I was reading this article:
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/awesome-sources-of-plant-based-magnesium-to-give-you-energy-and-more/
After searching for vegetarian sources of magnesium. Since yesterday evening I had been suffering from what I can only describe as, "Dwarves mining for gold in my skull." A real migraine in other words. I mentioned this to my mother today, after taking my 3rd Excederin, and she said I needed magnesium. I went out to their RV and nabbed some, taking one 250mg pill. Immediately I felt better. Not conclusive proof I know. But I did a little investigating in my kitchen and turned up some interesting results.
Cocoa was listed as one of the sources of magnesium. I looked at the gluten free brownie mix box, having had a few brownies today, and discovered that it had no magnesium. Same for my Swiss Miss simple dark chocolate cocoa mix. I looked at my frozen vegetarian meals, my coconut milk, Amy's French Veggie soup, mac 'n cheese, my stir-fry veggie mix, a can of kidney beans, my Bragg's Yeast Flakes even some almond butter. Almonds are also supposed to be high in magnesium. I checked a container of Quaker oats and a bottle of molasses.
Out of all of this guess what items actually had magnesium? My coconut milk, the oats, and the molasses. Not one other item had magnesium in it. At least it was not listed. I find this to be very suspicious. Sure, they could have just not listed it. But if this was something food companies did not list, why is it on these three products? Also the yeast flakes are a vegetarian supplement, why isn't magnesium in there? Why is it missing from the Hain's almond butter?
Either food companies aren't listing it, or they are making an effort to remove it from our food. If they are making an effort to remove it from our food, why? Magnesium helps you concentrate, it is very good for you. I would never go so far as to say you need it, like the meat companies say you need protein. I quote Thoreau on this, "One farmer says to me, 'You can not live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with;' and so he religiously devotes part of his day to supplying his system with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle."
I think this is something worth investigating, even the organic food companies like Amy's are either failing to list the magnesium in their products, or simply excluding it. In the meantime I advise you start taking a magnesium supplement, at least once a week, especially if you are having headaches that won't go away or a difficult time thinking clearly or concentrating. These may be linked back to a lack of this item in your food. If you are a vegetarian you are supposed to be getting this a lot in the food you eat. But as I discovered it is lacking in mine. Even the huge bag of basamati rice I bought at CostCo!
I am about to search for a vegetarian version of this supplement at Amazon. If I find one I will link to it below:
http://www.amazon.com/Magnesium-Malate-200-Elemental-Caps/dp/B00CFHHA4U/
http://www.amazon.com/Magnesium-Malate-1000Mg-180-tabs/dp/B0001SRBO4/
I chose this version of Magnesium because it appears to help with fatigue, something else I am dealing with, leading me to think that there is something else here I am not getting enough of. For relaxation and sleep it seems as if this kind of magnesium is best:
http://www.amazon.com/Solaray-Magnesium-Glycinate-Supplement-Count/dp/B000Z1GLJI/
http://www.amazon.com/Albion-Chelated-Magnesium-133-Caps/dp/B00068S9KY/
This mixes magnesium with lion's mane and bacopa. Very good option as a nootropic to take when you start your day:
http://www.amazon.com/ALOHA-Aloha--foundation--brilliant-60-capsules/dp/B00YDEML24/
This does as well, but with the valerian root it is probably best as something to take before bed, maybe to help with lucid dreaming:
http://www.amazon.com/Source-Naturals-Calm-Thoughts-Tablets/dp/B000637IOW/
Looks like someone else noticed this too:
http://www.ancient-minerals.com/magnesium-sources/dietary/
More reading:
http://forum.bulletproofexec.com/index.php?/topic/2078-bulletproof-magnesium-thread/
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/types-of-magnesium/
