Mineral Deficiency

[jsm6677]

I'm currently consuming a combination of 100g dark chocolate per day + around 800mg magnesium chloride, this seems to help however I think something in the dark chocolate, probably caffeine, makes me restless. Unfortunately a raw meat diet is basically impossible for me at the moment, I've eaten raw meat in the past and I hope to transition to it fully one day but at the moment I'm just looking for a way to fix a mineral imbalance which I believe was caused by a long term gluten intolerance. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[norawnofun]

I have/had kind of the same thing going on. But before you only look at mag, you should more focus on copper, since it regulates mag. EMF and stress can deplete mag, so better fix that too.

Regarding the mag itself, I also consumed plenty of dark chocolate for several month, practically every day, but small portions. I craved it a lot. Staying a lot on the computer, EMF and also having past stress, I´m certain my mag was super low. I had tried different mag supplements, like malate and citrate, was pointless. So i went for the chocolate, but now I can´t stand it. Some weeks ago I tried again just one piece, and I had to vomit. Just recently I tried ceremonial chocolate, the real deal, but I was not attracted at all and it did not taste well, my senses said no. So I assume my mag reserves went up. Chocolate, after some time, also gave me headache, that was another reason why I stopped. Certainly it was the caffeine.

The best mag animal source are mollusks. The cheapest option here would be mussels, most shops sell it frozen which makes them even cheaper. Clams are the highest source, as far as I know. Octopus, squid, cuttlefish are within the mollusca family. There are other animal products that contain mag, for ex dairy and eggs, among meat, but nothing beats mollusks

The best plant based sources, as far as I researched and experimented with, are:

cacao (dark chocolate), since 100 percent dark chocolate contains a lot of fat, just the powder would be better, but it´s so high in oxalates, I wouldn´t do it.

pumpkin seed oil and pumpkins itself. In the oil there are a lot of pressed seeds, so that would be a good source (aside of animal products of course). At one point I was consuming it quite frequently, with no side effects. Yes, it´s a PUFA, but it´s low in oxalate (the seed)

Coffee has apparently the highest amount of mag, maybe thats why people use it for constipation a lot. I was consuming a cup a day, but it was too strong and after some time I couldn´t handle it anymore. Now I bought decaf and I will experiment with that. Since there are different types of methods to remove the caffeine, i went for the least harmful, which is CO2. Will try my first cup tomorrow, i´m pretty curious, since I found a lot of benefits from coffee, but I couldn´t digest it, even if it was a very mild one.

But one thing I would be careful is your chocolate consumption. 100g, so a whole bar or more, is quite a lot mate. That´s a lof of oxalic acid and caffeine. You better consume some calcium with that to bind the crystals. I would focus on copper if I were u, beside changing your mag source. Oysters would also be an excellent choice for several nutrients. Eat a couple every week, and you might fix your problem fast
 

[Iguana]

Why eat chocolate when you can have natural cacao?

[norawnofun]

id´ love to try, how does it taste? I assume that buying the whole pod is rather impossible for most people due to their location though. Besides, wouldn´t the pods be too hard to eat?

[jsm6677]

I have/had kind of the same thing going on. But before you only look at mag, you should more focus on copper, since it regulates mag. EMF and stress can deplete mag, so better fix that too.

Regarding the mag itself, I also consumed plenty of dark chocolate for several month, practically every day, but small portions. I craved it a lot. Staying a lot on the computer, EMF and also having past stress, I´m certain my mag was super low. I had tried different mag supplements, like malate and citrate, was pointless. So i went for the chocolate, but now I can´t stand it. Some weeks ago I tried again just one piece, and I had to vomit. Just recently I tried ceremonial chocolate, the real deal, but I was not attracted at all and it did not taste well, my senses said no. So I assume my mag reserves went up. Chocolate, after some time, also gave me headache, that was another reason why I stopped. Certainly it was the caffeine.

The best mag animal source are mollusks. The cheapest option here would be mussels, most shops sell it frozen which makes them even cheaper. Clams are the highest source, as far as I know. Octopus, squid, cuttlefish are within the mollusca family. There are other animal products that contain mag, for ex dairy and eggs, among meat, but nothing beats mollusks

The best plant based sources, as far as I researched and experimented with, are:

cacao (dark chocolate), since 100 percent dark chocolate contains a lot of fat, just the powder would be better, but it´s so high in oxalates, I wouldn´t do it.

pumpkin seed oil and pumpkins itself. In the oil there are a lot of pressed seeds, so that would be a good source (aside of animal products of course). At one point I was consuming it quite frequently, with no side effects. Yes, it´s a PUFA, but it´s low in oxalate (the seed)

Coffee has apparently the highest amount of mag, maybe thats why people use it for constipation a lot. I was consuming a cup a day, but it was too strong and after some time I couldn´t handle it anymore. Now I bought decaf and I will experiment with that. Since there are different types of methods to remove the caffeine, i went for the least harmful, which is CO2. Will try my first cup tomorrow, i´m pretty curious, since I found a lot of benefits from coffee, but I couldn´t digest it, even if it was a very mild one.

But one thing I would be careful is your chocolate consumption. 100g, so a whole bar or more, is quite a lot mate. That´s a lof of oxalic acid and caffeine. You better consume some calcium with that to bind the crystals. I would focus on copper if I were u, beside changing your mag source. Oysters would also be an excellent choice for several nutrients. Eat a couple every week, and you might fix your problem fast

 I agree that dark chocolate isn't worth it, there too many side effects for me, I'll lower it to around 10 grams per day. Stress also made my situation a lot worse, I took a citrate aswell but went overboard and had diarrhea regulary which I'm pretty sure depleted my minerals even more, I think magnesium chloride is good though as its the natural form which our body uses.

