Here's 10 tips for helping to look after the mind - your mental health:
Get adequate sleep. Every hour before midnight is the equivalent to two hours after, aim for eight hours per night.
Smile more: it is scientifically proven to improve your mood. The average adult smiles seven times a day and one is usually fake. Kids smile around 400 times a day. Find your inner child and smile more!
Eat clean, natural, real food: it has a direct correlation to your mood. Think about it: 90% of your serotonin receptors are in your gut.
Drink more water. One sign of dehydration is a cranky mood and frontal headache.
Be around people who love you for who you are but inspire you to be more.
Be out in nature: let the biophilia magic rub off on you.
Set goals and make them happen. A sense of fulfilment makes humans feel like they are thriving.
Make a gratitude list of the things in life you are most grateful for.
Say "I love you" to yourself.
Be kind. When you give, you always get back.
Life is too short not to be doing what you love and experiencing the amazing things that the universe has to offer. Look after your mental health to really shine. There's so much waiting for you.
It’s 4am. I’m spiraling deep into what I call the “nightmare fantasy”: imagining the absolute worst possible scenario, how I would react, what would happen next, and spiraling on and on into the hell of my imagination.
I have an anxiety disorder that is mostly managed in large part thanks to yoga and meditation. Every now and then, however, something tips a few pebbles off my anxiety cliff and suddenly I’m in a 4am avalanche.
On this particular sleepless night, I could see myself overreacting. I thought, “You’re overreacting. Calm down.” I also know, though, that fighting like this can make the situation worse. So I stopped fighting. Then I went so deep down the catastrophizing rabbit hole that I bolted up and actually screamed out loud.
Has anyone ever told you to “just stop worrying?” In the yoga world, we can get the message that all we need to do for a happier life is to think positively, and if you ever have negative thoughts, you’re doing it wrong. From the Tantric yoga perspective, however, all experiences, including uncomfortable ones, have value, and there’s danger in only focusing on what’s pretty and sweet. Trying to convince yourself that everything is finewhen it’s not exacerbates, rather than abates, anxiety. You can’t “just” stop worrying.
Stress reactions come from your amygdala, the primal part of your brain that governs your nervous system. Your prefrontal cortex is the rational, conscious part of your brain. When you try to force yourself to calm down, your prefrontal cortex is trying to overpower your amygdala, which only ramps up the primal fear response. You can’t tell your amygdala what to do.
You can, however, acknowledge the disconnect. Yoga and meditation are useful in that they can teach us to wake up what’s called the buddhi mind, the mind that observes the mind. I had this part down: I could see the problem, but couldn’t stop it from happening. I needed some new tools, and I wasn’t getting them from yoga.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a technique that works from the premise that thoughts affect feelings which affect behaviours which affect thoughts and so on. It’s very challenging to change your feelings, but you can work with your thoughts and behaviours. When I see myself beginning to spiral, I can ask myself:
What thought is contributing to this feeling?
What evidence do I have that this thought is true?
What else could be going on?
What evidence do I have for those alternatives?
When I see myself internally reacting as if my worst fear is already happening, these questions can help me pause my nightmare fantasy and remember that other interpretations are also valid. I can hold the different possibilities and wait to react until I have more information. I can know that it’s okay to not know.
It’s not uncommon for yogis like me to get disillusioned when the initial euphoria of the practice wears off. The world doesn’t stop being confusing and cruel just because we decide to think positively. Stepping outside of my practice to learn these new techniques has actually returned me to my yoga: fundamentally, yoga teaches us to stay present with a rich and varied world and to honor the beauty and ugliness both inside and outside of ourselves. For me, this is much more interesting than insisting on living in a place that’s crowded with rainbows and flowers. This way, I can get back to sleep. Then I can do my yoga in the morning.
Progesterone is one of our key sex hormones and its name gives some indication of what it does in the body (think ‘pro-gestation’). Yet it plays a key role in so much more than fertility. In fact, progesterone is a substance that every woman needs to know about, regardless of whether pregnancy is on her agenda or not, because of its many biological effects.
Progesterone production that is far from ideal is, unfortunately, very common and it’s likely that you have experienced this at some point in your life—if not right now. When we’re not making optimal amounts of progesterone, this can contribute to a range of challenging symptoms in the lead up to and/or during menstruation. The reason for this is because progesterone helps to counterbalance estrogen. So, when we have poor progesterone production, this can tip the delicate balance of our sex hormones—and our body lets us know about it.
Progesterone has a number of important functions in the body. It supports the body’s fluid balance to prevent you from feeling puffy and swollen, and it helps to hold the lining of the uterus in place so that you don’t experience excessively heavy or prolonged bleeding. Not to mention it has anti-anxiety and antidepressant actions, making it a pretty powerful substance that we don’t want to be lacking.
When progesterone is low, signs and symptoms can include:
Very heavy periods
Spotting for a number of days leading up to your period
Bloating and fluid retention
PMS—especially anxious feelings and irritability leading up to your period
You may feel like you can’t get your breath past your heart or like your heart is racing in the lead up to menstruation
Irregular periods
Missing periods (and pregnancy is ruled out)
A short luteal phase, which sometimes shows up as a shorter cycle—there’s not enough progesterone to hold the lining of the uterus in place
A longer cycle, which means an increased number of days between ovulations.
