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Dr Andrea Robertson is an Osteopath, Naturopath, and Nutritionist. The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your health regimen.

Show Notes

Episode Transcript

Episode 10

[00:00:00] This, a listener questions episode where I answer your questions directly. "I'm confused as to why I sometimes have bloating like a balloon, even when eating clean or slowly or even a small amount." "As I start to exercise more, I am noticing my calves cramping up. It happens when I extend my toes, either pointing or flexing.

What's the best form of magnesium, and should I take it?"

Our sponsor today is Mineralyte, an Australian electrolytes brand. And I have to tell you how I found them because this is a genuine story. Now, I'm really into paddle tennis, some may say obsessed , and a friend of mine introduced me to Mineralyte to use for my hydration support during games. I was a little curious because I'd been recommending clients avoid those terrible sugary sports drinks for years, but I wasn't really sure what other options were available.

I now know that Mineralyte is the option I'll recommend. It's unflavored and contains no sugar, no [00:01:00] sweeteners, no artificial colors, no nasty additives. Just clean electrolyte support in drops you can add to your water or any hot or cold drink. And my paddle? It was noticeably different. My energy held, my focus held, and I even won some games.

Mineralyte is now in my water every single day. Go and check them out at mineralyte.com.au or find them in most pharmacies and health food stores throughout Australia and New Zealand

Andrea: Welcome to Nourish, Heal, and Rise. I'm Dr. Andrea Robertson, osteopath, naturopath, and nutritionist with 26 years in clinical practice. Here, we nourish because food is medicine, and what you eat changes everything. We heal because the body has an extraordinary capacity to self-repair when we remove what's blocking it.

And we rise because feeling well isn't the destination, it's the foundation for living the life you truly desire. This is Nourish, Heal, and Rise

[00:02:00] 

Before we begin, a quick and important note. Everything I share on this podcast is for educational purposes only. It's not personal medical advice, and it can't be, because in the context of this podcast, I don't know your health history, your medications, and what else is happening in your body. What I want this podcast to do is give you the knowledge to ask better questions, understand your body more deeply, and make more informed decisions in partnerships with the practitioners who do know you.

If something resonates and you wanna take action, please work with a qualified healthcare provider who knows your full picture

Andrea: Welcome back to Nourish, Heal, and Rise. I am so glad you are here today, because today's episode is a little different, and it is one that I've been really looking forward to. So first, a moment to mark something worth marking. We have just finished our eight-part series on chronic [00:03:00] inflammation. Eight episodes covering the eight most common signs of chronic inflammation in women's bodies: fatigue, weight loss resistance, brain fog, joint pain, gut issues, skin conditions, mood changes, and hormonal chaos.

If you have not yet listened to that series yet, I would really encourage you to go back and start at episode one, because it lays the foundation for everything we do on this podcast. It is some of the most important clinical content I have ever put together, and I have to say, I am super proud of it.

The feedback I've been getting so far from the first series on inflammation of this podcast has been amazing. I've had so many people say to me that the information I've been sharing is so good that they have to sit down and write notes.

So it has been a massive labor of love, and I'm really enjoying hearing those comments come in, 'cause it does make it worth it when I know people are out there listening and getting some value from what I'm sharing. Okay, so what's coming next? I wanna tell you about the format [00:04:00] we're moving into, because I think you're gonna love it

Going forward, each month will have a rhythm. One or two solo episodes where I go deep on a topic that is clinically relevant, timely, and really directly useful to the women listening. Similar to what we've done in the inflammation series, but now exploring some new territory. So more on hormones always.

I've got, uh, I wanna do a perimenopause-focused one very soon, and methylation, and some more on brain health and longevity. Thyroid and cortisol, definitely I wanna dive into. There's still so much ground yet left to cover, and I can't wait to get into all of it. And then one episode per month will be featuring a guest expert.

I'm gonna bring in practitioners and specialists whose work I respect deeply. People who have something real and evidence-based to add to the conversations that we're building here.  

Now because I'm a new podcaster, I'm gonna be having conversations with my practitioner friends [00:05:00] first. I need to build up the confidence and find my way as a podcast interviewer because I've never done it before, and I'm gonna feel really comfortable having my friends that I interview first. But the lucky thing is I have some really amazing friends who are really amazing practitioners.

