Category: Healthy Lifestyle

How to Get Rid of Bloating

One day you’re able to slide your jeans on easily. The next, you’re wrestling with the button. What the heck? It’s not that you’ve gained weight magically overnight, more likely that you’re bloated. 

Bloating is what happens when your intestinal tract is filled with gas. It causes your gut to stick out, feel tight, and be uncomfortable. In order to know how to get rid of bloating, we have to first look at what causes bloating in the first place.

There are many reasons why you might be feeling bloated. Some common ones include:

  • Incomplete digestion – you might lack the enzymes or proper acid balance to digest food completely.
  • Eating too fast – usually means you’re not chewing properly which makes it harder on your body to break down food.
  • Drinking carbonated drinks – puts gas into your system. Best to avoid these for optimal gut health.
  • Food sensitivities – these can be sneaky because they can go undetected. Certain foods might irritate your gut and this irritation can cause bloating, among other symptoms.
  • Eating too much sugar- the bacteria and yeast in your gut feed on sugar. When they’re well fed, they produce gas which results in bloating.
  • Dysbiosis- a fancy word for an imbalance in your gut bacteria. 
  • Drinking cold water with meals – cold water will halt digestion and make the whole process slower.
  • Eating cold food – some bodies don’t process cold food well because it can be difficult to digest.
  • Eating too much – larger quantities of food are harder for your body to break down.
  • Stress (mental/emotional) – slows down digestion, making it harder for the body to process your food.
  • Hormone changes – influence digestion and can cause inflammation in your gut. This is particularly common in women.
  • Being too busy – when your mind is racing, your body can’t slow down. Digestion is compromised leading to bloating.
  • Too little exercise – body movement encourages your GI tract to move as well, releasing gas and waste that can cause bloating.

As you can see there are so many different reasons why you might be feeling bloated. This list is only scratching the surface. There’s no one size fits all approach to get rid of bloating for good, because there are so many factors that contribute to it.

If you deal with chronic bloating, you’ve likely experienced with your diet to try and find a solution. Have you considered that there’s more to solving the problem than diet alone?

The best solution to bloating is to take a holistic approach. The digestive system is sensitive to what’s going on in the rest of your body. For example, stress at work will set off a stress response in your body, releasing hormones that slow down digestion. Suddenly your ability to  digest and process food is compromised because of a bad conversation with your boss. 

Too often we forget that our mind and body are interconnected, and that what happens mentally/emotionally will affect our physiology.

Keeping this in mind, here’s a formula for a holistic approach to dealing with bloating:

Food and Digestion

What you eat, and how well your body processes it are important to consider when you’re trying to get rid of bloating. Some tips to optimize your body’s experience with food are:

  • Eat slowly
  • Avoid drinking a lot of liquid with your meals. Drinks should be room temperature or warmer.
  • Reduce your sugar intake to give the bacteria in your gut less to feed on, and to lower inflammation.
  • Chew, chew, chew. Ideally until each bite is a paste before swallowing. Digestion begins in your mouth.
  • Watch your portion sizes. Smaller quantities are easier to digest.
  • Eliminate food sensitivities. This can be tricky to do on your own, but a nutritionist or health coach can help.
  • Avoid carbonated drinks.
  • Eat in a relaxed state. Don’t rush. Allow yourself to sit and digest after eating.
  • Use digestive enzymes if you suspect your digestion is compromised.
  • Ensure you fast 12 hours overnight to give your digestive system a break.

Mental / Emotional

The gut is often referred to as our “second brain” and for good reason. The nerves that run through your gut connect directly to your brain. This means that your thoughts and the feelings they produce will have a direct effect on your gut. 

Managing your mental stress and processing your feelings will have a big impact on your gut. This is often overlooked. Here are some tips to get started:

  • Practice deep breathing daily. This will calm your nervous system and put your body (and gut) at ease. Aim for 5 minutes a few times per day.
  • Feel your feelings. Allow yourself to feel and process the emotions that are coming up for you. Use a technique that works for you – journal, talk it out, or do physical activity that allows you to get your emotions out.
  • Reduce stress. This is a big one on it’s own. Stress hormones directly impact your gut microbiome. Try yoga, meditation, and fun activities to bring your stress level down.
  • Sleep 7-9 hours per night. This is time for your body to rest and recover. It also helps your body deal with stress.
  • Connect with loved ones. We underestimate the power of social connection on our health. Feeling connection and joy will put your body at ease, your gut included.