How your body makes progesterone
During the menstruation years, progesterone is predominantly made by the ovaries in a cyclical manner, and much smaller amounts are made by the adrenal glands across your life. The trigger for ovarian progesterone production is ovulation so if we don’t ovulate, we don’t make it. Once ovulation occurs, a temporary gland called the corpus luteum forms in the ovary where the egg was released from. The corpus luteum produces progesterone from that point (after ovulation) up to just before you get your next period and this phase of the cycle is called the luteal phase.
For ease of understanding, the luteal phase is often referred to as the second half of your cycle (think ‘l’ for last half). However, this isn’t technically correct for every woman as depending on her cycle length, the two phases (the follicular phase and the luteal phase) may not be equal halves—their durations can differ. The luteal phase is ideally about two weeks long and progesterone levels peak at the mid-point of this, so this is why if you are having a blood test for progesterone it is best done about seven days before you get your period (so day 21 if your cycle is 28 days long).
What interferes with great progesterone production?
As you now understand, regular ovulation is essential for a woman to produce enough progesterone during her menstruation years. If you aren’t ovulating or you ovulate infrequently, it’s incredibly important to get to the heart of why this is. Commonly, this can be linked to chronic stress or worry, a frantic pace of life, inadequate rest, not feeling ‘safe’ (whatever this means to an individual) physically or emotionally, not eating enough and/or excessive exercise. These are all forms of stress to the body and increase stress hormone production. Not only can chronic stress lead to anovulatory cycles which means no ovarian progesterone production, but it can also contribute to scenarios where ovulation occurs but progesterone production is suboptimal.
Stress is a major contributing factor to low progesterone because of its link to fertility (because your progesterone levels surge after an egg becomes available). If the body is getting the message that your life is in danger—which is what too many stress hormones communicate—the last thing it wants is for you to potentially conceive at a time it perceives as dangerous, as this could mean the baby might be at risk. So, your body thinks it is doing you a favour by downregulating fertility during times of high stress. Processes that aren’t essential to our survival (such as reproductive function) are not prioritised when the body is putting all of its resources into keeping us alive.
There are also life stages where we are more susceptible to irregular ovulation and low progesterone, such as puberty and perimenopause. These are transition phases and it is normal for ovulation to be less regular during these seasons of our life. While many women experience challenging symptoms during perimenopause, it’s important to know that there are things you can do to support your body and experience a gentler transition. During this time, it’s even more important to take great care of yourself in terms of your nourishment and stress management, as excess stress hormone production—which can be driven by worrying, rushing and feelings of overwhelm, daily alcohol consumption over an extended period of time, restrictive dieting or excessive exercise—can still contribute to anovulatory cycles, irregular periods and low progesterone during this life stage.
That said, irregular ovulation or a lack of ovulation can also sometimes occur with other conditions such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) or thyroid dysfunction. If you experience unexplained irregular periods or if your periods have gone missing (and you are not using a type of hormonal contraception that causes this), it’s important to check in with your doctor. For more on hormonal contraception and its influence on progesterone production, you might like to read this blog here on the OCP or this one here on the Mirena.
What about progesterone post-menopause?
Progesterone levels are naturally low post-menopause as ovulation is no longer occurring and women in this life stage don’t have the cyclical sex hormone fluctuations that characterise the menstruation years. The adrenal glands become the primary source of progesterone post-menopausally, and these important glands are also tasked with making our stress hormones. Incorporating strategies to help reduce and manage stress or worry, such as daily breath-focused practices and getting to the heart of what stress really is for an individual so you are able to make fewer stress hormones in the first place, is incredibly supportive for women post-menopause and can truly make a difference in how you feel day-to-day.
Many of us frequently feel tight & stiff, & believe that it would be nearly impossible for us to be flexible, or achieve good posture. Yet enclosed with our skin, we are mostly composed of water & space. Muscles themselves are estimated to be 65-75% water, while our blood is 95% water. If all of this space could be removed from the cells in our entire body, the average human body would be a three inch ball of matter. Denseness, stiffness & inflexibility are illusions when you realise that there is not much to us!
Flexibility is usually determined by the resting length of a muscle. If a muscle feels tight, that's because the nervous system is keeping it contracted when it does not need to be. A great athlete appears to move without any effort because he has so fine tuned his body that only what is needed is engaged, there's no unnecessary contraction, so his body moves fluidly. Contraction occurs when we have adopted habits or alignments that use muscles in ways in which they were not intended. To eliminate these habits, we must wake up parts of the body that are not doing their jobs & turn off muscles that contribute to poor posture habits. In YogAlign we focus on becoming aligned by teaching our bodies to do "less".
The process of yoga is about removing obstacles like excess muscle tension, or excessive worry. YogAlign is about creating a "sustainable body", the most energy efficient body possible. The same way that we are seeking to live on our planet using efficient, natural sources of energy that don't waste or pollute, we must seek out ways to conserve energy in our bodies. Those who are out of alignment & have chronically bad posture waste the lion's share of their energy because poor posture uses muscles inefficiently. When we are misaligned, we waste our precious energy stores, sap our strength, compress our joints, compromise our organ function, and in the long run, develop a life of chronic aches & pains.
YogAlign focuses on:
1. understanding how the body is supported & controlled, and
2. teaching techniques to eliminate unnecessary tension & recover natural flexibility, tone & ease. Our bodies are permeated by systems of connective tissue that align our body through a balanced, tensile force. By practicing safe & easy breathing exercises & positions, we can learn to work with this connective tissue to regain our fluidity, moving more like the water & space that we truly are.
Are you near a AA battery? If so, pick it up and feel its weight. That’s roughly how much of the mineral magnesium you have in your body — about 25 grams, or a little less than an ounce. Magnesium has many health benefits, and plays a vital role in many bodily functions, yet it gets almost no press compared to its more famous buddies, iron and calcium.
