Speaker 1: Folks, fans, friends, listeners of these podcast Thanks for joining
Speaker 1: us again on the daily one from Body and Soul
Speaker 1: called Healthy Ish. I am your host, Felicity Hally. Do
Speaker 1: you ever wonder what you eat in a day? Does
Speaker 1: it really affect how you sleep at night? Well? In
Speaker 1: one word, yes, I'm joined today by clinical nutritionist Katherine Hay,
Speaker 1: who discusses how food choices affect sleep quality and she
Speaker 1: shares simple diet tweaks for better rest tonight. Oh bring
Speaker 1: it on if you like what you hear from Catherine
Speaker 1: listening to Extra Healthy Ish our sister pod where she
Speaker 1: talks about the impact stress has on your diet and
Speaker 1: well how to better manage that during a very stressful week.
Speaker 1: You can catch that one where we get your podcasts. Catherine,
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on health. Did you have a
Speaker 1: good sleep? Perhaps I should start off with that question.
Speaker 2: I did have a good sleep last night, which always
Speaker 2: sets me up for a better day. Did you have
Speaker 2: a good sleep?
Speaker 1: A bit on and off? I think now the weather
Speaker 1: is getting a bit hotter. I'm finding it I'm a
Speaker 1: bit more restless throughout the night. Is that a common thing?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 3: The humidity the heat will drastically impact our body temperature.
Speaker 3: We tend to wake up more throughout the night. We
Speaker 3: definitely like a cool environment when am sleeping, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Okay, more fans or perhaps a heart higher fan talk
Speaker 1: to us about eating and sleep. I mean, how much
Speaker 1: or to what extent does what we eat affect how
Speaker 1: we sleep.
Speaker 3: So food has a huge impact on our sleep cycle,
Speaker 3: and I love explaining that the more we can focus
Speaker 3: on our whole food, so our good fats, our central
Speaker 3: fatty acids, our proteins, our fiber is really es central
Speaker 3: with how our blood sugar regulation is dictated for the
Speaker 3: rest of the day, which then impacts our malatonin production,
Speaker 3: which is our sleep hormone, and how we eventually fall
Speaker 3: into a.
Speaker 2: Blissful night's sleep.
Speaker 3: So we always want to be focusing on, you know,
Speaker 3: the foundations of food, bringing it back to those macro nutrients,
Speaker 3: but also our key antioxidants, you know, magnesium, trippa fan,
Speaker 3: our B group vitamins really helped.
Speaker 2: To produce those sleep producing hormones as well.
Speaker 3: So the more we can focus on those nutrient dense meals,
Speaker 3: hopefully the better sleep we will have.
Speaker 1: And on the flip side, when you have a poor
Speaker 1: nite's sleep, you tend to reach the crap. What's going
Speaker 1: on here?
Speaker 3: Absolutely? And you know I have I have a toddler
Speaker 3: so sleepy. You know, sleep deprivation, yes, and you know
Speaker 3: early postpartum is what I see a lot in clinic
Speaker 3: where we can't really avoid that sleep deprivation picture. And
Speaker 3: you know, we go for the caffeine on an empty stomach,
Speaker 3: we go for the piece of toast, or we go
Speaker 3: for those high sugar.
Speaker 2: Fixes to give us that quick energy.
Speaker 3: But when we get that quick energy, it usually comes
Speaker 3: with a very fast crash as well, so we get
Speaker 3: these disregulated blood sugar issues which then can surge.
Speaker 2: A cortisol spike.
Speaker 3: So when we're having these quick fixed foods, yes, we
Speaker 3: might feel great in the short term, but long term
Speaker 3: we actually feel worse. And then we can be going
Speaker 3: to bed wide and tired, where we're our physically tired,
Speaker 3: but our brain is in overdrive because of that disregulated
Speaker 3: cortisol throughout the rest of the day. So again we're
Speaker 3: always looking at how can we best support this even
Speaker 3: in a sleep deprivation picture.
Speaker 2: And you know, bringing it back to foods, fruit is medicine.
Speaker 1: It's so hard though when you've had a I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm even thinking on the weekend, I had a really
Speaker 1: bad night's sleep, and I mean, I'm just I just
Speaker 1: go to the lollies at three o'clock, three pm, but
Speaker 1: I've had a bad night set and I just couldn't resist.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I know I'm not supposed to have this.
Speaker 1: I know I'm tired, and we'll not I'm tired. I
Speaker 1: know I'm reaching for this, but sometimes you just cannot
Speaker 1: stop yourself. Like the brain overrides everything.
Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, and it is so common.
Speaker 3: And when we're having that three pm crash, it generally
Speaker 3: means we have not eaten enough protein to start our
Speaker 3: day off. So the more protein, and I'll probably harp
Speaker 3: on a lot about protein in this episode. The more
Speaker 3: protein we have, it comes back to that blood sugar balance,
Speaker 3: then the less likely we are to crave those sugary
Speaker 3: foods when we're having that three pm.
