Top 10 Foods High In Magnesium That YOU NEED To Eat

Then there are a lot of things in our modern  lifestyle that make it more difficult to absorb  

and utilize, but then when you look at different  food tables, it doesn't look like it would be  

that difficult to get a few hundred milligrams of  magnesium. Too often, we get a one-sided message,  

as if only plants had nutrients, and nothing could  be further from the truth. Animal products are the  

most complete in nutrients, and when it comes to  magnesium, they're actually pretty good sources.  

Hello, Health Champion! Today, we're going to talk  about the top 10 foods that are high in magnesium,  

and you really want to watch this video  carefully because not only is magnesium  

critically important, it serves so many different  functions, but it's also very difficult to absorb,  

and most people are deficient. Not only that, but  I learned some very, very surprising things as  

I researched this in terms of which foods will  actually be the best sources of magnesium. So,  

magnesium is a mineral that acts as a co-actor,  as a catalyst in over 300 enzymatic reactions,  

and there are so many different types of  reactions, such as building things, the synthesis  

of proteins and DNA. It's involved in energy  production, it's involved in muscle function,  

and in nerve conduction. So, the heart, of course,  depends on both muscles and nerve signals. It is a  

component of bone, so it's involved in building  the tissue, but also in the regulation of the  

buildup and breakdown of bone. It is critical  for mental health and mood regulation and also  

involved in glucose and insulin regulation. So,  it's involved in metabolic functions as well. So,  

there's hardly anything that happens in the  body where magnesium doesn't play a part, and  

the recommended daily intake for men is about 400  to 420 mg, and for women, it's about 310 to 320.  

But then there are a lot of things in our modern  lifestyle that make it more difficult to absorb  

and utilize, and just a few of those would be  things like stress and caffeine and preservatives  

and all kinds of different chemicals; medications  can affect it, and as we age, we don't absorb it  

as effectively. And then, of course, if you have  any sort of gastrointestinal issue, which so many  

people have today. So because all these different  factors can make it more difficult to utilize  

magnesium, most people who work in the functional  medicine field, who do blood work and actually  

monitor these things, they suggest that we need  probably between 500 and 600 milligrams a day.  

But then when you look at different food tables,  it doesn't look like it would be that difficult  

to get a few hundred milligrams of magnesium.  But here's where we need to start understanding  

this a little more carefully. You can't just look  at a typical table and say that, "Oh well, look,  

milk has 24 milligrams, salmon has 25," and you  go down the list: "chicken has 30, spinach has 79,  

oats have 125, Brazil nuts 376, and hemp is the  superstar at 700 milligrams." Because there are  

two critical factors that we need to understand  in terms of how much we're actually ingesting  

and how much we are absorbing and utilizing, and  the first one is serving size. And I'm going to  

start the list here, and on my top 10 list, we're  going to count down, and we'll start with number  

11 because I couldn't limit it to 10. So, some  examples would be Romaine lettuce, kale, arugula,  

spinach, and Swiss chard, for example. And Romaine  doesn't have a whole lot to start with; it has 15  

milligrams of magnesium per 100 grams of lettuce;  kale has a little more at 33, arugula has 47,  

spinach has 79, and Swiss chard has 81. So, it  looks like substantial amounts here, but remember,  

this is per 100 gram, and how much leafy greens  can you really eat? A typical serving size of  

two cups of chopped or shredded leafy greens is  about 30 grams; it's very difficult to eat 100  

grams of leafy greens. So now, when we look at  how much you're getting per serving, we see that  

Romaine lettuce would give you 5 milligrams, kale  has 10, arugula 14, and then spinach and Swiss  

chard would do 24 each. And the other important  critical factor is called antinutrients. So,  

everything that's alive wants to defend itself  against getting eaten, and a lot of animals  

will have claws and fangs and teeth, or they run  really fast, but plants have none of these. So,  

therefore, they defend themselves with chemicals,  and these chemicals are slightly toxic, so they  

discourage other animals from eating the plants.  And the two primary factors that are involved with  

magnesium are called oxalates and phytates, and  these are not like super dangerous to most people;  

we can have different levels of sensitivities.  If you have a tendency to kidney stones,  

then you probably really want to avoid oxalates;  if you have sensitivities to all sorts of things,  

then either one of these might cause reactions.  But for most people, it's important because it  

reduces the availability of the nutrients that we  eat. So, depending on the plant and depending on  

how you cook them, the phytates and oxalates could  reduce magnesium availability by 25 to 60%. So, if  

we go back to the table with leafy greens, and now  we take into account the antinutrients, now we see  

that for Romaine, kale, and arugula, it probably  reduces the absorption by about 25%, and these  

are very rough round numbers because it's not like  they've done very detailed studies on every single  

plant out there, but we do know that spinach and  Swiss chard have a lot more oxalates, so therefore  

it is probably somewhere around a 50% reduction.  So now, when we go back and look at the numbers of  

what's probably available, now we see that there's  even less here. So, we see 3 milligrams, 7 mg, 11,  

and 12. And of course, that doesn't mean that you  shouldn't eat leafy greens; it means you should  

eat a variety of different foods, but leafy greens  are not going to be your main source of magnesium.  

