Now this is how we start the day, especially if you already eat cereal. While raw oat bran offers about 225 mg of magnesium per 100 grams (and 256 calories), raw wheat bran offers near 350 mg of magnesium at half the calories. You are well on your way here, but there are a couple things to remember. These weights are dry weight. The addition of water will help you to eat more, but most water has very little magnesium content.  They’ll still be fairly high in magnesium, but no magnesium super food.
The other thing to remember is not to overdo it. Too much bran can cause bloating, gas and diarrhea. Take it slowly, and drink lots of water. The more bran you eat, the more water you need. If you stop yourself up with too much raw bran, it can inhibit your body’s absorption of other minerals. If you are wondering how to eat raw bran without feeling like a horse, try mixing with milk or even soymilk. A dd some sweetening in the form of honey or raisins, or others fruits. Add some cinnamon for a little tang.
The nice thing about raw bran for breakfast is that you are almost certain to cover your magnesium needs for the rest of the day by just eating normally.

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are in a category of their own so far as magnesium rich foods go. At 535 mg per 100 gram serving, you are covered for the whole day. The advantage of pumpkin seeds is that they are very suitable to snacking. Wherever you are, at any time of day, you can pop a few pumpkin seeds in your mouth and get roughly a milligram of magnesium per seed. Can’t go too wrong here, except watch the calories (over 500 per 100 grams).

Chocolate

The estimates of magnesium in chocolate range 100 mg to over 500 mg per 100 grams of chocolate servings. Milk chocolate or other highly diluted chocolates are well below even the 100 mg figure, and not worth considering for their magnesium value. Yet, it’s all here at the top of the list because most of us love to eat chocolate – so here’s an excuse, sort of. The thing to remember is that raw cocoa beans would be your absolute best source for magnesium, though they are certainly not to everyone’s taste, and not all that easy to find. To make them easier to eat, even enjoyable, try grinding the whole beans in a food processor, and sprinkling them on yogurt or ice cream. Or mix them with a drink in a juicer. Or add them to tea. If even this is more than you want to deal with, just take some cocoa powder and make an extra strong hot chocolate, or eat sweetened dark chocolate (at least 89% cocoa content). For more information about chocolate check out our posts about the benefits of chocolate and health chocolate scams.

Almonds and Other Nuts or Seeds

Almonds, with cashews running a close second, are excellent sources of magnesium. 100 grams of almonds pack in roughly 180 mg of magnesium, while 100 grams of cashews have almost 170 mg. Broken down, this means one almond is equivalent to 3 mg of magnesium. In fact, if we look at it that way, brazil nuts are super sources, with about 7 mg of magnesium in each nut (about 145 mg per 100 grams of brazil nuts). Pine nuts and just about all other nuts are also good sources of magnesium. Raw nuts, of course, are best (when they can be eaten).

Spinach

Spinach. No surprise here- we’ve always known it was healthy. A mere 100 grams of spinach is very easy to eat, very low in calories, and very high in magnesium as well as other great nutrients. Before turning up your nose at this food, try some treats such as spinach salad with bacon dressing, or creamy spinach soup. See our spinach recipes page for more. And read one to see a great partner for spinach.

Halibut

While many fish are good sources of magnesium, halibut is the king of magnesium rich foods…er, seafoods. A mere 3.5 oz. (100 gram) serving delivers a solid 107 mg of magnesium. Now halibut doesn’t have much taste, which is either a good or bad thing, depending on how much you like fish. Which is why it needs to be cooked with flourish. And there’s no better partner that our friend above – spinach. If you have doubts about the deliciousness that this powerhouse high magnesium meal can bring you, just look at this picture of halibut with spinach and garlic cream sauce. What a wonderful way to cure a magnesium deficiency!

Beans – Black or White

Beans, glorious beans…

Both white beans and black beans pack anywhere between 110-135 mg of magnesium rich goodness to each cup of boiled beans. That means bean soup!

