Magnesium: The Key to Better Moods, Sleep, and Overall Health
(Health Secrets) When was the last time you had some blackstrap molasses? Although it’s probably been a while, molasses is still an excellent source of the vital human nutrients lacking in most of our diets. Molasses provides inexpensive nutrition and is a sweetener that is safe for most people who have glucose or blood sugar issues. Molasses provides several highly bioavailable minerals lacking in the diets of most people, and it has even been used to help remedy many unhealthy conditions.
Ironically, nutritious molasses is the by-product or “waste” from processing sugar cane or beet into table sugar, but molasses is a much better choice than refined sugar. Refined table sugar stripped of molasses creates blood sugar and insulin instability and provides no nutrients. Actually refined sugar draws nutrients out of the body, especially minerals, if enough of it is consumed.
Molasses comes from deep in the ground
Sugar cane roots grow very deeply into the soil, commonly 15 feet or more, deep enough to bypass nutrient depleted topsoils that have become the norm. This makes sugar cane plants able to take in many more nutrients than plants grown in top soil. Sugar canes are harvested and machines are used to press the juice out of the cane. That juice is boiled, then put through centrifugal machinery to extract the sugar crystals from the liquid. What’s left is molasses, and there are three grades of it on the market: sulphured, unsulphured, and blackstrap.
Sulphur is used to process unripe green sugar cane. But chemical sulphur is not good for human consumption. Sun ripened sugar cane is processed without using sulphur, making unsulphered molasses the better choice. The third boiling necessary to extract table sugar from sugar cane or beet sugar produces a thick dark substance known as blackstrap molasses, which is the most nutrient dense of all.
Why you should try molasses
Minerals are not only removed by processing foods. They tend to be lacking in fresh crops raised in mostly depleted soils as well. Many health and nutritional experts claim that minerals and enzymes are even more important than vitamins for our health. Without minerals, vitamins won’t work!
For example, magnesium is essential to the metabolism and synthesis of almost all the other minerals and vitamins. It is involved with more than 300 human metabolic processes. Yet several health practitioners have gone on record saying that most of the population is lacking even sufficient magnesium levels. Using molasses is an easy way to replenish magnesium and many other needed minerals.
Along with magnesium, molasses provides calcium in abundance. Both of these minerals essential for healthy bones are densely packaged within this natural food source. Magnesium is necessary for the smooth function of our nervous system and is helpful in maintaining heart health. Insufficient magnesium levels can result in muscle spasms, including the heart muscle, which may lead to arrhythmia or even heart attacks.
The first thing for the sugar wary (and weary) to consider is that mineral-rich blackstrap molasses has a low glycemic index. This means its glucose and carbohydrates are metabolized slowly, demanding less insulin production and stabilizing blood sugar. The result is less lipids or fats in the blood. This means your chances of becoming diabetic while satisfying a normal sweet tooth with molasses are virtually nil.
Because of its high iron content, many use blackstrap molasses to holistically overcome iron deficiency anemia. Iron is essential to creating red blood cells. In addition to iron, blackstrap molasses contains folate, a natural source for folic acid, along with some other B vitamins, which all combine to form the synergistic mix that promotes red blood cell production.
Potassium is another mineral abundant in blackstrap molasses. A deficiency in potassium results in weak muscles and is considered a factor in causing arthritis. Potassium helps maintain a calmly functioning nervous system, and it is also important for heart health. Even the American Heart Association has included unsulphured blackstrap molasses as a food supportive of good heart health.
Manganese, a trace mineral, is found in good supply in unsulphured blackstrap molasses. Manganese ions function with a number of enzymes, and are essential to combating unusual free radicals. Like magnesium, manganese supports cellular absorption of nutrients, and is beneficial to the nervous system. Manganese also helps synthesize fatty acids and stabilize blood sugar levels.
There certainly are a lot of nutrients to support the nervous system in this sweetener! It seems that this inexpensive nutrition would provide a useful alternative and deterrent to the hyperactivity and ADD in youngsters who consume too much sugar. And unsulphured blackstrap molasses has been used successfully for just that!
Other minerals that appear in abundance are copper and zinc. Zinc has been tagged as the male mineral because it helps support a healthy prostate. Working with zinc, copper helps eliminate the oxidation damage of superoxides and is also helpful for cancer prevention.
All the minerals and nutrients of unsulphured blackstrap molasses are in their natural, balanced form to create a bio-accessible, nutritional synergy. If your budget prohibits more than the purchase of essential targeted supplements, blackstrap molasses is a good way to go for an overall nutritional boost. A complete nutrient analysis of unsulphured blackstrap molasess can be found at the link below.
Claims and uses
There are many anecdotal testimonies concerning the use of unsulphured blackstrap molasses. Most revolve around the fact that anemia was overcome or greatly lessened without the constipation or stomach problems from iron supplements. Claimed results include better heart health, more energy, relief from rheumatoid arthritis, improved skin conditions, and even restored hair color!
Unsulphured blackstrap molasses can be incorporated with many food items as a sweetener, despite its distinctive flavor. It works in teas or hot cereals, on pancakes and waffles or dessert items, or used as a glaze for cooking. Some people take right to it. Others, especially those who have taste buds conditioned for years by sugar and artificial sugars find it lacking as a sweetener at first.
Just like any transition from unhealthy processed “tasty” foods to healthier real foods, taste can be acquired even to a point of wondering why the junk food was consumed with so much relish while wholesome food was shunned! You have to decide which is more important: a long lasting healthier condition, or immediately satisfying cravings that will quickly lead to serious health problems?
Unsulphured blackstrap molasses is easily managed as a tonic. Mixing a tablespoon or two with a glass of warm water works well as a mineral tonic. Some have used this mix three times a day as a remedy for extreme conditions. Restoring or maintaining health through natural foods requires a sustained intake over time, but it’s inexpensive and the results are real, permanent and without side effects.
For more information:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?pfriendly=1&tname=nutrientprofile&dbid=85
Published with permission from AlignLife. Original article link is here.