However, every little bit counts. And next, we  have fruits and berries, and a few examples would  

be blackberries, raspberries, banana, and avocado.  When we look at how much is in there per 100  

grams, we see blackberries have 20, raspberries  have 22 milligrams, banana has 27, avocado has  

29. Now, even though avocado is usually talked  about as a vegetable, it is technically a fruit,  

and the reason I included it here is that in  terms of antinutrients, it is more like a fruit  

and a berry, and we have a negligible amount,  so it's pretty much zero. It might be a tiny,  

tiny amount, but for all practical purposes,  there are zero antinutrients in fruits because  

fruits are a little different; they typically want  to get eaten because that then the animals will  

spread the seeds all over the place, and that's  part of how the blackberries and the fruits can  

spread themselves. And a typical serving size of  fruits and berries would be a 100 gram, and now,  

of course, because there are no antinutrients,  we actually get that number in terms of how much  

we can utilize. And the thing to keep in mind,  though, is that if you are insulin-resistant,  

if you're trying to lose weight, then the  blackberries and raspberries you probably can  

eat up to 100 grams because they only have about  five grams of net carbs in them; a banana is going  

to have much, much more than that, and it's also a  starchy food. So if you're trying to lose weight,  

you probably want to favor the berries over  the banana. And the avocado, on the other hand,  

is extremely low in carbohydrate; it's a fantastic  food, and you could eat even a whole lot more  

than 100 grams; there's really no limit to the  avocado. Number nine is non-starchy vegetables,  

and I talk a lot about those because they're  very nutritious and they fit very well on a  

low carbohydrate diet. So if you just eat  protein from animals, like a steak or eggs,  

then these will supplement the meals very, very  well. You can eat a lot of these without getting  

a bunch of starch or carbohydrates, so we have  Brussels sprouts, beets, we have green beans,  

cauliflower, and broccoli as examples of really  good non-starchy vegetables. And Brussels sprouts  

have about 23 milligrams, beets have the same,  green beans 25, cauliflower 15, and broccoli  

21 milligrams per 100 grams of food. And when it  comes to antinutrients, these are pretty favorable  

as far as plants are concerned; they're at a very  low level, so somewhere around 10% antinutrients  

or the antinutrients would reduce the magnesium  utilization by about 10%. And again, these are  

rough numbers; it's going to vary depending  on the food and on the person. And of course,  

everyone's going to have different habits  in terms of how much they eat, but I put  

down roughly what I think I would eat, so for the  first three, I would probably eat about 100 grams,  

and for the cauliflower and broccoli, though, I  might eat 200 grams or even more. So now, the net  

values that we actually absorb would be 21 from  the Brussels sprouts, 21 from beets, 23 from green  

beans, 27 from cauliflower, and 38 from broccoli.  Number eight is dairy, and this is something  

that most people would never promote as a good  magnesium food, so take a look at this: we have  

cheese and milk, and this pretty much covers all  sorts of dairy because it's either going to be a  

concentrated form like cheese, or it's going to be  some derivation of milk or yogurt, which has about  

the same protein, fat, and water content in it.  So cheese has about 28 grams per 100, and milk and  

yogurt would have about 24, and of course, because  it is an animal food, it has zero antinutrients;  

there's no chemicals that prevent the utilization.  But in terms of how much we consume, I would  

assume that most people probably have about 30  grams, or an ounce of cheese, so that puts the  

utilizable, the per serving absorbable for cheese  at about eight grams, which is not a whole lot,  

but for milk, it might be as high as 48, and  this is for having 200 grams, which is a little  

bit less than a cup. Number seven is whole grain,  and here we have whole wheat bread, we have brown  

rice, we have oats, and we have buckwheat. And I'm  not a fan of grains, and I'm including these here  

not because I'm suggesting you should eat them,  but more as a reference because they're brought  

up so often as having high magnesium. So per 100  grams, wheat bread, not the flour itself but by  

the time you bake bread from it, would have about  76 milligrams of magnesium per 100 grams of bread;  

brown rice cooked would have about 25, oats, the  dry before we cook them, would have about 125,  

and buckwheat cooked would have about 51. The  antinutrients are going to be between 20 and 50,  

so I just picked the mid-range there at 35,  which means in terms of how much we actually use,  

the serving size would be maybe 30 for wheat bread  because that's one slice, and I don't recommend  

that we eat a whole lot of bread. I know the main  guidelines talk about eating most of your calories  

as starch, but we're finding out more and more  how unhealthy that is, and especially the wheat,  

because of the way it's processed, the way it's  produced with glyphosate and gluten and allergies,  