White beans are high in potassium (but low in sodium), iron, manganese and soluble fiber as well. Soluble fiber is what helps your body rid itself of cholesterol. White beans also contain protease inhibitors, which are know to inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

Black beans are rich in protein, iron and vitamin B. Black beans also help reduce cholesterol, help maintain balanced blood sugar levels and (of course) prevent constipation. All of these factors help to lessen to incidence of heart disease, diabetes and many gastrointestinal disorders. Black beans are also rich in phytochemicals, which are substances found only in plant foods that are know to help fight cancer.

They also couldn’t be easier to eat, as there are a myriad of black bean recipes and white bean recipes. These are among the easiest ways to take in magnesium rich foods and to keep your body fit.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/238506-black-bean-nutritional-facts/#ixzz1YxPXvAqK

(Click Here for a Full List of Magnesium Rich Foods)

The full FDA list of magnesium content in foods is available from the FDA website.
Otherwise, go to our own list of magnesium rich foods and see a video there showing you some of the best.

A Note on Magnesium Rich Foods Lists

Toxic amounts of this health food are needed to impact magnesium levels.

Magnesium rich foods lists often include things like herbs, cocoa powder and kombu kelp (a tough and chewy seaweed). Great, except they are measuring magnesium per 100 gram (about 3.5 ounces) serving. Now go and try to down 100 grams of coriander. That would be more than a cup, if dry, and a heck of a lot even fresh. Or how about a cup of cocoa powder (not hot cocoa with milk, just the powder)? Don’t even think about the kombu. You’ll be chewing all day, and get an overdose of iodine long before you replenish your magnesium levels. So go ahead to the other lists, and view their advice – usually written by some overworked woman at a content sweatshop in Mumbai.

(Full List and Video of Magnesium Rich Foods)

You see how useless these unedited lists can be? I assume you are here to learn about which foods high in magnesium can help you avoid magnesium deficiency. And by that, I mean foods that you can enough of as a normal person to get the benefits of their magnesium content. Well, here’s a list of magnesium rich foods that you can actually use, and actually consume without some sort of superhuman and dangerous effort. Let’s get started….

Enjoy!

The artichoke is a good source of vitamin C, folate and potassium as well. With little sodium and no fat, the artichoke is a luxurious way to diet – a medium artichoke is about 25 calories.

It looks unusual because it is actually a kind of thistle, and the the artichoke (or the part we eat) is in fact the flower bud of a beautiful purple thistle flower. That said, as beautiful as it is when it flowers, a flowering artichoke is one that we can no longer eat!

First things first, when you buy artichokes look for a nice clean and green color, and check to see that the petals (leaves) allow you to wiggle them a bit. I prefer larger sizes, but some recipes may call for smaller sizes or even baby artichokes. Try to avoid those with many brown spots, which are caused by frost or simply by not being very fresh.

When you get the artichoke home, use a knife to cut the stem – the same as you would do for fresh cut flowers. You want to expose the still living part of the stem and stand the artichoke in a dish with a bit of water in it. Be sure to cut well enough that the artichoke can stand on its own. This will allow the artichoke to soak up a bit more water and plump out a bit – something that can make a great difference in taste when you are planning to boil them.

Now, when you are ready, the simplest and most elegant way to enjoy an artichoke is to boil it in salted water until tender. Once it’s tender, remove from the water and give it a chance to cool down. During the summer, you may wish to chill it.

To eat the artichoke, simply use your fingers to pull off one petal at a time, put the end that was attached to the stem in your mouth, and use your teeth to pull off the soft pulp at the moist end of the petal. The rest of the petal can be tossed in a dish set to the side. Continue eating this way, and you’ll eventually reach the tender heart. This can be eaten by hand as well, but may be a bit messier. The whole experience of eating this way is one of luxury. Now who says getting magnesium rich foods in your diet can’t be fun?

