All about Magnesium and Me! ~ Mariella

As a teenager, I suffered from night cramps in my calves. The pain was shocking, always blasting its way through some dream, like having a bucket of cold water thrown over my sleeping form! After a few years I learnt to stretch my calf muscles through the pain and go back to sleep. Also, I was seen as a ‘lazy’ teenager, always lethargic, uninterested, untidy, not one to concentrate for long. Blood tests revealed that I was low in Magnesium and supplements were issued. They didn’t improve things to a great degree.

http://www.freshearth.co.za/store/p-3037-allisone-mag-phos180.aspx

One day, years later, while standing in the queue at a health shop, I remarked on how I grind my teeth. The shop keeper overheard and said, ‘You’re short of magnesium, Mag Phos tissue salts should sort it out!’ My grinding stopped and so did the calf cramps. Years later I went for a hair analysis test which showed that I was still, in fact, Magnesium deficient, so I was put on a super potent Naturopath-brewed supplement complete with homeopathics and tissue salts and told to take 4 tablets a day, 2000ml! The body expels copious amounts of Magnesium when under stress, I was told.

(The U.S.A. Office of dietary supplements says, ‘Too much magnesium from food does not pose a health risk in healthy individuals because the kidneys eliminate excess amounts in the urine.')

http://www.freshearth.co.za/store/p-1757-solgar-chelated-magnesium-100s.aspx

It took about a month for the changes to show, my home was neater, I suddenly had more 'time' on my hands for exercise, my memory was improved, I could remember names and numbers, I didn’t freeze in the middle of conversations anymore. I felt keener and sharper. I did a little research.

Here are just a tiny few ways in which Magnesium can benefit your health:

(Again, it was a good quality supplement, 4x the dosage of what I was taking before and a well-read Naturopath who knew his stuff which made the difference to my health)

-Keeps your heart healthy

-Promotes healthy nerve impulses, muscle contraction, and normal heart rhythm.

-Helps strengthen your bone structure

- Helps regulate sleep

-Helps healthy muscle growth

-Loosens tight muscles and reduces lactic acid

-Keeps teeth strong

-Relieves constipation

-Magnesium aids insulin secretion, facilitating sugar metabolism. Without Magnesium, glucose is not able to transfer into cells. Glucose and insulin build up in the blood, causing various types of tissue damage, including the nerves in the eyes.

Symptoms of Magnesium deficiency:

-Behavioral disturbances

-Irritability and anxiety

-Lethargy

-Impaired memory and cognitive function

-Anorexia or loss of appetite

-Nausea and vomiting

-Seizures

-Muscle spasms, cramps, weakness and fatigue

-Hyperactive reflexes

-Impaired muscle coordination

-Tremors

-Involuntary eye movements and vertigo

-Difficulty swallowing

-Increased intracellular calcium

-Hyperglycemia

-Calcium deficiency (remember, taking a Cal-Mag doesnt count as the Mag is there only to help the body absorb the Cal)

-Potassium deficiency

-Irregular or rapid heartbeat ( I’ve had this, rather distressing)

-Coronary spasms

-Hyper-excitability

-Dizziness

-Personality changes

-Magnesium plays an important role in carbohydrate metabolism and its deficiency may worsen insulin resistance, a condition that often precedes diabetes, or may be a consequence of insulin resistance.

I’ve heard from more than one Alternative healer that South African soil is deficient in Magnesium and therefore a deficiency which we as a nation may be more likely to exhibit. If you grow your own veggies, composting beetroot leaves will increase the Magnesium in your soil. Here’s a list of foods high in Magnesium:

-Almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts

-Green leafy vegetables like spinach

-Black beans and lentils

-Potatoes and sweet potatoes

-Brown rice, millet, quinoa

-Bananas

-Raisins

-Broccoli

-Apples

-Avo’s

-Figs

-Dark chocolate (oh goody!)

We all have those dietary things which we struggle to hold in balance, Magnesium is one of mine. And it took me until now to resolve it to the degree that I started to feel the difference. I learnt through this that if there’s something going on its always something (real deep, I know!) pay attention to your body's signals, the sooner you do, the sooner you can improve!

How to make Paneer cheese at home ~ Mariella

Paneer is a non-aged, ‘acid-set’, non-melting 'curd cheese' made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice or vinegar. I know that doesn't sound tantalizing but believe me, its delicious! Its subtle, delicate flavours and texture add magic to any Indian meal. The bonus is that it is so easy and fun to make at home and you can be sure of what’s in it!

Here’s a how to. Acquiring raw, full cream milk will obviously make the best quality paneer, but any free range full cream milk will do. Purchase juicy looking lemons.