Movement

When you keep your body moving, all of your systems function more efficiently. Here are some tips for movement to reduce bloating:

  • Walk for 15-30 minutes each day to encourage your bowels to move.
  • Practice yoga. Postures like twists to encourage the release of gas in your intestines. Yoga will also help relax your mind and bring you into the present moment, great things for your gut health.
  • Avoid long periods of strenuous exercise. If your gut is off, chances are your body is already under stress. Intense exercise can add more stress to your system which is counterproductive. Choose moderate exercise instead.

Other Remedies

As you’re working on your diet and lifestyle, here are a few things that might help you manage bloating when it comes on:

  • Cool your gut. Bloating is a sign of inflammation. Use an ice pack to cool your gut (ideally through a towel to avoid direct contact with your skin) to help the inflammation settle. 
  • Peppermint oil. You can use peppermint essential oil directly on your stomach when you’re bloated. Apply it to your skin and let it absorb. The peppermint oil will help break up the gas in your gut and reduce bloating.
  • Magnesium spray. This works especially well if you’re constipated since magnesium will relax your muscles and allow your bowels to move.
  • Digestive tea. There are dozens of different formulas in the tea aisle. Look for a combination of peppermint, fennel, and ginger to soothe your gut from the inside out.

As you can see, there’s no quick fix to resolving chronic bloating. There really is no replacement for a healthy diet and lifestyle factors that reduce stress and keep you connected to your body. 

It can be difficult to know where to start on your own. The Eats & Asana program is an 8-week step-by-step process that walks you through creating the foundation for a healthy holistic life. 

It includes a food framework to help you figure out what’s best for your body, as well as yoga and mindfulness practices to get you connected to your body. Want to know if Eats & Asana is a fit for you? Book your Body-Love Breakthrough Call here to find out more.

Why You Stress Eat and What to Do About It

Stress eating or emotional eating are terms used interchangeably. Both refer to the same pattern of eating where people use food as a coping mechanism to be able to deal with stressful situations.

We all use emotional eating at one time or another in our lives. It becomes a problem when emotional eating is the go-to coping mechanism for difficult feelings, as opposed to building the tools to deal with the emotions that are coming up.

Emotional Connection to Food

Our relationship with food is emotional at its core. Access to food is part of our survival. When we were young we emotionally bonded with our mothers who were our primary source of food. 

Food is also a big part of our cultures and families. It makes sense that we feel nostalgic about food from our childhood, family recipes, or meals we have on certain holidays.

Not all food decisions are driven by positive emotions. If you’ve ever been through a significant break up (or suffered a loss) you know that your appetite is affected. This shows up in different ways. One day you might feel overwhelmed with emotion and not want to eat. The next you might be drawn to comfort food.

Negative emotions often create a feeling of emptiness or an emotional void. Often we turn to food as a way to fill that void and create a feeling of fullness so we can temporarily feel whole.

The danger here is that the physical fullness can’t fully replace the emotional void, which is why you might never quite feel satisfied when you’re eating out of emotion. 

One way to get past stress eating is to determine whether your hunger is being driven emotionally or from real physical sensations of hunger.

Emotional Hunger vs Physical Hunger

Emotional hunger can be powerful. It’s easy to mistake it for physical hunger if you don’t know what to pay attention to. Here are some ways you can tell the two apart:

Emotional hunger happens suddenly. It comes on quickly and feels urgent. Whereas physical hunger comes on gradually and doesn’t feel urgent (unless you haven’t eaten in a long time).

Emotional hunger isn’t located in the stomach. It comes from your head and is more of an anxious thought or craving than a growling belly or a sensation in your stomach. One way to notice this is if you’re focused on specific textures, tastes, and smells as opposed to how hungry you feel.

Emotional hunger focuses on specific foods. You pass by a billboard for a fast food restaurant and suddenly have a craving. Or you scroll past a dessert picture on social media and suddenly you want to leave your house to go get chocolate. These are emotional cravings because they come on fast and specific. Physical hunger usually isn’t for anything specific, and your desire will be for real food as opposed to sweets and treats. 

Emotional hunger isn’t fulfilled, even once you’re full. When you keep eating past the point of being full, or you keep wanting to snack even after you’ve eaten these are signs that the hunger you’re responding to is emotional. Physical hunger doesn’t need to be stuffed to feel satisfied. You’ll get the sensation that you’re stomach is full and feel like you’ve had enough.

