Foods for a Good Nights Sleep

Good Night’s Sleep

Sleep Dinners: The Best Foods to Ensure a Good Night’s Sleep

There are some foods that are better than others at encouraging a good night’s sleep. If you are not sleeping well, take a look at your diet. By eating the right kind of foods in the evening you can help your body fall asleep quicker and even improve the length and quality of sleep you get during the night. It is important to remember to stop eating about three hours before bedtime to allow your body time to properly digest your food intake.

Whilst eating the right food before bedtime can help you get to sleep, it must not be forgotten that a comfy bed is essential also. Whether you sleep on memory-foam based mattresses, pocket sprung mattresses or  adjustable beds  for the ultimate in ease and comfort, the importance of a good bed and peaceful bedroom must not be overlooked.

Avoid sugary, sweet snacks before bedtime as these simple carbohydrates can cause your blood sugar levels to peak and then drop during sleep, causing you to wake. For more sustained blood sugar levels, choose a protein rich snack instead, such as an egg, nuts or cheese. This will not only help you fall asleep, but you will also stay asleep. Almonds contain magnesium, which promotes both muscle relaxation and sleep. The protein in them will help to maintain your blood sugar levels whilst sleeping.

Drinks

Whilst avoiding caffeine in the evening is essential to a good night’s sleep, certain types of decaffeinated teas can help to get you into sleep mode. Green tea contains theanine, which helps to promote sleep and chamomile tea is a useful and safe sleeping aid. Cherry juice can aid sleep by boosting the body’s production of melatonin, which helps people with insomnia. Miso soup contains amino acids, which also boost the production of the hormone, melatonin, which in turn boosts sleep.

Bananas

Bananas are a fantastic source of potassium and magnesium, which help to relax muscles that are overstressed. Bananas also contain the important element, tryptophan, which converts into melatonin and serotonin, the brain’s principle calming hormones. Try blending with a cup of cow’s milk or soymilk for a delicious night-soothing smoothie.

Dairy

Dairy products such as yoghurt, cheese and milk contain tryptophan. They also contain the sleep-inducing nutrient, calcium. Calcium can be effective in reducing stress and in stabilizing nerve fibres, including those found in the brain. So, a banana smoothie or delicious yoghurt can not only help you sleep, but also help you unwind after what may have been a stressful day at work.

Oatmeal and Cereal

Oatmeal doesn’t have to be only for breakfast. A warm, soothing, inexpensive and nourishing bowl of oatmeal in the evening is packed full of phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium and silicon, all of which are known to support sleep. However, be careful not to laden it with sugar, which can keep you awake. Instead, choose to sweeten naturally with fruit such as bananas.
Generation Tea

Forshmak - A Jewish Appetizer

Tips for Creating Healthy Jewish Holiday Recipes

Jewish holiday recipes are known for their sweetness, their high fat content and their richness. However, I have always been on a special diet because of allergies and easy weight gain, so for each holiday season I still want to sample my favorite holiday recipes. The following tips are what I adhere to for all the recipe conversions I have made over the years and hope they will help you to have a happy and healthy holiday season.

Portion Size

If you don’t want to alter your traditional Jewish recipes to fit your dietary needs then you have a second option. Your second option is to alter the size of your portioning. By taking a smaller portion you will cut down on the sugar, carbohydrates, fats, salt and calories on your plate. You can further trick your mind into thinking that you have a larger portion is to use a smaller plate and even smaller utensils.

Add More Smell to Your Dishes

Another way to cut down on unhealthy ingredients in your traditional Jewish holiday recipes without sacrificing taste is to utilize the properties of scent to enhance the taste of your dishes. Scent can be added to your dishes by using spices and flavor extracts. One of my favorite holiday smells is almond and butter. Fortunately both of these scents can be added with flavor extracts of butter and almond. Vanilla is another flavor extract that is widely available in shopping markets. Keep in mind that authentic extracts are going to be more expensive and more potent than imitation extracts, which are less expensive but less potent.

Use Healthier Ingredients

Most people who alter their holiday recipes to make them healthier do so by changing unhealthy ingredients to healthier ingredients. For example, many people today substitute coconut, olive or canola oil for butter. You can also substitute light mayonnaise for real mayonnaise and low fat cheese for full fat cheeses. Using leaner cuts of meat is another way to make your holiday dinner healthier. For example, if you normally serve a beef brisket during your family holiday celebration consider using a learner brisket like one from bison instead of beef. I prefer to use the 1st cut of the brisket and have the butcher remove most of the fat.

Add Vegetables Instead of High Calorie Ingredients

Another option that you have to enhance the healthiness of your holiday dishes is to load them with complimentary vegetables instead of loading them with high fat or high calorie items. For example, if you are making a pizza or lasagna, add complimentary vegetables like tomatoes, olives and celery. Other vegetables that you can sneak into marinara sauces include carrots (diced into small pieces), potatoes, peas and beans.

For  healthy jewish recipes check out our blog.

It might be hard to stick to a healthy way of eating especially when you see a number of fast food restaurants lined up on the streets. While an occasional bite of burger and fries is fine, one should not forget that too much processed foods could later on post a great risk to your health. Rather than spending a few bucks everyday for a cup of coffee, have you considered trying a healthier alternative such as fresh juice? Do you know that juicing could provide you with a number of benefits?

Juicing is the process of preparing your own drink made of all the freshest and natural ingredients. And since you are the one who made it, you can be sure that is safe, clean and perfectly healthy. The fun part is that you can try and make your own juice recipes. Now this might take a few trial and errors until you get the perfect blend but you could never go wrong when it comes to fruits and vegetables. If you’re still not convinced about the good points of juicing, read through the list of benefits that it provides:

People who are trying to lose weight should include fresh juice on their diet plan. The amount of nutrients present in a glass of fresh fruit or vegetable juice will provide the body with enough energy for the day and could speed up the metabolism process, thus you burn more calories in no time.

Carrot juice is very healthy and known as a great cancer fighter because of its beta carotene and anti oxidant contents. This is also an ideal drink for individuals who are going through chemotherapy because it replenishes the lost nutrients in the body for a speedy recovery.

A glass of fresh fruit juice is also a good way to boost your immune system. Fruits are rich in vitamins especially Vitamin C which is a great immune booster. It protects your body from sickness and diseases. Do not forget that all natural juices could help the skin fight the aging process. Their anti oxidant properties allows the skin to fight the free radicals, one of the leading causes of premature aging.

Incorporating various types of fruits and vegetables to a fresh juice is also a good way to encourage kids to start a healthy eating habit. Most kids dread the look of broccoli but add this to the juice and they will never know that it is there. This is probably the easiest way to get the children into liking vegetables.

Juicers come in many many many different variety and pricings. A good collection of them can be found here:

Alison currently works as a freelance writer. Among her favorite topics include travel, current events, technology and fashion. She’s enjoying her current task writing for revisor priser a project which is all about accountant prices.