smoking, over eating, drinking, TV watching, Internet addiction, or whatever this is what you can do…

When you notice the compulsive need arising in you, stop and take three conscious breaths.  This generates awareness.  Then for a few minutes be aware of the compulsive urge itself as an energy field inside you

Consciously feel that need to physically or mentally ingest or consume a certain substance or the desire to act out some form of compulsive behavior.

Then take a few more conscious breaths.

After that you may find that the compulsive urge has disappeared-for the time being-or you may find that it still overpowers you, and you cannot help but indulge or act it out again.  Don’t make it into a problem.  Make the addiction part of your awareness practices in the way mentioned above.

As awareness grows, addictive patterns will weaken and eventually dissolve.

Remember, however, to catch any thoughts that justify the addictive behavior, sometimes with clever arguments, as the arise in your mind.

Ask yourself, who is talking here; and you will realize the addiction is talking.  As long as you know that, as long as you are present as the observer of your mind, it is less likely to trick you into doing what it wants.

Try it, what do you have to lose but an addiction damaging your health and mental well being!!

Mind over Matter!!

Iodine in the Prevention and Cure of Allergies

Image by matthewvenn via Flickr

When you eat a protein, stomach acid must break the proteins down into amino acids.  As the digested food reaches the small intestine, the amino acids are absorbed so the body can make and repair proteins.

However if you don’t have enough stomach acid, whole or partially digested proteins reach the small intestine and are absorbed.  The body recognizes these as foreign since it didn’t make them.  Thus you become allergic to the foods you normally eat.

The Reason for this allergy is lack of stomach acid.  Making stomach acid requires Iodine, Zinc, Vitamin B1, Water, Salt, and Carbon Dioxide.  The amount of Iodine in table salt is about 1/1000 of what you need, there is no Iodine in sea salt, and our soils are devoid of Iodine.  About 80% of the population is deficient in Zinc.  Thus most people have allergies because they can’t make stomach acid.

Taking Antacids or drugs that stop acid production don’t solve the problem, they cover up the problem and further create the problem.  Without stomach acid you can’t absorb Zinc even if you take it.  There are over 350 Biochemical Reactions that rely on Zinc, including the production of neurochemical.  If you take drugs that shut down your stomach acid, you will become depressed because you can’t make Serotonin.

If you have allergies, your adrenals are tired and dysfunctional.  You are drawn to CATS(caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and sugar).  they give you temporary relief, but they place additional demands on your adrenals.

Find out what you are allergic too.  Avoid those foods for up to 6 months.  take Iodine, Zinc, Vitamin B1 to start making stomach acid.  While correcting those deficiencies, take Betaine with each meal.  This pill from the beet plant makes stomach acid so you won’t become allergic to the new set of foods while you are becoming able to make your own stomach acid in a normal way.

Bowen Therapy can help rebalance your body and flush your adrenals while you are helping your body to heal.

You can also check out the liquid supplement on my website for Iodine as liquids are more absorbable, this is called Limu Plus.

To your heal, I will discuss how to help your Adrenals in the next post, so stay tuned!

 

Probiotics

Image via Wikipedia

Probiotic Assist with:

1.competition against harmful micro-organisms including candida preventing colonization of pathogens through the production of inhibitory substances including acids and hydrogen peroxide and natural antibiotics

2.enhancement of digestion of lactose(milk sugar)

3.immune enhancement, including enhanced macrophase activity

4.reduction in the levels of and deactivation of potential cancer causing chemicals, particularly in the colon and direct anti-tumor activity of certain strains

5.reduction in liver toxicity

6.enhancement of peristalsis,digestion,regularity and re-absorption of nutrients, in infants, promotion of healthy digestive tract colonization

7.enhancement and balance of estrogen levels, prevention of osteoporosis through increased calcium uptake

8.protection against food poisoning, travelers’ diarrhea, allergies, skin problems

9.enhancement of vitamin status(B,K)digestion of proteins, fats, carbohydrates