The 5 best tips - Magnesium in a vegan diet
Have you decided to go vegan? Whether for ethical or health reasons, or because you just don't like meat and dairy products?
In this article you will learn how important magnesium is in a vegan diet and what you absolutely at the preparation foods containing magnesium and the consumption foods containing magnesium should be considered.
Magnesium is vital for us, but our body cannot produce it itself. Magnesium must therefore be ingested through daily food. Depending on age, gender and life situation, the requirement is between 300 and 400 mg magnesium per day.
In this article you will learn 5 valuable tips that you really should know about magnesium in a vegan diet:
Tip #1:
Plant-based alternatives are good sources of magnesium
In the following table we have listed plant-based foods for you that can be good sources of magnesium in a vegan diet. If you integrate them into your diet, you should be able to counteract a magnesium deficiency. In comparison, the magnesium content of non-vegan foods on the left.
The values in the table are average values. You can never say exactly how much magnesium is in a product. With plant-based foods, it depends very much on how the plant was cultivated and the growing conditions. Unfortunately, conventionally grown fruit and vegetables today have far fewer nutrients than they did 20, 30 or 50 years ago. This is because the plants were bred for fast, high-yielding growth. In addition, they are often harvested far too early, i.e. often unripe. This in turn means that they have not yet been able to form all the vitamins and minerals. Fertilization with artificial fertilizers and monocultures also mean that the plants can form fewer nutrients in the fruit. Our beloved tomatoes are a great example of this: sun-ripened tomatoes from our own garden, which may have grown on our own compost soil, taste much more intense and much more like tomatoes than the normal, conventional tomatoes from the discounter. Therefore, it is better to reach for organic foods, because they often contain more nutrients than their conventional counterparts.
Tip #2:
Use your cooking water cleverly
In tip #1 you got to know foods that are rich in magnesium. However, the values given there are based on raw, uncooked food. The type of preparation has a strong influence on the content of vital substances. Many vitamins are sensitive to heat and decompose if they are prepared too hot. Raw vegetables and only lightly steamed vegetables therefore contain more vitamins and minerals than hot-cooked or well-cooked vegetables.
The same applies to magnesium. When cooking vegetables, significant amounts of magnesium and potassium are released into the cooking water. Magnesium is heat-resistant and does not break down like some vitamins, which is why you can reuse the cooking water, e.g. for the sauce. If you can't use up everything when cooking, the cooking water from vegetables is also ideal for watering your plants. They are happy about the nutrients it contains.
Potato water should not be used for cooking, however, as it contains solanine. Potato cooking water is much better suited as a plant fertilizer ;)
Tip #3:
Caution: Many magnesium supplements are not vegan!
Is my Magnesium supplement really vegan?
You made a conscious decision to follow a vegan diet and pay very close attention to what you buy and what you eat. However, sometimes it is not so easy to tell whether the food is vegan or not. It's the same with magnesium tablets and capsules. Maybe you're asking yourself: What's supposed to be animal about it? Often a lot more than you think. Starting with the capsule shell, which is made of gelatine in many preparations. So when buying any dietary supplement in capsule form, pay attention to the material the capsule shell is made of.
Conventional capsules are made of gelatin. If the capsules are gelatine, this is also listed as "gelatine" in the list of ingredients.
The alternative is a vegan capsule shell made from natural cellulose. You can find this on the ingredient list as Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose (HPMC). That sounds daunting and unspeakable at first, but it is simply a form of vegetable pulp, so it is super suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Tip:
Colorful capsules may look nice, but let's be honest: it's what's on the inside that counts. You can now really save on unnecessary dyes in food supplements. They don't have more than a purely visual benefit. Only the clear, transparent capsule shells contain no coloring (and yes: white capsules contain coloring too!).
Some vitamins can also be obtained from animal raw materials:
For example can Vitamin D3 from wool wax be made by sheep or Vitamin B2 from whey.
We rely on the products of AgilNature exclusively vegan ingredients so that they are also especially suitable for vegans.
