Am I Likely Not Getting Enough Magnesium?

[MetabolicTrash]

I usually buy a daily vitamin drink or etc. to at least get a good fulfillment of most vitamins since my diet overall isn't good enough yet with actual foods or such. I'll give an example of stuff I eat and anyone here can feel free of course to tell me if they think I might be lacking in magnesium (I take no supplements for it):

For breakfast/early meals I usually either eat some cereal without milk (a little since these iron-fortified cereals aren't good); a can of some seafood like tuna or sardines; a carrot/potatoes; leftovers like maybe a little beef/rice; or rarely something like a protein bar fortified but probably not much in magnesium (nor any good kind either likely).

For lunch/etc. I might have also leftovers like some beef/chicken/rice or pastas; might also eat cereal in small quantities in this time; probably also some orange juice/apple juice/etc.; maybe occasionally some grapes/raw carrot/potato/etc.

For dinner (the worst): usually beef, pork or chicken with rice or pasta; sauteed or fried usually. I also sometimes eat more Asian-esque foods for the sodium like fried rice and eggrolls (not exactly good because the PUFAs, but not too bad); and also sometimes low-fat soups and bread or such like that (usually try and avoid breads, but I'm fine with it once in a while).

Based on this it would appear I could be subpar with multiple vitamins, but magnesium in general, you think? I've heard certain supplements the American diet might be lacking in, like magnesium, K2, B-complex maybe and Es. I guess specific diet when not supplementing matters most, but going by average here and studies demonstrating many being insufficient with certain nutrients based on it.

I currently supplement only K2 MK4 1-2 mg a day with a pinch of creatine here and there and very low dose DHEA every other day too (1-5 mg). I'm not supplementing anything else directly, but plan on getting a good E and niacinamide/B complex along with possibly magnesium, lithium and some possible nootropics with anti-aging stuff like maybe resveratrol or etc.

Think I'm deficient? I get most of my calcium from milk and cheese and not deficient there overall to work with the K2, but magnesium is something I feel I'm possibly not getting enough of consistently. Heard that calcium and boron can go good together with K2, magnesium and etc. for very good bone strength/health specifically (not that I have a bone issue, but don't want to have one ever is the point).

 

[Arnold Grape]

Your diet seems pretty flat: I would concentrate on getting some good fats in there, namely grass fed butter or coconut oil and possibly eat some well cooked greens or the broth from them. The best way to get magnesium is to make your own Magnesium Bicarbonate water using MOM and seltzer water — I made my own tonight and it will last several weeks. Check YouTube for instructions

 

[tara]

You could try plugging a couple o f days of your diet into cronometer.com to get an approximation of nutrition in it.
That way you can see roughly how much Mg and other minerals.
If you have great health and metabolism, you may be fine with less, but the average person might benefit from somewhere in the order of 400mg magnesium /day some may need more, some less.
Your diet may be short.
Leafy greens, especially if you drink the brioth they cook in, can be a good source - the chlorophyll that makes them green contains magnesium. There are other sources too.

 

[schultz]

You could try plugging a couple o f days of your diet into cronometer.com to get an approximation of nutrition in it.

This is what I would do as well. Obviously it's not 100% accurate, but like @tara said it will give you an approximation. If it shows 25% of the RDA then you have a problem. It shouldn't be too hard to get to 100%+, unless you're restricting your calories or something. I consumed 600 calories or so of (basically) sugar yesterday, with a total of 3,168 calories, and apparently I got 158% of the RDA for Magnesium despite that. I said basically because 150 calories came from maple syrup. I guess that gave me 6%. Anyhoo, I'm in danger of rambling, so what I am getting at is that Magnesium is one of those things that just seems to be in everything I eat in small amounts and it all adds up, kind of like potassium. I think most people are getting enough of these, right? It seems difficult not to unless you only eat like 1,000 calories a day.

Edit: I like the cronometer idea, not to enforce obsessive compulsive behaviour, but because it will allow you to see patterns in your food intake. Since we tend to eat the same things over and over, you may be in danger of developing some deficiencies in a few areas. If you have the cronometer data then you can adjust a few of your foods and form a new habit. It's nice if you don't have to worry about this stuff and can just go on autopilot while also enjoying your diet.

 

[MetabolicTrash]

Thanks for mentioning Cronometer.

I had never heard of that, but knew of nutrition calculators -- just always thought they would be very inaccurate though.

I guess trying couldn't do me any worse though since I don't track micros as well as macros.

 

[schultz]

Thanks for mentioning Cronometer.

