.SOMETIMES RAW.

You may have heard of magnesium before, but what exactly is it? Is it something you should get more of in your diet? What about supplementation? In today’s post, I am going to share with you what magnesium is, the benefits, signs of deficiency, and my personal experience with it.

What is magnesium?

Magnesium is a mineral with many functions in the body. It helps support heart health, nerve and muscle function and healthy bones. Over 300 enzymes use magnesium for a variety of essential processes in the body every single day. Needless to say, it’s an important one!

Magnesium is found naturally in many foods but can also be taken as a supplement or topically as creams and gels for muscle relaxation. The amount of magnesium that you need per day depends on your age, sex, and life stage you’re at, such as pregnancy. But generally about 300-400mg/day is the recommended amount. Others may require more if there are any issues with digestion and absorption of nutrients.

Food Sources of Magnesium

Magnesium is found naturally in many foods:

• nuts and seeds like pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts, almonds and sunflower seeds
• dark leafy greens like spinach and Swiss chard
• whole grains
• legumes like black eyed peas and edamame
• potatoes with the skin on
• and even dark chocolate!

Magnesium Deficiency

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to be low in this vital nutrient due to diets that lack magnesium-rich plant foods. Additionally, high consumption of alcohol, coffee, phosphoric acid found in sodas, salt, and even stress can deplete this mineral in our body. Those with digestive disorders, diabetes, athletes and older adults may be at higher risk of magnesium deficiency.

Possible signs of magnesium deficiency can include:

• muscle cramps, pain, or spasms
• joint pain
• headaches or migraines
• insomnia
• anxiety
• hypertension (high blood pressure)
• depression
• constipation
• hypothyroidism

Benefits of Magnesium

Heart health: magnesium promotes healthy blood pressure. Those with hypertension and even arrhythmias can benefit from getting optimal amounts of magnesium in their diet.

Bone health: we all know calcium is needed for healthy bones, but not just calcium alone. We need a dance of calcium, magnesium, vitamin D and other minerals to support bone health. Up to 60% of magnesium is stored in our bones. If you’re at risk for low bone density, you’ll want to pay attention to your magnesium and overall mineral intake.

Muscle relaxation: Magnesium is best known for having muscle relaxing properties, making it useful for things like cramps (including period cramps), spasms, or restless legs. Since cramps can be a sign of deficiency in some cases, increasing your intake of this mineral can make a difference in the muscle pain you experience.

Sleep: Magnesium is great for aiding sleep because of its calming and relaxing properties. Many people find that increasing their intake of magnesium helps improve sleep quality and quantity. This may be due to the way that magnesium mitigates stress and anxiety. Try an Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) bath in the evening to help with a good night’s sleep. Not only with the warm water relax your body, but the addition of magnesium may help, too.

Constipation: Magnesium in the form of a citrate supplement helps draw water into the bowels and soften stool which can relieve constipation.

PMS: Premenstrual syndrome involves a variety of uncomfortable symptoms in the days leading up to your period, like cramps and breast tenderness. Magnesium plays a key role in relaxing muscles and also reducing inflammation, which is why it can be massively helpful for those who suffer from PMS. I have personally found magnesium to make drastic improvements in my PMS symptoms.

Migraines: Like most health issues, migraines are multifactorial but low levels of magnesium can play a role. Stress and dehydration can also play a role here, but upping your dietary intake of magnesium may be helpful for you if you suffer from migraines.

How to get more Magnesium + should you take a supplement?

Food should be the primary focus when it comes to obtaining adequate nutrition. You can start increasing your magnesium intake naturally by…

• adding more legumes to your diet through salads, soups, or stews
• adding nuts to baked goods, as a snack (like trail mix), or onto oatmeal or granola
• enjoying a spoonful of nut butter, like almond or cashew, with fruit, toast, or in smoothies
• eating more leafy greens.
• choose whole grains products instead of white

To fill in the gaps or for those who need higher amounts of a specific nutrient, supplementation can be helpful. Speak to your doctor if you have any questions about taking a new supplement.

My Experience

I am very happy with PURE Magnesiumglycinat and take up to two pills every second day and I feel that my overall levels of magnesium have improved.

Please keep in mind that this is my unique anecdotal experience which means that it’s based on personal accounts and not part of any sort of rigorous scientific study. Everybody’s needs are very different. Always speak to your doctor if you have any concerns about any symptoms you are experiencing.

