You may be running around irritable, short tempered, tired, and sleep deprived. You may feel that the light of Christ is not shining through you, and are frustrated that your “personality” does not reflect your faith. I’ve been there! A lack of magnesium could be a missing component that tends to make a person the very opposite of the state of their soul.

As we covered last week, beyond changing your lifestyle and eating leafy greens, nuts, spices, and seeds every day, supplementation may be key for you. But there are so many forms of magnesium, how do you know that you are not just throwing your money away on cheap forms that don’t even absorb into your body? I present to you a handy guide that highlights the most recognizable forms:

Magnesium Oxide – cheap, only about 4% is being absorbed, laxative effect
Magnesium Citrate – inexpensive, better absorbed, a better laxative, good for hormonal cravings and cramps.
Magnesium Sulfite – basically Epsom salts (for soaking)
Magnesium Malate – well absorbed, doesn’t have the laxative effect, stress reducing
Magnesium Glycinate – well absorbed, doesn’t have the laxative effect, stress reducing
Magnesium Threonate – well absorbed, crosses the blood/brain barrier, great for anxiety and reduction of brain inflammation.
Magnesium Chloride – good absorption, good for detoxing cells and tissues.
Magnesium Carbonate – well absorbed, turns into magnesium chloride in the stomach. Good for indigestion and acid reflux.

As you can see, you will probably want more than one form in your arsenal.  In the circles I run in, Magnesium Glycinate is the form most often recommended for general supplementation use.  Malate and Threonate are also widely used by functional medicine practitioners.  Oxide is the least recommended, and Citrate mostly for it’s laxative effect and help with PMS.  Chloride is great to use in oil form to rub on tired, overworked muscles.

Generally the amount I’ve heard most often is to get around 500 absorbed milligrams. If you are supplementing with magnesium, make sure you are balancing it with calcium, K2 and D3, since they work together. Buy your supplements from a reputable source. Reputable sources do not add soy, artificial flavor, artificial color or preservatives to the mix. That, along with a clean, low toxin, low glycemic, nutrient dense diet…not to mention stress relieving practices, just may just change your life!

Let me know if you’ve tried my recommendations, and how they worked out for you!

The post Be the Bird – Magnesium Part Two appeared first on Holistic Christian Life.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Be the Bee podcast, blog, retreats? Well, this is the start of my Be the Bird campaign. So much more edifying than other campaigns that are being followed right now!

Imagine the birds in Scripture, flying high, touching the sky, and not knowing where their next meal will come from, but innately knowing their Creator provided it. What He had provided for them was pure and wholesome to sustain their life. They aren’t working themselves into a tizzy right now deciding between Trump and Hillary, is there such a thing as global warming, and the fact that their website launched a month late. No. The motto of my Be the Bird Campaign is Faith – Not Stress.

This leads me to the subject of magnesium. You saw that coming right?

Did you know that around 80% of people are deficient in magnesium? Let me ask you if you have any of these issues, as they can be symptoms of low magnesium:

Anxiety, panic attacks, depression, memory loss, insomnia, migraines, irritability
Blood clots, heart disease, hypertension, palpitations, irregular heart rhythms
Numbness, tingling, muscle cramps,
Kidney stones, bowel disease, osteoporosis, tooth decay,
Fibromyalgia, back pain, PMS, infertility
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Autism, Diabetes, Pancreatic Cancer

If any of this hits home with you, you’ll want to keep reading!

The person who is magnesium deficient typically has variations of this lifestyle:

They have high stress and/or burn the candle at both ends. They like to eat sugar, high carbohydrate, nutrient poor foods, and they don’t eat salads regularly. They take antibiotics, may be on diuretics, corticosteroids, insulin, antacids, and they drink soda, alcohol and fluoridated water. Many have digestive issues.

Can you identify with any of these traits? Yep, keep reading!

The lifestyle mentioned above depletes magnesium. So, what is a person to do?

First of all, and this is huge…change your lifestyle. Take how you handle stress seriously and learn methods to handle it with peace.

Clean up your diet by eating less sugar and bread, and amp up the leafy greens. Eat avocados, nuts, seeds, high quality fish and 85% dark chocolate.

Drink non-fluoridated water.

Did your doctor tell you to take calcium for your bones? Make sure it has D3, K2 and Magnesium added, or it can do more harm than good. Isn’t is amazing that so many of the foods I mentioned have both calcium and magnesium in them? Yep, as God created!

The next step is to supplement. Start with an Epsom salt bath tonight before bed.   Add 2 cups to your bath water and soak for 10 minutes. Maybe add a drop or two of lavender essential oil. Before getting into bed, take a couple deep belly breaths. Inhale for 5 counts, exhale for 7. See how you sleep, and stay tuned for my next post which will be on sorting through many common types of magnesium supplements and how to know which one is right for you!

The post Birds May Not Need Magnesium, But You Do! appeared first on Holistic Christian Life.