I’ve found nothing to be more vital for quality of health and well-being than a good night’s sleep. But, how can a particular midnight snack improve your sleep quality? To understand this, you’ll need to understand the different ways in which sleep can be effected- and the remedies are not the same. But, we’ll get into that. Poor sleep proceeds many other health consequences we see. I take complaints of this nature seriously. Difficulty falling asleep tends to be the most common complaint I hear in my exhausted and overstimulated clients. One of the ways to get there: natural melatonin. In fact, when I ask clients for 1 health improvement they experienced that they didn’t see coming, the most common answer I get is: Improved sleep.
Improved sleep isn’t a quick fix. It often takes many different approaches to find what your body needs. This is where I help, small seemingly insignificant actions that leads to drastic results.
Two main ways sleep can be effected:
1. Difficulty falling asleep
Difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep are addressed differently. When we see difficulty falling asleep we look first at the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm refers to the natural hormone process of the rise and fall of cortisol + melatonin throughout the 24 hour cycle.
Related: How to improve sleep quality
In a healthy individual, cortisol should be highest in the morning tapering off as the day goes on. Melatonin flows in opposition of this, being lowest in the morning and highest in the evening,- encouraging easy sleep.
2. Difficulty staying asleep
On the flip side, when there is difficulty staying asleep, we first look at blood sugar imbalances. Blood sugar imbalances can cause frequent wake ups when blood sugar is dipping too low as a result of the fast while we sleep.
Related: Are you a stressed out sugar burner?
How can we use food to fall asleep easier?
As a nutritionist, we always want to be recommending a food first approach. This is the safest form of therapy.
Foods with natural melatonin:
- Tart Cherries
- Pistachios
- Eggs
- Banana
- Milk
Because of the natural melatonin in tart cherries-This has led to some suggestions of drinking a glass of tart cherry juice before bed- for the melatonin. However, what we see here is a habit of consuming a high glycemic food with no protein or fat to balance it out. This leaves you with a blood sugar spike right when you are trying to rest.
Remember, melatonin will only help you fall asleep, not stay asleep
If your attempts to fall asleep easier, derail your ability to stay asleep– what have you accomplished?!
Related: How to build a balanced meal
Enter gut gummies
Each person should be taking time to address the health of their gut and consuming foods or nutrients that promote a healthy gut lining. A poor functioning gut lining can be the root cause of a long list of complicated consequences that interfere with our day to day life…
Hello, food intolerances and inflammation.
Gut gummies are made of an antioxidant rich juice paired with the healing nutrients of gelatin powder. This beef gelatin works to heal and seal the gut while also adding to your protein count for the day. This makes it a nutritious treat that is both convenient and useful.
What does this have to do with sleep?
You can choose to use any juice of your choosing for gut gummies. I personally like to recommend tart cherry juice for my clients that are having difficulty with sleep.
The melatonin in the cherry juice helps a person to fall asleep, while the protein in the gelatin helps to balance out the glycemic load of the treat. This treat also promotes a healthy gut.
In addition to the natural melatonin, this recipe is formulated with powdered melatonin to also promote rest at a cellular level.
What do you think? Does this seem like a simple hack to better health?
Onto the recipe!
Related: How to improve gut health
Sleepy Girl Cherry Gut Gummies
Equipment
- 1 small sauce pan
- 1 glass pan 9×11
Ingredients
- 4 cup Tart cherry juice
- 1/3 cup grass fed gelatin
- 4 servings Calm magnesium powder optional
- 1 T honey optional
Instructions
- Pour 2 cups of juice in separate bowl
- Sprinkle gelatin on top to bloom
- Heat remaining 2 cups of juice until hot
- Mix in honey to hot juice
- Whisk in bloomed gelatin to hot juice until no clump remain.
- Pour into glass pan
- Refrigerate until set
- Cut into cubes and store in glass container.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I do not recommend products that I have not personally vetted.
Still need more help with sleep support? Check out this post.
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