So not only am I excited to sit down in this capacity with such wonderful humans, but I'm so excited to see what they're gonna share with you. My friend of over 30 years and my colleague, Dr. Shari Trimble, who is an osteopath and functional medicine practitioner, who also works alongside me inside my online programs, is going to be a regular guest.

And there will be others too as the show grows. So I cannot wait to introduce you, first of all, to all my friends and then other people that we bring onto the podcast. And then once a month, this, a listener questions episode where I answer your questions directly. The things you've been wondering about, the symptoms you cannot get a clear answer on, [00:06:00] the clinical topics that you want me to go deeper on, the situations you've been navigating that you wish you could ask a practitioner about.

Maybe something you've heard in the podcast already that's created some more questions for you. Because the thing is, after 26 years in clinical practice, I know that the questions women ask in the clinic room, in the treatment room, are often very different from what gets covered in a standard health podcast.

The questions I hear in the clinic room are usually specific, personal, and they're the questions that genuinely change things for that beautiful woman when they finally get a real grounded clinical answer. And that is exactly what this episode is about

Now, if you want to submit a question for a future listener questions episode, here is what to do. Head to my website, andrearobertson.health/podcast, and you will find the link right there on the podcast page for where to submit [00:07:00] your questions. It will take you about 30 seconds to submit, and you can ask me anything.

Symptoms you're experiencing, topics you want me to cover,

Maybe things that you've heard that you want me to clarify or fact check for you, or specific health challenges you're navigating and you want a functional medicine perspective on. I read every single question that comes in, and while I cannot answer everyone individually, I choose the questions that I know will resonate with the most women listening.

Because the thing is, if you're asking the question, I can guarantee somebody else is also wondering the same thing. So please keep them coming. It really helps me if you submit some questions. And this podcast exists because of you, and the questions you ask make it better every single month.

So now let's get into today's questions

Our first question today comes from DK. And D, thank you so much for sending this in [00:08:00] because this is one of those questions that sounds simple on the surface, but has a really rich and important clinical answer underneath it. And I know that when I answer it, a lot of women listening are gonna be nodding along thinking, "That is exactly what happens for me, too."

So D writes, "I'm confused as to why I sometimes have bloating like a balloon even when eating clean or slowly or even a small amount. It feels quite high up in my abdomen, too, like a restriction of some sort."

Now, Dee, I love this question, and the reason I love it is the detail you included. Because the fact that this is happening even when you are eating clean, eating slowly, and eating small amounts is not a mystery. It's actually really important clinical clues. And the fact that the bloating sits high in your abdomen with that tight restrictive feeling, well, [00:09:00] that's another clue.

And these clues together, they all kind of point us into a very specific direction Let me explain. So most people assume that bloating is about what they ate. Too much of something, or the wrong combination, or eating too quickly. And sometimes that is true. But when bloating is happening even with clean food, even with small amounts, even when you're doing everything right, the problem is almost never the food as the primary cause.

The problem is more likely what is happening in your gut before, during, and after the food arrives. So let me take you through how my brain works when I start to hear little things like Dee mentioned that bring out the clues of what's going on. So the first clue is the location. High abdominal bloating, that tight, restricted, pressured feeling that sits up under the ribs rather than lower in the [00:10:00] belly, well, that's clinically very different from lower abdominal bloating.

And that distinction, it matters a lot because high abdominal bloating that arrives relatively quickly after eating, like within 30 to 60 minutes of a meal, it's one of the most classic presentations of something called SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth

We talked about SIBO in the gut episode of the inflammation series, which was episode six. So if you want the full picture on this, go back and listen to that one. But in brief, SIBO is a condition where bacteria that should be living predominantly in the large intestine have traveled and migrated up to the small intestine.

Now, there is meant to be a small amount of bacteria in the small intestine, but the problem starts when there is too much of it, too many of those little bacterias where food is first being digested and absorbed. And when these overgrown [00:11:00] bacteria encounter food in the small intestine, even clean, healthy food, well, they start fermenting, and they start fermenting that food in the wrong place.

