A good diet and proper sleep are fundamental to a healthy state of being. To maintain good health, diet and rest must become aligned. The consequence of lack of sleep extends far beyond sleeping disorders, fatigue, insomnia, and Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Poor sleep can also promote inflammation, and increase the risk of mood disorders or neurodegenerative disorders.
Of course, there are natural health supplements—including melatonin—that can help you fall asleep faster or attain a more restful sleep, but what you eat can also have a large impact.
The Relationship Between Sleep and Food
Several studies prove that a lack of sleep leads to an increase in food consumption. We often underestimate the positive effects a good night's sleep has on our overall health and well-being. While we try to gain better control of our daily schedules, we tend to ignore another aspect responsible for contributing to quality sleep: diet.
What we eat during the day and right before bed can significantly affect our night's rest. Our diet is not just fueling our energy but is a key to our body's repair and rejuvenation.
The right foods can nourish our body. We'll take a closer scientific look at some foods that are allies (and look at which ones to avoid) in our mission to better health with sound sleep.
Foods for Promoting Better Sleep
Turkey: Whenever we think about turkey, Thanksgiving is probably the first thought—but turkey is a great option for those who eat meat due to its high tryptophan content. This amino acid helps promote serotonin production, and can induce a more restful sleep.
Chicken: Another poultry item that can give you a much-needed dose of the amino acid tryptophan. It functions as a precursor to serotonin, which helps to regulate mood and sleep.
Bananas: Have them as they are or blend them into a smoothie; bananas are a rich source of potassium and tryptophan—potassium is essential to sleep. Studies reaffirm that potassium boosts total sleep time and increased potassium intake is linked to improved sleep efficiency and duration (without fragmentation—or constantly tossing and turning).
Foods to Prepare for Sleep
Maintain a timely schedule to train the body for routine rest. Ideally, we would rise with the sun, and sleep as the sun sets—but that isn’t always realistic. Regular sleep, of 7-9 hours, is a good span of time to ensure proper rejuvenation, and you’ll want to make sure you’re disconnected from phones or laptops at least a couple of hours prior to this.
As well, foods can help or hinder you when it comes to preparing for bedtime. Foods containing "melatonin" or precursors can help regulate our sleep-wake cycle and signal your body to wind down and get ready for bedtime.
Foods High in Melatonin
Cherries: Packed with nutrients and antioxidants, cherries are a great choice to help you sleep better. Tart cherries, specifically, are an excellent choice to signal your body to take your well-earned rest. Here's why: tart cherries contain melatonin to regulate our sleep-wake cycle, along with increasing the production of serotonin, a chemical to help your body make melatonin.
Grapes & Goji Berries: Our brain produces melatonin during the day at differing levels based in accordance with our environment—darkness vs. light environments. There is an increase in the evening while it reduces as dawn approaches. Scientists discovered that red grapes and goji berries contain melatonin, and can help people improve sleep quality naturally.
Foods Containing Magnesium
Magnesium is responsible for hundreds of biological and intracellular processes within your body—contributing to the production of protein and DNA, maintaining healthy blood sugar levels and blood pressure, and regulates muscles and nerves.
Introducing magnesium-rich foods into your pre-sleep meal (whether this be dinner or a light snack) can help alleviate anxiety, relax the muscles, and allow for a more relaxed body. Some foods high in magnesium include:
Almonds: A healthy snack, almonds are high in healthy fats and low in saturated fat. On your next visit to the grocery store, add some almonds to your shopping cart as a healthy late-night snack option. An ounce of almonds contains 77 milligrams of magnesium. A handful of almonds can provide enough magnesium to support relaxation.
Spinach: Leafy vegetables like spinach are a good source of magnesium. Add spinach to your dinner (think: salad, pasta, or veggie bowl) as it helps to naturally relax your muscles and nerves.
Drinks for Better Sleep
Take caution to not take too much liquid before bedtime to avoid the urge to urinate midway through your sleep, causing a break in continuous rest.