While magnesium abounds in nature — it’s the seventh most common element on earth, by weight — we aren’t getting nearly enough of it to achieve and maintain optimal health. Somewhere between 10-30% of people worldwide — and around 50% of Americans — appear to be deficient. Magnesium deficiency is so common and widespread that it’s been called a public health crisis.
And compounding the problem is the fact that it’s hard to accurately measure magnesium levels in the body. Tests look at serum magnesium (in the blood) and not intracellular magnesium (the concentration of magnesium within cells, where it’s needed). It’s a little like trying to figure out the financial health of a bank by counting the money in the Brinks vans going to and from the building. There’s some relationship, but it’s far from the whole story.
But what exactly does magnesium do in your body? What are the health benefits of magnesium? And why are so many of us deficient these days? Read on to find out!
What is Magnesium?
Magnesium is a mineral needed to support a number of critical functions in your body. For instance, it helps maintain normal blood pressure, keeps your bones strong through the metabolism of calcium and potassium, and helps to keep your heartbeat steady. It’s a cofactor involved in over 300 enzyme systems that regulate biochemical reactions. And it’s a necessary component for energy production, DNA and RNA synthesis, and muscle and nerve function.
Magnesium is also an electrolyte, which means it carries an electric charge when dissolved in bodily fluids like blood. However, the majority of magnesium in your body is uncharged and is bound to proteins or stored in your skeleton. Approximately half of the magnesium in your body is found in bone, with very little circulating in blood. In fact, less than 1% of your body’s magnesium is in your bloodstream. And it remains very tightly controlled — primarily by your kidneys — which determine magnesium excretion or retainment.
6 Magnesium Health Benefits
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Getting enough magnesium is not only essential for everyday physiological functioning. It plays a substantial role in the prevention of numerous health conditions, too. Below are some of the most researched magnesium health benefits.
1. Improved heart health
A 2017 meta-analysis of 11 studies published in Nutrition Journal concluded that magnesium levels circulating in the blood are inversely associated with the incidence of heart disease and hypertension. While more research is needed to determine optimal serum levels of magnesium, researchers were able to identify higher levels as having a protective effect on heart health. Specifically, for every 0.1 mmol/L increase in circulating magnesium, there was a 4% lower incidence of hypertension.
Furthermore, a 2005 study reviewed 20 randomized trials and found that administering intravenous or intramuscular magnesium prior to heart surgery was effective in preventing post-operative atrial fibrillation (AF), or irregular heartbeat. Blood clots, stroke, heart failure, and other complications can result from AF.
In other research, magnesium supplementation has also been beneficial in lowering high blood pressure, especially among people with insulin resistance, prediabetes, and other high-risk groups.
2. Reduced risk for osteoporosis
Magnesium and calcium work together to keep your bones strong and healthy, so it makes sense that getting enough of these minerals can help slow or prevent skeletal weakening that often happens with age. A 2017 study published in the journal Nutrients examined associations between skeletal muscle mass, grip strength, bone density, and dietary magnesium among 156,575 men and women ages 39-72 from the UK Biobank cohort. The researchers found a significant association between magnesium intake and bone health. This suggests that getting enough magnesium in the diet could help maintain musculoskeletal health as you age and even prevent osteoporosis and bone fractures.
3. May help prevent type 2 diabetes
In addition to the link between magnesium and heart health, the 2017 meta-analysis mentioned above also found that higher circulating levels of magnesium were associated with a lower risk for developing type 2 diabetes. However, there has been no determination of optimal blood levels yet. A 2016 study published in Nutrients evaluated the dose-response relationship between magnesium intake and type 2 diabetes risk, looking at 25 studies, including 637,922 individuals, 26,828 of whom had the disease. After adjusting for BMI and age, the authors were able to identify a 8-13% reduction in risk for type 2 diabetes for every 100 mg/day increment of dietary magnesium intake.
4. May improve sleep patterns and quality
Magnesium is known to have a calming effect for many people, which may help improve sleep. This could have substantial health benefits, considering that an estimated 50% of older adults have some degree of insomnia, or difficulty sleeping at night. A 2012 study published in the Journal of Research in Medical Sciences found that 500 mg of supplemental magnesium, taken daily for eight weeks, resulted in subjectively improved sleep patterns among elderly individuals with insomnia, compared to a placebo group. Although total sleep time didn’t significantly differ between the two groups, those who received magnesium reported better sleep quality and less waking at night and early morning. In a 1998 study, a small group of older adults with insomnia were given 12.4 mmol of magnesium supplementation daily for four to six weeks. The study participants found that rates of restless leg syndrome decreased and that overall sleep efficiency improved.
5. May reduce and prevent migraines
A heavily studied health benefit of magnesium is the relationship between magnesium and migraines. Many researchers believe that magnesium deficiency may trigger waves of altered cortical activity, clumping of blood platelets in the brain, constricted blood vessels, and release of certain neurotransmitters that can lead to migraines. How much magnesium helps? Research on this is inconsistent, perhaps in part because not everyone has the same level of need. Some people suffering from migraine headaches have found that supplemental doses of up to 1000 mg of magnesium can alleviate their symptoms. But some people also find that doses that high can cause diarrhea or abdominal pain.
