Nutrition
Overcoming insomnia with diet
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
• 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
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.
• 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
• 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
• 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.
By Dr Bernice Korkor Asare
Kind courtesy of:
Holistic Health Consult
“Your diet your health, your health your wealth”
E-mail: info@holistichealthconsult.org
Nutrition
Palm nut soup
Palm nut soup is a Ghanaian dish that can be served with so many foods. It has a rich base of palm nuts combined with tomatoes and various vegetables that makes it very nutritious.
Preparation
Ingredients
– 1 kilogramme of palm nut
– Half kilogramme of beef
-One kilogramme of goat meat
-Three large salmon
-One full tuna
– A handful of turkey berries
-Two large onions
-4 large tomatoes
-3 large garden eggs
– One tin of mackerel
-Ten large peppers
– One large ginger
-2 cloves of garlic
– Four fingers of okro
– Salt to taste
Instructions
-Wash, cook palm nut, turkey berries, and pepper and add salt to it.
-Grind palm nut, turkey berries and pepper with mortar and pestle or mini food processor.
-Wash goat meat, beef, Tuna, salt and put on fire.
– Blend onion, garlic, ginger and tomatoes and pour on the goat meat.
– Add smoked tuna and salmon and okro to the soup.
-Use a spoon or ladle to skim off the surface oil.
-Garnish the soup with the okro or garden eggs as desired.
-Serve with fufu, banku or Omo tuo.
Nutrition
Cucumber and apple smoothie
Ingredients
-Two medium sized cucumber
-Three apples
-Four tablespoonful of honey
-Crushed ice
-Two cups of yoghurt
-One tablespoonful of blended ginger
– One tablespoonful of celery and mint
Preparation
-Wash and slice cucumber, apple into smaller sizes
-Blend until it is smooth
-Add honey and a little water to it
-Add crushed ice and yoghurt
-Blend it till you achieve your desired texture
– Then serve
