thenutritionwatchdog.com What's in your food? Discover which "healthy" foods are harming your health and which foods protect your body 
by Mike Geary – Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of the best seller: The Fat Burning Kitchen & The Top 101 Foods that FIGHT
Most people that have a hard time sleeping well or falling asleep have already tried the normal things like magnesium and melatonin.
And those certainly can help some people to sleep better.
But what if there’s something more basic with your food intake that’s preventing you from sleeping well, and the solution is actually super easy?
What I’m talking about is carbohydrates…
Most people aren’t aware of this, but if you’re not eating enough carbohydrates, this can really harm your ability to sleep deeply. Let me explain quickly…
When you don’t eat enough carbohydrates, your body still has a large need for glucose inside the body for dozens of different reasons like hormones and proper functioning of your organs, so it needs to break down protein to create more blood sugar and it does this by elevating stress hormones.
The elevation of cortisol and other stress hormones assists your body in a process called Gluconeogenesis (breaking down protein to fulfill blood sugar needs)…
So if you don’t eat enough carbohydrates, this spikes your cortisol and other stress hormones and makes it harder to sleep.
One reason why people wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back to sleep is because they didn’t eat enough carbohydrates throughout the day, and their body is running out of easily accessible glucose, so the body spikes cortisol to create more blood sugar.
On the other hand, if you give your body MORE healthy carbs throughout the day (fruit, honey and starchy roots are my favorite carb sources), then your cortisol will stay low, and you won’t get that spike in the middle of the night waking you up.
Most people need anywhere from a minimum of 150 grams of carbs per day on the low end, up to maybe more like 300+ grams a day for more active people.
So people eating lower carb diets often just aren’t getting enough carbs, and this is why cortisol is spiking and not allowing you to sleep deeper at night.
I don’t necessarily recommend grains for your carbs (although white rice and sourdough bread are 2 of my carb sources that are easier on the body), but I prefer to get my carbs through fruit, honey, coconut water, juice, and starchy roots like potatoes and sweet potatoes.
I’ve recommended a spoonful of honey or a banana maybe 30-60 min before bed to a lot of my friends and clients suffering from sleep issues, and the majority of them tell me that they are sleeping MUCH better without waking in the middle of the night after adding more carbs to their daily diet.
With that said, you don’t want to miss this powerful tip below involving a cherry trick for sleeping deeper…
Why 3 AM Wake-ups Pack on Belly Fat
Sarah, 52, was trapped in a nightly nightmare:
Every night around 3 AM, her eyes would POP open…
Did I pay the electric bill?
What if mom’s test results are bad?
Are we saving enough for retirement?
Why did I snap at my daughter today?
Her mind would RACE for hours.
She’d stare at the ceiling, exhausted but wired, watching the clock tick toward 5 AM… 6 AM…
Then she’d drag herself through another zombie day.
Desperate and gaining weight fast, she finally went to her doctor…
“Every 3 AM wake-up is spiking your cortisol… Every cortisol spike is packing fat onto your belly.
No wonder you’re gaining weight at such a fast pace! Your broken sleep is destroying your body.” her doctor told her.
Then he recommended her a 30-second cherry trick that stopped the racing thoughts and repaired her broken sleep.
Results:
- Week 2: Sarah was sleeping through the night waking up refreshed
- Month 6: Sarah sleeps like a baby every night, she’s down 24 lbs, has a sharp mind and endless energy
Get The 30-Second Cherry Trick That Stops 3 AM Wake-ups and Racing Thoughts (works tonight!)