Speaking of diets…. if you’re not on one, you might like to prepare a dip into which you can dip the petals before eating each one. The most popular is (surprise) mayonnaise, or mayonnaise mixed with mustard. if you are counting calories, then you may want to experiment with a little fresh lemon juice, or vinegar. Or better yet just keep the mayo to a minimum on each bite.

As you get closer to the heart, the magnesium in the artichoke increases, so be sure to eat it to the end.

Of course, though the above is the most popular way to enjoy an artichoke, it’s far from the only way. Keep reading to get a few ideas and great recipes so you can enjoy magnesium rich artichokes without getting bored. (Is getting bored with artichokes even possible??)

Visit our artichoke recipe page, or try one of the recipes below…

Artichoke Recipes

Artichoke and Lima Bean Garlic Saute

Ingredients:

Baby artichokes

Garlic

Lima Beans

Parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Lima beans are a famously magnesium rich food. Combined with the artichokes you can have a gourmet side dish that is high in magnesium and memorable. This very simple dish can be made by slowly cooking the artichokes and garlic in a pan with a bit of olive oil. As the garlic turns brown, finally add the cooked lima beans and the chopped parsley. Season as needed.

Deep Fried Artichokes

This delectable treat comes from the California Artichoke Advisory Board . Do pay them a visit for more artichoke info, and other recipes including some great Italian dishes.

From the California Artichoke Advisory Board website.

1 cup fish batter mix
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup water
¼ cup beer
2 pounds baby artichokes, prepared as directed and quartered*
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
solid all vegetable shortening for frying, about 1 inch deep

Heat shortening to 350 degrees F. Mix together the batter mix, baking powder, water and beer. Dip artichokes in batter mix, then roll in bread crumbs mixed with Parmesan cheese. Fry 2 or 3 minutes or until light golden brown.

*For preparation of baby artichokes, trim to hearts, quarter, and place in water with lemon juice to prevent browning. Drain well before dipping in batter.

I came across this list, and was wowed by the number one magnesium super food right at the top. None other than coffee. 15,999 milligrams! That’s an outrageous number, considering your daily requirements are less than 500, or at most 800 if you follow the strongest proponents of magnesium. What does almost 16 grams of magnesium actually mean here? That’s enough to give diarrhea to you even if all you eat are rocks and starchy white rice.

This demonstrates a problem that many such lists have. If they list according to magnesium per 100 gram (about 4 ounces) servings, you’ll get things at the top of the list such as soy sauce, and fresh ground coffee (not the water, just the ground coffee beans).  Try downing 4 ounces of soy sauce or coffee beans in a sitting. You won’t enjoy it, and most likely you’ll stop to get sick before you get even close.

The items at the top of nutrition lists based on one serving size will be top-heavy with things that aren’t meant to be eaten in those volumes.

Lists based on calories have the same issue. While they can be helpful, you will find very low calorie things such as salt, coffee, and kombu seaweed that, once again, cannot be eaten in any bulk.

This is why we need to talk about magnesium foods one by one. So, let’s talk about coffee…

I love coffee, and so I love any excuse to drink more of it. However there’s a problem. Coffee both drains your body of magnesium and contribute. First the contribution:

One 8 oz. cup of coffee will provide you with 7 mg of magnesium. That’s it. If you drink 5 or 6 such cups per day, you’ll get the benefit of 35-42 mg of magnesium. Now, compare that to a cup of spinach, which will give you about 150 mg of magnesium, and a whole lot more nutrition to boot. So yes, coffee gives you some magnesium, but it’s hardly the preferred source.

Now the bad news. Caffeine causes your body to lose magnesium, mainly through the urine. In the long run, coffee probably costs you more magnesium than it gives you.

So, all in all, coffee is not the place to to to get your extra magnesium. On the other hand, if you enjoy drinking coffee, go for it. It does contribute a bit of magnesium to make up for what it takes, and it is one of the most enjoyable things a person can drink.

For a little more on coffee, head over to the Harvard School of Public Health. No matter how much magnesium in coffee there is, this will make you feel good about drinking it.