They produce gas where gas should not be produced. And because that fermentation is happening high up in the digestive tract, the bloating and the pressure and the restrictions sits high rather than low

This is why Dee is experiencing that balloon feeling even with small amounts of clean food. So the problem itself is not the food, the bacterial overgrowth in the wrong location is the problem, and no amount of eating slowly or reducing portions is going to change the fact that the bacteria are there waiting for whatever to arrive.

The second clue I wanna note that I heard in Dee's little question is why clean eating does not prevent this. Now, this surprises a lot of women because we assume that if we're eating well, our gut should be responding [00:12:00] beautifully. But here's the thing, some of the most nutritious food we eat, super healthy food, are also the highest in fermentable fibers.

So we're gonna think broccoli, onions, garlic, leek, asparagus, legumes, and raw vegetables. Now, these are all incredibly healthy food. We look at them on paper and we go, "Yes, that's beautiful, healthy food." But they're also rich in the fibers that feed gut bacteria.

And if SIBO or significant gut dysbiosis is present, those beautiful, healthy plant foods are feeding the overgrowth as much as they're feeding the beneficial bacteria.

This is why some women with SIBO actually feel worse on a very plant-rich diet. Not because plants are wrong for them, but because they are inadvertently fueling the bacterial overgrowth that's causing the problem. It's kind of the, one of the most counterintuitive and most important things to understand about gut health A couple of years ago, probably about four years ago, I was actually having some trouble with [00:13:00] bloating myself.

And it was... Couldn't really find a pattern to it. It was happening quite often. I was feeling really uncomfortable. And one day, I made this beautiful big bowl of broccoli soup. It's a recipe from my cookbook, and it's got just broccolis, some chicken stock which I'd made myself, and some almond meal. So I made this beautiful big batch of broccoli soup, and I sat down and had it for dinner.

It was so lovely. And within about 30 minutes, my stomach looked like I was six months pregnant. And I was like, "That's it. I've had enough of this bloating." I need to be objective about this, because I can tell you, practitioners are not very good about being objective about their own health.

So I took a step back, looked at myself objectively, and thought, "What would I do if I was my own patient?" Well, I would order a SIBO breath test. So that's what I did. Did the breath test, and it came back positive. So then I wrote myself a treatment plan. I wrote myself a protocol for supplements and for nutrition, and I followed it to [00:14:00] the T.

So it took me about nine weeks, and I was really doing well. I was hardly getting any bloating. And as I started to introduce more of the foods that had been causing problems at the start, Because of the healing I'd done,

I was able to tolerate a lot of those foods again. And since then, my stomach's just been getting better and better and better, and my gut healing's been doing really well. Now, there's another possibility for D that I wanna think about, and that is potentially low stomach acid.

This is a very common driver of that high abdominal bloating, and it's a condition called hypochloridia, low stomach acid. So your stomach acid is your digestive system's first line of defense. It breaks down protein, it kills bacteria and pathogens that arrive with food, and it triggers a whole cascade of digestive signals that activates your digestive enzymes and bile flow downstream in the small intestines.

So when stomach acid is low, and I have to tell you, this is far more common than most people [00:15:00] realize, particularly in women over 40. Well, when the stomach acid is low, food sits in the stomach longer than it should. It starts to ferment rather than digest, and that fermentation produces gas that pushes upwards against the esophageal sphincter.

That's the sphincter between the esophagus and the stomach, and that sensation of upward pressure is exactly that tight, restricted feeling, high in the tummy, high in the abdomen that Dee describes. And, and here's a really important paradox. So many symptoms that feel like too much stomach acid, the tightness, the pressure, the discomfort after eating, well, they're actually caused by too little stomach acid.

And the conventional treatment for these symptoms is acid suppressing medications like protein pump inhibitors. You might have heard of Nexium. These PPIs can make the underlying problem worse over time by further restricting the acid the body actually needs. So [00:16:00] don't be in a rush to jump in and take things like Nexium unless you're really sure of what the problem is.

I've had many patients come to me who have been on Nexium and other PPIs for a very long time, like I'm talking eight, nine, 10 years, and really PPIs are, are good. They're good treatment for reflux, but really should only be two weeks, max six weeks, just to help reduce the symptoms while you look at the root cause of what's going on underneath.