Emotional hunger often happens mindlessly. You sit down with a bag of chips and before you know it, it’s gone. Mindless eating is a sign that you’re trying to numb your emotions. When you eat to fulfill physical hunger, you’re more aware and intentional with what you’re doing.

Emotional hunger often leads to “eaters remorse.” When you feel guilty, ashamed, or regret after eating it’s a sign that you weren’t eating for nutritional reasons. When you eat to satisfy physical hunger, you’re unlikely to feel guilty or ashamed because you’re giving your body what it needs. 

Reasons Behind Stress Eating

Stress eating is a way to suppress or soothe negative emotions that you otherwise don’t know how to deal with. Common emotions that lead to stress eating are: overwhelm, anger, fear, boredom, sadness, and loneliness. 

These emotions can be triggered by major life events or brought on by the hassles of daily life. The emotions are just the trigger. The challenge is to respond in a different way. 

The physical changes that go along with stress can also cause a person to overeat. Initially, stress will decrease your appetite but over time, high cortisol levels will increase your appetite which can lead to overeating. Elevated cortisol levels will also increase cravings for high-sugar and high-fat foods which the body uses more of when it’s under duress.

Tips to Stop Emotionally Eating

The approach you use will depend on the reason for your emotional cravings. Here are some approaches to help you stop emotional eating:

  • Identify the feeling and respond to what it’s asking for. Our emotions are signs from the body that there’s a need to be filled. For example, if you’re lonely call a friend, if you’re angry write out your feelings or talk to someone so you feel heard. Learning to respond in these ways will help you deal with your feelings, as opposed to stuffing them down with food.
  • Take a time-out before giving in to a craving. When a craving strikes take 10 minutes to see if it will dissipate. Distract yourself by having a shower, cleaning the house, or going for a walk to take your mind off the craving. It might disappear or become less urgent.
  • Slow down. Eat mindfully. Being present with your food and paying attention to the flavour, texture, and sensation of the food in your mouth will help you slow down and enjoy the experience as opposed to mindlessly eating. A simple way to avoid shame after eating is to eat slowly and mindfully and be present in the process. When you respect your body in this way you’ll have a healthier outcome.
  • Adopt healthy stress management habits. Dealing with stress is a lifestyle approach. Ensure you’re getting proper rest, drinking enough water, relaxing regularly, and making time for fun and personal connection are good strategies to keep your stress levels down so you don’t end up with emotional cravings.
  • Be gentle with yourself. Learn from your setbacks. There’s no expectation for you to get it right every time. Learning to pay attention to your body and respond to your needs in a loving way is a process. Take it one day at a time.
  • Accept your emotions. Often difficult emotions are met with our own judgment or shame. The more you can accept and allow yourself to feel your emotions, the easier it will be to move through them without responding with food.

Want help with emotional eating?

For some of us, dealing with emotions can feel confronting. It can feel like a daunting task to overcome emotional eating without tools or support. If you find yourself turning to food as a coping mechanism, it might help to have support in changing your habits.

In the Eats & Asana program, we touch on mindful eating, making healthy food choices, and understanding cravings so you can break the cycle of emotional eating. 

You’ll also discover tools to manage stress and deal with emotions so you’ll be less inclined toward stress eating in the first place. 

Book your Body Love Breakthrough Call to learn more about the Eats & Asana program and how it can help you create a healthier relationship with your body and food.

References:

  1. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320935#triggers
  2. https://www.healthline.com/health/emotional-eating
  3. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/weight-loss/art-20047342 

7 Strategies to Stick to Your Healthy Habits Longterm

A lot of people love meal plans. Busy women come to me all the time and say “just give me a meal plan that will get me to my goal and I’ll do it.”

But if you’ve ever tried to follow a generic meal plan, you know it’s not that easy.

To be honest, I find generic meal plans to be a waste of time. That’s because a meal plan is a list of tiny habits over the course of a week.

Think about it – changing the way you eat might mean shopping for ingredients at a different store, buying things you’re not familiar with, cooking foods you’ve never had in your kitchen before. It might even mean getting up earlier to make breakfast before work, when you’re used to grabbing a coffee and banana on your way out the door. 

In order for you to stick to a healthy habit (in your diet or lifestyle), it needs to make sense in your life and be designed around what you’re currently doing.

A habit is an action you take. Routines are containers for healthy habits. 

