This is the time of year when there is so much focus on food. We go from overindulging to deprivation. We eat then we want to get rid of it. But before you begins cleansing, I would like you to consider how diet affects your sleep. Ask yourself this:
Does your body run on the hot side or the cold side?
Meaning, do you walk around in tee-shirts and wear light jackets in the winter, or do you bundle up and suffer from cold hands and feet?
In my clinical experience, women tend to run on the cold side whereas men up until the age of 50 run on the hot or warmer side. The exception to this are menopausal women who are cold by day and then at 4 am wake up hot or suffering from night sweats.
Before you break out the Vitamix and start whipping up smoothies for breakfast consider this:
If you run on the cold side, choose foods that are going to warm you up
- Warm cereal – oatmeal with hempseed
- Eggs and avocado toast
- Poached eggs served on warm root vegetables (roasted yams are great)
- Bowls that are layered with brown rice, cooked vegetables topped with coriander
- Start you day with hot water and lemon versus cold tap water, black tea or hot water with ginger
- Switch to soups and stews for lunch
- Dinner – foods that are roasted like red meats, vegetables cooked with onion, ginger or garlic
It’s okay to have salads, but balance them with cooked foods. Ideally salads should be 25 percent of your plate, not the whole plate, especially if you suffer from IBS. They require too much digestive Qi to process and can cause bloating and diarrhea.
How diet affects sleep in menopause
If you are in menopause or on its doorstep and are starting to notice changes in your sleep pattern — waking up at 4 am, missing periods or periods that go on forever — then these four items need to be avoided or reigned in. I call these the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse when it comes to women over 50:
- Red Wine
- Dark Chocolate (too much chocolate in general)
- Cheese
- Caffeine – yes coffee!
They are all very warming and consume yin to digest them. As women age, their yin declines and is no longer able to cool their yang energy — the above contains a lot of yang energy — or heat. Heat flairs up and disturbs the mind. Too much alcohol at any age will causes restlessness, dream disturbed sleep. People wake up feeling hot, irritable, and thirsty.
People Who Run on the Hot Side
These people tend to be 18-25-year-old males. They tend to have the most abundant yang energy and as a result run on the hot side. This is the group that can chow down on:
- Cold cereal
- Smoothies
- Ice cold water
This is the group that should avoid greasy, spicy, roasted foods things like burgers and fries as it puts more heat into an already hot body. You want to balance out the heat so if you’re having a steak have it with a salad arugula which is a bitter green is great at clearing heat.
Having a burger try to have watermelon afterwards — it’s cooling and adds moisture.
Energy neutral foods are fish, or stir frying your dinner as roasting, BBQ and deep frying all add heat.
Balancing your body temperature with diet can improve your sleep
You are what you eat and drink. Your choices can either warm you up or cool you down. Balancing your body temperature by eating the right foods will help improve your sleep, and better sleep leads to more energy, rejuvenation and repair and a higher quality of life.
I’m Dr. Julie and that’s my view from the clinic.
Questions: Feel free to reach out and I’d be happy to help.