I would suggest that you stay away from  wheat, but if you eat it once in a while,  

then don't have a whole lot. So limit yourself to  a slice, probably, and that would give you about  

15 milligrams of magnesium. Brown rice would be  about half a cup of cooked rice would be 20, and  

then oats, when you cook a serving, it's about 45  grams of dry oats, or about an ounce and a half,  

and that makes a cup of oatmeal, and that has 37  milligrams of magnesium. And buckwheat is probably  

the best one out of these; it's not really a  grain, it's a pseudo-grain or a seed, and one half  

a cup of cooked buckwheat would have 40 milligrams  of magnesium. And now here's some really good news  

for people who love chocolate, because that's a  great source of magnesium: there is cocoa powder,  

and there is dark chocolate. I don't  recommend the milk chocolate in any  

shape or form because the vast majority of that  is sugar; there's very, very little cocoa in it,  

and the cocoa is what has the magnesium. So cocoa  powder has 500 milligrams per 100 grams of powder,  

and dark chocolate would have about 228. It does  have some antinutrients, so you're probably going  

to reduce the availability by about 25%, and then,  of course, we have to look at the serving size, so  

one tablespoon of cocoa powder, assuming that you  make a cup of hot chocolate with one tablespoon,  

would be about 6 grams, which would give you  about 23 mg of magnesium, and if you have about  

1/3 of a chocolate bar, that would be about 30  grams of dark chocolate, that would give you 51  

milligrams. So it's a nice little snack, and  if you eat something like 85% dark chocolate,  

that means there's roughly 15% sugar in there, so  you can have 30 grams of dark chocolate and only  

get a few grams of sugar with that, but still get  quite a bit of nutrients. Number five is legumes,  

and here we have things like lentils and black  beans and chickpeas. Per 100 grams of food, we  

have 36 milligrams in lentils, we have 70 in black  beans, and 115 in chickpeas. Now, unfortunately,  

beans have a lot of antinutrients, so up to 50%  of the magnesium would not be available. Now,  

one thing we want to keep in mind is that if we  soak and cook the food, then we can reduce the  

antinutrients, so more of the magnesium becomes  available. Now, things like lettuce and arugula,  

obviously, you don't really want to cook,  uh, spinach, you could cook a little bit,  

but things like beans lend themselves really well  to cooking, and especially if you pressure cook  

them. Now you can get the temperature up higher  than 100° Celsius, or 212 Fahrenheit due to the  

pressure, and now you would neutralize more  of those antinutrients, and then you would  

get the magnesium availability close to these  numbers. So, if we assume a serving size of 120,  

then lentils would give us 22, black beans would  give us 42, and chickpeas 69, but again, if you  

cook them, especially pressure cook, then these  numbers could be higher. Number four is fish,  

and now we're getting into some food that isn't  just plant-based. I'm a huge fan of a varied diet.  

I think we are omnivores, but too often, we hear  that we should eat nutritious food like plants,  

and nothing against plants, but too often,  we get a one-sided message, as if only plants  

had nutrients, and nothing could be further from  the truth. Animal products are the most complete  

in nutrients, and when it comes to magnesium,  they're actually pretty good sources. So, let's  

look at salmon, sardines, halibut, and mackerel,  where salmon has 25 milligrams per 100 grams,  

sardines has 40, halibut 27, and mackerel  60. But keep in mind, these are not plants,  

so there are no antinutrients involved, and the  serving size is going to depend on you. I put down  

roughly what I would eat in a normal serving, and  I'm assuming I would eat about 150 grams of each,  

except sardines, I would probably eat a can,  which comes in at about 100, so now with salmon,  

we would get 38, with sardines, we get 40, halibut  41, and mackerel 90 milligrams. Category number  

three is nuts, and here we're including walnuts,  almonds, cashews, and Brazil nuts, and now we're  

getting to some food that is very, very high  in magnesium. So, we have walnuts at 158,  

almonds at 270, cashews at 292, and Brazil nuts  at 376, and the antinutrients are considerable;  

they're at 35%, so you're probably losing about a  third of that. And nuts are probably not something  

that you're going to eat by the cup; I'm assuming  the average serving size is about 1 oz, or 30 g,  

which would be a typical snack size. And now,  walnuts would give you 31 milligrams, almonds 53,  

cashews 57, and Brazil nuts 73. And the only  thing that I would point out about these is that,  

generally, my favorite nuts are walnuts, pecans,  and macadamia because I'm looking more in terms  

of carbohydrates and the quality of the fat and  the tendency toward allergies. So, unfortunately,  

here, almonds and Brazil nuts have quite a high  tendency toward allergies, so when people go low  

carb, very often, they start loading up on almonds  because it's in everything. You can buy almond  

flour, and there's products made of almonds,  but when you start eating something a lot,  

then your body tends to develop a sensitivity  to it. So, I think these are good foods,  

but keep in mind that if you eat a lot of almonds  and especially a lot of Brazil nuts, you might  

develop some sensitivities and some inflammation.  So, everything there in moderation, and cashews  

are one of the highest in carbohydrates, so don't  go crazy on that one, either. Category number two  

is meat, and here we're looking at beef, lamb, and  chicken because there's not really much difference  

between them. So anything similar to these would  probably have similar numbers. Beef is listed at  