When you’re looking to make a shift in your habits to get a different outcome, you’re really looking to create new routines to hold those habits in place. Suddenly we’re talking about shifting your schedule, to make one small habit change. It’s a bigger deal than you think. But it can be done. 

What Habit Change Really Is

In our minds, there is a 3 step pathway our actions follow: 

  1. Trigger – something triggers you. This is often a signal from your body (I’m hungry) or emotion you feel that leads you to take action.

  2. Action – what you do in response to the trigger. If you’re hungry you might reach for a snack. If you’re sad you might call a friend to talk.

  3. Reward – is the payoff you get from taking action. To put it simply the reward is the shift you make away from pain or toward pleasure. 

For example, you get hungry in the afternoon at work (trigger) and you usually reach for a coffee and a muffin (action) to make you feel a boost (reward). But now you’re focusing on weight loss and stabilizing your blood sugar throughout the day, so you want to change your action (step 2). 

Your new pathway might look like this:

You get hungry in the afternoon at work (trigger) so you drink a cup of water and pull hummus and veggies out and move away from your desk to eat and take a break (action). Now instead of feeling wired all afternoon from caffeine and sugar (previous reward), you feel calm, satisfied, and energized (new reward).

But you’ll need to create a routine around prepping your snack the night before, and discipline around responding to your trigger in a new way. 

Now that you know the basic framework for how habits work, here are some strategies to stick to your health habits: 

  1. Know your reason why (and revisit it often)- you have a greater chance of success when you have a deep enough reason for making change and it’s connected to something you value.

  2. Choose a habit with confidence- to stick with a habit you need to pick habits that are worth sticking to. Part of that is understanding the actions you’re taking and how those will get you to your goal. Making sure your actions are sustainable over the long-term is part of setting yourself up for success here. It’s helpful to talk to a coach or health practitioner to help you get clear on the actions that will get you to your goal.

  3. Identify your pattern and create a new routine- using the three-part framework above identify your trigger and the action and reward that follow. Get clear on what new action you could use to achieve a reward that feels fulfilling to you.

  4. Ask for support- having allies in pursuit of a goal makes the process much more enjoyable. But if you don’t have someone who’s making a change along with you, don’t let that hold you back. You can enlist friends or family members to share your progress or talk about your wins along the way. 
  1. Track your actions and progress- what you measure you can control. When you track your progress you’ll be able to see the results you’re getting along the way. Remember that this is not about instant gratification, habit change is for the long-term, so celebrate the small wins along the way.

  2. Set up accountability- having accountability set up will help you stick to your actions. One of my clients uses dusting her house as an accountability task. She’d rather get up and head to the gym than dust her house, so this works well for her.

  3. Reward yourself – by telling yourself you’re doing a good job. A reward can also look like pairing a challenging task (say a 5k run) with something you enjoy (listening to your favourite podcast). This way you’re looking forward to some part of the activity you’re motivating yourself toward. Be careful not to reward yourself with something that will take you farther from your goal. The reward is more about acknowledging and celebrating your effort so you feel motivated to continue doing well.

These 7 strategies will support you in sticking to your health habits long-term. Sometimes the habits you need to change to get you to your goal are not what you think. This is good news for you if there’s a result you want because you might not have to give up your favourite things to get there. 

For example, wanting to lose 10 pounds doesn’t necessarily mean you need to stop drinking wine. There are likely ways to get you to your goal that doesn’t involve depriving yourself of the things you love if you have a proper strategy.

I help busy women find ways to reach their health goals and actually enjoy the process. Request a Body-Love Breakthrough Call with me to get clarity on your goal and a sustainable path to get you there.

How to Spot Emotional Eating and What To Do About It

Picture this: You hit the snooze button one too many times, had a last minute project thrown at you at work, and then sat in an hour of frustrating evening traffic.

Finally home, you breathe a sigh of relief, head into the kitchen, and decide you deserve a snack after the day you’ve had. Maybe you reach for a few crackers, then a bit of chocolate.

Before you know it, you’ve munched your way through the entire kitchen without eating a proper meal. You’re stuffed, ashamed, and wondering what the heck just happened?!

Sound familiar?

It’s called emotional eating, which is eating for any other reason besides actual physical hunger, fuel or nourishment.