I mean, who wouldn’t want lead-free chocolate? Would we deny our body the same health consideration we give our Toyota’s gas tank? Worse, would we knowingly feed lead to our kids?

Obviously, this fear is so great that company’s can sell cocoa “superfoods” under names such as Xocai and Chava Vital Chocolate. The ad I clicked for Xocai promises “Healthy Chocolate Eat Dark Chocolate Enjoy health benefits Earn money while doing it.” Notice the lack of punctuation. That’s so they can jam more words in and still be under the maximum character count allowed by many ad companies. Notice also how they sell “earn money.” That’s a good indicator that it’s not about the chocolate..or even about the health. They appeal to 3 things fear of death, hunger for sweets, and desire for money. Everything’s there but sex, but the word count restrictions probably forced them to leave that off.

Apparently though, Xocai has been making some people money, as this multi-level marketing racket is still around, and now even has competition, from Chava Vital Chocolate. Chava’s health chocolate is also another multi-level marketing company, but they are very slick. Their ads are almost good enough to make be dig into my pocket and pay $145 for a box of chocolate wafers that looks very much like one I can get at my local supermarket $5.

They, too, say they can make me rich, if I just send in $29.95 for a marketing kit. (I didn’t look at the upsells, but $29 probably just gets your foot in the door.) Heck, 12000 people a month visit this website…they’ve got me thinking.

Ah, forget it, I’M too old to go for this crap. Let’s look at the facts:

• These outrageously priced health chocolates are probably pretty good quality. I guess this because for a fraction of the price they’re charging, it’s possible to sell the finest chocolates available. At $145, you’d think they would cover their bases in this regard.
• They have wisely guessed that many consumers will just search for lower priced super fine chocolates on the net, at places like this guide to organic chocolates. But, Xocai and Chava are prepared. Xocai chocolate includes acai berry extracts, and Chava chocolate includes a mysterious almond extract. I know little about either, except that you can obtain them separately elsewhere for much less expense. Let’s stick to the chocolates.
• Cocoa does in fact have many benefits. Besides being one of the world’s richest sources of dietary magnesium, it is loaded with flavinols and anti-oxidents. It goes on..a Cornell University study showed that cocoa powder has nearly twice the antioxidants of red wine, and up to three times the antioxidants found in green tea. Cocoa is a good source of calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium, manganese and some of the B Vitamins. It has a high content of sulfur, which helps build strong nails and hair, as well as healthy and beautiful skin, helps to detoxify the liver, and supports the healthy functioning of the pancreas. The heart-healthy flavanols found in cocoa, especially the epicatechins, stop fatty substances in the bloodstream from oxidizing and clogging the arteries. They also help prevent blood platelets from sticking together to cause blood clots, heart attacks, and strokes – all without the negative side effects associated with the use of aspirin and other pharmaceutical blood-thinners. Cocoa also contains the amino acid Tryptophan which makes serotonin and prevents feelings of depression. Cocoa contains dopamine, phenylethylamine (PEA), anandamide MAO Inhibitors – good for both the brain and the heart Phenylethylamine (PEA) increases mental alertness and the ability to concentrate, and can be of help to students taking tests, as well as to senior citizens who want to retain their mental capacity. Other studies have suggested that consuming dark chocolate produced an increased sensitivity to insulin (which indicates a protective effect against diabetes.
• Cocoa has other things that may or may not be good for you, though on balance cocoa seems pretty darn healthy. Chocolate, on the other hand, usually has enough sugar, oils and additives to balance against the benefits of the cocoa content.
• Raw cocoa is probably much healthier than processed cocoa powder. In fact, scientists in Spain discovered that they could boost the flavinol levels in cocoa by 7 times when they skipped the conventional fermentation and roasting steps used in processing cocoa beans.
• Cocoa beans may have relatively high levels of lead. There are several studies, and even the Nigerian cocoa board admits as much. The lead may come from the process after harvest, partly because Nigeria still uses unleaded gasoline that affects the local air. It may be from the soil, or from agricultural chemicals. Yet, it’s there, especially in cocoa from Nigeria. Still, while large chocolate companies need to buy large volumes of beans and can’t get around this issue, smaller chocolate companies can be more particular about what cocoa they buy. Also, one study compared the levels of lead to those found in boiled shrimp. So the levels are not off the food charts. They are just high when compared to most foods.
• Buying cold-pressed, or raw chocolate might be a good idea – and it is widely available on the web. There is no need to buy Xocai or Chava chocolate unless you plan to get rich selling it to the next sucker down the line. And while I would guess that health chocolate is lead-free, I haven’t actually seen any proof of it in the form of objective tests.