6. May help regulate mood
Getting enough magnesium may also help uplift your spirits. And some people use magnesium against depression. A 2017 study published in PLoS One aimed to determine if over-the-counter magnesium chloride supplementation improved symptoms among 126 adults in outpatient primary care clinics with reported mild-to-moderate depression. The participants received an intervention of 248 mg of magnesium per day for six weeks. And then, they underwent six weeks of no treatment as the control. Using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, researchers found that magnesium supplementation resulted in significant improvement in depression scores. And 61% of the participants said they would continue using magnesium in the future.
How Much Magnesium Do You Need?
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While a balanced diet that regularly includes magnesium-rich foods should meet your needs, most people in America don’t consume enough. Why? The modern industrialized diet — also known as the standard American diet (aptly acronymed as SAD) — is high in processed, packaged foods. And it tends to lack good, plant-based sources of magnesium.
So how much magnesium should you be aiming for? The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for magnesium are as follows:
0-6 months: 30 mg
7-12 months: 75 mg
1-3 years: 80 mg
4-8 years: 130 mg
9-13 years: 240 mg
Boys 14-18 years: 410 mg
Girls 14-18 years: 360 mg
Men 19+ years: 400-420 mg
Women 19+ years: 310-320 mg
Pregnant teens: 400 mg
Pregnant women: 350-360 mg
Breastfeeding teens: 360 mg
Breastfeeding women: 310-320 mg
Magnesium Deficiency
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Scientific literature suggests that subclinical magnesium deficiency is rampant. And that it’s actually one of the leading causes of chronic disease — including cardiovascular disease and early mortality — around the globe. Subclinical magnesium deficiency indicates that your blood magnesium levels appear normal, but you still have an underlying mineral deficiency.
A USDA survey called “What We Eat in America” found that men take in under 350 mg of magnesium per day (when they should be getting 300-420 mg), while women average 260 mg when at least 310 mg would be optimal. Surveys show that men over the age of 70 and teenage girls tend to have the lowest magnesium consumption. On the other hand, combining dietary and supplemental magnesium typically exceeds minimum requirements.
Normal blood magnesium levels are between 0.75 and 0.95 mmol/L, which means magnesium deficiency occurs at levels under 0.75 mmol/L. Remember that less than 1% of your total body magnesium is in your blood, so when these levels are low, it could indicate that you have a more widespread deficiency.
What Causes Magnesium Deficiency?
In addition to inadequate consumption of magnesium from food, low magnesium levels in the body may be caused or worsened by:
An excess of heavy metals due to soil contamination
A lack of minerals due to soil erosion
Having a digestive disorder, such as celiac disease or chronic diarrhea
Having type 2 diabetes
Being dependent upon alcohol
Being elderly, as magnesium absorption decreases with age
Taking certain medicines, including diuretics and proton-pump inhibitors, that can cause magnesium loss
Symptoms of early magnesium deficiency can include constipation, fatigue, loss of appetite, and weakness, which can eventually lead to more severe compilations. Some of these may be muscle contractions, seizures, low blood levels of calcium and potassium, abnormal heart rhythm, personality changes, and numbness in the limbs. Long-term, untreated magnesium deficiency can result in high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and heart disease.
Magnesium Overdose & Interactions
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Overdosing on magnesium is really only possible if you’re taking supplements that contain the mineral. Dietary sources of magnesium are highly unlikely to result in toxic levels accumulating in your body, as your kidneys can typically filter out any excess.
Large doses of magnesium from dietary supplements or medications can cause diarrhea, nausea, and abdominal cramping. Diarrhea from magnesium happens because the unabsorbed salts in the intestine and colon stimulate gastric motility. In other words, magnesium makes things move pretty quickly through your intestinal tract. This is why magnesium is sometimes used to alleviate mild constipation. Magnesium carbonate, chloride, gluconate, and oxide are more likely to cause diarrhea.
Early signs of excessive magnesium intake can include low blood pressure, facial flushing, depression, urine retention, and fatigue. Eventually, if untreated, these symptoms can worsen and include muscle weakness, difficulty breathing, irregular heartbeat, and even, in very rare cases, cardiac arrest.
Extremely high doses can result in hypermagnesemia — or very high levels of magnesium in the bloodstream. Hypermagnesemia can become fatal, especially if your kidneys are not functioning optimally. Large doses of laxatives and antacids that contain magnesium may be a contributing factor to magnesium toxicity, typically when they’re providing over 5,000 mg of magnesium per day.
Lastly, magnesium supplements can interact with certain medications. For instance, bisphosphonates used to slow or prevent bone loss, antibiotics for bacterial infections, diuretics to promote water loss, or proton pump inhibitors often prescribed for management of acid reflux. Interactions may include excessive loss of magnesium, formation of insoluble complexes, and reduced efficacy of the medication.
Recommended Intake for Magnesium Supplements
How much magnesium is too much? There isn’t any known danger from eating too much magnesium from food. But there is a recommended upper intake level (UL), which clarifies the highest amount deemed safe to consume per day supplementally. Please note that this is inaddition to your dietary magnesium.
Birth to 12 months: None established
1–3 years: 65 mg
4–8 years: 110 mg
9–18 years, including pregnant or lactating women: 350 mg
19+ years, including pregnant or lactating women: 350 mg
Magnesium-Rich Foods
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The best way to get magnesium in the right amount, and in a form your body can recognize and absorb efficiently, is through your diet.
There is little to no magnesium found in meat, eggs, or dairy products.
Magnesium Absorption
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It’s important to get enough magnesium in your diet, but it’s also essential to do things that help your body absorb it well. Only about 30% to 40% of dietary magnesium is typically absorbed. So it’s helpful to know what you can do to keep that rate from dropping too much.
