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Trying to get more magnesium into my dad, but he's not so hot on the supplement idea, and doesn't really buy the "depleted soil" theory. His question, if said depleted soil thing isn't a variable, is "What did people do for magnesium in the old days?"

Seemed like a fair enough question to me, so I will ask it on his behalf.

I have some theories about people visiting therapeutic mineral baths, spending time seaside where you'd be exposed to it from the sea spray or wading out into the water itself, drinking mineral water from special springs, unrefined sea salt, bone broths, adding lots of kale and other greens to soups, eating fish.

My thoughts for increasing his magnesium right off the bat would be to juice fresh veggies, to get a concentrated dose without having to eat his body weight in vegetables every day, and to make him fresh soups with bone broth at least once a week. I think he's already using Celtic Sea Salt.

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Spinach with halibut fest :) – Bruno Feb 10 2012 at 8:02
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Does he have charley horses, muscle spasms, seizures, headaches, migraines, diabetes or insomnia? I'd he on a diuretic (water pill) or diabetic? If yes, then a pill is the best solution dnd will solve all the above. Does he have difficulty with exercising? Mag helps this in the sleep deprived they are hugely (!!! Who isn't) mag deficient. See this study from bullet proof Under bio hacker heading bulletproofexec.com/… – grace Feb 10 2012 at 11:09
Grace, I think muscle spasms are more about low potassium rather than magnesium. Just did a quick look again: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cramp – AlohaSpeck Feb 10 2012 at 12:16
I heard there was a higher amount of magnesium in the water supply (rivers). Don't know if that's true. Other good sources would include bones or bone broth, some fruit and tubers. – free3337 Feb 10 2012 at 17:38
Mash. Thats correct. But Paleo if incl Vegs will solve the potassium issues generally. The frasetto Paleo study showed this. What I observe however is that mag remains often profoundly low. Yes one can do a $300 rbc mag lab measurement (direct labs does it) but usually mag needs work despite Paleo. This is probably magnified in athletes and those taking vitamin d. – grace Feb 11 2012 at 0:06

6 Answers

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Epsom salt baths. Add magnesium to the water he drinks.

Tablets are not required to supplement. And this is the natural way.

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Best bet is going to be raw almonds. They also have a ton of vitamin E (which keeps the linoleic acid in them stable).

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I got my dad eating roasted pumpkin seeds and spinach, both high in Mg.

If he's a bath guy, dumping epsom salt in his bathwater is also easier than taking him to therapeutic baths.

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Nobody's mentioned why soils weren't depleted in times gone by. Basically, we used to fertilie the land ourselves (apparently the book Humanure covers this - I haven't read it).

We also didn't farm in the same way that we do now. Monocultures & GMO crops have a lot to answer for!

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Yes!!!!!!!!!!!! – grace Feb 11 2012 at 0:07
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Eat potatoes every day. Also dark chocolate and spinach.

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Are potatoes a good source of magnesium? Great - I love them! – andrew Feb 10 2012 at 9:42
Not really though. You'd have to eat quite a lot of potatoes to get to 400mg... Dark chocolate and spinach are good though. – Bruno Feb 10 2012 at 10:20
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They have a very nice amount of magnesium. For the white potatoes. – Eric Feb 10 2012 at 15:52
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Found this helpful resource: http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/minerals-nutrition-chart.html#magnesium

Would be nice if you could sort by highest levels in source though.

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