Stressed or anxious and not getting enough daily Magnesium?! I created this delicious Chill Pill Magnesium Chocolate recipe to help!
Okay, there’s some back story here. You’ve seen me talking about my taters and lady bits and that encouraged me to go deeper. Over 40 (hi that’s me), things start to shift: everywhere from metabolic efficiency, to recovery from fitness, to how you sleep, to menstruation patterns. The good news is I feel better than I have in years in terms of chronic mysterious (and not so mysterious) illnesses. The bad news is I am iron deficient, have disruptive monthly cycles, and feel less energetic.
I started looking into metabolic shifts that can happen around this time, simultaneously with hormones that begin to shift away from “child bearer” to a more, let’s say, mature system. I have definitely noticed over the past few years my inability to burn fuel the same way as well as weight settling into my middle. While I’m not going to touch the topic of weight gain with a 10-ft pole, seeing a change in the collective whole warrants discovery of *what does my body need most right now*.
I am so grateful to have finally returned to regular screening and found a great OBGYN in Tampa. She is helping me with the physical aspects of fibroid treatment and the iron deficiency that has resulted from them. But I started getting extra curious about what my actual nutritional needs are right now as a 45 year old woman.
Would I need more Vitamin D to protect me from disease? What about vitamins and minerals specific to pre and perimenopause? There is not nearly enough easily-accessible information on the internet to break it all down. But I did come across a few experts that piqued my interest: one of whom is Dr. Mary Claire Haver [3], who is an OBGYN and founder of The Galveston Diet [4].
Now I hesitated to even write out the word “diet” because I feel like it triggers ideas around starvation and weight loss for *bikini season* and other unhealthy notions. And honestly, I haven’t signed up for “the diet” so I don’t follow it. But what got me curious is one of her Instagram reels [5] that was particularly eye-opening ( THIS [5] one), discussing 4 crucial nutritional elements for women my age.
Dang! I had a real moment here in reflecting upon my last 2 decades of healing and how my goals had been two-fold:
- Avoiding inflammatory/trigger foods
- Eating nutrient dense foods
But here’s what I missed – I did not ever in my years of *lifestyle changes* look to meet specific nutritional goals. Even after learning of specific nutritional deficiencies, I only ever supplemented what was missing. Why? I don’t actually know. I don’t have an answer. It never occurred to me to try to get all of my daily magnesium or Vitamin D from food. LIKE WHAT?!
And to be honest, maybe it’s an impossibility to get every nutrient every day from food alone. But shouldn’t I be trying? Yes, 100% absolutely. So I made this recipe, because after looking into the big 4 nutritional components Dr. Haver recommends paying attention to initially, I dug into best food sources and started focusing on getting those regularly. I wrote this recipe because 1 bar (which is also a delicious treat), is PACKED with 20% of your daily magnesium. Easy and delicious way to pack it in – enjoy!
Print [2]Chill Pill Magnesium Chocolate
Ingredients
- 1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted. I used THIS [6] brand because it is low/no sugar. You can also use a brand that is higher naturally in magnesium to give this recipe a boost!
- 1/4 cup hemp hearts [7]
- 4 Brazil nuts crushed
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon flax meal [8]
Instructions
- Feel free to buy soaked/sprouted seeds or do that yourself if preferred
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl
- Spoon the mixture into 5 equal sized candy molds or spread the mixture in an 8×4 bread pan if you don’t have a candy mold
- Place the bread pan or filled molds into the refrigerator for an hour or until firm
- Pop out of the molds or slice into 5 equal-sized bars
Find it online: https://predominantlypaleo.com/chill-pill-magnesium-chocolate/ [9]
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