How What You Are Eating is Affecting Your Sleep

Okay, you've heard that if you drink warm milk it will help you go to sleep, this is true because milk contains tryptophan which is a sleep inducing substance;other sleep inducing foods include poultry, bananas, oats, and honey.

Struggling with insomnia? Put a little food in your stomach but remember this is not a license to pig-out! Eat a small snack otherwise overeating will cause your stomach to overwork and this may cause discomfort which might lead to more lack of sleep.

Step away from the burgers and fries as consuming more fat during the day has been shown to affect how well you catch your zzz's.

Be aware about the less obvious caffeine sources, like chocolate, cola, tea and decaffeinated coffee. For better sleep, cut all caffeine from your diet after noon each day.

Prescription and nonprescription drugs may contain caffeine, too; pain relievers, weight loss pills, diuretics, and cold medicines are some examples to mention but a few. The smart thing to do is to check the labels containing the drug information sheet to see if your medicine interferes with sleep or can cause insomnia. Some medicines can contain as much or even more caffeine than a cup of coffee.

Limit alcohol at night even though it might make you fall asleep faster it may cause frequent awakenings and less restful nights, make sure you drink an equal amount of water to lessen the alcohols effects.

Wait a few hours before you go to bed especially after eating a big dinner, lessen highly spicy foods as this might cause heartburn stealing your slumber away!

A high protein snack before bedtime is probably not a good idea because its harder to digest opt for some glass of milk or a banana instead.

Consuming the right amounts of fluids during the day is very important but cut them off in the evening as bathroom runs will affect your sleep.

Don't smoke before you go to bed or if you wake up at night as nicotine is a stimulant that has the same effects as caffeine.

Phyllis Chowaniok is very passionate about health, fitness and overall wellness including financial wellness; Phyllis wants people to be well so that they can feel good, look good, improve their self esteem so that they can take the focus off of themselves and help others achieve great things.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3489937


P.S.

If you  want to know about other factors that influence sleep apart from food, you can find many articles in our blog Mission Life Fulfilment.

I would like to hear from you! Please put a comment below, your opinion or suggestion might be valuable to someone! I promise to answer every question you may have or a discussion you might want to start!

Also share the blog posts on your social media! If you like the blog, you can subscribe to our email list using the link http://bit.ly/2Nwlbth

Thank you for your time and participation!

Save Money by Planning Your Meals for the Week

By planning out your meals for the week, you can significantly lower your monthly grocery bills. By having a plan, you'll eliminate those last minute trips to the grocery store and start eating healthier by cooking more homemade meals. Meal planning will also help you eat out less. Here are some of simple meal planning tips you can start today!

Start by writing down your favorite family recipes. Pick out the ones that you like to cook regularly and eliminate the ones that are less liked or only cooked on special occasions. Also keep in mind which recipes are more frugal and cost less overall to make. This list is your "Master Recipe List" that you can choose from each week. Ideally, this should only have about 10-15 of your most liked and frugal family recipes.

To plan out your meals for the week, select 3-4 recipes. Make sure to check out your local grocery ads to see which ingredients may be on sale.

Now that you have picked out your meals for the week, decide which days you will cook. You may choose to cook all meals on the weekend and freeze, or spread out cooking on multiple days during the week. Don't feel like you have to cook everyday. Plan days into your weekly schedule to eat up leftovers.

To keep track of your meals and cooking days, it may be helpful to print out a copy of your monthly calendar and record these on the appropriate day. You can even save each month's calendar for planning out future weeks and rotating which recipes you decide to cook.

Congratulations on your new meal plan! Keep in mind that this is a work in progress. Continue to review your Master Recipe List to add new recipes or eliminate ones that are no longer your favorite.

Here is a summary of the benefits of planning out your meals for the week in advance:

Eliminates last minute trips to the store because you don't know what to cook for dinner.

Because you are cooking at home more often, you will eat out less and save money.

Your meals will be more healthy because you have planned in advance. No more unhealthy convenience foods or microwave meals.

You will be less stressed because you have a plan.

As you get better at meal planning, try scheduling more than one week of meals. It may help you take advantage of grocery sales when you know what you'll be cooking in the next few weeks. You could also purchase groceries for more than one week which could reduce your trips to the store.

For more tips on saving money on groceries and on healthy eating on a budget, visit http://smartmoneymom.hubpages.com/hub/Eating-Well-on-a-Tight-Grocery-Budget.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7124714

If you like this blog post, please put a comment below or share it on social media! You can subscribe to our email list here.

5 Ultimate Food Supplements That Promote Health and Well Being

As a nutritionist, biochemist, and medical scientist, I personally do not recommend taking separate vitamins and minerals in supplement form unless you suffer from a very specific problem that requires supplementation with a very specific nutrient.

Overall I am a fan of balance and balance cannot be achieved by supplementing with single nutrients.

However, I also do not support taking "multivitamin" supplements where minerals and vitamins are combined into one tablet. There are nutrients that should not be taken together in supplement form because they affect each other's absorption, for example iron and manganese, selenium and zinc, iron and zinc, selenium and vitamin C to name just a few. Therefore I also do not recommend supplementation with "multivitamins".