Cocoa is a super food high in magnesium, and I recommend moderate consumption. Don’t rely on it as a cure-all. And stay away from the brands that have highly touted health claims and which use multi-level marketing, unless you have money to burn. And remember, chocolate can be healthy, but health chocolate can be harmful to your wallet, so use the money to buy some nice fresh foods instead.

If you live in San Francisco, this study is good news, as sourdough bread is available everywhere. If you live elsewhere, or you want to be adventurous, you may want to try making sourdough bread yourself. The tricky part of this is making what’s called the sourdough starter.

Sourdough starter is a bubbly, fermenting mess of flour and water that gives the sourdough its tangy flavor. It’s also what will boost your magnesium levels.

Organic and (even better) whole wheat bran flour is the way to go here. You want lots of natural microorganisms to help the fermentation. (The bran flour is magnesium superstar to start with, too.)

For the fast method, all you need is to blend one cup of flour with one cup of warm water in a wide-mouth jar to get started on your sourdough culture. To ensure success, add a few wash organic grapes (which will have yeast on the skin) or a started such as kefir. These are not necessary, but they will make it more of a sure thing. If you choose to go it without these added ingredients, try starting with just a half tablespoon of flour with 3 tablespoons of water. The add equal amounts of flour and water each day for a week until you have a full cup.

A clear glass will allows you to see how the culture is developing – and, believe me, you will want to check it often. Leave the jar in a warm and light location, at around 70 to 80° Fahrenheit (21 to 27° Centigrade). If temperatures go over 100° Fahrenheit (38° Celsius) you will end up killing the culture. A cloth or paper towel should be placed loosely over the top of the jar to help keep it moist and to keep out bugs.

Every day, you need to empty out half of your starter culture, and fill the jar again by adding equal amounts of water and flour to the level it was at before you emptied half. It will be ready for use anywhere from 5 days to a month later, depending on temperature and location. This is weird thing about starter – telling when it’s ready.

Just remember, though, that once its ready it just continues to get better – so don’t feel rushed. As long as no purple mold shows up to kill it all off, you’re good to go.

Sourdough starter is alive, and thus it must be fed regularly. When not using your starter, it is important to dump out half the batch from time to time, and mix in fresh flour and water to equal the lost volume. Exactly how often this should be done depends on storage temperatures and the local strain. An active starter should be fed daily (if not multiple times per day depending on temperature and other conditions). See the note below about dormant starters.

Sourdough is best stored at room temperature or slightly warmer. Anything outside of this range will

How the starter might look

change the proportions of the bacteria and yeast, which affects the flavor of the result. It can be safely stored in the fridge, but temperatures over 80F are too hot. If you store your starter in the fridge, then let it sit out several hours after feeding before returning it to the refrigerator. This allows the yeasts to get active and feed. The temperature in the fridge is enough to slow down the yeast, but not the lacto-bacteria. So after a while your starter will begin to smell boozy and have a sharper tang to it than you might want. To fix this, just dump out 90% and start the feeding cycle again. When it’s ready, you can slow things down by putting in covered (but not too tightly) in the fridge.

To make sure that your starter is full strength before committing it to a dough, you should check to see if it quadruples its size if fed and left for an hour. Feed starter by adding equal amounts of water and flour, and put ¼ cup in a measuring cup. If it hits the one cup marker in an hour or so then it is ready to go. If not, then it needs to be fed more. Accelerate your feeding schedule until it passes the test.