I had never heard of that, but knew of nutrition calculators -- just always thought they would be very inaccurate though.

I guess trying couldn't do me any worse though since I don't track micros as well as macros.

It's probably pretty accurate for generic and mass produced stuff. Orange juice for example is stored in giant tanks, so any variation between single oranges and/or seasonal variation would be removed. Something like fresh squeezed could vary in its micro nutrients and sugar content. A friend of mine checked the brix on some really sweet freshly squeezed orange juice he had and the carbohydrate content was a lot higher than something like Tropicana. I think it was somewhere around 10g higher per cup. So if Tropicana has 25g per cup, this stuff had 35g per cup. That's a pretty big difference if you're drinking a couple liters per day. Growing location I imagine would change the amounts quite a bit. Cherimoya's on cronometer have a high selenium, but I always assumed this was for cherimoya's grown in Brazil where the soil selenium levels are pretty high I think. A cherimoya from Spain might have very low selenium. I guess the same thing applies to coffee. I currently use instant coffee and it is probably pretty accurate as it might be "pooled" like mass produced orange juice. Coffee beans from different areas of the world could vary in their magnesium content based on soil conditions. Anyway, best not to overthink this stuff too much or you start going crazy.

 

[Cirion]

Well the problem is in hypothyroid magnesium gets wasted at high rates, much like sodium and many other minerals and nutrients so even hitting the RDA or even above it can be insufficient. Personally I take Epsom salt baths every day... just to be safe.

 

[Owen B]

The seltzer plus Milk of Magnesium works like a charm. Simple to make and very effective.

 

[baccheion]

A blood test checking RBC or WBC magnesium would clarify status in a much more reliable way.

 

[ebs]

Add spinach and buckweat and all will be well.

But I don't see why you shouldn't simply supplement it. I don't see why anybody shouldn't. Magnesium is one of those minerals better utilized through supplementation.

 

[tara]

I had never heard of that, but knew of nutrition calculators -- just always thought they would be very inaccurate though.

It probably isn't thoroughly accurate, and you can't know perfectly, but a rough idea is probably better than nothing.
For instance, the mineral and sugar content of many fruits and vegetables can vary a lot depending the conditions they are grown in. But the data is probably based on some measurements, so if we are lucky it will be within cooey most of the time.
I figure it's probably good to vary diet and eat a range of plant foods to help improve the odds of getting all the trace minerals etc.
Individual needs may vary according to previous deficiencies and imbalances etc too.
Listening to the body and appetite is part of figuring out what we need too.

 

[MetabolicTrash]

It probably isn't thoroughly accurate, and you can't know perfectly, but a rough idea is probably better than nothing.
For instance, the mineral and sugar content of many fruits and vegetables can vary a lot depending the conditions they are grown in. But the data is probably based on some measurements, so if we are lucky it will be within cooey most of the time.
I figure it's probably good to vary diet and eat a range of plant foods to help improve the odds of getting all the trace minerals etc.
Individual needs may vary according to previous deficiencies and imbalances etc too.
Listening to the body and appetite is part of figuring out what we need too.

Yeah it is better to do something than nothing usually. I already got the app Cronometer and it is pretty good.

I'll definitely get a better idea of where I'm at with micros and etc. after logging the first few days of my diet.

I guess I'll update this to see if my hunch of not getting enough magnesium on average is correct, plus any other deficiencies or such.

 

[tara]

I guess I'll update this to see if my hunch of not getting enough magnesium on average is correct, plus any other deficiencies or such.

Another thing you can do to assess Mg needs is to try supplementing and see if anything improves.
Personally, I get clear differences between supplementing or not, so I try not to forget.

 

[MetabolicTrash]

Another thing you can do to assess Mg needs is to try supplementing and see if anything improves.
Personally, I get clear differences between supplementing or not, so I try not to forget.

If I can't find a way to arrange a diet that has sufficient magnesium for the most part, I'll definitely consider just supplementing it if I can't at least get 100% RDA most days of logging.

 

[tygertgr]

You can get a huge bag of magnesium chloride flakes for nothing. Disolve 1:1 by volume in hot water, put it in a spray bottle. Spray a lot or a little on your skin after showering and smear around. It totally works and absorbs and there are no weird issues like liquid ***t. It also seems to work pretty well as a deodorant. A little bit rubbed into damp hair also works to hold styling.

 

[Cirion]

It also seems to work pretty well as a deodorant. A little bit rubbed into damp hair also works to hold styling.

Good tip, will have to remember this. I like styling my hair but I don't like commercial styling products and don't trust all the anti-thyroid substances that no doubt are in them.