Diet, Sleep, and Good Sense

Healthy diet = sleep to dream about. Though closely linked, the correlation between diet & sleep is not often enough discussed. Healthy sleep and digestion at night will lead to exponentially more productive days. The following list is by no means an end all be all menu, but rather, it contains a few examples of healthy foods that I use to help me get better sleep.

Optimum health requires a balanced diet. Sleep is no different.

To start, you’ll want to drink at least 8 glasses a day. Try to stay away from soda. Most of us enjoy coffee or other caffeinated beverages, but the less caffeine we put in our bodies the better. Try to eat a couple servings of fruits and vegetables each and every day as well. I like to eat an apple and banana in addition to at least one or two vegetables daily (a medium sized salad covers the requirements).

They say five servings of fruits and vegetables per day is optimum for a healthy lifestyle, but I find that is difficult for many people to do, and just getting in a couple servings per day is a huge leap forward.

We do need our fair share of carbohydrates each day for energy and stamina, but we must make sure they are mostly complex carbs. Try to stay away from white flour, white rice and potato chips or fries. Whole grains are the best way to go. Finally, you need some meat protein (unless you are a vegetarian, in which case you probably already know most of this already). Try to stay away from too much red meat and pork. Even with chicken and fish you want to keep your limit to about eight ounces per day in a typical diet.

Sleep it off

When should you eat and how much should you consume? By now you probably have a basic idea of some of the healthy and not so healthy foods that may be keeping you from your best diet (sleep as well). Now it’s time to take a look at when and how much you should be eating.

The best way to explain is by example. Here is a sample of my daily diet. Notice I said daily diet. Sleep will improve along with routine, and a regular routine is important for two reasons. For one, it is far easier to maintain. Secondly, when you find something that works, your body will prefer to stick with it. This doesn’t mean you can’t eat different foods on different days, it just means you should stick with the same types of foods.

My daily diet

BREAKFAST:

The first thing I do when I get up is drink two glasses of water. This helps my body get re-hydrated quickly. After that, it’s breakfast.

My morning meal:

Two eggs cooked with canola or vegetable oil.
Two pieces of meatless (soy based) sausage cooked in the same oil.
And a bowl of classic style oatmeal cooked with water and I add a teaspoon of a healthy butter alternative (not margarine).

What you have with this meal is a bit of light meat protein, soy protein, complex carbs and some healthy fat from the oils and butter alternative. This is well balanced and a great way to start the day. This is also my biggest meal. Most health experts agree that breakfast should be your largest meal. The reason for this is that it helps facilitate raising your blood sugar and energy back up from its low point in the morning.

With this meal to begin the day, you merely need to maintain this nourishment level which requires less food.

LUNCH:

My lunch is the same every day:

Trail mix (1/2 cup). I purchase my nuts in bulk from the health food store. The assortment consists of raw almonds, raw walnuts, roasted and salted sesame seeds, and grain sweetened dark chocolate chips. My preference is a proportion of approximately 40% Almonds, 25% walnuts, 20% sesame seeds and 15% chocolate chips.

DINNER:

For me, dinner is the only meal that changes with regularity. Selections depend on variables such as the amount of activity I’ve had during the day and what I’m in the mood for. Staying consistent is dependent on your enjoyment, so dinner is a terrific time to try different things.

Here are a few guidelines to follow.

Keep your meals fairly light with little or no saturated fat.
Try to steer clear of simple carbs, but don’t ingest too many complex carbs either.
Eat enough protein and fat to get you through the evening without being hungry.

If I have been especially active during the day, due to exercise or manual labor, I will eat some meat protein, complex carb and my serving of veggies. For desert, I will eat a piece of fruit.

Sleeping problems are often caused by poor diet. Sleep can be improved by improving what you put in your body. Next time, we’ll discuss the menu in more detail, and find out why I’ve made the decisions I have.

Until then,

Eric

Tagged as: diet sleep, food, healthy, meal, sleep