Need a Plan? Let’s talk….

The following information is for educational purposes only. Always check with your supervising health professional before making diet and lifestyle changes.

The arsenic hour — that is what we call that time of day when we can barely keep our eyes open. For some of us, that happens every time we eat. The good news is there are things you can do to keep from spacing out, or worse yet, nodding off during an important meeting. The three triggers for post-meal fatigue include orexin suppression, diminished blood flow to the brain and your natural rhythms.

FATIGUE TRIGGER: Orexin suppression

Orexin is a small molecule that tells your brain to wake up. When orexin is suppressed you feel tired. The main orexin suppressants include:

• Too much sugar: All carbs will end up breaking down into blood sugar, so if you eat too many sugary, starchy carbohydrates, you feel tired after a meal.

• Food sensitivities and allergies. Food sensitivities trigger inflammation. Inflammation suppresses orexin.

TRY THIS:

• Reduce the processed, sugary foods in your diets (better yet, eliminate them altogether.)

• Identify the foods you are sensitive to and don’t eat them. Common allergens are dairy and gluten.

• Eat an anti-inflammatory diet. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, that includes tomatoes, olive oil, green leafy vegetables, almonds and walnuts; salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines; and strawberries, blueberries, cherries and oranges.

• Supplement with curcumin. Inflammation due to food choices and allergens stem the orexin flow. Curcumin is a potent anti-inflammatory herb.

FATIGUE TRIGGER: Reduced blood flow to the brain.

When you eat, the blood vessels of the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract dilate. Blood rushes to your stomach to start processing the food. Since the blood is moving to your GI system, your brain has less blood and therefore less oxygen and nutrients. This can contribute to fatigue.

TRY THIS:

• After a meal, take 10 deep breaths.

• Get up and stretch.

• Drink adequate amounts of water a day: 8 glasses. Dehydration will slow blood flow even more.

You might notice that you feel more tired after lunch. This is because there’s a rhythm to wakefulness. After 10 a.m., adenosine, a product of metabolism, begins to build up. The more adenosine, the sleepier you will feel. The sleep urge peaks around 2 p.m. To wake up, adenosine must come down. Here are some ways you can bring it down.

TRY THIS:

• Get a good night’s sleep. The effect of elevated adenosine will be worse if you are already tired.

• Drink a cup of black coffee (Yes, it helps.)

• Take a walk.

• Take a 10-20-minute nap: Keep it short. If you sleep longer, you might end up feeling more tired than you did before.

As post-meal fatigue is conquered, you will increase your enjoyment of life and be far more productive. Just be sure to check with your supervising health professional before making dietary and lifestyle changes.

While you enjoy your rest, your body is hard at work. A construction crew consisting of various hormones are rebuilding and recalibrating your body. Some of the things they do:

• Erase fine lines on your face
• Build bone
• Build lean muscle
• Heal tissue
• Decrease sugar cravings
• Help you utilize blood sugar efficiently
• Fortify your cells again cancerous mutations
• Help you process and organize your thoughts
• When they finish, they provide you with a burst of energy to start your day

On the other hand, if you are not giving them a full work day, inevitably there will be a deterioration of your health, both mental and physical.

Here are some tips from the Sleep Disorders Institute at New York’s St. Luke’s Roosevelt hospital and Dr. Mercola to help you get the sleep you need:

• Exercise every day. Even 20 minutes of walking can help keep stress hormones from interfering with your sleep.
• Avoid large meals just before bedtime. An active digestive system can disrupt sleep.
• Avoid caffeine, nicotine or other stimulants within four hours of bedtime.
• Avoid before-bed snacks, particularly grains and sugars. This will raise blood sugar and inhibit sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you might wake up and not be able to fall back asleep.
• Minimize noise and temperature extremes; your bedroom should be comfortably cool, about 68 degrees.
• Don’t read, watch television or work in bed. Use the bed only to sleep. This helps prevent you from developing sleep disorders.
• Listen to white noise or relaxation CDs. Some people find the sound of white noise or nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to be soothing for sleep.
• Sleep in complete darkness or as close as possible. If there is even the tiniest bit of light in the room it can disrupt your circadian rhythm and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and seratonin. There also should be as little light in the bathroom as possible if you get up in the middle of the night.. As soon as you turn on that light you will for that night immediately cease all production of the important sleep aid melatonin.
• Wear socks to bed. Due to the fact that they have the poorest circulation, the feet often feel cold before the rest of the body. A study has shown that this reduces night wakings

Deficiencies in certain vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes also can potentially impair sleep.