There could be several reasons for reduced magnesium absorption. The most common reason is that other nutrients and compounds eaten with magnesium-rich foods interfere and make absorption more difficult. One of these is phytic acid, a natural compound in many plant foods that can impair the absorption of magnesium along with other minerals, including calcium, zinc, and iron. Some nuts, seeds, legumes, and grains are high in phytic acid (levels can vary as much as 20x from one almond to another).
One way to mitigate impaired magnesium absorption is to eat foods rich in vitamin C (like citrus, red bell peppers, guava, and broccoli) when you’re eating foods high in phytic acid. It turns out that vitamin C essentially neutralizes phytic acid. One study found that 30 milligrams (the equivalent of less than half a cup of strawberries or broccoli, or ⅓ of a red pepper) was sufficient to eliminate phytic acid-related absorption issues.
In addition to consuming vitamin C-rich foods alongside food that are high in phytic acid, some other ways to boost your absorption of magnesium include:
Reducing or avoiding calcium supplements at least two hours before or after eating
Avoiding high-dose zinc supplements
Getting enough vitamin D
Eating some vegetables raw
Eating sprouted, soaked, and fermented grains to reduce their inhibitory phytic acid content
Not smoking
Should You Take a Magnesium Supplement?
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The best way to get magnesium, as with most vitamins and minerals, is to eat foods that are rich in it.
If your blood levels are low, or you have some of the symptoms of magnesium deficiency, then you may also want to consider supplementation. But keep in mind that supplementation increases the risk of magnesium overdose, so it’s important to know the appropriate dosage and not take too much.
Magnesium Types
There are many types of magnesium supplements to choose from. Some of the most common include:
Magnesium oxide is often prescribed (and is the form found in milk of magnesia). But this type of magnesium is more likely to cause diarrhea because higher doses are typically needed to have an impact. Furthermore, magnesium oxide only has an absorption rate of around 6%.
Magnesium citrate (magnesium bound with citric acid) can have a laxative effect, which may help with constipation. It’s also often recommended for migraine prevention and is highly bioavailable.
Magnesium glycinate contains the amino acid glycine, which works with brain neurotransmitters like GABA to promote calmness and improve sleep. It also has an anti-inflammatory effect, but doesn’t work as well for alleviating constipation.
Magnesium chloride is a magnesium salt combined with chlorine. It’s well-absorbed and often prescribed for heartburn, magnesium deficiency, and constipation.
Magnesium lactate is a magnesium salt combined with lactic acid. It’s less common as an over-the-counter supplement than other forms of magnesium. It’s more commonly used to fortify foods and drinks. Still, supposedly gentler on the intestinal tract than some other forms, which can be helpful for people who require large doses.
Magnesium malate contains malic acid, which is found naturally in fruits and wine. It has a higher absorption rate, which may be useful for treating magnesium deficiency. This form is common in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia, although the jury is still out on its effectiveness.
Magnesium taurate contains the amino acid taurine and may help regulate blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Its potential heart health benefits have primarily been observed in animal studies. So more research on human applications is needed.
Magnesium-Rich Recipes
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Whether or not you take a magnesium supplement, there’s little doubt about the health benefits of eating a magnesium-rich diet. You can boost intake throughout the day by incorporating magnesium-rich ingredients into your everyday cooking. The Blueberry Walnut Pancakes, Citrus Salad in a Jar, and Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos are just a few examples of nourishing recipes that contain ingredients high in magnesium, such as walnuts, oats, spinach, cashews, lentils, cauliflower and avocado (plus more!). To ensure you’re getting enough magnesium each and every day, consider adding extra magnesium-rich ingredients to a meal. Examples include sprinkling nuts or seeds to a grain bowl, slicing avocado into a sandwich, and tossing spinach into a stir-fry.
Walnuts, bananas, oats, and plant-based milk not only make these simple-to-create pancakes delicious, but they also provide a decent dose of magnesium to start the day. Add blueberries, or your favorite fruit, for a little added natural sweetness and even more plant-based nutrition.
This salad checks all the boxes: crunch from the cashews, creamy from the avocado, sweet and savory from the dressing, and magnesium from just about all of the ingredients, including spinach, cashews, lentils, avocado, and sunflower seeds. Prepare the salad the night before work in a mason jar for a delicious and healing plant-powered lunch. Or add all of the ingredients directly into your favorite salad bowl for a tasty, impromptu, and nourishing meal.
Who knew that tacos could be so healthy? The truth is there are countless ways to prepare tacos using plant-based ingredients. With so many filling options, you could create a different taco for every night of the week! This one, in particular, is pretty special with its high-magnesium ingredients, including cauliflower, avocado, black beans, and whole-grain tortillas. They may seem indulgent, but rest assured they’re providing your body exactly what it needs for bone, nerve, and heart health.
Magnesium Is Essential for Your Health
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Magnesium is an essential mineral, necessary for many bodily systems to function properly. It has a number of health benefits, but most people don’t get enough of it. This contributes to a host of problems impacting heart, bone, sleep, and mental health. You can boost your levels through regularly eating magnesium-rich foods, optimising its absorption, and, if necessary, taking a low dose supplement.
Thanks Ocean Robbins, CEO of Food Revolution Network for the Article, August 2020.
Prioritising immune health can be the best line of defence.