Sipping a warm beverage late evening can remind your body it's almost time to retire for the day. Here are a few drinks to consider for a prolonged and quality sleep:
Chamomile Tea: Herbal teas like chamomile prom ...
Entering into a healthy lifestyle is a conscious choice for many, but for some, it may be a result of medical advice. Healthy eating goals involve more than just fitting into your favorite pair of old jeans—it’s an opportunity to feel better, live better, and support your body and mind long-term.
The ‘right’ diet boosts your physical health, helps maintain energy levels, and positively impacts your mental well-being. Essential nutrients, antioxidants, and fiber are all important to maintaining a healthy gut and healthy brain.
You may have tried following a healthy lifestyle but a packed work schedule makes things more difficult—tedious planning, and under preparation may take you far from the starting line. By understanding your body's needs and working within your available time, we'll help you get started on the path to maintaining dietary consistency.
What makes eating healthy all week long difficult?
Just like any other wellness goal, you need to plan ahead of time and actually follow the plan to achieve your desired outcome. Some of the most common barriers to healthy eating we've found are:
Feeling overwhelmed: Big changes take time and it can take a long while to settle into a new routine—especially if you’re cutting out foods that have become sources of comfort.
Lack of time: The major reason for being unable to follow everyday healthy eating is not accounting for preparation time, especially for those who work a physical job, long hours, or have an inconsistent schedule.
Complex plans: If it's too tough to follow, or involves too many eliminations, you probably won't stick to it.
Being too rigid: You can have a few days' worth of cheat days in a month, but it's paramount to maintain a positive outlook toward the end goal, without becoming fearful of falling back into old dietary patterns.
Making big changes: Expecting results too fast is a mistake that leads to dropping a new dietary regimen without seeing it through long term. It takes time for results to show.
Tips for a healthy eating plan that works and how to stick to it
When making an investment in your body and mind, there are bound to be distractions. But with the right mindset and proven dietary habits, overcoming these challenges is easy.
Week after week of healthy eating requires simplicity—when it comes to planning, preparation, and execution. As time progresses (and armed with a deeper understanding of your dietary needs), you can have a perfectly healthy ready-to-eat meal in 20 minutes or less.
Schedule your time: Set a fixed time for planning the current week's or next week's meals and snacks. Prep as much as you can ahead of time.
Pre-cut preparation: To help cook or prepare daily meals faster, preparation is key. Wash, cut, and store your ingredients in the fridge, in handy locations, so you can get started on meals without spending extra time making trips to the grocery store for that one missing spice or vegetable. With pre-boiled or pre-cut veggies (that you’ve done yourself), meal preparation is a whole lot faster.
Repeat the week: There’s no need to have a completely different meal plan every week if you're comfortable with the meals you’re already cooking. Obviously, these should be nutrient-dense meals to ensure you’re not missing any key nutrients and there needs to be some diversity, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with eating the same meals throughout a prolonged period of time given that they’re healthy.
Fixed portions: By preparing your snacks and meals in fixed portions, you prevent overeating and maintain a balanced dietary plan that is geared toward weight gain, maintenance, or weight loss.
Get rid of distractions: Stock only the things you need for preparation and eliminate unhealthy snacks and junk food. Initially, this forces you to stay focussed only on the healthy options you have in front of you—but this further pushes you to avoid unhealthy titbits even when you see them in stores.
Example Week
While by no means a rigorous eating plan, these couple of recipes show you how easy it is to incorporate healthy foods into a daily schedule—without compromising on time.
Grilled Chicken Salad
Prep: Straight from the refrigerator and onto the plate for a quick healthy salad. Get veggies, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber, and toss some light vinaigrette over grilled chicken breast.
Tip for faster preparation: Slice grilled chicken into batches and store away in the refrigerator. Wash and chop the veggies into airtight containers separately. Your salad is ready in under 15 mins for having.
