Rich sources of magnesium are greens, nuts, seeds, dry beans, whole grains, wheat germ, wheat and oat bran. The recommended dietary allowance for magnesium for adult men is 400-420 mg per day. The dietary allowance for adult women is 310-320 mg per day. The magnesium that is naturally present in food is not harmful and does not need to be limited. Magnesium in dietary supplements and medications should not be consumed in amounts above the upper limit, unless recommended by a healthcare provider. Cramps and diarrhea are common side effects.
Magnesium deficiency
A deficiency due to low dietary intake is not common in healthy people. However, ongoing low intakes or excessive losses of magnesium due to certain health conditions, chronic alcoholism, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, or intestinal surgery, and/or the use of certain medications, can lead to magnesium deficiency.
wellness
🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Nutrition and Muscle Cramps
Muscle Cramps Begone
Muscle cramps happen when your muscles tense up and you can’t relax them. While painful, usually you can treat them yourself. Exercise, dehydration, and menstruation are common causes. One way to stop cramps is to stretch or massage your muscles and to eat enough of these key nutrients: potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium. They’re called electrolytes, and you can find them in the following foods: Bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados, beans and lentils, melons, watermelon, milk, dark leafy greens, orange juice, salmon, tomatoes, and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.
🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ The Health Benefits of Dandelion Greens
Dandelion Greens are a Storehouse of Nutrients
Note: My dad would take me picking dandelion greens. My mom made them into a salad during the spring and summer months. We were poor, the dandelions were free, and we ate nutritiously without knowing it.
Benefits of dandelion greens
Dandelions pack a whole lot of vitamins and minerals into a small plant. They’re probably the most nutritionally dense green you can eat — outstripping even kale or spinach. . Dandelion greens, in particular, are a great source of vitamins and minerals such as: Vitamins A, C and K, Folate, Calcium, and Potassium.
Dandelions Provide antioxidants:Dandelions contain several different types of antioxidants throughout the roots, leaves and flowers. Antioxidants protect your body against free radicals — rogue molecules that can damage your body’s cells and make you age faster.
Dandelions Reduce inflammation:Â Chronic inflammation in the body plays a role in a long list of serious health problems, including cancer and heart disease. One way to stay healthy is by eating foods that fight inflammation. Add dandelion to your anti-inflammatory diet: Lab studies have found that compounds in these plants can dial down inflammation.
Dandelions Help Manage blood pressure:Â Dandelions are rich in potassium, which makes them a natural diuretic. In other words, they make you pee. Diuretics are often used to help control high blood pressure.
Dandelions Help Control blood sugar  Dandelion has been used around the world as a natural way to control Type 2 diabetes. Researchers are still investigating that link, but studies in animals suggest that the compounds in dandelions might help reduce blood sugar levels in people with diabetes.
Dandelions Help Lower cholesterol:Â Lowering cholesterol is a key step to reducing the risk of heart disease. Studies in animals have found that extracts from dandelion roots and leaves can naturally lower cholesterol levels.
🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Does Sunscreen inhibit Vitamin D Production?
Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D if You Use Sunscreen?
Sunscreen can reduce the sun’s adverse effects, but there are concerns that it might inhibit the body’s production of vitamin D. In a new British Journal of Dermatology study, however, investigators recorded an increase of vitamin D in participants during a week of cloudless weather, with very high UV index, even when sunscreens were used properly and prevented sunburn. . . .The [studies] findings indicate that the benefits of sunscreen use can be obtained without compromising vitamin D levels.
“Sunlight is the main source of vitamin D. Sunscreens can prevent sunburn and skin cancer, but there has been a lot of uncertainty about the effects of sunscreens on vitamin D,” said lead author Prof. Antony Young, of King’s College London. “Our study, during a week of perfect weather in Tenerife, showed that sunscreens, even when used optimally to prevent sunburn, allowed excellent vitamin D synthesis.”
🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Don’t Let Stress Negatively Impact Your Health
Your body is hard-wired to respond to stress. Its “fight-or-flight” response system is designed to kick in when you’re faced with a threat. However, modern humans encounter a constant barrage of stressors that your body can misinterpret as threatening. That can keep you on edge. Over time, stress can negatively impact your mental and physical health.
Healthline provides 10 tips to reduce stress. Check it out.
🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Don’t Take a Pass on Breakfast
Breakfast. Research shows that [breakfast] is the most important meal of the day—and there is plenty of science to support it. Still, more than half of us do not eat breakfast everyday. . . .Breakfast-eating kids and adultsget more fiber, calcium, vitamins A and C, riboflavin, zinc, and iron in their diets than breakfast-skippers. It’s no wonder when you consider that nutrient-rich foods such as whole-grain hot and ready-to- eat cereals, fat-free and low-fat milk and yogurt, and fruit and 100 percent fruit juice are popular breakfast picks.
🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Are You Getting Enough Vitamin B12?
Do you get enough vitamin B12? You’ll want to make sure that you do, in order to stay healthy. . . . Vitamin B12 does a lot of things for your body. It helps make your DNA and your red blood cells, for example. Since your body doesn’t make vitamin B12, you have to get it from animal-based foods or from supplements. And you should do that on a regular basis. You can get vitamin B12 in animal foods, which have it naturally, or from items that have been fortified with it.  Animal sources include dairy products, eggs, fish, meat, and poultry. If you’re looking for a food fortified with B12, check the product’s Nutrition Facts label. You can also get vitamin B12 deficiency if you follow a vegan or vegetarian diet. In both of those cases, you can add fortified foods to your diet or take supplements to meet this need.Â
🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Is Napping Good for You?
Take a Siesta Today
The 3 p.m. slump: It happens to everyone at some point. You’re at work, post-lunch, it’s warm and you’re feeling drowsy. But you’ve still got a few hours to go before you can log out and head home. Many people reach for a cup of coffee or an energy drink when such feelings set in. But it could be that a brief nap would be a better intervention to help you power through the afternoon productively.
Dr. Peter A. Fotinakes, medical director of the Providence St. Joseph Hospital Sleep Disorder Center in Orange County, California, says this afternoon lull is a great time to get some shuteye, as it fits in with an overarching cycle of sleep-wake that most people naturally experience.
“Napping is a healthy part of our sleep cycle. Within our 24-hour sleep cycle, we enter into two sleep phases – a long phase that occurs during the night and a shorter 30- to 45-minute phase in the afternoon,” says Fotinakes. “We become physically sleepy during these two periods, which encourages and promotes sleep.”
🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Potatoes Done Right are a Great Choice
Prepared the right way, potatoes can make a delicious, satisfying, and healthy dish. . . .Potatoes are a good source of fiber, which can help you lose weight by keeping you full longer. Fiber can help prevent heart disease by keeping cholesterol and blood sugar levels in check. Potatoes are also full of antioxidants that work to prevent diseases and vitamins that help your body function properly. . . .The fiber found in potatoes is a special type called “resistant starch,” which has the health benefits of both soluble fiber and insoluble fiber and causes less gas than other types of fiber. You can up the amount of resistant starch in potatoes by cooking them a day ahead of time and cooling them in the fridge overnight. Feel free to reheat them before you eat.
🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Foods that Mess With Your Brain
5 Foods that Mess With Your Brain
- Alcohol – While a single glass of wine or beer is unlikely to mess with your mind, alcohol directly affects the brain’s communication pathways. The more you drink, the more difficult it may be to process new information or remember things.
- Sugary Sodas & Drinks – Research has found that people who drink a lot of soda, sweet tea, and other sugary beverages are a lot more likely to have memory trouble.
- Diet Sodas – Research finds that people who sip at least one diet soda a day are nearly three times as likely to have a stroke or develop dementia. Scientists think that artificial sweeteners may be the offending ingredient.
- French Fries & Fried Foods – These guilty pleasures cause inflammation, which can damage the blood vessels that supply the brain with blood and hurt the brain itself.
- Red Meat – It’s high in saturated fat, which is bad for your heart as well as your brain.