But when I've had patients who have been on them for so long, there's so many, not even side effects, but actually effects that happen in their body from being on this medication for too long. And I have a lot of patients that come to me and ask, "Can you help me get off them?" And we absolutely can, but we can't do it quickly because these medications, if we stop them straight away, it's gonna bring back a lot of symptoms of reflux, so they have to be tapered off very slowly while we follow a specific treatment protocol for that patient of healing the gut and healing the microbiome and healing the gut lining.

So it's [00:17:00] absolutely possible to get off the PPIs and have no symptoms, but it does take, you know, about nine months with the way I do it

Now we have another possibility for what is causing Dee this discomfort, and that is impaired digestive enzyme production. So your pancreas, that's over here on the left side of your upper stomach, it releases digestive enzymes into your small intestines to help break down foods. And if your pancreas is not producing adequate digestive enzymes, food is not being properly broken down in the small intestine.

And incompletely digested food, again, is then fermented by bacteria and again produces gas, again produces pressure, again produces that bloating restricted feeling. The interesting thing is that both low stomach acid and reduced digestive enzymes go hand in hand with SIBO, so the problem actually could be all part and parcel [00:18:00] of the same thing.

And we do have a fifth piece though, which is the nervous system. Dee mentioned that she eats slowly, which is wonderful. But I wanna add something to that. It is not only about the pace of eating, it is about the state you are in when you eat. When you eat in a stressed, rushed, or activated state, even if you are physically eating slowly, your digestive system is not in its optimal functional state.

It gets in the sympathetic nervous system mode, which is a fight or flight mode. And when that happens, it's like in caveman days, you have to either be standing up to fight the tiger or run away from it. And so blood flow is directed away from the gut. It's directed to your muscles, which is where it's needed for fight and flight.

And so what happens then is digestive enzyme production slows, gastric motility is affected, that's the way the gut moves your food through, and [00:19:00] even clean food, like eaten slowly, will not be digested optimally if the nervous system is not in the parasympathetic nervous system state, which is your rest, relax, digest nervous system.

It needs to be in that parasympathetic nervous system state when you eat. So what should Dee actually do? I've got a couple of things for you, Dee. First, if the bloating is arriving within 30 to 60 minutes of eating, and if it sits high in the abdomen, kind of like you described, the most important next step is to ask your practitioner about a SIBO breath test.

This is the most direct investigation for this specific presentation, and it's not something that kind of standard GP testing will get done for you. You need to specifically request it, and a functional medicine practitioner like myself or my team can definitely order it for you

Second, I would love you to try a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar diluted in a glass of water about 10 to [00:20:00] 15 minutes before your main meals. This gently stimulates stomach acid production, and you can make a positive difference to high abdominal bloating driven by low stomach acid. It is simple, it's inexpensive, and absolutely worth trying while you're doing some further investigations. Third, consider a comprehensive digestive enzyme supplement taken with meals. So digestive enzymes, I love giving them to patients when I've got those clinical signs that they may not be producing enough themselves.

Because when we take those in, it helps the body then break down the foods, and I find that it almost retrains the body to be able to make their own digestive enzymes again. So it kind of kickstarts things, and you don't need to be on supplements forever for those.

So I want you to look for one that contains lipase for fats, amylase for carbohydrates, and protease for proteins. This supports the full digestive cascade when enzyme production is [00:21:00] compromised. Then fourth, before you sit down to eat, take three slow, deep breaths. Think in for four counts, out for six to eight counts.

This activates that beautiful parasympathetic nervous system, the rest, relax, digest nervous system, and it directly prepares your gut, your tummy, your digestive system for optimal digestive function. Literally takes 30 seconds, and it makes such a difference. And then fifth, if you've done all the above D, and if the bloating still persists,

A comprehensive stool analysis alongside the SIBO breath test will give you and your practitioner the most complete picture of what is actually driving this. So between those two tests, we can really identify dysbiosis, bacterial overgrowth, parasites, markers of intestinal permeability or inflammation, and [00:22:00] digestive enzyme function.

And from that picture, we can build a really targeted treatment plan. So Dee, the short answer to your question is this, after that very long one, your bloating is not about what you are eating. It is about what is happening in your gut. And the higher location and the fact that it happens even with clean, small meals is telling us something very specific.