Roasted Veggies with Quinoa
Prep: For this snack, you'll need cooked quinoa and some roasted chickpeas, paired with veggies—good options include bell peppers, zucchini, and carrots given a quick roast to maintain their flavors with a dash of olive oil.
Tip for faster preparation: ...
Have you tried to live a more health-conscious lifestyle but found yourself failing miserably after starting a new diet? We’ve been there. You aren’t alone. Studies show that almost 65% of people, 2 out of 3 people, who start dieting eventually quit and become regressive eaters due to excessive control or hyper fixation over their food choices for an extended duration.
How to decide what to eat? How to make the right eating choices? How do you achieve your health goals without depriving yourself of your favorite foods? The answer to all these concerns is referred to as “food freedom.”
Read on to learn all about it as the simplest method to achieve your health goals!
What Does the Term Food Freedom Mean?
As the term suggests, food freedom is the “freedom” to eat anything and everything you desire—within reasonable constraints. When
people start to suppress their dietary urges, they develop uncomfortable or unhealthy long-term habits. This lingering guilt hovers over people’s heads like a cloud whenever they enter a fast food joint or take another sip of wine. It results in increasing mental anxiety and stress.
Thus, setting your mind free from feelings of guilt when you pick up that one extra slice of pizza is essential to longevity. Having said that, food freedom doesn’t mean that people should not take into consideration the nutritional quality of food, its importance, and its impact on bodily functions.
We need to understand that eating in the right proportions and making better eating choices is essential, but at the same time, managing a healthy and peaceful mental space is equally important.
How to Create Balance?
Creating balance starts with education. It is the core tenet behind achieving your health goals and leading a healthy life—knowledge is power, and you need to know what and how your body responds to and processes certain foods. Sometimes, it’s intuitive. You know yourself and your body better than anyone else ever could.
Learn the nutritional facts about what you’re ingesting and fueling your body with. Then, apply that knowledge to creating balanced meals—vegans can learn how to create plant-based protein-rich meals, while omnivores can learn how to reduce red meat intake and prioritize fish and veggies.
You can indulge in that second slice of pizza guilt-free but don’t make it a daily habit.
Create a habit of mindful eating. Mindful eating is being consciously aware of what you are doing. It includes the following four parameters:
Paying attention to yourself—are you hungry or full? How energetic are you? Do you feel stressed?
Avoid multitasking while eating—be physically and mentally present in the moment while eating. Avoid watching television or scrolling on your phone. Chew food slowly.
Enjoy the food—take time to eat and feel its taste, smell, and texture. Digestion begins in the mouth.
Do not judge yourself. Most importantly, do not guilt trip. If you decide to have something, do not worry about the past or the future implications of your dietary choice at that moment, work on making permanent, lasting changes long-term.
Fears Associated with “Dieting”
Dieting is a scary term to most people. This is because, for most people, it is associated with the idea of eating less and living on soups and salads to lose weight. Forget indulging in your favorite foods—dieting is about this idea of sacrifice.
However, this perception is entirely wrong.
There are hundreds of healthy food options. Living in a rich culture, with readily available plant foods means we now have the ability, more than ever before, to make better dietary choices without depriving ourselves. Telling yourself not to eat certain types of food to lose weight, for instance, does the opposite of its intended purpose.
When you think to “not” eat something, you are, in reality, constantly thinking about eating it and then restricting yourself, which leads to stress building and further increases the desire for the “forbidden” food.
The term “diet” includes everything you eat in the entire day. Hence, dieting doesn’t mean stopping altogether, but being more mindful of what you eat. What you need is a properly balanced diet to achieve your health goals and live a healthy life.
Until now, we have talked about the importance of food freedom and how indulging in your cravings is not a sin. However, we also need to understand that while you should give in to cravings occasionally, it is always crucial to be mindful of what you eat.
Importance of Food Freedom
Practicing food freedom is good for both physical and mental health.