Tip #4:
Alcohol, fasting cures and some medications increase your magnesium requirements
Magnesium is found in many foods. With a balanced and healthy diet, we hardly have a deficiency. But there are some factors that promote a magnesium deficiency and are real magnesium consumers and magnesium robbers. Now you can find out exactly what they are:
Increased magnesium requirement when fasting?
Stimulants such as alcohol, coffee, cigarettes, sweets with a lot of sugar, too much salt and industrially processed foods can promote a magnesium deficiency. Alcohol flushes water and minerals out of the body. This becomes noticeable with excessive alcohol consumption in the form of a subsequent hangover and headache. The body lacks important minerals and therefore also magnesium. If you want to do something about your hangover and your headache, then drink a lot of water and take a magnesium tablet, preferably in a high dose and with good bioavailability (MagnesiumAgil contains 400 mg magnesium and also contains pepper extract piperine (Bioperine) (link to vital substance lexicon Bioperine/pepper extract) has a high bioavailability. This means that the magnesium can be quickly absorbed by the body and relieve headaches.).
Regular alcohol consumption not only leads to a magnesium deficiency in the long term, but also to a lack of many important vitamins and minerals. These dangerous deficiency symptoms can promote secondary diseases. So always make sure you eat healthily, then a glass or two of wine or beer will not be a problem for your body.
Fasting cures such as therapeutic fasting, alkaline fasting, tea, juice and water fasting are becoming increasingly popular. Of course there are many more fasting methods, but they all have one thing in common: giving up all the things that we eat every day for a certain period of time, mostly thoughtlessly and unhealthily.
Now you would think that the body would be missing vitamins and minerals when fasting since they are not ingested through food. So, should you take supplements while fasting?
The Taking dietary supplements while fasting is rather counterproductive and can achieve the desired fasting effect even impede. If you are planning a fasting cure, it makes more sense if you replenish your stores of vital substances in the weeks before (and then again afterwards) by eating a healthy and balanced diet or by using food supplements. Magnesium, calcium, zinc and selenium in particular are minerals that have a basic effect and also support the detox process.
Some medicines, which are taken permanently, can also mess up your magnesium balance. Many women take birth control pills or hormones for menopausal symptoms. The birth control pill is a major nutrient robber in general, increasing the need for vitamins and minerals. In addition, the absorption of minerals such as magnesium is inhibited and magnesium excretion is increased. Acid blockers against heartburn also increase the need for nutrients.
Tip #5:
Keep an eye on vitamin B12 and other nutrients as a vegan
As already mentioned, nutrient deficiencies can have several causes. But to say per se that this mainly affects vegans is wrong. Vegan diets are usually much more varied, healthier and more balanced. Vegans often choose their food much more consciously.
A nutrient deficiency is primarily the result of a one-sided and unbalanced diet and not generally the result of a vegan diet. With the right tips, however, it is not that difficult to be well supplied with all nutrients. It is very important for vegans to also consume sufficient amounts of the nutrients that are mainly found in animal products such as milk, cheese and meat.
The most common nutrients vegans lack are vitamin D, iron, calcium and vitamin B12.
vegetable Vitamin D- Sources include small amounts of chanterelles and mushrooms. But the body can also produce vitamin D itself by giving your skin enough sunlight during the day.
To demand, which comes from plant sources, is usually harder for the body to absorb than the iron contained in meat. Women who eat a vegan diet are often affected by iron deficiency during their menstrual period. When you lose blood, your body loses iron.
Vegans are also often lacking calcium. The main sources of calcium are milk and milk products. However, since these are of no importance in the vegan diet, purely plant-based sources of calcium must be used. These are mainly seaweed, kale, broccoli, spinach, rocket, legumes, almonds and tofu.
Vitamin B12 is only found in animal products, so it makes sense for a vegan diet to supplement this vitamin.
It is highly advisable for people who follow a vegan diet to take a vitamin B12 supplement on a regular basis. This also applies to vegetarians.
MagnesiumAgil contains the nerve vitamin B12, which makes it an ideal companion in your vegan diet.
We hope that you have been able to take valuable information about magnesium with you from this article and the 5 tips. As we have seen, magnesium is super important for our body.
If, after reading this article, you have the desire to support yourself and your body with high-quality magnesium in the future, then our MagnesiumAgil is your best choice now.