25, lamb at 26, and chicken at 30, so it probably  depends on if you have a lean chicken, or if you  

eat the wings or the thigh because the magnesium  is probably mostly going to be in the meat and  

more than the fat because these are animal  products. There are no antinutrients, so now  

we have to look at how much we would probably eat  of this, and again, I put the numbers that I would  

probably eat, so if I have a steak, I'm probably  going to have at least 8 oz, or 200 grams, maybe  

12, or even 16 if I'm having a nice rib-eye. If  I'm having chicken, probably a little less, if I  

had lamb, somewhere in between, but at 200 grams,  we would get 50 milligrams of magnesium available,  

lamb 52, and chicken 60. So, I hope you can see  that there's not a single superfood that you can  

just eat some of this, and it's going to provide  everything. This just underscores the importance  

of eating a variety of different foods every day,  but here is the key point of what you don't want  

to eat. So SAD is the Standard American Diet,  and unfortunately, most of the world is following  

suit, so a huge percentage of the food people eat  comes from sugar, white sugar from white flour,  

and from seed oil. So what these have in common  is they're completely devoid of nutrients. They  

have carbohydrate and/or fat, but and a little  bit of protein in the white flour, but basically,  

you're getting nothing from these foods, and yet  they make up the majority of what most people eat,  

and the US has been the worst, but like I said,  the rest of the world is catching up, which we  

can see in the rising rates of diabetes around  the world. And just to illustrate my point here,  

sugar has 0 milligrams of magnesium, white  flour would have 3 grams, not per slice but  

per 100 grams of flour, and seed oil, again, would  have zero. And then we look at the antinutrients,  

and I don't know if there's any antinutrients in  sugar or seed oil, but since we're at zero anyway,  

it doesn't affect it that much. With flour,  we're at 35%, so we're getting zero from sugar,  

we might get 2 milligrams from 100 grams of bread,  so per slice, we're getting less than 1 milligram,  

with seed oils, we're getting nothing. So right  here is the single biggest reason that we are  

so magnesium deficient, that we're eating the  majority of our food from things that have no  

nutrients, and that's why it's so critical that  we start eating real food, and we start eating  

the best and the greatest variety of real food  that we can find. And the number one category  

of food to give you magnesium is seeds, and we  have things like chia, flax, pumpkin, sunflower,  

and hemp, and they're all very high in magnesium.  So, Chia would give you 335 milligrams per 100  

grams of seed, flax 392, pumpkin 262, sunflower  will be at 325, and hemp would be at 700,  

and the magnesium content is very high, but they  do have some antinutrients, so we need to take  

about 35% off of these numbers, and then we also  take into account the serving size, and here, if  

you do it differently, you figure out numbers for  you. I'm going to assume that I would eat about  

20 grams of chia, flax, or hemp, and I might eat  a little more of pumpkin seed or sunflower seed,  

so the available amount in Chia would be 44  milligrams per serving, flax would be 51, pumpkin  

would be 51, sunflower seeds would be 63, and hemp  would be 91 milligrams per serving. And here, I  

want to share something that I do quite a bit that  gives you a really good amount of magnesium, so  

I make my own yogurt, so it gets really nice and  tart, it has very little sugar left, but very high  

bacterial content, lots of probiotics, and then  I put about half a serving of chia, half hemp,  

and half of pumpkin seeds, so I would get about,  instead of 20 grams, I would get about 10, which  

is like one tablespoon of each of these, and now  we're actually getting about 48 milligrams from  

the yogurt, we're getting 22 from the Chia, 45  from the hemp, and 25 from the pumpkins. So in one  

serving, which is not a huge meal, you're actually  getting 140 milligrams of available magnesium,  

or about one-third of your daily allowance. So  that's just one way that you can incorporate  

and get a good chunk of magnesium. And now, I'm  really happy to announce that I'm ready to expand  

the tele-health services from my clinic. It's a  brand new program called Nexus Body Test Testing,  

which will include comprehensive testing, lab  testing, and consultations, and it will make it  

possible for you to become a client without having  to travel. If you're interested in learning more,  

there's a link down below. If you enjoyed this  video, you're going to love that one. And if you  

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