3 Trademarks of Emotional Eating

  • Binging – usually on high-sugar and carbohydrate-rich comfort foods (i.e. junk food). How many people do you know who reach for carrots or broccoli when they’re upset?
  • Mindlessly eating – you’re not aware of what or how much you’re eating or how those foods are making your body feel. You’re usually mentally checked out while eating them.
  • Eating to numb, soothe, please, relax, or reward self, i.e. “I had a bad day and deserve it” kind of thinking. Eating during these times provides temporary relief, but often leaves you feeling worse than where you started.

I’ve had my own experiences with emotional eating. When I first started my business, I’d reward myself after a long day’s work by walking to my favourite coffee shop for a peanut butter cookie. Pretty soon one cookie turned into two, and before long I’d skip the walk and drive there to get my evening treat.

What started out as a fun habit and a little treat for myself soon became the highlight of my evening, and I’d be moody if I didn’t get to reward myself with my favourite cookie. Sometimes I’d even want to skip dinner and just have cookies instead. That’s when I knew I had to take a step back and reevaluate this habit.

Looking back, it wasn’t so much about the cookie as it was a chance for me to check out and relax. When I set better boundaries around my time and allowed myself to designate my evenings to personal time I stopped feeling like I needed to mark “my time” with a treat and the habit was easy to break.

The trouble with emotional eating is it overrides your body’s natural hunger cycle and can promote things like:

  • weight gain
  • an increase in your risk for inflammation and chronic disease
  • create an unhealthy relationship between you and food
  • lead to more dangerous types of disordered eating

What Triggers Emotional Eating?

Even though it’s called “emotional eating” because people often reach for food to cope with their feelings, there are a lot of other non-hunger reasons that can prompt you to eat.

Some common non-hunger reasons include:

  • Uncomfortable emotions, like anger, guilt, fear, and sadness
  • Stress
  • Boredom
  • Need to feel pleasure and/or comfort

Six Tips to Help You Get a Handle on Emotional Eating

If any of those scenarios sound familiar, know that you’re not alone. Emotional eating affects a lot of people at one point in their lives.

Here are six great tips to stop emotional eating in its tracks:

1. Have a non-food outlet to process uncomfortable feelings

  • Try journaling, exercising, or talking to a trusted friend or coach

2. Manage stress

  • Exercise, meditation, deep breathing, getting enough sleep, and not taking on more than you can realistically handle can help decrease stress levels.

3. Recognize boredom

  • Call a friend, take a walk, pick up a book, or tackle a DIY project or hobby you’ll enjoy when you know boredom is likely to strike.

4. Practice self-care

  • Set aside time to take care of your needs. Tune in to your body to notice if you need to rest, move, stretch, or have some fun, then follow your body’s lead.

5. Practice mindful eating

  • Avoid distractions at meals. Your focus should be on the food in front of you.
  • Eat slowly, chew, and savour each bite. This helps give your body time to receive the signal from your brain when it’s full.
  • Stop eating when you feel full.

6. Eat a balanced diet

  • The majority of your diet should be nutrient-dense whole foods.
  • Allow for occasional treats and indulgences so you don’t feel deprived.
  • Include protein, fibre, and healthy fat at each meal to promote satiety.

BONUS: Reward yourself with something other than food. Often we use food as the focal point for celebrations, but this can be problematic if you’re prone to emotional eating. Instead focus on a fun activity, connecting with someone you care about, or doing something you enjoy, which will take the focus off food.

RECIPE:

These energy balls feel like an indulgent snack, but are made from whole food ingredients and contain a bit of protein, healthy fat, and fibre to help you feel satisfied.

Chocolate Chip Almond Butter Energy Balls

Ingredients

1 cup natural almond butter (or other natural nut butter)

½ cup coconut flour

½ cup ground flax seeds

¼ cup hemp hearts

½ cup dark chocolate chips

¼ cup maple syrup

Pinch of sea salt

How to prepare

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, stirring until smooth. If mixture is too thick, add 1 Tbsp. of water at a time to help the mixture come together.

2. Scoop 1 tablespoon of the mixture and use your hands to roll into a ball. Repeat with remaining mixture.

3. Store energy balls in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 1 week.

REFERENCES:

Study: Current Diabetes Reports, 2018 — Causes of Emotional Eating and Matched Treatment of Obesity

Study: Journal of Health Psychology, 2015 — Boredom proneness and emotion regulation predict emotional eating

Healthline: Mindful Eating 101 – A Beginner’s Guide

Two Overlooked Factors That Affect Your Waistline

When it comes to your overall health it’s no secret that exercise and sleep are huge factors. But did you know they both have a significant impact on your waistline?