Hey my friend. Why do you look so frustrated? Oh, it is the pandemic and the dumb new rules. Do not beat yourself up about this. It is totally okay that you snoozed your alarm and slept past 10 am on a Friday. You still did not receive that negative PRC test that is able to reduce your ten! day quarantine to five. Rules over new rules that make absolutely no sense anymore. Lockdown for the unvaccinated, lockdown for everyone, PCR tests for those with a pirate eye patch but they have to wear a blue sweater. In addition, these people have to have one arm on the left side.

Not only is it okay but it is probably for the best if you stay home. Relax. The system wants you to. I am not a doctor, but I have been to one or two before, and if your body needed that rest then it was a hundred per cent the healthy thing to do. You know, I think I read somewhere that some people just aren’t taking too much shit anyway. Like, biologically. Clearly, with these new rules implemented by “experts” you are just wired to stay up until 2 am watching “Working Moms” with your partner and then sleep until lunch. Besides, you really think it would have been better if you showed up to the morning meeting on time? Please. Your are only allowed to if you are vaccinated or at least dropped the PCR test in the pick-up box on time so they see your test result is negative. Taking this gurgle test at 8.30 am gives you a 24 hour guarantee that you won’t get this virus in the meantime….. are you kidding? Are you going into a sealed glass box for 24 hours after you have taken this gurgle test? No! You are moving around. You are at work. But, hey, the experts say, we have to do this. At least now, since you stayed home, you are well rested and can tell your entire team via “Teams Meeting” about that Kate Foster is pregnant again but actually cheated on her husband Nathan. So who is the father? Also are her boobs fake? Watch “Working Moms” – it is awesome.

OMG, your cannot be serious! Someone is mad at you because you showed up at work without a negative PCR test but with a negative Antigen test that is however not valid at this current covid-stage? But you are healthy, have a negative test AND have absolutely no symptoms and they send you home again? Guess what? You deserve it. Make sure you text all your colleagues at work how many episodes of Sherlock Holmes you watched and how comfy it is on your couch. Also throw in any project you did in your garden, things you got done, or ordered online, worked out with, and how much fun cooking at home is while drinking a glass of wine at noon. The least you can do in this situation is to orally vaccinate at home with alcohol since you cannot leave your house for days because it is possible that WEGA police officers have surrounded your property by now, equipped with Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson tranquilliser guns or darts to hunt you down.

I am sorry but all this is literally insane. Has the government ever heard of a little something called sanity or work-life balance? We all should just adopt what the Scandinavian countries are doing, meaning chilling the fuck down a bit and let the virus run its course? There, people can walk freely again without this damn FFP2 mask. This would make many people here in Austria a billion times happier, less miserable, and more productive. Another key factor is that nobody understands all these rules anymore. Too many and too confusing!

So, you are in quarantine again because someone at work was exposed to someone who may have been tested Corona positive two weeks ago. Quite factually, taking forced time off work and then telling your team (there is no I in team, or is it!?) about the awesome show you binge-watched all day and night is healthy for everyone. It builds camaraderie. Camaraderie is what makes people like their jobs even more.

You are still waiting for your PCR test result, huh? I heard they lost quite a bunch or ran out of them since so many people want to get tested to enjoy a Glühwein at the overcrowded Christmas Market at the Town Hall in Vienna. It is totally fine to go there if you are vaccinated because then you won’t need a PCR test. Makes sense, right?! Because with two to three vaccines you are fully immunised, cannot get the virus anymore, AND cannot spread it. Also, you can remove the mask for good since you are vaccinated right?! Oh, hold on: YOU CANNOT? You still have to test and wear the mask? Well, guess why? BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT IMMUNISED. YOU CAN GET IT, YOU CAN SPREAD IT! Healthier are most likely the ones who (have to) test every day and are as negative as my attitude toward all this Corona madness. Why would you send a symptom-free, healthy person with negative PCR test to home office? He cannot work in your office anymore because he is not vaccinated? Are you kidding me? I will rest just my case.

This simply cannot go on like this. Oh, someone said that the unvaccinated are rewarded by being able to stay ten days in quarantine? What the actual fuck? Being locked up is not a cool thing! Let’s focus on the fact that something unjust and absolutely horrible is happening to you and society.