So please go get a SIBO breath test. I think it's gonna give you the answers that perhaps you've been looking for. Thank you so much for this question, Dee. It's been a really brilliant one.

 

[00:23:00] 

Andrea: Our next question comes from Christa K. in Canada. And Christa, thank you so much for sending this in. I love this question because it is one that so many women experience, me included,

And yet so few get a proper explanation for. So Christa wrote, "As I start to exercise more, I am noticing my calves cramping up almost like a charley horse. It happens when I extend my toes, either pointing or flexing during movements like in Pilates. I've had this on and off for years. Any thoughts? I hear that your calves are like your second heart.

I hope it's not an ominous sign."

Krista, first of all, I love that you included that little note at the end, and the good news is that in the vast majority of cases, calf [00:24:00] cramping during exercise, particularly the kind that happens with toes pointing or flexing in Pilates or in other sports, has some very common and very addressable causes that have nothing sinister behind them at all, and that is what we're gonna go through today.

However, before I get into those, I do wanna say this. If you have any family history of cardiovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, or circulatory issues in the legs, it is always worth mentioning calf cramping to your GP so anything more serious can be properly ruled out. Not because it's likely, but because it's the responsible thing to do, and your GP can check your circulation very easily and very quickly.

So please do have that conversation with them if needed. Now, with that said, let's talk about what is almost certainly going on for Krista and for many of the women listening who experience exactly the same thing [00:25:00] There are two main drivers here, and if I had to put money on the single most common cause of exercise-related calf cramping in women, it is low magnesium.

Low magnesium is super common because magnesium is involved in over 300 enzymatic processes in the body, including muscle contraction and relaxation. So here's how it works. Every muscle contraction in your body requires calcium. Calcium drives the muscle to contract, and every muscle relaxation in your body requires magnesium.

Magnesium drives the muscle to release. Think of calcium as the accelerator and magnesium as the brakes almost. When magnesium is low, the brakes don't work properly. The muscle contracts and then struggles to release. It gets stuck in that contracted state, and that is a cramp. That locked, seized, charley [00:26:00] horse feeling that Krista is describing, that is a muscle that has fired and cannot fully let go.

Now, I hear you on this, Krista. Since I hit perimenopause, I get exactly the same thing. Sometimes I can get woken up at 1:00 in the morning, like screaming. I've talked about this in another podcast episode, I know, where the front of my leg and the back of my leg and my calf is really cramping, and I can't point or flex them to release them because it makes the other side cramp.

So I hear your pain. And I'm kind of lucky because as an osteopath, I do dry needling, and I have been known to get up at 1:00 in the morning and dry needle my legs to get them releasing that cramp. But there's other things you can do. So let's talk about, first of all, why cramping so often happens during or after exercise.

Because physical activity depletes magnesium rapidly. Sweat contains magnesium too, and the muscle contractions of exercise consume magnesium. And if your baseline of [00:27:00] magnesium is already low, which it is for many women, exercise kind of tips you over the edge into that cramping territory. Magnesium is depleted by stress, by alcohol, by high sugar diets, by certain medications, including some blood pressure medications and diuretics, and by the simple fact that many women are not eating enough magnesium-rich foods consistently.

So think dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, legumes, and dark chocolate. Yes, dark chocolate. They're your best dietary sources. But for women who cramp regularly, dietary sources alone are often not enough to correct the deficiency. My recommendation is magnesium glycinate supplementation, three hundred to four hundred milligrams before bed.

Glycinate is the most bioavailable and the gentlest form. It's less likely to cause the digestive looseness that some forms of magnesium produce. [00:28:00] So give it four to six weeks consistently and see whether the cramping reduces. In my clinical experience, this single intervention resolves exercise-related cramping in the majority of women who try it

The second thing to think about is electrolyte imbalance and dehydration. When we exercise, we lose electrolytes through sweat. Not just sodium and potassium, which most people know about, but also magnesium, calcium, chloride, and a whole range of trace minerals. When those electrolytes are not adequately replaced, muscle function is compromised and the cramping can become more likely.

So this is particularly relevant for Christa because she mentions the cramping is happening as she starts to exercise more, which means her sweat losses are increasing at exactly the time her body needs more electrolyte support. And if hydration is not keeping the pace with that increased activity, [00:29:00] the risk of cramping goes up significantly.