There’s a wonderful explanation of this at breadtopia.com, with a helpful video as well.

Making your own sourdough is a wonderful experience, and a super way to really soak up all the magnesium you need.

You betcha!

Magnesium Filled Chocolate

Benefits of Chocolate

Magnesium in Chocolate

One of the benefits of chocolate is significant amounts of magnesium. Peter Meisel, of the Department of
Pharmacology, Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany, says “a bar of this chocolate supplies the recommended daily allowance of magnesium.”

Jean Mayer, of the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (J.B.B.), Tufts University, Boston, Mass., said “Consumption of flavanol-rich dark chocolate (DC) has been shown to decrease blood pressure (BP) and insulin resistance in healthy subjects.

Estimates range from over 100 mg of magnesium per 100 grams of chocolate, but lets start with the cocao bean. At 131 mg per 100 grams, raw cocoa powder, which is extracted from the cocao bean with the fats removed, would seem to be the richest natural source of magnesium we know of. That’s great…but who eats raw cocoa powder? It’s more reasonable to look at 25-30 mgs of magnesium in your chocolate, the kind you buy at the store, and that all depends on the cocoa content. 70% or higher cocoa content chocolate is a good snack. This applies specifically to dark chocolate, not milk chocolate.

Milk chocolate only has about 25% of the magnesium that dark chocolate does.

That hot cocoa you drink on a cool morning does more than just satisfy a sweet tooth, as long as it is rich in cocoa powder. (In fact coconut milk with cocoa is another super magnesium concoction-and tasty!)

This would seem to be to good to be true, but it has been sufficiently verified to gain the acceptance of the medical community.

A new study, which involved a review of three prior studies, suggests eating about a bar of chocolate a week can help cut the risk of stroke and lower the risk of death after a stroke. Neurologist Gustavo Saposnik at St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto says the evidence is still limited, but he suggests further investigation.

One study they looked at found that 44,489 people who ate one serving of chocolate per week were 22% less likely tohave a stroke than people who ate no chocolate. Another study found that 1,169 people who ate 50 grams of chocolate once a week were 46% less likely to die following a stroke than people who didn’t eat chocolate.

Going back a little farther, Jean Calment lived to the age of 122, healthy to the end in 1997. She attributed herlongevity to olive oil, two cigarettes a day and a kilo (2.2 pounds!) of chocolate per week. Admittedly, this is liking asking someone why they have a full head of hair. Ms. Calmert was blessed with longevity, and at the veryleast we can say that 2 kilos of chocolate a week didn’t likely shorten her life.

Still, there’s enough here to say that dark chocolate covered almonds are one doozy of a magnesium boost. Almonds are high in magnesium as well.

The only question here is this: Can we make up for our magnesium deficiency by indulging in daily chocolate binges?

Well….maybe that’s not such a good idea.

Here’s the bad news (you knew there had to be a catch, right?)

Chocolate is still a junk food. While the magnesium in chocolate will be a benefit, as will the anti-oxidants in it, you are getting a lot of other stuff you might be better off without. Sugar, for one. Fatty calories for another. While magnesium works to prevent the onset of adult Type II diabetes and reduce inflammatory diseases, the sugar will be working to screw up your insulin levels and increase inflammatory conditions.

Chocolate also has high copper levels, which can bring on a number of problems over years. Accumulated copper levels actually worsen many of the conditions that magnesium makes better.

This is not meant to scare you, as chocolate is a pleasurable food. Just keep in mind that it’s not a cure-all, and shouldn’t be overindulged in.

So, if you want something sweet and fun, buy all means make sure it’s chocolate with a high cocoa content. Mixed with almonds is even better. While your main source of magnesium shouldn’t be the magnesium in chocolate, there’snothing wrong enjoying the benefits of chocolate at your usual dessert or snack time.