SUPPLEMENTS THAT MIGHT HELP 

TURN DOWN [This comes in convenient little packets. It is Isotonic – “It you are going to take a supplement. Take an isotonic]

Some Key Ingredients include 

• Tryptophan (L-tryptophan) is an amino acid that plays a key role in the repair of protein tissues and in creating new protein. In the brain, tryptophan is converted into serotonin, a natural sleep-inducing chemical. It also enhances the brain’s ability to produce melatonin, the hormone that regulates your body’s natural inner clock. L-tryptophan is found in foods such as milk and turkey.
• Vitamin B6 can help to prevent insomnia.
• Calcium, has a sedative effect on the body. A calcium deficiency in the body causes restlessness and wakefulness. .
• Magnesium deficiency is responsible for restlessness that prevents sleep. Magnesium-rich foods include kelp, wheat bran, almonds, cashews, blackstrap molasses, and brewer’s yeast.

AND/OR
MELATONIN

• This is a hormone secreted naturally by the pineal gland. Melatonin is found naturally in plants and in algae. In several studies, supplementation with melatonin has been found helpful in inducing and maintaining sleep. However, it appears melatonin supplementation will only produce a sedative effect when melatonin levels are low.

Remember, if some minor adjustments do not relieve your sleep issues, seek the counsel of a health professional. A cumulative sleep deficit can result in serious health consequences over time.

You have an engine inside your cells that generates energy. This engine is called “the mitochondria.” This is where the air you breath and the nutrients you eat meet to create ENERGY. If your mitochondria is not working well, you feel depleted and you will age faster.

A mitochondrial dysfunction might produce symptoms such as chronic fatigue, sluggish metabolism, digestive disorders, memory loss, brain fog, blood sugar irregularities, and chronic pain. Even a predisposition to cancer is related to mitochondrial function. When working properly, mitochondria can effectively kill off the damaged, potentially cancerous cells we produce every day, replacing them with healthy cells.

Here are some simple ways to boost energy [aka mitochondrial function.] DISCLAIMER: This is for your education only. Always check with your supervising health professional before making diet and lifestyle changes.

Example: 7 am, 12 pm and 5 pm. Those with blood sugar stability issues can eat smaller meals and add 2 palm size snacks. Example:  7 am – snack 10 am – 12 pm – snack – 3 pm – 5 pm. 

3. Ditch sugar and limit the starchy veggies [soda, white bread, white rice and pastries, candy.]

Excess carbs start fires in body a.k.a. inflammation. Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found that excess carbs can lead to significant changes in the  mitochondria, particularly in certain brain cells. In other words carbs gum up the engine a bit like throwing sugar in a cars gas tank. 

4. Add foods that increase mitochondrial function.

A healthy dinner plate should approximate these proportions:

• 1/4 lean proteins. Beans, nuts and seeds to your diet. When you eat beef, make it grass fed. When you eat eggs or chicken choose free range, organic.
• 3/4 Non-starchy veggies

A serving of fruit or starch on the side or for a snack. 

5.  Supplement as needed.

It starts with food. Unfortunately, growing food in demineralized soil, food processing, shipping and storage can create nutritional deficits in our food sources, even when we try to eat right.

To work properly, mitochondria need oxygen, glucose [sugar from healthy food sources] and certain nutrients. Stress, medications [including Birth Control Pills] can wreak havoc on those nutrients especially your B vitamins and magnesium levels.  Read: You might need to supplement if…. 

A sensible supplementation regime might include:

• Omega 3 fatty acids: both EPA and DHA
• Alpha lipoic acid
• Antioxidants – especially resveratrol 
• Co factors – adequate coq10
• Magnesium
• B vitamins

Be sure to choose a bioavailable version. My favorites can be found here. www.nutrametrix.com/bonniechurch