Summary: We have another Q&A episode this week! Sorry about the double intro, but we didn’t realize our new and improved introduction would be ready for this episode! (And Laura apologizes for being a bit spacey this week, since she stayed up watching the BCS bowl game the night before recording and was running on a sleep deficit. Just goes to show you the power of a good night’s sleep!) Here are the questions that Laura and Kelsey address in this episode: I’ve been doing paleo for 12 years and take magnesium supplements, as well as some others, but I still get some cramps in my legs and feet every so often, even when just walking around the house. I’m wondering if I’m not absorbing the magnesium well? Thanks. I have been suffering from Laryngophosageal [sic] Reflux (LPR) for two years and have tried everything. A friend suggested Paleo and I have been following it for several weeks without any change in my LPR symptoms. Do you think I should continue on with Paleo or do you have any other ideas? Links Discussed: Chris’s podcast on nighttime cramps Magnesium Malate Bone meal powder Cramp Bark tea (check with your doctor, don’t take if pregnant) Epsom salts Anti-GERD diet Why Stomach Acid is Good for You (Book Review) TRANSCRIPT Thanks to Amy Berger for working so hard on these transcripts! She has a great article on the role stomach acid plays in GERD, so check it out if you’re interested. LAURA: Hi everyone! Welcome to this week’s episode of Ask the RD. I’m Laura. I have a Master’s in public health nutrition from UNC Chapel Hill, and I’ll have my RDat the end of 2013 (hopefully soon!). KELSEY: And I’m Kelsey, a Registered Dietitian with a Master’s in nutrition and functional medicine. LAURA: Thanks for joining us for this week’s Ask the RD podcast. We’re excited to be here and we hope that you’ll enjoy learning about nutrition-related topics. Remember to submit your nutrition-related questions through the online submission form, which we’ve linked to on Chris’s site. We’ll be answering your questions on the show, so feel free to submit as many as you’d like. And as a reminder to everyone, this is just general advice and should not be used in place of medical advice from a licensed professional. So are you ready to get started with our podcast, Kelsey? KELSEY: Yeah, and this first question’s for you, Laura. “I’ve been doing Paleo for twelve years and take magnesium supplements as well as some others, but I still get some cramps in my legs and feet every so often, even when just walking around the house. I’m wondering if I’m not absorbing the magnesium well. Thanks.” LAURA: Okay, so first I want to just give a little disclaimer if my voice cracks, as you might have seen in the intro, I was up kind of late watching the BCS Bowl last night, so I have a little sore throat this morning but I’ll do my best to plow through this question. Okay, so I do think this is a really good question because it’s a common problem for people that are new to Paleo, and muscle cramps are generally caused by an imbalance of electrolytes, such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, or sodium, and this can be from dietary deficiency, illness, or excessive exercise, which are the most common reasons. However, muscle cramps can also be caused by a number of other problems as well, and when I was doing some research, I came up with a list of all the issues I could find that can cause muscle cramping, and this includes sitting or standing in one position for too long; certain medications; anemia; inactivity; fibromyalgia; hormone imbalances; allergies; arthritis, atherosclerosis; dehydration; hypothyroidism; varicose veins; and ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. So you can see that there are many different factors that could be playing into this particular person’s cramps. However, I’m going to focus on the most common treatments that should be tried first if people are suffering from frequent cramps,