Here, doctors and nutritionists share their game plans for supporting the body's natural immunity in the coming weeks and months:
1. Be kind to yourself and others.
According to psychiatrist Anna Yusim, M.D., immune health is largely predicated on mental health, and vice versa. "Being depressed or anxious, for instance, predisposes you to inflammation and infection, while having higher levels of inflammation increases your likelihood of being depressed," she tells mbg. "Therefore, one of the best things you can do to keep your immune system healthy and strong is to keep your mind and emotions positive, healthy, and strong." Here are three of her favorite strategies for doing so:
Though there is some debate about how it affects COVID risk in particular, vitamin D plays an important role in immune support more generally.* "Optimal vitamin D levels have been shown to positively affect the innate and adaptive immune system in a variety of ways including boosting genetic expression of white blood cells, helping the immune system adapt and ward off infection, and managing inflammation," functional medicine physician Alejandra Carrasco, M.D., writes in a guide to the vitamin and hormone.*
This year, mbg formulated a new supplement that combines vitamin D with mood-supporting ingredients such as hops, rosemary, black cumin seed, and the real star of the show, full-spectrumhemp oil. The resulting hemp multi+ can be taken every day to support immunity and promote a steadier mood, giving it some of those all-important mental health benefits, to boot.*
4. Make your bedtime routine special and consistent.
Sufficient sleep has never been more important, as your immune system can't really fire on all cylinders without it. To promote deep and restorative rest, you can lean on a calming supplement like magnesium or take a page from herbalist and integrative doctor Aviva Romm, M.D.'s book and incorporate more plant extracts into your nightly routine. "One of my favorites right now is lavender oil—it's incredibly effective for a good night's sleep, especially when it's disrupted by anxiety," she said in a recent episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. To use lavender oil before bed, simply take a whiff straight from the bottle (being careful not to get any on your nose), run in a diffuser, or add a few drops of the oil into your nightly bath.
Our sleep also tends to improve when it's consistent: Board-certified sleep medicine researcher W. Christopher Winter, M.D., recommends setting a "go to bed" alarm, as well as your normal wake-up one, to ensure that your sleep schedule is similar night after night.
Again, these strategies will not safeguard you (or those around you) from COVID. But combined with other protective measures, they can help boost your natural ability to fight infection.
Re-programmes the brain to set a new tension in the body
An expression of self love to maintain your optimal wellness
Begin your self care practice by booking a class today - click on 'YogAlign' in menu then 'Booking' - join me for either a small class (maximum 4) or a private session. All yoga mats & props provided ... just play & walk away ;o)
It makes sense. As many of us spend more time at home, some of us staring at lawns whose only nutritional value is in the odd dandelion, and some of us just wanting to be more self-reliant, more and more people are feeling the urge to grow something edible. And it’s true that growing food can make us more self-sufficient and give us a feeling of control in a world in which so much is out of our control.
But growing food also gives us this triple whammy:
The truth is, growing nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables is one of the best health insurance policies you can take out.
Turning Lawns into Food Gardens
As a society, it’s not like we don’t have the land. Lawns are the single largest irrigated crop in the US, covering nearly 32 million acres. On the other hand, fruits and vegetables grow on only about 10 million acres in the United States. This means the space that American lawns occupy could provide enough land to literally quadruple the amount of fruits and vegetables grown in the country!
Home gardening is a rapidly growing movement. Heirloom seed companies like Johnny’s Selected Seeds and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange are already overwhelmed with orders and have resorted to rationing on their websites. Nurseries and garden centers nationwide report booming sales of vegetable and herb seeds and plants. And Google Keyword Trends shows the newfound popularity for searches such as “growing food,” “vegetable gardens,” and “victory gardens.”
Wait, “victory garden”? What the heck is that?
The Origins of the “Victory Garden” Movement
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The first Victory Garden movement began during World War I. With millions of Americans fighting overseas, the US government diverted commercial crops to the European theater and redirected transportation towards moving troops and munitions instead of food. Ordinary citizens stepped into the breach and started a food garden wherever they could: rooftops, fire escapes, empty lots, schools, and backyards. The efforts of ordinary “stay-at-home” Americans saved entire European populations from starvation and disease.
These “war gardens” or “victory gardens” persisted following the war’s end during the social distancing that accompanied the global 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. Americans, Canadians, British, and Australians kept their gardens growing right through the Great Depression and World War II. At one point, 20 million backyard, school, and community victory gardens provided more than 40% of the vegetables eaten in the United States.
The World War II revival of victory gardens, while expressing solidarity, sacrifice, and patriotism, was tinged with an overlay of racism as Americans gardened to replace the lost labor of the many Japanese farm workers who were forced into internment camps. But let’s remember that at its roots, and for decades of hardship, the concept of a victory garden was birthed to help feed a nation and then help it survive a pandemic.
The Current Threats to Our Food Supply
Many people are experiencing disruptions in our food supply chain now, seeing empty grocery store shelves, waiting in long lines to buy staples, and hearing daily stories of food hoarding. Those of us used to next-day Amazon delivery are now waiting weeks or even months for food deliveries — if they ever come. Food banks and pantries for the poor are experiencing long lines, and in some cases, have had to resort to rationing. So what’s causing these problems?
For one thing, a large segment of the food industry caters to institutions that have largely shut down for the time being: restaurants, schools, hotels and conference centers, stadiums, theme parks, airports, and cruise ships. Manufacturers can’t just repackage industrial-sized bags of rice and flour into consumer sizes overnight. And tragic amounts of fresh produce are rotting in fields and orchards because the system isn’t set up to transport fruits and vegetables to hungry consumers. Meat and dairy are particularly affected, partly because it’s harder to transport animal-based foods safely and partly because the slaughterhouses, dairies, and processing plants are, themselves, hotbeds of COVID-19. (Editorial aside: Now could be a great time to go plant-based, if you haven’t already made the leap.)