Well, you know that exercise will help you burn off some extra calories and boost your metabolism. But sleep is also essential for your overall health and well-being, and can impact your weight.

Better to skimp on sleep and get up early to work out?

Or better to sleep in and skip the gym for another day?

Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. We need exercise to sleep better but we also need sleep to exercise. And when it comes to weight management, we need both.

So let’s take a closer look at how exercise and sleep affect each other and which one takes the lead when it comes to managing your weight.

The Exercise & Sleep Connection

If you’re looking to get a better night’s sleep, it’s time to lace up those running shoes.

A study by the National Sleep Foundation found a 65% improvement in sleep quality for participants who performed 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a week.

That means that something as simple as a brisk walk for 30 minutes, 5 times a week can help you feel more rested and refreshed.

Want Muscle? Get More Sleep!

If you want to see big results from your workouts, you’ve gotta catch some zzz’s!

Sleep is crucial when it comes to exercise recovery…and recovery is where the post-workout magic happens!

As we rest, our body is busy repairing the microscopic muscle tears from our last weight training session. As these muscles repair, they come back bigger and stronger; increasing your strength and boosting your metabolism.

If you’re not seeing the results you’d like from your gym sessions, the answer may be an earlier bedtime. Make sure that you’re getting adequate sleep to help your body repair and recover.

Sleep Tips:

Here are a few strategies to help you get the most out of your night’s sleep:

  • Dim the lights in your home 30 minutes or more before going to bed. This helps promote melatonin production (a sleep hormone) so it’s easier for you to fall asleep when you go to bed.
  • Sleep in total darkness. Avoid leaving the curtains open or a night light on. Even a small amount of light can affect your body’s ability to sleep soundly.
  • Aim to be in bed by 10 pm. Getting an early start to your night’s sleep ensures you get some quality rest before midnight. Studies have shown this is important for proper hormone balancing – and balanced hormones mean easier weight management.

Does lack of sleep affect gym performance?

If you’re still thinking of hitting that 6 am spin class after a late night out, you may want to reconsider.

An ACSM study showed that sleep deprived participants had a slower response time and fatigued much quicker than when they were well rested.

The study participants also reported a higher RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) and were more likely to quit their workout early.

The conclusion? This doesn’t mean that you should skip activity altogether on those groggy days. Instead consider a lower intensity activity such as walking or yoga and leave the high intensity training for days when you’re well rested.

Sleep vs Train: which one will help you button your jeans?

When it comes to weight management, both exercise and sleep are important. But if you had to focus on one thing only, it turns out sleep trumps exercise.

One study compared weight loss efforts of sleep deprived adults versus those who were fully rested. The sleep deprived group rested for only 5.5 hours while the fully rested group got a full  8.5 hrs of shut-eye.

The results? Those with limited sleep lost less body fat and more lean muscle mass.

So can you forget about exercise?

Well, no.

Exercise still has tremendous health benefits so you don’t want to quit altogether. You may need to temporarily reduce the intensity of your workouts if you’re not getting adequate rest.

Once your sleep game is strong, you can resume those higher intensity workouts and have energy to spare.

Having trouble winding down at night?

Add some sleep hormones to your diet!

In fact, did you know that it has been suggested that foods that contain naturally occurring Melatonin (dubbed the “sleep hormone”) may be a better alternative than over-the-counter supplements?

This Sleepy Time Cherry Smoothie Recipe below is made with tart cherry juice – an ingredient that contains Melatonin, and has been proven to help you sleep better. Plus, it just happens to taste pretty great too!

RECIPE:

Sleepy Time Cherry Smoothie

2 oz of pure tart cherry juice, unsweetened

1 cup of coconut milk or almond milk

½ banana (frozen adds a bit more texture)

¼ tsp cinnamon

2-3 ice cubes

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Sip and enjoy a better night’s sleep!

Tip: If you’re using this smoothie as a post-workout, you might want to add some protein powder to help with muscle recovery.

REFERENCES

https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/study-physical-activity-impacts-overall-quality-sleep
https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2013/12000/Does_Central_Fatigue_Explain_Reduced_Cycling_after.5.aspx
http://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/746253/insufficient-sleep-diet-obesity
https://sleepjunkies.com/tips/can-cherries-enhance-sleep-quality/