Episode Overview

In this episode of Better Than Before Breast Cancer, we’re talking about the crucial role of magnesium in breast cancer recovery, metabolic health, and overall well-being

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ Why magnesium is vital for breast cancer survivors and how it supports healing
✅ How chemotherapy, aromatase inhibitors, and stress deplete magnesium levels
✅ The best types of magnesium supplements (and which one is right for you!)
✅ How to get enough magnesium through diet with whole, nutrient-dense foods
✅ Signs of magnesium deficiency and how to test your levels
✅ How magnesium impacts inflammation, bone density, and hormone balance

Download Your Free Resources:

📥 7-Day Low-Carb Magnesium Meal Plan – A complete guide with magnesium-rich recipes, grocery lists, and meal prep tips to naturally boost your levels.
📥 Guide to Magnesium Supplements– Learn about the best forms of magnesium for stress, sleep, digestion, energy, and cardiovascular health.

Key Takeaways & Science-Based Insights:

• Nearly half of Americans are magnesium deficient (National Institutes of Health).
• Magnesium helps regulate inflammation by influencing cytokines like IL-6 and TNF-alpha, which are linked to disease progression.
• Aromatase inhibitors used in breast cancer treatment reduce bone mineral density, making magnesium essential for bone health.
• Chronic stress, processed foods, and medication use (such as PPIs and diuretics) all contribute to magnesium depletion.
• Magnesium testing can help determine whether supplementation is necessary.

Best Magnesium-Rich Foods for Breast Cancer Survivors:

🥑 Avocado
🥦 Dark leafy greens (spinach, kale, Swiss chard)
🐟 Fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines)
🥜 Nuts & seeds (pumpkin seeds, almonds, flaxseeds)
🍫 Dark chocolate (80% or higher)

Recommended Product Mentioned in This Episode:

💊 MagMaster by MitoVida – Created by Dr. Nasha Winters and researchers at the Metabolic Terrain Institute of Health, this high-quality magnesium supplement is designed to support blood sugar balance, detoxification, and methylation for those navigating breast cancer recovery.

Download MagMaster information

Want More Support?

✨ Join the Better Than Before Breast Cancer Membership – Get monthly coaching, live Q&A calls, and expert guidance on nutrition, mindset, and healing.
✨ Work With Laura 1-on-1 – Book a Metabolic Health Coaching Plan to optimize your nutrition, genomics, and lab markers for recovery and long-term wellness.

Let’s Stay Connected!

💌 Subscribe to the Newsletter → breastcancerrecoverycoach.com
📷 Follow on Instagram → @thebreastcancerrecoverycoach
🎥 Watch on YouTube → @BetterThanBeforeBreastCancer

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Disclaimer:

The information provided in this episode and show notes is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. The content is not a substitute for professional medical diagnosis, treatment, or guidance from a qualified healthcare provider.

Always consult your doctor or a licensed healthcare professional before making any changes to your diet, lifestyle, or supplement routine—especially if you have a medical condition, are undergoing treatment, or are taking prescription medications.

The views expressed in this episode reflect personal opinions and research and should not be interpreted as a prescription for any specific health condition. Use this information as a starting point for informed discussions with your healthcare provider about what is best for your unique needs.

By listening to this episode and using the resources provided, you acknowledge that you are responsible for your own health decisions.

Read the full transcript:

