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Nutrition

Overcoming insomnia with diet

Insomnia

Insomnia

Some people with insomnia may fall asleep easily enough but wake up too soon. Others­simply can’t fall asleep, or they have trouble both falling asleep and staying asleep.

The result is low-quality sleep that doesn’t make you feel refreshed when you wake up. Often, insomnia is a symptom or a side effect of some other problems like:

• Illness, such as heart or lung disease

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• Pain, anxiety, or depression

• Drugs that delay or disrupt sleep

• Caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, and other sub­stances that affect sleep

• A poor sleep environment or a change in sleep routine

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If the cause of the insomnia is known, then the insomnia should improve once the underly­ing cause is treated. However, there is a type of insomnia (primary insomnia) which is not as a result of any underlying disease and usually last at least one month.

Nutrition and lifestyle changes go a long way in the battle against insomnia.

Below are some of the foods that may help:

• Melatonin rich foods such as oats, nuts, fish and berries.

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• Tryptophan rich foods such as spinach, eggs, and crabs.

• Niacin rich foods such asmushrooms, tuna, turkey, and anchovies.

• Vitamin B6 rich foods such as avocados, car­rots, bananas, and organ meat.

Lifestyle changes

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• Avoid late night watching of movies, TV shows, social media, etc.

• Have a separate bedroom away from all sorts of destruction

• Change uncomfortable beds, pillows, and sheets

• Avoid late night eating and drinking of water

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• Take warm baths in the evening

• Add some forms of exercise to your lifestyle routine

It can be very unsettling dealing with insomnia, especially when we don’t know the cause. But applying the dietary and lifestyle changes men­tioned above can not only treat insomnia, but also improve our quality of life in general.

Going to sleep should be a breeze in no time, with sweet dreams just around the corner.

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By Dr Bernice Korkor Asare

Kind courtesy of:

Holistic Health Consult

“Your diet your health, your health your wealth”

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E-mail: info@holistichealthconsult.org

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Nutrition

 Benefits of velvet tamarind

Velvet Tamarid
Velvet Tamarid

 VELVET tamarind (dialium guineense) commonly known as ‘icheku’ in igbo, ‘awin’ in yoruba and ‘tsamiyar- kurm’ in hausa, and ‘Yooyi’ in Ghana.

-High Antiox­idant Power: The fruit is a good source of vitamin C and its consump­tion can contribute to satisfying the journal requirement that is 90 to 110 mg.

-Treats Scurvy and Infections: The fruit pulp has high ascor­bic acid content vitamin hence used as a food supplement. The high vitamin C con­tent boosts the immune system and helps the body against infections.

-Healing Wounds: The velvet fruit pulp has interesting content in calcium and magnesium. Calcium participates in ossifica­tion, to the muscular contraction, and to the blood clotting.

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-Repairs blood vessel and fights Anemia: The velvet tamarind fruit pulp is rich in iron. It is indispensable for iron absorption; cloves repair and blood vessel formation via collagen synthesis. The pulp’s iron absorption is more efficient because of the presence of vitamin C.

-Prevention of Hypertension: The val­ues obtained for sodium and potassium of the velvet tamarind fruit pulp were re­spectively Preliminary studies indicate that short-term potassium depletion also elevates bloodpressure in hypertensive pa­tients. Potassium supplementation low­ers blood pressure in hypertensive patients ingesting normal amounts of sodium.

-Reliefs Menstrual Cramp and stops Diar­rhoea: The stem bark extract has significant analgesic property hence, can be used to re­duce menstrual pain. You can take it along with papaya leaf, salt, and water to work effective­ly. It can also stop diarrhea.

-Hemorrhoids (pile): Piles are swollen veins in the anal canal caused by too much pres­sure in the pelvic and rectal areas and while not life-threatening, these veins can be very painful. A study performed on ethanolic leaves extract of velvet tamarind showed it to be beneficial for pile treatment.

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Source: eprojectlibrary.com

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Nutrition

Pinkaso

Pinkaso

Pinkaso is a savory snack made from flour, onions, and pepper.

It is usually paired with Hau­sa koko (millet porridge) but can be equally enjoyed with any other breakfast cereal or beverage of choice.

Ingredients

-100 grams of all-purpose flour

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-1 tablespoonful of salt

-2 grams of dry active yeast

-2 grams of baking soda

-10 grams of chopped onion

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-5 grams of fresh pepper

-One bottle of 5 litres oil

Preparation

-Place all the dry ingredi­ents into a bowl and mix and wash under running water

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– Blend or grind the onion and pepper

-Add the blended mixture to the flour

-Pour flour in a big bowl and add yeast, salt and baking soda

-Mix into a dough and knead to activate the gluten in the dough

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-When the gluten has activat­ed, the dough will look stretchy

– Cover the bowl with cling film and place it in a warm place for the dough to rise

-Deep fry by heating the oil until very hot, then reduce heat to medium

-Fry on medium heat. To take portions of the dough, dip your hands in water, and take a small ball of the dough

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-Using your thumb and mid­dle finger, create a hole in the ball of dough and gently drop in the oil and fry on medium heat until golden brown and crunchy

-Remove the pinkaso and place it on kitchen towels to absorb some of the oil. Serve pinkaso with your favourite beverage

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