I'll definitely buy some mussels and pumpkin seed oil, other mollusks aswell if they're available, I think I'll stay away from coffee as it's full of caffeine, also does decaffeinated coffee not remove all the magnesium?

I've just started consuming beef liver capsules, apparently they're full of copper so hopefully they help, I never knew copper regulated magnesium though, I don't think my diet was very high in copper so that could definitely be an issue.

Thanks mate, that should help a lot.

[norawnofun]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MagnesiumAdvocacy is a great group discussing all different types of mag supplements. According to morley robbins, the guy behind the group and the protocol (he has some great podcasts on yt with extremehealthradio - listen to them), there are 4 ways to get more mag. With food, water baths in epsom salt, mag oil, and supplements like mag malate and glycenate. He mentioned to stay away from citrate or ascorbate. Personally I tend to stay away from supplements, i prefer the natural way by now, so therefore can´t give any advise regarding that.

And no idea about decaf and mag. I never used to drink decaf, so I have no knowledge here. That would require some research. And according to morley robbins, the guy mentioned above, the best copper sources are veal liver, because the young get the copper from the mother and have lower stored iron, (beef liver contains a bit too much iron as they accumulated in when they grew up), bee pollen and whole food vitamin c like oranges. I would be careful with liver though, especially when eaten as a whole food, the high amount of "vitamin a" can cause lots of other issues. I think its better to opt in for non liver sources like seafood. I would not go crazy now on the pumpkin seed oil either. And capsules..well, i´d stick to real food that my body can identify as such, you don´t know how the capsules have been processed and how much the body can actually convert from that. But naturally it´s up to you..

[goodsamaritan]

Why eat chocolate when you can have natural cacao?

Just the fleshy parts, right?
Not the seeds?

[jsm6677]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MagnesiumAdvocacy is a great group discussing all different types of mag supplements. According to morley robbins, the guy behind the group and the protocol (he has some great podcasts on yt with extremehealthradio - listen to them), there are 4 ways to get more mag. With food, water baths in epsom salt, mag oil, and supplements like mag malate and glycenate. He mentioned to stay away from citrate or ascorbate. Personally I tend to stay away from supplements, i prefer the natural way by now, so therefore can´t give any advise regarding that.

And no idea about decaf and mag. I never used to drink decaf, so I have no knowledge here. That would require some research. And according to morley robbins, the guy mentioned above, the best copper sources are veal liver, because the young get the copper from the mother and have lower stored iron, (beef liver contains a bit too much iron as they accumulated in when they grew up), bee pollen and whole food vitamin c like oranges. I would be careful with liver though, especially when eaten as a whole food, the high amount of "vitamin a" can cause lots of other issues. I think its better to opt in for non liver sources like seafood. I would not go crazy now on the pumpkin seed oil either. And capsules..well, i´d stick to real food that my body can identify as such, you don´t know how the capsules have been processed and how much the body can actually convert from that. But naturally it´s up to you..

I've joined the Facebook page, Morley's protocol does seem to work for a lot of people. I've been watching his videos over the past couple of days and in a way I think I've learn't more from him than any other nutritionist. There's a recent video on youtube where he goes through strong.sistas mineral/blood tests in detail, both on a carnivore diet and their minerals are still very unbalanced, mainly because of iron buildup and unusable copper. In this modern world even with a very good diet our body still accumulates things such as iron like you mentioned, which can mess up mineral/hormone balance. Watching that video has made me realise that there is pretty much zero point in going to a doctor, the tests are useless and the supplements they recommend are also useless. I'm tempted to use his protocol or at least experiment with some of the supplements he recommends as most of them are natural and come from wholefoods.

For the beef liver capsules, I'll continue to take them but in small amounts, not sure I'd enjoy veal liver too much, also Morley does actually recommend them in his protocol, I will use seafood aswell though when I can. I've bought some pumpkin seed oil but I'll take your advice and stick to small amounts probably about 1 tsp per day. I agree that real food is better than supplements but for me eating a cooked diet it's quite hard to get all the nutrients I need.

[Sol^Sa]

Why eat chocolate when you can have natural cacao?

It is probably more digestible when cooked I would guess. As much stuff is bound to cellulose? And people probably don't eat it for water-soluble minerals, so cooking should be no concern unless minerals are leached if it is cooked with water.

[djr_81]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MagnesiumAdvocacy is a great group discussing all different types of mag supplements. According to morley robbins, the guy behind the group and the protocol (he has some great podcasts on yt with extremehealthradio - listen to them), there are 4 ways to get more mag. With food, water baths in epsom salt, mag oil, and supplements like mag malate and glycenate. He mentioned to stay away from citrate or ascorbate. Personally I tend to stay away from supplements, i prefer the natural way by now, so therefore can´t give any advise regarding that.

Magnesium Chloride is the most readily absorbed. This is what is used to make magnesium oil for transdermal uptake. You can buy the flakes and mixed them 1:1 with boiling water to make an "oil" you apply to the skin to get magnesium in.

I'd be very hesitant personally with chocolate. I had a period of time maybe 13 years ago in the beginning of my transition to low carb where I started eating a lot of cocoa nibs and dark chocolate. In hindsight I was craving it as I had cut out almost all dietary oxalates from my other meals and it helped mitigate dumping symptoms. It's just so high oxalate it prolonged the issues in my case. There are much better sources for the nutrients in chocolate.