Today we’re talking about magnesium water, also known as mag water or magnesium bicarbonate.
Magnesium water is a VERY useful way to gentle get magnesium into your body, but what is it? Why would you use it? What are your best tips on getting it to work without residue?
Watch the video and read below for details.
I’m Kristan Kershaw, and in addition to being the Director of my own business (Supporting Balance), I am also the Operations Manager for the Root Cause Protocol (RCP). Magnesium water is part of the RCP and something I am quite passionate about, so I’ve spent some time learning how to make a cost-effective and biologically effective option. In the following videos, you will learn about what ‘mag water’ is and how I personally use it in my day-to-day life.
To make mag water (magnesium bicarbonate), you need:
- Magnesium hydroxide powder (or milk of magnesia)
- COLD carbonated water (in Australia ‘soda water’)
You can watch Kristan making mag water in 2 different videos.
Ingredients
- 3/4 tsp magnesium hydroxide powder
- 1L COLD carbonated water (commercial or from a soda stream type carbonation option)
Method
- Add magnesium hydroxide to the carbonated water
- Shake vigourously for at least 20-30 minutes in total
You can start with 5-10 minutes of shaking and then have breaks in between shaking after that. Perhaps 5 minutes of shaking, 5 minutes of a break.
We have found that typically the best outcomes come the longer you shake at the start. A running joke in our house is ‘if you think you’re done shaking, but it’s still really cloudy, shake it some more!’.
Over time I’ve found that there can be residue leftover of unreacted magnesium hydroxide if you don’t shake enough in the initial 20-30 minutes.
If you see it’s going clear earlier than this, it may be enough, but cloudiness is a sign it’s not ready.
 Additional tips and things to know
The bottle may suck inwards (if plastic) after a while. This is often when it starts to become clearer. It’s worth keeping shaking intermittently beyond this time to help all dissolve, though most will likely dissolve
The water to use could be any commercial carbonated water, or could be soda stream. We use a soda stream with our filtered water so we know what is in the water we drink!
The final product of this reaction will not be carbonated – it will be a concentrated magnesium liquid (maybe with a little bit of white sediment if not all reacted, this is fine and won’t harm you or the rest of the liquid).
Mag water is naturally alkaline, so drinking it (even watered down) is typically best kept away from meal time so as not to affect digestion.
The bicarbonate from the mag water can overall help digestion, so it’s beneficial to include in your routine away from food.
How to use
Start with a small amount – perhaps 1 teaspoon or less within a cup (or more) of water, ideally spread out over time (eg in your water bottle over the day). Keep this amount consistent each day for 5-7 days.
Build up slowly from there – it may be increasing by 1 teaspoon at a time, once a week for a while at least. Find the eventual concentration that feels best for you.
I find that my water tastes sweet when I have the right concentration for what my body needs – the amount varies these days.
When I started mag water, I drank it in some water before bed so I was having it away from water and when I knew I wasn’t going to be eating soon.
With time, I have increased how much I use (about 250mL of mag water per 1L water bottle I drink) and I now am mindful not to drink it for a while before or after a meal, but I find no negative response from my body anyway – it LOVES mag water.
One ounce (30mL) of mag water contains 45mg of magnesium.
Need more tailored assistance?
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