0:00
You're listening to better than before breast cancer with the breast cancer recovery coach, I'm your host, Laura Lummer. I'm a certified life coach, and I'm a breast cancer thriver. In this podcast, I will give you the skills on the insides and the tools to move past the emotional and physical trauma of a breast cancer diagnosis if you're looking for a way to create a life that's even better than before breast cancer, you've come to the right place. Let's get started. Hello there, my beautiful friends. Welcome to Episode 401 of better than before breast cancer. I'm super excited to talk about today's topic, because it's a really important and easy to fix part of a healthy lifestyle. We're going to talk about the mineral magnesium, and we're going to take a deep dive into that mineral, because I don't think that it gets the attention that it deserves, for the massive role that it plays in recovery and in our overall health. So today, I'm going to break down for you why magnesium is so important, especially for breast cancer survivors, the different types of magnesium there are, so you can understand that the role and the influence that they have in your body and which ones can suit you best. I also put together a little handout for you so you don't have to take notes. You can just download that at the breast cancer recovery coach.com forward slash 401, or at the link right here, where you're listening to this podcast or watching it on YouTube. We're also going to talk about how to optimize your magnesium intake through food, and how to tell if you might be deficient. So as I said, magnesium has a really big role, a significant role in our health. It plays a crucial part in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body. So it has an impact on muscle function, on nerve signaling, and these three which I think are super important to us, not only as people who've had a diagnosis of breast cancer, but post menopausal women, bone strength, detoxification and DNA repair and obviously a lot more. I'm not going to name all 300 reactions, but for breast cancer survivors, ensuring adequate magnesium intake can really play a big role in supporting recovery, because it can help to reduce inflammation, it can improve metabolic health, and it can promote your overall well being. But if you're one of those people that thinks you have a magnesium deficiency or you experience muscle spasms, fatigue, and I'll go into some of the other ways we can tell if we have an issue, you are not alone, my friend, because the National Institute of Health did a study, and those findings were that 48% of the people in the United States do not consume enough magnesium in their diet and have a deficiency. That's a lot. Almost half the population of the United States deficient in magnesium. So why? Why would that happen? Why are we deficient in magnesium? Well, there are lots of reasons that it's so common in the United States. One is depleted soil. So modern agricultural practices have really done a number stripping magnesium from the soil, meaning that crops contain less of this very essential mineral than they did decades ago. This is one of the reasons why regenerative farming is just so exciting, because it's so focused on soil health, and the health of the soil is going to have a direct impact on the health of the plant that's produced. We also have very highly processed diets in the United States, and that's kind of spreading globally too. So the standard American diet, which is very rich in processed foods, and those processed foods are very often stripped of natural magnesium. Again, the American lifestyle, chronic stress, breast cancer diagnosis, lots of stress, right? High stress lifestyles increase magnesium loss through urine, and they make it harder for your body to maintain adequate levels. Stress is not something to be played with. That is why it's such an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Stress Management, and I should say that's a highlight. Just like magnesium, they're kind of twinning in the issues they don't get enough attention for the huge role they play in our health. So also, medications can influence your magnesium levels, so diuretics, proton pump inhibitors, so PPIs, things like Tums, right, anything that we're using for indigestion and heartburn, which is often a huge issue if we've gone through chemotherapy. Chemotherapy drugs can also interfere with magnesium absorption, poor health conditions like IBS Mason inflammation, right? Crohn's disease, leaky gut. Definitely impacted by chemotherapy and cancer treatments and medications. All of this can impair magnesium absorption. So chemotherapy itself, and cancer treatments, drugs like cisplatin, other targeted therapies, they can have a big impact on our kidneys, and so they can cause toxicity in the kidneys, and that leads to an increased excretion of magnesium, because the kidneys play a really big role in regulating magnesium levels in our body. So damage from cancer treatments can impair the this organ, the kidney's ability to retain this very essential mineral. It's not always going to happen. It's just one of the things that could play a role. We also have to think about gut absorption, leaky gut, chemotherapy and radiation, they can cause gastrointestinal inflammation, and that can lead to conditions like leaky gut, diarrhea, malabsorption, alternating constipation and diarrhea, and these can reduce magnesium uptake, our ability for a healthy gut to absorb nutrients, right an unhealthy gut that's dealing with a lot of issues needs to be addressed. So even though we have a healthy diet, can we absorb what's in that healthy diet? Again, we can have acid reflux as a side effect of cancer treatments. And then we take different medications so that we can be comfortable when I think back on when I was doing IV chemotherapy, and for years after it, when I was doing IV chemotherapy, I was going through so many Tums, and then I moved to other medications, as when Toms weren't doing the trick. I got stronger and stronger meds. At one point I had prescription meds for all of the heartburn that I was going through. It was absolutely miserable. And then I realized the impact that was having on my blood work, because my oncologist, back in the day, said to me, what are you doing? My calcium levels were through the roof. But coming back to magnesium, when we take a lot of antacids, it can reduce our stomach acid, which is essential for magnesium absorption. And it's interesting, because a lot of times people think that we have heartburn because we have too much stomach acid, but look forward to a podcast coming up soon where we talk about the problems that we can have by having too low of a stomach acid and then thinking that the reason that we're experiencing these problems is because we have too much so then we take more indigestion drugs, and it's just a vicious cycle, right? So these PPIs, these antacid types of medications, can have a big impact on our magnesium absorption. Also, cancer treatments place significant oxidative stress on the body. Kind of that assault on the body of reactive oxygen species, free radicals, toxins. So cancer treatments, in and of themselves, increase inflammation, and so we have an increased need, potentially, for antioxidants. I mentioned stress, and obviously there's a tremendous amount of stress that's tied into any kind of a cancer diagnosis, chronic stress and anxiety. Those can lead to increased loss through the urine of magnesium and then aromatase inhibitors. They can lower estrogen levels. I mean, that's kind of their job, which can then lead to osteoporosis and bone mineral depletion. So magnesium is essential for the bone house, and it also helps regulate calcium and vitamin D metabolism. So when magnesium levels are low, bone density can decrease further, and then that increases our risk for fracture, osteopenia, all of the stuff that we want to avoid. So knowing all that, knowing this huge role that magnesium has in our overall health, let's talk about how much magnesium you actually need, and how you can get it, and how you know if you're getting enough. So the RDA, the recommended daily allowance for women from 31 years and older, is 320 milligrams of magnesium a day. For men from 31 and older, it's 420

