Magnesium and Muscles

Magnesium calms muscles (including the heart), nerves and the brain. Because magnesium is critical for muscle function, there's quite a bit of it in meat — but boiling or processing (like making a hot dog) loses most of it. Magnesium is also at the core of chlorophyll; the darker green the vegetable, the more magnesium — but boiling it mushy and discarding the water throws away much of it.

Key to getting enough magnesium from your diet:

• •When you cook meat, capture the drippings and add them back as sauce.
• •If you boil meat or bones, drink the broth or reduce it to make sauce.
• •Steam vegetables rather than boiling them.