Magnesium deficiency keeing you awake?

Magnesium Deficiency – What are the Signs?

A magnesium deficiency is very hard to detect without a visit to the doctor for an actual test of your blood levels. However, there are some factors in your life that may suggest deficiency in magnesium that are worth looking at first. These factors fall into two categories:

1- Symptoms of magnesium deficiency
2- Things you are doing or drinking that leach magnesium from your body

Let’s look at the symptoms first, varied as they are:

Insomnia-
Tiredness and insomnia (funny how there go hand in hand) are the earliest signs of a deficiency. You are restless at night, and may wake up frequently. During the day, you’re just tired. Any reason for this? It could be stress, yet stress itself is know to use up the body’s magnesium.

Nausea and vomiting, with loss of appetite-
Another early sign.

Later stage signs of numbness, muscle twitching, irregular heartbeat and coronary spasms-
These are scarier. Nothing like laying awake at night with insomnia, and feeling your heart struggle. It certainly was enough for me to start looking at sources of magnesium in food.

Headaches-

These are frequently reported, and I have personally heard from people who have stopped chronic headaches that they have suffered for as long as 2 years by simply upping their consumption of foods high in magnesium. Others have supplemented the foods with magnesium “oil,” a topical application.

There are numerous other signs that cover just about everything you can imagine, including depression (insufficient magnesium lowers the body’s production of the neurochemical serotonin), mood swings, jumpiness and more.

Remember, even before you consult with a doctor, there is no harm in increasing your natural intake of magnesium. It is only with supplements that you need to be careful of dosage.

Now…take the symptoms above and consider what you are doing to your body that might be draining you of magnesium.

Stress, both mental and physical, excess coffee, sugar, salt, alcohol and sweetened sodas all have an effect. So does tobacco and excess sweating. Various medications are also know to deplete the magnesium in your body.

Moreover, there’s the big issue of excess calcium. Yes, it’s possible to take in too much calcium, which ironically has the effect of making your bones weaker. Excess calcium depletes your magnesium. Osteoporosis and fragile bones can actually be caused by calcium rather than prevented.

On the other hand, too much magnesium is simply not possible when you source it naturally from food.

If you can identify with some of the signs above, it’s a very good idea to start increasing your magnesium intake immediately. Follow the links above to see what foods you need, and get ahead of any magnesium deficiency that may be dragging you down in every area of your life and health.

For comparison, Crystal Geyser has 6mg per liter.

San Pelligrino has enough magnesium for me...

That expensive water from Fiji? Only 13mg.

Vittel? 19.9mg
Evian? 24mg
San Pellegrino? 55.9mg (Not too bad. Comes with bubbles, too!)
Perrier? A miserable 3.2mg!

Want to look for your favorite water and see how it measures up? Head over to this comprehensive bottled water guide and check it out.

Additional news about mineral water….

I was rather put back to be told that San Pellegrino has high levels of uranium, especially as I had never considered drinking uranium as a possibility. This was upsetting, because I love San Pellegrino and I like the minerals in it (well, except for the uranium mineral).

Rather than rush back and warn all my readers that they should don protective gear and line their intestines with lead (not a good idea either), I decided to research this a bit.

First the good news…it seems we are taking in uranium all the time – in our food, our water and the air we breath. Doesn’t that make you feel better?

Since we are not all dead or glowing, however, it seems that there are after all tolerable amounts of uranium in nature. So I looked into that, too. It seems there are worse things than uranium.

Many nations have a requirement that the amount of uranium in mineral water be less than 10 micrograms per litre. In other words, they consider that safe for drinking water. For water for other uses, such as agriculture, it might be something like 50 micrograms. (For your reference, the human body passes out 99.5% of the uranium we ingest. That means we absorb 0.5% of the stuff – which, remember, is a natural mineral.)

San Pellegrino has 8 micrograms, Perrier has 4, some other waters have over 20.

Here, I’m going to defer to a British government survey of drinking water in Devon.