So some practical steps for you here, Christa, and for any other gorgeous woman who's having the same cramping issues. Make sure you are hydrated really well before, during, and after exercise. And not just with water, but with water that has some electrolyte support in it. Look for quality electrolyte supplementation that is all-natural, sugar-free, and contains a broad spectrum of minerals and trace elements, not just sodium and potassium.

There's some really good options I've looked up online in Canada, including LMNT and Trace Minerals Research drops. They both are clean, natural, and worth looking into.

Now for my Australian listeners, you're very lucky because my podcast sponsor is Mineralyte, and they're my podcast sponsor because I love them, and I asked them if they would be my sponsor, and they said yes, which is amazing. But I've got something really exciting to share about them. First of all, we know about them because I've talked about them on my other [00:30:00] podcasts.

They are proudly Australian-made, and they contain 22 electrolytes, minerals, and trace elements with no sugar and no artificial anything. But they have just released two brand-new products. Their Sports Plus version, which I used at the Padel tournament I recently played in Port Melbourne, where my beautiful partner Steph and I made the semifinals.

Yay, go us. Well, the Sports Plus version was absolutely incredible. I could really feel the difference across the two days of competition. And they've just released a women's specific version too, which I cannot wait to get my hands on. Haven't tried that yet. I'll report back on that one when I do. So if you're an active woman in Australia, Mineralyte is the one I want you using.

Then we need to think about muscle conditioning and neuromuscular coordination. So Christa, you mentioned the cramping happens specifically with toe pointing and flexing, which are movements that require the calf muscles, the foot muscles, and the small muscles of the lower leg to work in a very [00:31:00] coordinated, precise way, particularly in Pilates, where these movements are deliberate and often held for a little bit of time.

When muscles are being asked to work in ways that they are not yet perhaps conditioned for, particularly those precise end range movements like a pointed toe like a dancer would do, well, they can cramp because the neuromuscular coordination is not there yet. The muscle fires, but the surrounding muscles that should be supporting and moderating that movement are not quite keeping up.

The result is an isolated, intense contraction, a cramp.

This kind of cramping tends to improve naturally as fitness increases and the muscles become more conditioned to those movement patterns. But there are things you can do to speed that up. So think calf raises. Slowly and with the full range of motion, these help condition the muscle through the full range it needs to work in.

Foot and ankle mobility work is also really good, so circles, or you can write [00:32:00] the alphabet with your foot, that really works well, and also toe spreading, so trying to spread the toes out and in. And I love toe swapping as well, where you lift the big toes off and then the little toes off, and the big toes off and the little toes off.

These exercises all improve the coordination of the small intrinsic muscles of the foot that support the calf during these pointed and flexed positions. And stretching the calf thoroughly after exercise, so I want you to hold a calf stretch with a bent back leg first of all, and then a straight back leg as well.

Hold those for about 60 seconds on each side, and this helps the muscle learn to release fully after a contraction

We also need to think about circulation and warming up properly. So cramping that happens at the beginning of exercise or in muscles that have not yet been properly warmed up can also be a circulation issue. Not in the serious sense, but in the practical sense that the muscles have not yet received adequate blood [00:33:00] flow before being asked to work.

So a thorough warmup, gentle movements that gradually increase the blood flow to the working muscles before you ask them to do those precise and intense exercises, well, they can really make a significant difference to that cramping frequency.

So in summary, what should Christa actually do? Or any of us who experience these calf cramps. Start with magnesium glycinate, 300 to 400 milligrams before bed every night. Give it four to six weeks, and I would be surprised if the cramping does not reduce significantly.

And electrolyte support for your hydration, particularly on the days that you're doing exercise. Then build a calf and foot conditioning routine into your week. Calf raises, ankle circles, toe spreading, and post-exercise calf stretches held for a good 60 seconds on each side. Make sure that you're warming up properly before your Pilates sessions.

[00:34:00] So five minutes of gentle movement to get blood flowing before you go into those precise pointed and flexed positions. And as I mentioned at the start, if you have any family history of circulatory or cardiovascular conditions, please do mention the calf cramping to your GP so they can rule out anything more structural.

