Let’s continue to build your grocery list with those foods that can help support good quality SLEEP - a pillar in Keeping Well.
This week’s entry is a perfect seasonal offering that you should be easily able to add to meals, whether or not sleep is an issue!
Add this one to your list: BEETS.
BECAUSE ANTIOXIDANTS
Anything real-food deep in colour provides the body with a rich array of antioxidants. Antioxidants help do the clean up of things like inflammation + oxidative stress - two root causes of why your pineal gland has a hard time making melatonin + figuring out your internal 24 hour clock. Clean up rescue on aisle 5!
BECAUSE BLOOD FLOW
Naturally occurring nitrates found in beets help to dilate blood vessels, and enhance your body’s circulatory prowess in delivering blood + nutrients to cells and organs all around your body. When this delivery system is optimized, so now you can better get the nutrients to areas like your pineal gland, grand poobah of sleep regulation.
BECAUSE LIVER LOVIN
When sleep feels like an elusive beast, it can be one of the signals your body is sending requesting some liver lovin, especially if it is rooted in hormonal imbalances or blood sugar imbalances. Making lists in the middle of the night? Waking up with a bit of heart racing? Super sluggish and hard to get out of bed in the morning? The liver may need some support. When you address this, you may see a reduction in this imbalances, and thus better and more restful sleep has a chance to get restored. Beets = super liver love!
Bonus here too, beets provide your body with a lot of those nutrients you’ll need to convert your tryptophan (amino acid from all protein) into serotonin, and then into melatonin, your sleep-like-a-teenager hormone. Yes please to getting to sleep with ease!
Roast them (trimmed, in a lidded dish, 50-60 minutes at 350F in the oven), simmer them (25 minutes) steam them (haven’t tried this - love the roasted ones so much!) or ferment them (beet kvass!), doesn’t matter. Add them to your dinner meal rotation at least 2 times a week to reap those benefits.
Oh yeaaaaaa - what about a good ole fashioned Borscht? It’s one of the liver-lovin recipes in my Liver E-Book. Just set it up to be half off for the month of October there, my friend. Think of this as an invitation to make some delicious liver-loving things, with the round-about idea to improve your sleep.
Good quality sleep really is one of the key pillars to Keeping Well. So go bank on that, kitten!