There really is something special about getting the barbeque out during these warmer months. Grilling is quick, easy, and thankfully doesn’t require turning on the oven (something of great concern for those of us without AC (insert raising hand emoji)). Unfortunately, grilling meats at a high temperature leads to the production of chemicals called heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Both of which are carcinogenic. Carcinogens are any substances that cause cancer and are thought to alter cellular metabolism and damage DNA. HAAs are created when meat is cooked at a high temperature. Frying and boiling meat can also create HAAs, but charred pieces of grilled meat contain HAAs in their purest form. PAHs are formed when juices from meat or fish drip onto the grill and create smoke. The smoke (which contains the PAHs) swirls around the meat and deposit PAHs onto the surface.

2. Keep Your Food & Grill Clean

Before using your barbecue, clean off any charred pieces. Do the same thing with your meat when cooking. If a piece is charred or burned, simply cut it off before eating.

3. Precook Your Food

4. Use A Marinade

Marinating your food does two things:

• It makes things much more delicious
•  It essentially creates a shield. Word of caution, however, this does not apply to sugary marinades like barbecue sauce, which actually encourages meat to char. Pick marinades made with ingredients like lemon, olive oil, vinegar, or even beer. Add in herbs and spices like rosemary, thyme, ginger, and turmeric, which are anti-inflammatory and delicious.

Remove your meat or fish from the marinade before placing on the grill. Be sure to shake off any excess marinade or gently blot with a paper towel to avoid juices from dripping and creating smoke. Save those sugary marinades for the last one to two minutes on the grill.

5. Choose Lean Cuts

And now for a brief history lesson:

The word barbecue can be traced back from the Spanish word barbacoa in the 18th century. It is generally believed that the Spanish adopted the term from the Awawak people of the Caribbean who used the word to indicate a wooden structure used to grill meats. (The food network also informed me that the Awawak’s second contribution to the English language is ‘cannibal’). During the 17th century transition to English, the word’s meaning was somewhat lost. A barbecue only referred to the wooden structure, not the cooking process. For example, you might use a barbecue as a shelf or a structure to sleep on, but you weren’t using it to cook.

The ancestor of the common backyard barbecue goes back to 18th century colonial America where whole hogs were slow cooked for ~14 hours in a pit over coals. However, famous Anthropologist and writer, Zora Neale Hurston reminds us that it was slaves who took these slow cooking techniques and dressed their meats with sauce made from lemon, lime, and hot peppers- often inspired by Native American cooking. Barbecuing has become synonyms with American Culture, and while we use this food to celebrate our freedom I think it’s important to remember that people who couldn’t enjoy their freedom on the 4th of July helped shaped it. Here’s a great article that explains it better than I can.

1. Go to bed at the same time every night

You know how a sleep schedule is really important for young children? Well I’ve got news for you… it’s really important for older children too– meaning you. Going to bed and waking up around the same time each day (even on weekends) helps to keep your circadian rhythm on track. Your circadian rhythm is your bodies internal clock and it’s really really important for your metabolism, core body temperature, cortisol levels, and your sleep-wake cycle, among other things. Keeping a schedule helps your body know when you should be awake and when you should be asleep. This means less time staring at the ceiling counting sheep.

2. Dim your lights

Blue light, which is found in digital devices like your phone, TV, and LED lights, disrupts the production of melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone, which controls your sleep-wake cycle.  Our body has an internal clock that is set by the amount of light we are exposed to. In a perfect world we would wake up when the sun rises and go to bed when the sun sets. When our eyes detect light it sends a signal to the brain that it’s time to start waking up. Same thing happens when it gets dark outside, except the brain releases melatonin, which gets the body ready for sleep. But in todays world everything is sort of wonky. So what can we do?

• An hour before bed begin to dim your household lights
• At least 30 minutes (but preferably an hour) before bed put your phone, tablet, TV, and any other sort of electronic devices away. Sometimes you just can’t though and that’s OK because we’re human. Thankfully, there are some things you can still do to avoid blue light near bedtime. Most smart phones have a Night Shift setting that changes the colors on the screen to warmer orange tones, Learn how. For Android users there is an app called Twilight, which does the same thing. You can also use an app called Flux which works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

3. Keep your room as dark and cool as possible

Wanna know what doesn’t scream “Mmm that was a great nights sleep”? A hot stuffy room. Wanna know why? Just before we fall asleep our body temperature drops. This drop in temperature is thought to help promote sleep.

Sleeping in a cooler room may help your body reach this point faster, so you can fall asleep quicker. A cooler room also helps improve the production of melatonin.

Keep your room between 60-67 degrees. Above 75 degrees and
below 54 degrees can negatively impact your sleep.

4. Avoid coffee or stimulants in the afternoon

5. Meditate

Anxiety and stress is one of the main reasons people report not being able to fall asleep, or the reason they wake up in the middle of the night (that and having to pee). Meditation works wonders for stress and anxiety. I personally use the Headspace app daily. They have some great meditations geared towards falling asleep. The 4-7-8 breath also works wonders for combatting stress and anxiety.  

6. Reduce long naps during the middle of the day

7. Reduce alcohol

This one is a toughie because I’m sure many of us have experienced the effects of alcohol actually putting us to sleep. And it does. Alcohol helps us fall asleep and sleep deeper, but it also reduces REM sleep (rapid eye movement).

REM sleep is thought to be the most restorative sleep. It’s also where you dream. The more you drink before bed, the more pronounced these effects become. If you’re having any problems sleeping keep your alcohol consumption to one glass a night or less. 

Interested in ways you can eat for better sleep?

1. Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)

Serotonin, which is commonly thought of as the happy hormone (it’s actually a neurotransmitter) plays many important roles in the body, including…. drum roll please…. being the precursor of melatonin. Melatonin is responsible for initiating sleep and regulating our internal clock. With inadequate serotonin our brain doesn’t get the message that it’s time to fall asleep.

2. Magnesium

Magnesium is involved in over 300 enzymatic reactions. It is responsible for energy production, normal nerve and muscle function, supports the immune system, and helps keep bones strong. So I would say it’s pretty dang important. Unfortunately, magnesium deficiency is common.

Aside from all of these important tasks, magnesium is also necessary for good sleep. In fact, one sign of magnesium deficiency is insomnia and disrupted sleep patterns. How exactly does magnesium help you get a good nights rest? It can quiet down our sympathetic nervous system- the one that’s responsible for the fight or flight response. In today’s world, our sympathetic nervous system is often working in overdrive because many of us are in a constant state of stress. Quieting the fight-or-flight response increases activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, which produces the relaxation response. Good parasympathetic nervous tone is key to good rest and digestion

Magnesium also increases levels of GABA, the neurotransmitter that helps reduce stress, promote relaxation, and improve sleep. Along with B6, magnesium also helps the body to produce serotonin.

Some great magnesium sources are dark leafy greens, nuts, salmon, tuna, and avocados.

3. Zinc

You can get zinc from oysters, red meat, wheat germ, chickpeas, lentils, and beans.

4. Omega-3

I’ve had a real love/hate relationship with omega-3. These essential fats are SO important for our overall health…. But the best sources is oily fish, and despite my best efforts, I just can’t eat fish. So for years I told myself that omega-3s were overrated (they’re not). I finally started taking an algae based omega-3 supplement, so I’m back to living in reality and acknowledging the importance of these nutrients.

As we discussed before, melatonin is a key for regulator of our circadian rhythms and signals to the body that its time for some shut-eye. Melatonin helps quiet the mind and relax the body. DHA (one of the omega-3 fatty acids we need) helps to regulate melatonin levels. Low DHA levels have been linked with melatonin deficiency.

5. Vitamin D

So if you’re still with me, yay!! Let’s discuss vitamin D, but we’ll make it speedy. This vitamin really is considered a hormone. As you probably know, our body can make vitamin D from sun exposure.

Interestingly, there are vitamin D receptors in parts of the brain that are thought to regulate sleep. Low vitamin D levels have been associated with excessive daytime sleepiness (3pm crash anyone?) sleep disturbances and poorer sleep in general. Low vitamin D levels can also trigger insomnia and sleep disorders. Unfortunately, there have been few studies on this subject, so just why this is, we aren’t sure. One possibility is that vitamin D influences our immune system, which may in turn influence how well we sleep.

Sleep is complicated. There are a lot of questions about why we dream and the exact mechanisms behind sleep that we don’t have the answers to yet. We do know, however, that our diet and stress levels can impact the quality of sleep we are getting. While I’ve mentioned a few vitamins and minerals that are important to sleep, I have in no way exhausted the list. If you have any sort of sleep problems, I highly recommend working with a medical professional and a nutritionist to figure out what’s going on. I can tell you from personal experience, I wish I had looked at my diet earlier on.

Any bad sleepers out there? Let me know what’s worked for you in the comments below! Happy sleeping 🙂

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5713303/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/274097.php
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26847986?dopt=Abstract
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4013386/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5331570/

Nutrition can be confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. So lets take a moment to break down some of these basics. When we discuss nutrients we are referring to all the juicy goodness your body needs to function. This is a combination of macronutrients, micronutrients, and water. When it comes to nutrients its really important to understand that while we all need this same combination of nutrients, the exact amount of nutrients each individual needs varies dramatically.

Micronutrients we need in much smaller amounts. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals. Ever wondered about the difference between vitamins and minerals? Vitamins are made of organic matter (they contain carbon) and minerals are made of inorganic material (the do not contain carbon). For minerals think back to the periodic table- iron, zinc, magnesium and so on. If you answered “no” to that question above… now you just have more answers to trivia night! 

So how do we know how many macronutrients and micronutrients to get? This is a great question and where things get a little bit more complicated. Every person is so different it’s extremely difficult to give general advice here. Over time the suggestions over how much protein, fat, and carbohydrates (macronutrients) to eat has changed. We now live in an era where fat rules as the supreme macro and poor little carbohydrate is… well mostly the villain. In the 90’s however, fat was considered the villain. Things change over time. 

Calculating micronutrients isn’t that much easier to be honest. We do have general recommendations and guidelines, which are known as Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI’s). The problem is that most often these recommendations are only the minimum amount needed to prevent deficiency. Not necessarily optimum health. And despite the fact that we now enrich our foods with micronutrients, the vast majority of people are deficient (or in a surplus) of one or more vitamin or mineral. Having an imbalance of micronutrients can affect the body in many ways including sleep. This is where working with a professional can really help.

Working with a trained nutritionist or dietician is a great way to determine if you are getting all of your macronutrient and micronutrients. Professionals will assess your diet and lifestyle, look at your blood work to determine if any deficiencies are present. There is a huge range of signs and symptoms that may indicate your micro or macro levels are out of whack. These can include low energy levels, brittle hair and nails, and trouble sleeping. One of the best ways to optimize your health is to determine how and what you should be eating. Ready to figure out what your specific macro and micro nutrient break down should be? Sign up for a consultation with me!

1. Gyozas with Stir-Fried Vegetables

2. Sweet potato and Kale Grain Bowls

3. Veggie Tacos

4. Pasta with Spinach and Broccoli

5. Mediterranean Bowl