Step 1

Boil the milk. Make sure you boil it in a pot with ample space above the milk for it to bowl for a little while without bubbling over. Stir occasionally.

Step 2

Squeeze lemon juice in a lemon squeezer. I find about 1.5 lemons per litre of milk does the trick. Once the milk has started boiling pour the lemon juice in and watch the milk separate. It will separate into cheese and whey. The whey should look like yellow water, if it’s still white and milky; add the juice of one more lemon.

Step 3

Take the pot of the heat. Lay a muslin cloth or cheese cloth in a colander in the sink and pour the cheese and whey through the colander. Whey is high in protein and great to use in soup, sauces, and curries. Rice or millet cooked in whey is divine! If you’d like to keep the whey, place the colander in a pot and then pour. Set the pot aside to cool.

I find the whey from paneer making is better in savoury dishes than sweet dishes but have a taste and decide for yourself!

Thanks to fxcuisine.com for this pretty image

Step 4

Give the whey a chance to drain out and help it along by stirring through the paneer with a thick wooden spoon. Once you can see that the whey has drained out sufficiently, mix in some salt. Now close the cloth up with a knot and leave in the colander. Place a heavy weight on top. I generally find the empty pot filled with water does the trick. I put that on top with a clean steel bowl in between the cloth and the pot.

Step 5

After about 3 hrs lift the weight off the paneer and turn it out of the cloth. It should be hard and firm and ready to use in a curry dish or just fried in some coconut oil and added to salad or even served with eggs for breakfast.

It doesn’t melt at all so it’s perfect for sauces. I’ll be posting an easy recipe with paneer shortly so watch this space!

Bring on 2014! ~ Mariella

It’s 2014 and I started the year with a most horrendous and inconvenient flu! I spent an entire seventy two hours confined to soft and comfy places only, with lots of time to contemplate New Year’s resolutions etc. 

And I have discovered the healing power of ginger shots! Just juice ginger and down it as quick as possible! When you’re sick enough, you’ll do anything! Complete recovery after three days!

I feel good about this year! Fantastic in fact, and there are many reasons why. Here are a few, interspersed with glimpses of where I go when I need to close the door between me and world with kilometers of wide open spaces and the constant sound of a willful ocean pounding its fits into rock and onto sand.

- The first day of the year fell on New Moon! The  beginning of a new lunar cycle. ‘It’s a strong moon, a bossy moon, one with determination to build a secure and stable world’, says Sharron Toop in her amazing and at times disconcertingly accurate blog on the stars and astrology.

http://www.candylwood.co.za/blog.html

-More people are aware of Monsanto now than ever before. Many countries around the world have banned Monsanto since the world wide March Against Monsanto in May 2013 and farmers are finally fighting back in a wave of backlash lawsuits against Monsanto, alleging that Monsanto’s genetic pollution has financially damaged crops. Consumers are asking, what's in this food? The world is changing.

 https://www.facebook.com/MarchAgainstMonstanto

-Pope Francis made a speech criticizing anti-gay and anti-abortion sentiments which have come to dominate the Christian fundamentalist view. Saying ‘Such ideological extremism is dangerous, not only to Christianity, but to the world!’ I generally refrain from passing comment on politics, religion, etc, but this shows the kind of progressive thinking from one of the most influential people in the world and even though it may be nothing more than a ‘repackaging exercise’, I can’t help but Whoop, whoop at that!

- If the amount of visitors we’ve had in the little town of Plettenberg Bay this holiday season is anything to go by, the economic situation in South Africa is looking rosy! I’m sensing a clearer, stronger, more empowered shopper walking through the doors of Moonstone, my little Crystal and Jewellery Gallery, a shopper who is into beauty opposed to consumerism.

- I hear more talk now about conscious eating, self-sustainability, self governance, pollution management, upliftment projects, sustainable energy, gardens, strength, anti-nuclear energy movements than ever before. I feel a wave around me of people ready for positive change. Its exciting!   

On a personal note, I have many changes on the horizon which happen to coincide with the advent of 2014 and some deliberate  New Years changes too! I did some reading on New Years Resolutions and why the fail!

Leo Widrich from, http://blog.bufferapp.com/the-science-of-new-years-resolutions-why-88-fail-and-how-to-make-them-work, explains that the willpower required to stick to New Years Resolutions is generated in the prefrontal cortex of the brain which is also responsible for staying focused, processing short-term memory, solving abstract tasks etc. The amount of sheer willpower required to achieve a bunch of abstract resolutions is simply too much for the brain to handle, especially, when the brain is not exercised in the art willpower. 

The good news is that if you set those resolutions like you would goals, in a clear concrete realistic way, you’ll have a better chance of succeeding! 

Here’s to (holds up Ginger shot glass) an amazing, inner-self supporting and bright light manifesting 2014!