9:14
but what's especially important for us to think about as breast cancer survivors, as people who are focused on their health and improving the health of their terrain is that magnesium helps to reduce inflammation, and chronic inflammation is one of the biggest drivers of disease, so magnesium helps to regulate these proteins, these cytokines like interleukin six and tumor necrosis factor alpha, both of those contribute to inflammation in the body. Magnesium also plays a role in regulating blood sugar and insulin sensitivity. This is a huge issue, and if you've noticed weight gain or insulin resistance or cravings, a lot of times. We have to come back to that glucose insulin balance and sensitivity and understand the role magnesium plays in that it can help to strengthen our bones, as I mentioned already, whereas aromatase inhibitors, as we know when we take them, one of the side effects is the impact it has on our bones, so making sure that we've got good levels of magnesium, working alongside with optimal levels of calcium and vitamin D, so important, I mentioned that magnesium helps with the detoxification in the body, so your liver is always working to clear toxins out of our body, from just our day to day living metabolism, but also toxins From treatment, from environmental exposures and just life in general. Magnesium is a natural detoxifier, and it does support liver function. You may have heard about magnesium and its role in sleep. I think most people kind of associate magnesium with sleep, or maybe sometimes with being able to have a bowel movement. So it does play a role in helping to improve sleep and mood, anxiety, depression and sleep disturbances are all very common experiences after cancer treatment and magnesium helps to regulate neurotransmitters in our brain like GABA, which helps To calm and promote relaxation and better sleep. But as you know, I hope that you know by now I am not a fan of just popping magnesium supplements into your mouth, especially anything off the shelf and you don't know the quality of that product. How do you know if you need a supplement at all, not all magnesium is the same. So let's talk about what the different types of magnesium are and how to choose the right one, depending on what your body needs the most. Remember, this is always a n of one, a population of one. When it comes to the study, it's all about you and what you need. So magnesium glycinate. This form of magnesium is the best for anxiety, sleep and relaxation. Is very gentle on the stomach, and it's great if you're struggling with stress and muscle tightness. Magnesium citrate, this is the one that's best for digestion and constipation. This type pulls water into the intestines, so if you've been feeling backed up, this is a great choice, because when we have constipation, right? We need more hydration into that intestine so we can move things. Magnesium malate. This form of magnesium is best for energy and muscle pain. So if you're experiencing post chemo fatigue, fibromyalgia, like symptoms, this can help to boost ATP, which makes energy in our cells, magnesium, three and eight. This one is the best for brain health and memory, chemo brain anybody. This form crosses the blood brain barrier, and it's really particularly helpful for those of us who feel like we may be having symptoms that we call chemo brain magnesium torate, this one is best for heart health and high blood pressure. Who knew Did you know there were this many forms of magnesium out there? Did you know that these specific forms had a different effect on your body? It's so fascinating to understand how this mineral can support us. So if your cardiovascular system needs a little extra love, magnesium taurate could be a good choice for you. Magnesium chloride and sulfate, better known as Epsom salts, one of my favorites, because I love a delicious hot bubble bath with a ton of Epsom salts in it, magnesium chloride and sulfate is great for muscle relaxation and detoxification. And there are times, there are certain treatments that I go through that tend to be super dehydrating for me, and so I make a habit of giving getting hydration infusions. But I know when my muscle spasms, especially in my feet and calves notch up. I need a good Epsom salt soak. So these are great for bath soaks. If you have achiness, if you have muscle spasms, try an Epsom salt bath and see how it serves you. So as I said, you're not gonna have to remember all the names or keep rewinding this podcast to figure out which magnesium forms do what I've given you a download that lists all of these forms of magnesium and specifically how they impact