However if you do feel you need a little more energy and would like to supplement your diet, here's how I recommend doing it:

My recommendation is to supplement with foods, especially "super-foods", which are foods rich in nutrients and enzymes that promote health. This is all I recommend for people eating a varied diet. Some vegans may need B-12 but if they consistently consume the specific super-foods which I will recommend in a moment, even they will not require supplementation with B-12 on a regular basis.

During times when the body has increased needs, for example during pregnancy, lactation period, menstruation or during an infection, we can add certain nutrients for support, but on a regular basis supplementing with super-foods is enough to promote ongoing health.

Super-foods are called "Super" because they are exceptionally rich in nutrients.

Here is a short list of Ultimate Food Supplements That Promote Health and Well Being:

Spirulina

A Cyanobacteria (a plant like organism found in fresh lakes and salt water, also known as a type of Blue-Green algae) with a very rich protein and nutrient content. Spirulina was also an ancient food source for the Aztecs. It is still controversial if the B-12 content of Spirulina may be utilised by humans, although through my personal experience it is a biologically active source for humans. I take Spirulina on an almost daily basis and so do all of my children. However, there are some contradictions for consuming Spirulina, it should not be consumed by people with PKU (because it contains phenylalanine), and also should be avoided by people on anticoagulant medication (because of its rich vitamin K content).

Spirulina is an amazing super-food also taken by astronauts during long-term space travel, and it has been well researched for its benefits with malnourished children, as well as people suffering from allergies, as a supplement for the elderly and for improving hypertension.

Chia

Chia seeds come from a flowering plant of the mint family. The seeds are extremely rich in omega 3 fatty acids and have the perfect balance between omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids. Chia seeds also have high protein levels and contain a high amount of dietary fiber levels. Chia seeds also have an incredible amount of calcium, like flax and sesame seeds. To extract the maximum from this super-food, I recommend milling it and adding it to your foods, it has no flavour and can be added easily to any dish. This super-food need not be taken as a supplement and can and should be consumed as a food.

Barley and Wheat grass

Barley and Wheat grass are young grasses at the early stage of growth and therefore they have a totally different composition to the more mature wheat or barley which are considered grains rather than their young versions which are more similar to vegetables in their makeup. As these grasses grow, they change composition from being rich in chlorophyll and minerals, to rich in cellulose (a fibre). At their young grass phase, they have very high levels of antioxidants which has been proven to help the body remove cancerous cells. They are also rich with digestive enzymes which help us breakdown and digest foods more readily allowing the foods' nutrients to become more available for the bodies' needs.

Barley and wheat grass can be consumed daily and are also available in tablet form which I find very useful when on a busy schedule.

Probiotics

Probiotics are microorganisms that help us maintain a healthy balance between healthy microbes and harmful ones within our intestinal flora. Probiotics also synthesise vitamins, including B-12, and have been proven to help us overcome the effects of stress.

They have also been proven to have health benefits for controlling allergies, treating diarrhoea, increasing overall health including gum health and overall immune health. There are so many studies which prove the benefits of probiotics on our health.

When you are feeling over tired, stressed out, bloated, have constipation or diarrhoea, or after taking a course of antibiotics, I truly recommend taking probiotic supplements with multiple probiotic strains. They are also important for babies and have now been added to most baby formulas.

I recommend taking a probiotic supplement with minimum 50 billion live cultures and 10 beneficial probiotic strains at times of increased stress, major life changes, during constipation, when you are not getting sufficient sleep or after taking antibiotics.

Moringa oleifera

Moringa oleifera, also referred to as the drumstick tree (due to the appearance of its seed-pods), is one of those traditional plants that have been eaten and used as herbal remedies long before Western science recognised them. The most nutritious part of the plant, the leaves, can be eaten raw, cooked or even powdered and added to sauces and soups. The leaves can also be taken in capsule form. They are rich in vitamins B, C, beta-carotene and minerals calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium and protein. Due to insufficient research, it is currently not recommended during pregnancy.

Moringa leaves contain several thousand times more of the powerful anti-ageing nutrient zeatin, which has anti ageing properties on human skin fibroblasts more than any other known plant. Moringa leaves are also known to help prevent cancer by killing cancer cells and stopping tumor growth due to special antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer compounds.

Studies on rats showed that Moringa leaves can reduce blood sugar levels within 3 hours of consuming the leaves and also protect the liver. Due to this, Moringa also helps control appetite!

Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you are serious about improving your health no matter what your age or circumstance are, and are ready to achieve better results with your weight loss attempts, guaranteed, then join my mailing list where you will receive my weekly newsletter with groundbreaking health, motivational content, recipes, supplement recommendations, easy workout, as well as many FREE bonuses and special offers. Click to subscribe here: https://goo.gl/72yjYO

Or visit the Guerrilla Diet Website for health advice, offers, courses, free information and the online shop:

http://www.theguerilladiet.com/home.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9215543

Food for thought: How your belly controls your brain | Ruairi Robertson | TEDxFulbrightSantaMonica

                                   
To learn more about brain functioning and thoughts check our blog Mission Life Fulfilment

Fasting vs. Eating Less: What's the Difference? (Science of Fasting)

I Went Vegan for a Month. Here's What Happened.