A quick circulation check is simple, straightforward, and will give you a complete peace of mind. So Christa, your calves are almost certainly not your second heart sending you a warning signal. They are almost certainly just asking for more magnesium and more electrolytes. So start there, and I think you're gonna notice a real difference.

Thank you so much for this question, Christa. It was a really good one

Our next question comes from Jamie in Newcastle. And Jamie, this is such a great question because magnesium is something I talk about consistently on this podcast, as we just have been doing right now. I also talk about a lot in my programs and in clinic every single day. And yet the question of which form to take and whether you actually need [00:35:00] it causes so much confusion.

So let's keep this really simple and practical. Jamie asks, "What's the best form of magnesium and should I take it?" Should you take it? Almost certainly yes. As per what we were just talking about with Krista's question, magnesium deficiency is one of the most widespread nutritional deficiencies in women today, and it is not because women are not eating well.

It's because modern life depletes magnesium faster than most of us can replace it. Chronic stress consumes it, exercise sweats it out, alcohol depletes it, refined sugar depletes it, and our soils are significantly lower in magnesium than they were 50 years ago, which means even fresh, whole foods contain less than they once did.

The signs that your magnesium might be low, as we just learnt, are number one, calf cramps, but also poor sleep, anxiety, that eye twitch that will not go away. Also headaches, [00:36:00] constipation, fatigue, heart palpitations, and a nervous system that feels constantly switched on and hard to calm down.

So if any of those sound familiar, magnesium is worth investigating. Now, as Jamie asked, which form should we take? There are several forms of magnesium, and they are not all equal, so it is really good to understand the difference. The one I recommend most consistently and take myself is magnesium glycinate or bisglycinate.

It's the most well-absorbed and the gentlest on the digestive system, on the stomach, and it is pretty effective, particularly effective for sleep, anxiety, muscle relaxation, and nervous system regulation. I like 300 to 400 milligrams before bed, so that's the dose I usually recommend, and most women notice a real difference in their sleep quality within one to two weeks If brain health and cognitive support are also [00:37:00] a priority for you, magnesium threonate is worth looking into.

It's the only form that actually crosses the blood-brain barrier effectively, meaning it raises magnesium levels specifically in the brain, which is great for brain fog and cognitive function. And then for muscle cramps specifically, as we're just talking about, a topical magnesium oil or magnesium chloride spray applied directly to the cramping muscle is a beautiful addition alongside any oral supplementation.

The one form of magnesium that I would steer you away from is magnesium oxide, which is unfortunately what you find in most cheap supermarket supplements. It's poorly absorbed and not particularly therapeutic. So always turn it over and read the label and see what version of magnesium you've got in that bottle.

And so Jamie, to keep it simple, yes, take magnesium. Start with magnesium glycinate before bed, 300 to 400 milligrams. Give it about four to six weeks, and I think you're going to be really pleased with the difference it makes. [00:38:00] Thank you so much for this question. And that brings us to the end of today's Listener Questions episode.

And I have to say, I really love this format.

There is something about answering real questions from real women that feels so connected to why I do this work in the first place. Because this podcast is not just a place where I wanna talk at you about clinical topics, it is a conversation, and the questions you send in are what makes it one.

So as I mentioned at the start of the podcast, if you have a question you would like me to answer in a future episode, whether it's about a symptom you can't get to the root cause of, or a topic from the inflammation series you want me to go deeper on, or something that you've read or heard that you want a clinical perspective on, or something you've been navigating in your own health that you just want a real answer to, please send it in.

Head to andrearobertson.health/podcast, and you will find the question submission link right there on the page. It takes about 30 seconds, [00:39:00] and I read every single question. I will be back next week with a solo episode, and the topic is one I've been wanting to cover for a while. So make sure you are subscribed or following the show so you do not miss it.

If today's episode helped you, if something in the questions we covered gave you a new way of looking at your own health, please take 30 seconds to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. It helps more women find the show, and every woman who finds it is one more woman who has access to the information she deserves.

All of my free resources, my three-week inflammation detox, and my 12-week whole health solution programs can be found at andrearobertson.health. Everything you need is right there waiting for you. Until next week, nourish your body, keep healing, and never stop rising. I'm Dr. Andrea Robertson, and this has been Nourish, Heal, and [00:40:00] Rise.