Border closures, grounded airlines, closed ports, and restrictions on movement have also made it harder to continue food production and transport goods internationally. And since much of the food sold in the US today originates from overseas, supply chain breakdowns create the potential for shortages of critical ingredients or components.
Political issues are exacerbating the crisis, too. As more front-line workers in the fast food and grocery industries are hospitalized with or die of the virus, others are going on strike and engaging in protests against the apparent disregard for human life shown by the policies of Walmart, Amazon, and other large retailers that remain in operation.
Given all these present threats, which have arisen on top of a food system that was already fragile due to unsustainable farming practices and rampant inequities (food service and agricultural workers weren’t exactly being treated like royalty, to begin with), it’s no wonder home gardening is making more and more sense.
10 Reasons to Start a Food Garden Today
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Even if you aren’t struggling to get enough food to feed your family, there are still a bunch of good reasons to start a food garden.
1. Self-reliance
The industrial agriculture system that provides most of our food is inherently unstable. In a few generations, we’ve depleted some of the richest topsoil deposits in the world. And we’ve resorted to using synthetic fertilizers and increasingly toxic pesticides and herbicides to maintain productivity. There’s no way this industrialized and chemical-dependent method of farming can continue to feed us long-term. By starting to grow your own food, you begin to assert control over your family’s food supply.
2. Sense of Purpose
I’ve seen a lot of “humorous” memes to the effect that the most patriotic thing we can do these days is stay home and binge-watch Netflix. While it’s true that social distancing saves lives, there are many things we can do that can make the world a better place. For one, we can plant and tend a garden to feed ourselves. If you’re not in the long line outside the supermarket, then the line is that much shorter for everyone else. Today’s food garden takes some of the pressure off an already teetering food system. And if that’s not patriotic, I don’t know what is.
3. Learn a New Skill
Gardening is a skill set — one that’s fun to learn and invaluable once you’ve gotten the hang of it. And I would argue that the ability to grow your own food is as fundamental to survival and well-being as reading, writing, and computer literacy.
4. Cleaner, Safer Food
Unless you’re buying only locally-grown, organic fruits and veggies, the produce that you get from the supermarket is often laden with pesticides, herbicides, and protective wax coverings. When you grow your own, you’re in charge of quality control. Growing a small food garden allows you to pick pests off by hand or use non-toxic pest management options. Therefore, you don’t need to rely on toxic sprays and powders to keep critters off your cauliflower. And since most “fresh” produce that you can find in the supermarket was harvested a week or two before you can buy it, the food that you grow yourself will be much fresher, with a higher nutrient profile.
5. Get More Fruits and Veggies in Your Diet
I’ve never seen a seed catalog selling Pop-Tart bushes and Snickers trees. Your food garden will naturally contain the healthiest foods on the planet: fruits, veggies, legumes, and roots. And what you grow, you’ll eat. Even picky eaters won’t be able to resist a ripe heirloom tomato or just-picked kale and cucumber salad that they harvested themselves.
About that delicious, funny-looking heirloom tomato: You will have a hard time finding that variety in your big supermarket. Most produce varieties aren’t bred for taste or nutrition. Instead, they were developed to withstand transcontinental shipping in 18-wheel freightliners. When you start a food garden, you have the opportunity to buy varieties that taste much better and are far more nutritious than the standard ones you’re used to. The only downside is that you have to eat them within a day or two of picking, which is not really a downside at all!
Global Public Service Announcement: If you’re doing OK financially, and looking for a worthwhile project to support, check out veganic gardener Will Bonsall’s Scatterseed Project. Will has been saving rare and heirloom seeds for over 40 years. And his collection contains the only known examples of certain varieties that may thrive under the pressure of climate change. As Will says, “Genetic diversity is the hedge between us and global famine.” The documentary Seed: The Untold Story features his work. Watch this segment of the film, and consider supporting Scatterseed to ensure that these infinitely valuable seeds survive.
6. Reduce Your Risk of Chronic Disease
The science is abundantly clear that the more whole plant foods you consume, the lower your risk of developing cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. This is a compelling reason to add more fruits and veggies to your diet at any time. But it’s even more urgent an argument during the coronavirus pandemic. Studies out of New York are showing the link between chronic disease and COVID-19 mortality. Eighty-nine percent of those who died from the virus had pre-existing chronic conditions. And obese people were twice as likely to die as those of normal weight. This is the perfect time to clean up your diet, reducing your intake of processed and animal-based foods, and upping your consumption of life-giving plants.
7. Reduce Your Grocery Bill
Like any new hobby, you can start gardening frugally, or you can buy every labor-saving device on the market. If you begin with just a few packets of seeds and a couple of bags of potting soil, you’ll recoup your investment through a reduced grocery bill within a few months. If you’re converting a lawn into a garden, you may not even need new soil. And if you haven’t been spraying herbicides on your grass, you may have nutrient-rich soil ready for your first round of crops without adding any amendments. An added bonus is if you can compost your kitchen scraps, saving money on fertilizer by creating a nutrient cycle from garden to kitchen, back to garden.