you in your body. And I'm going to give you also an excellent resource for magnesium. It is called mag master, and the I take it, this is the form that I take, and I highly recommend it because I know who created it. It was created out of the Research Laboratory at the metabolic terrain institute of health by Dr Hamed Isaka, who is absolutely brilliant and one of the lead researchers there at the. Research Institute, and Steve otters, Burke, who is Dr Nisha winters, husband, brilliant, brilliant human being. And they worked for, I don't even know how long, creating this line of supplements, and one of them is magmaster, and it's so valuable because, again, we know that there are specific things in the population of people who are undergoing cancer treatment that really need addressing, balancing sugar, balancing magnesium, improving methylation, all of these. And so this amazing line of supplements, meta Vita, has come out, and it is absolutely incredible. And so I will give you actually a handout in the links here or in the show notes, which you'll find at the breast cancer recovery coach.com, forward slash, 401, and I'm gonna give you a handout on that supplement as well, so you can explore that for yourself. I'll give me a link of where to get it, and I think it's amazing. Like I said, this was the one that I take. All right, so let's talk about food, though I've talked a little bit about supplementation, which forms of supplements have which impacts on your body, so that you can get an idea of what might serve you best. But I always encourage you to get your nutrients from real whole foods whenever possible. Some of the best magnesium rich foods are your dark leafy greens, spinach, kale and swiss chard, nuts and seeds, especially pumpkin seeds, almonds and cashews. Now we don't need a lot of seeds, because seeds can be a little higher in some omega six fatty acids, and they can also be a little higher in carbohydrates. So when we think about nuts and seeds, we're thinking about like an ounce, a small serving, not handfuls, not half of a bag of it, right? And we don't need a lot, because they're little powerhouses. So pumpkin seeds great to roast them and throw them on vegetables, throw them on your salads. That's usually what I like to do with my nuts, is just chop them up and throw them into dishes, and then they're a great addition to any kind of salad or vegetable dish. I think another great source is fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines, if you eat legumes, black beans and chickpeas, both can be good sources of magnesium, and yes, you can actually get a little dark chocolate into your diet and get a little boost of magnesium. Now, again, when we're talking about dark chocolate, we want to have a good resource, 80% or higher in cacao, not a bunch of processed stuff in it. We're not talking about like, you know, the liquor store chocolate bars that you just pick up when you're checking out and getting a pack of gum. Okay, we want better quality than that if you're going to put it into you and get some magnesium and not a whole lot. So those are just some of the foods. And so another resource that I put together for you is a seven day low carb meal plan that's designed to optimize your magnesium intake. So you can also download that in the show notes right here, where you're listening to the podcast or watching it on YouTube, or again, in the show notes that you'll find at the breast cancer recovery coach, com forward, slash 401, so let's talk about what some symptoms of magnesium deficiency are. How would you know? Well, one I've mentioned a couple of times, which is muscle cramps or muscle spasms. And so if you have a lot of muscle cramps or muscle spasms, you might be thinking about getting your magnesium levels checked, if you have a lot of fatigue and weakness, if you have trouble sleeping, if you have brain fog and memory issues, if you find yourself feeling anxious or irritable a lot, or if you have digestive issues, especially constipation, and any of those are familiar to you, if you're like, Yes, I have everything. Check, check, check on that list, increasing your magnesium intake can make a big difference. Again, I recommend starting with food first and then if you need it. How do you know you need it? Well, you can check in with your body to see if you're having those symptoms. But you can also get your magnesium test in your blood. If you look at the blood work that your doctor probably already runs for you, you may have magnesium in there, or just ask them to include magnesium so you can see your magnesium levels. You know what? I was shocked to see how