First, it helps you to better understand the body in relation to what you eat. Secondly, practicing food freedom helps eliminate feelings of guilt and stress from following strict food rules, and obsessive dieting. You actually enjoy your favorite food rather than ...
Welcome to the world of healthy eating!
We all know that food is an essential part of our daily lives, but it's not just about satisfying our hunger. What we eat directly impacts our overall health and well-being. With so much information out there about what's good and bad for us, it can be challenging to know where to start.
But fear not; we'll explore everything you need to know about healthy eating, from the benefits of a balanced diet to easy and delicious recipes that you can incorporate into your daily routine.
So, whether you're looking to improve your energy levels, maintain a healthy weight, or simply feel your best – read on to learn everything you need to know about what healthy eating entails!
How Does Healthy Eating Make A Difference?
Healthy eating is not just a trend. It is a lifestyle that can significantly impact overall health and well-being. The food that we consume provides our bodies with the essential nutrients needed for optimal functioning. Continually consuming unhealthy foods can lead to a host of health problems, including type 2 diabetes.
The benefits of healthy eating are numerous. These include maintaining a healthy weight, reducing the risk of chronic disease, reducing the risk of cognitive decline, improving energy levels, and enhancing overall mood. Consuming a diet rich in whole fruits, vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, and healthy fats can provide the body with all the key nutrients it needs to thrive.
On the other hand, consuming an unhealthy diet high in processed foods, added sugars, refined grains, and saturated or trans fats can lead to weight gain, elevated cholesterol levels, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, chronic inflammation, Alzheimer’s, and other chronic health conditions.
Making the switch to healthy eating can seem daunting, but it does not have to be complicated.
Small changes like incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet, choosing whole grains over processed (refined) ones, and swapping unhealthy snacks for healthier options can make a big difference. This means choosing brown rice over white, quinoa over couscous, or steel-cut oats over instant.
Healthy eating isn't just about restriction and deprivation, it's about nourishing your body with the right foods to help it function at its best. This means eating as close as possible to the unrefined whole food source as possible. By making healthy eating a priority, you're investing in your long-term health and well-being, and setting yourself up for a happier, healthier future.
Busting The Myth!
Well, contrary to popular belief, you do not need to follow a specific diet for healthy eating. That being said, you can benefit from implementing certain eating habits. For example, following a low-carb diet can work wonders for you if done right, while you can just as easily maintain optimal health on a high-carb diet.
Generally speaking, eating healthy does not necessarily demand adhering to diets or following a set of dietary rules religiously. The basic mantra of healthy eating is to fuel your body with nutritious whole foods, which in turn, ensure holistic wellness. Your location, socio-economic status, culture, and many other factors might determine the specifics.
What Does Healthy Eating Comprise
Nutrient density:
Nutrient density refers to the nutrient content of a particular food, relative to its calorie content. In other words, it's a measure of how many essential nutrients a food contains per calorie.
Foods that are nutrient-dense are generally those that provide a high amount of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other essential nutrients per serving, while also being relatively low in calories. These types of foods are important for maintaining good health and preventing chronic diseases.
Examples of nutrient-dense foods include leafy green vegetables, berries, nuts and seeds, whole grains, lean proteins, and oily fish. These foods are packed with essential vitamins and minerals, and they also provide important nutrients like protein, fiber, and healthy fat.
On the other hand, foods that are not nutrient-dense, such as processed snacks and sugary drinks, are often high in calories but provide very few essential nutrients. These types of foods can contribute to weight gain and chronic health problems when consumed in excess.
Choosing nutrient-dense foods is an important part of a healthy diet. By focusing on foods that provide a high amount of essential nutrients per calorie, you can ensure that you're getting the nutrients your body needs to function properly while also maintaining a healthy weight.
Diet Diversity:
Diet diversity refers to the variety of different foods and food groups that are included in a person's diet. It is an important aspect of healthy eating because a diverse diet can provide a wide range of nutrients and help to reduce the risk of nutrient deficiencies.
Eating a varied diet can also help to ...