8. Avoid Virus-Contaminated Food
Many of us pick up a piece of fruit at the supermarket, feel it for freshness, and then put it back down if we aren’t satisfied. If you assume that we haven’t broken that habit completely, then it’s likely that some of the produce on our supermarket shelves could already be contaminated with SARS-CoV-2, and possibly other pathogens as well. Sure, you can take it home and wash it well, but think of all the surfaces it can touch, as well as where your hands will go before you can disinfect everything. The produce you grow in your garden will contain only the pathogens that you bring to them.
9. Get Outside
If you have a piece of land — even a small yard — then gardening gives you a reason to spend time outside. Even as we try to stay safe through social distancing, we also need sunshine, exercise, and fresh air to be well, physically and mentally. There are also significant health benefits to being in contact with soil. Getting dirty supports our immune system, and many of the compounds in soil can improve our mood and cognitive functioning. Some researchers have gone so far as to call the soil microbiome a “human antidepressant.”
10. Grow It Forward
In addition to growing a bounty of beautiful vegetables for yourself, consider sowing a few extra seeds to support your local food shelf. Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) is sponsored by GardenComm to help connect local growers with agencies that serve the food insecure. No PAR committee in your community? No problem. Grow those plants, and then reach out to your local food pantry or soup kitchen to make plans to share from your harvest. If you grow an overabundance of anything, there’s no need for it to go to waste (or turn into compost) when it could feed hungry people instead.
How to Start Your Food Garden
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If you’ve never gardened before, the most important thing is to avoid overwhelm. There are many guides out there to help you get started with minimal investment, effort, and confusion.
1. Use a Planting Calendar
First, check a planting calendar for information on what grows where you live. The United States Department of Agriculture has a Hardiness Zone Map that will tell you what “zone” you live in. The zones differ by first and last frost date, average high and low temperatures, and hours of sunlight, among other criteria. Once you know your zone, you can check seed packets for information about when to plant and harvest in that zone. You can also Google “[Your state or city] planting guide” or planting schedule. You’ll find excellent information from seed companies, local agriculture extension offices, and universities that will tell you what grows well in your region and how to plant, nourish, and harvest those crops.
Once you’ve done a bit of research, talk with your family members about what foods they’d like to grow and eat. You’ll get a lot more help and enthusiasm when you gear the garden to their goals and desires. Once you’ve got a plan, it’s time to decide how you’re going to garden prior to ordering seeds or seedlings, gardening supplies, and potting soil.
3. Prepare Your Garden
The most straightforward method is to remove grass with a hoe, rototiller, or (for much bigger areas) a small tractor. And then, work the underlying soil for tilth and nutrients, and start planting directly into the ground. You might also want to conduct a couple of simple soil tests for pH and nutrient content. Gardening stores sell test kits for a few dollars. And local agriculture extensions and county agencies often allow local farmers and gardeners to bring in soil samples for free testing (Although check with them first since social distancing may have shut down this service in your area). Once you’ve tested, you can determine what (if anything) you might need to add to your soil and what plants are most likely to thrive in your conditions
Container Gardening
If you don’t have a yard suitable for cultivation, the easiest way to get started is with containers. You can use pretty much anything: large flower pots, milk crates lined with burlap, wicker baskets, and non-toxic grow bags can all serve. You’ll need drainage, so you’ll have to poke or drill holes in the buckets and plastic containers.
Containers are actually ideal in that you have total control over the soil. And you can position them for maximum sun and protection from wind. If they’re small enough, you can even move them around. Plants that thrive in containers include tomatoes, herbs, salad greens, beans, broccoli, peppers, cucumbers, and dark leafy greens.
If you have no outdoor space, you can garden indoors with containers. All you need is a decent light source. Garden centers will sell you specialized grow lights, often on timers, but they can be pricey. You might do almost as well with LED or fluorescent shop lights from a home improvement store. Wire shelving makes a great place to grow plants with the shop light attached to the shelf above. And if you have good outdoor lighting from windows, then you can let your plants photosynthesize the natural way — from the sun.
Straw Bale Gardening
If you have more space, but no good soil, consider straw bale gardening. You can turn a bale of straw (not hay, which contains seeds that will compete with your plantings) into a growth medium by watering the bale for 10 days or so, topping with potting soil and planting seeds right in the soil. As the straw breaks down, its nutrients become available for the growing plants.
The Sheet-Mulch Method
If you have a lawn that you’d like to convert quickly to vegetable production, consider the sheet-mulch method. This consists of putting down cardboard or some other organic material to block the growth of grass. And then, adding layers of mulch, compost, and topsoil on top of the former lawn. This works much better with established seedlings than sowing seeds directly into the mulch, so you’ll have to buy seedlings or start them indoors in trays.
Raised Bed Gardening
Another option is to create raised beds and fill them with high-quality growth medium. You can build the beds out of wood, or order raised bed kits online and put them together yourself. These tend to be more expensive since you’ll need to purchase enough soil and amendment to fill them to a depth of at least one to two feet, but you’ll be able to plant in them right away. Also, if your lawn contains pesticides, herbicides, and toxic building materials, raised beds can give your veggies a “fresh start” with clean, imported soil.
Greenhouses
If you’re fortunate enough to have space for a greenhouse, you can garden pretty much year-round. You can add weeks to the start of the growing season by starting seedlings in the greenhouse well before you can plant them outdoors. And you can grow fall crops like lettuce and kale in the greenhouse even in cold, snowy winters.
Whatever route you take, try to reach out to local gardeners, who will be able to balance your book knowledge with practical experience growing in your area. And don’t forget the University of YouTube as a great “how-to” resource for developing your green thumbs!
Thanks Ocean Robbins - The Food Revolution May 2020
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