Having a hard time getting to sleep at night?
Get your zzzzzz's with these foods
Check out these sleep Q&A's
Here's some extra info on the Do's & Don'ts of Eating for a Better Night's Sleep
Do’s
· Choose foods at dinner that
are easier to digest and higher in Tryptophan, Melatonin, Calcium, Magnesium
& B Vitamins: Beans, lentils, whole-grains (quinoa, millet, brown rice,
wild rice) raw & cooked veggies (leafy greens) lean proteins (chicken,
turkey, tofu, eggs, shrimp, halibut, tuna)
·
Eat 4 hours before you go to bed. Your stomach should not be too full, but not too
empty. Digestion slows down while asleep, and a full stomach
may interrupt sleep.
· Choose lower glycemic foods (gradual rise of blood
sugar) brown
rice, sweet potatoes, beans, and fruits and vegetables. Lower then 55 on the
rating scale.
· Eat a small unrefined complex
carbohydrate with protein post-dinner snack 1 hour before bed to help increase production of sleep inducing brain
chemicals and to fortify the body’s nighttime energy reserve.
Don’ts
· Eat a heavy meal late at
night.
· Eat hard-to-digest
proteins, (beef, pork) eat these earlier in the day
·
Go to bed on an
empty stomach, as a completely empty stomach may wake you up with a grumbling
belly.
·
Drink coffee,
tea, and cola with your dinner. The caffeine will be sure to keep you up. Don’t
drink a caffeinated drink past 4 p.m.
·
Eat sugary
snacks and foods with food coloring or other artificial flavors. They can give
nightmares and can cause interrupted sleep.
·
Eat any food
that doesn’t sit well with you personally. If you eat something and it often
gives you a physical or emotional reaction, avoid it or it may disrupt sleep.
·
Eat spicy foods
late at night
·
Eat gas
producing foods, keep you and your partner awake
**Eating every 3-4 hours throughout the day will help
to keep you feeling balanced and you won’t gorge at dinner. Choosing
easy-to-digest foods will help you to ease your body into rest mode to encourage
detoxification and repair**
Safe
Snacks
·
Banana – contains Tryptophan & Magnesium, potassium: all helpful for activating
the calming and sleep-inducing brain chemical serotonin.
·
Almonds/Almond milk -supplies tryptophan, magnesium and protein that can help maintain a
stable blood sugar level while sleeping.
·
Whole Grain Hot or Cold Cereal
Hot: Oatmeal, Brown Rice Cereal
(Bob’s Red Mill)
Cold: Millet Puffs, Whole O’s
With unsweetened almond milk or rice milk or plain yogurt
-
Contains B
vitamins, calcium & tryptophan to ease the body into
relaxing and
encourage sleep.
·
Ancient Grain Crackers (Mary’s Crackers) add some
goat cheese, or hummus to dip - Complex
carbohydrate-rich foods increase the availability of tryptophan in the
bloodstream, increasing the sleep-inducing effects
·
Edamame Beans, soy milk, soy nuts, - helpful in fighting hot flashes at night due
to the estrogen-like compounds if that’s keeping you up
·
Hard Boiled Egg -a quick, rich protein snack helpful in
keeping your blood sugar stable throughout the night. (don't forget to have it with a small complex carb..spelt crackers)
· Brown
Rice Cake with Pumpkin Seed Butter - high
amount of tryptophan in pumpkin seeds, great complex carb for increase of
tryptophan
·
Nuts/Seeds - Sachi Inchi seeds have 8 times the amount of
tryptophan then turkey. Chia seeds have good levels too. Omega 3
fats are helpful for reducing stress and relaxing the nervous system.
·
Sour Cherries, fresh, dried or pure juice are one of few food sources of melatonin, which
has been found to promote better sleep and lessen the effects of jet lag. Since
melatonin is found in small quantities in the body, a slight increase can
produce great results. There is 13.5 nanograms (ng) (one billionth of a gram)
of melatonin per 1 gram of cherries, which is higher than the amount normally
found in the blood.
·
Grapes - Nebbiolo grapes have the highest amounts of
melatonin – found in Barolo wines.
·
Lemon Balm Tea
(my fav!) - helpful in calming and reducing anxiety. This herb is used for nervous
agitation, sleeping problems, functional gastrointestinal complaints.
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