low my magnesium levels were when I first tested. And I thought that I was getting enough of it, but clearly I was not. So there was a ton of room for me to increase my magnesium levels. And yes, it did make a huge difference, especially in those nighttime muscle cramps. You know, I was getting woken up at night frequently by just horrendous cramps in my calves, of spasms. And so I was really happy to see that there were, there was a lot of room for improvement for me, and it definitely has helped. So isn't it cool to hear about something like this? It's such a small thing, right? Magnesium, and I know that in this our. Population, right in our community, of women who are mostly postmenopausal, if not intentionally and chemically postmenopausal as a part of their treatment, but all the things that we go through and and these symptoms that I've mentioned to you are not uncommon, muscle spasms, brain fog, fatigue. Isn't it cool to know that there might be a very simple way to improve the way you feel, and that you can get it through food, and that if food isn't enough, when I said, How do you know if you're getting enough through food, I highly recommend food tracking, food journaling. If you think, if you're not feeling well and you don't like the way that you're feeling, track your food for a few days. Do even two weekdays and one weekend? Did day? I two apps that I love. One that's kind of new to me, that I'm absolutely loving, is carb manager, and it's not only a great way to track food, but it's got a ton, if you're trying to follow ketogenic lifestyle, a ton of really healthy ketogenic recipes. And I say healthy because they're they're constructed the right way. Plant forward, healthy, clean food and ingredients, right? And it also, you can track your food in there, but take a look at it and see, are you getting the recommended daily allowance at the very minimum of magnesium? Get your blood tested and see the way that you construct a planned food first is to first, know what you're eating and know the kind of nutrition that's in it. And then again, we have to realize that even when I say, know the kind of nutrition, and it's just a guess, right? Because the food that you're eating, the vegetables you're consuming, the fish that you're eating, it's it's kind of a guess it's like, this is the average amount of magnesium that you might find in this but depending on when it was harvested or when it was caught, it can always have a little bit of variation. So the best way to know your magnesium levels is to get your blood checked and take a look at the magnesium levels in your blood. All right, simple fixes that can make a huge impact on the way you feel, and I want you to feel as well as possible, because who doesn't, and if you want more help with that, if you really want to dig into understanding your body, understanding the language of your body, which is what I say, is your labs and your nutrition genome, that is the language of your body. It's something that's brought such value to my own healing journey is understanding exactly how my body works and what it needs to support its wellness, and that anytime I fill off kilter, I know I can go back to that and get labs checked, and I know what to look for in them, so that I can adjust my food. And you know, food can just have this huge role, and most of us have a lot of room to play with our food to give us more nourishment. So anyway, you want help with that, come and find me the breast cancer recovery coach.com

22:52
and check out my coaching and programs. Check out my 90 days of wellness. Get a metabolic health coaching plan where we dive into your nutrition, genome and your labs. Join my better than before breast cancer membership, where everything I have ever done, all the workshops, the monthly lessons, the coaching calls, the programs, everything is available inside that membership is literally a treasure trove of information and support, and you get live access to me in our group calls three times a month, and then another three times a month. I filled the days with 20 minute private sessions that are included in your membership, along with other discounts you get as a member, like it's gold. I'm telling you, you will not find the value that I have in this membership anywhere else that I've ever seen. So I encourage you to check it out, and until then, nourish yourself. Check out your magnesium levels. Take an up some salt bath, and I'll see you again next week.

23:57
You've put your courage to the test, laid all your doubts to rest. Your mind is clearer than before. Your heart is full and wanting more. Your Future's at the door.