You should get to enjoy at least five glasses of the best whiskey there is without feeling guilty about it. And obviously you need a couple of slices of homemade pizza. As a base, repeat after me: “I am amazing, healthy, have a negative test, have zero symptoms, and am locked away. FUCK THIS SHIT!” Seriously. I am not going to let you spiral here. I know this all sucks. We all suffer with this seemingly never-ending pandemic while looking sceptically at a dysfunctional government that comes up with more nonsense and lost track of the overall situation.

Of course you want to punch some people in the face. Honestly, anyone in your situation would want to. Maybe you can say that certain people bumped into you. Accidentally, sure, but how were you supposed to know that? He could have been a murderer overall. These days, nobody trusts anybody anymore. He could have had the virus and try to get you infected so you literally swung in self-defence. I really don’t understand why you are giving yourself such a hard time about this. It happens. It doesn’t, like, make you a bad person.

Neither does pushing certain people onto the subway track, by the way. I mean, what choice did you have? He was ranting about you should wear an additional face-mask, have 2 meters distance, goggles, and gloves. What exactly were you supposed to do? Let him ruin your life? I don’t think so. Can I ask you a question? I hope this isn’t offensive, but are you in therapy already? It just seems to me like you really should see someone. We all should after two(!) years of this insanity.

Look, I’m not saying that this was the best day of your life. It’s O.K. to wallow for a bit. Finish the pint of ice cream. Tomorrow is a new day. You have so much amazing shit ahead of you, because you are amazing. And this will be over at some point, I heard. Maybe the PCR result will get in tomorrow. Maybe not, and you will have another relaxed day at home. Stay positive and focus on your Self even if another lockdown will be announced today.

I am now in thin-ice territory.

Talking about relationships, especially toxic ones, are bound to cause distress and, in some cases, even heartbreak. Upsetting as it might get, most of us, sooner or later, are bound to find ourselves in this type of toxicity. How to get out? That’s where things get difficult. When a relationship starts turning sour, we immediately write it off as nothing more than a rough patch. Everyone has their ups and downs, and we want to be there both for the better and for the worse.

When time passes and the good times are a distant memory, we need to acknowledge that we are in trouble. Our treasured relationships, no matter if they are a love affair, friendship, or family member variety, are worth fighting for. But what happens when you are the only one fighting? When you are exhausting yourself to no avail, getting neither help nor appreciation from your loved one? Or even worse, when that person treats you with outright unkindness or disrespect? What happens if you, after every meeting, leave feeling drained, sad, angry, or hopeless, and you no longer believe the relationship to be salvageable?

We are taught to never give up on love, but what about when love gives up on us?

Whenever I talk about simplicity, minimalism, or scaled-down life choices, I inevitably end up on the subject of decluttering, organising, and downsizing – leaving my home, wardrobe, desktop, or mind feeling spars, clear, neat, and manageable. I go through my drawers, kitchen, phone, schedules, attics, and music playlists with gusto, discarding anything I render to be more dragging-down than a pick-me-up.

Yet, the one place I seem desperately reluctant to go through with trash bags in hand is my contact list. Few want to be considered selfish enough to only keep the relationships that are rewarding and respectful. But why? Why do we value the privilege of your own company so low, that it needn’t be received with gratitude? Or at the very least with appropriately good manners? We often find ourselves accepting toxic treatment that we would be appalled by if done to others. Could it maybe, just maybe, be that leaving is something reasonable to do? And instead, give your energy to the relationships that are deserving of it?

Simplifying our life often comes down to reducing the overwhelming and stress-inducing components of our day-to-day routines. Whether it be material things, thought processes, or activities. We want to focus on the things that give energy instead of drain it, that give us happiness instead of worry, that give our everyday life beauty and meaning instead of tension and anxiety. This is a good way to live. It makes sense and is reasonable. It might be selfish, but then again, what isn’t? Yet, the thought of decluttering where need be, especially among our relationships, is a daunting one. Giving your full focus to the things, thoughts, people, and plans that deserve you isn’t just selfish, it is also fair. To yourself, if no one else.

To tread carefully on this thin ice, I could assure you that I am not suggesting something as drastic as breaking up or letting a toxic relationship peter you out. But then maybe I am. Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.