Speaker 2: Crash or when we know we haven't eaten enough protein.
Speaker 3: I think it's having a nutrient dense snack option for
Speaker 3: that three PM which is heavily focused on your protein
Speaker 3: and carbohydrates, say a handful of nuts or a hard
Speaker 3: boiled egg or a high protein yogurt with a bit
Speaker 3: of cinnamon, maybe a little bit of honey, just to
Speaker 3: get that sweetness coming through as well.
Speaker 2: Is I guess a better option to promote sleep that night.
Speaker 1: If you have had a shocking night sleep, how can
Speaker 1: you and you wake up and you acknowledge it, Like
Speaker 1: I've had a really bad night sleep, I know that
Speaker 1: I might reach for those foods. What's a good breakfast
Speaker 1: or a good snack or a good way to start
Speaker 1: your day. So it does deter you from that three
Speaker 1: pm junk food binge or whatever it is you reach for.
Speaker 3: Yes, So I always say in clinical practice that we
Speaker 3: really want to focus on a protein rich breakfast. So
Speaker 3: skipping breakfast is a is something I would definitely avoid
Speaker 3: when we're sleep deprived. So if we can start our
Speaker 3: day with twenty five to thirty grams of protein, So
Speaker 3: that could be a three egg omelint for instance, with.
Speaker 2: Some avocado and some saute greens.
Speaker 3: That could be some protein rich pancakes where you're using
Speaker 3: protein powders if you are a little bit time for
Speaker 3: or as smoothie again utilizing greek yogurt, nuts and seeds,
Speaker 3: protein powders, collagen, you know fruits and vegetables are also
Speaker 3: really important. But the more we can aid that twenty
Speaker 3: five to thirty grams of protein that decreases the cortisole
Speaker 3: spike and decreases that.
Speaker 2: Need for those quick fixes towards the afternoon.
Speaker 1: And there are any specific foods that we should eat
Speaker 1: throughout the day for better quality sleep at night.
Speaker 2: So I love magnesium.
Speaker 3: Magnesium is a wonderful mineral and the body requires magnesium
Speaker 3: for over three hundred processes, so it's.
Speaker 2: One of these nutrients that are a little.
Speaker 3: Bit more depleted in our soil. So you know, reaching
Speaker 3: for magnesium rich foods such as dark chocolate. So a
Speaker 3: lot of people always happy when I say that eighty percent.
Speaker 2: And over dark chocolate. Things like almonds are really rich
Speaker 2: in magnesium. Your green leafy vegetables are really rich in magnesium, and.
Speaker 3: That really helps promote that malatonin production for sleep. Also,
Speaker 3: tripped to fan Tripped to fan is an incredible amino
Speaker 3: acid that has beautiful calming effects in the body.
Speaker 2: And this is a thing you can get to trip.
Speaker 3: To fan from Turkey from really good quality proteins from animals, chicken, beef,
Speaker 3: and tripped to perfan is a precursor to serotonin, which
Speaker 3: is our field good happy neurotransmitter.
Speaker 2: So the more we have of that when we're going
Speaker 2: into sleep.
Speaker 1: Are there any plant based options for trip to fan?
Speaker 2: Yes, so tripped to fan we can. Oats, Bananas are
Speaker 2: all fantastic as well.
Speaker 1: Eats love oats. I think like a good bile of
Speaker 1: oats every so often.
Speaker 3: That's it.
Speaker 2: And you can make a really beautiful overnight protein.
Speaker 3: Rich oat meal for the morning, which can be great
Speaker 3: with all those added in nutrients.
Speaker 1: What about foods that can actually what's the word will
Speaker 1: actually result in poorerus sleep?
Speaker 3: Or I guess the biggest one that comes to mind
Speaker 3: straight away, it's not technically a food, it's caffeine. Caffeine
Speaker 3: will definitely impact the sleep cycle, and when we are
Speaker 3: sleep deprived, we're going for that caffeine here to give
Speaker 3: us quick, immediate energy.
Speaker 2: And if we're having multiple caffeine sauces.
Speaker 3: Throughout the day, whether it's coffee or energy drinks, you know,
Speaker 3: even copious amounts of black tea can really trigger that
Speaker 3: cortisole surge towards the end of the night as well.
Speaker 2: So I'd be trying to limit caffeine to one.
Speaker 3: To two cups a day before midday, and high sugary
Speaker 3: processed foods as well, because of that same issue that
Speaker 3: we have with blood sugar dysregulation and soges in cortisol
Speaker 3: before bed. What about late night snacks because you know
Speaker 3: we've been told to eat earlier, Eat earlier so your
Speaker 3: body can digest, so it's not digesting while you're asleep.
Speaker 3: But often, you know, if you do eat at six
Speaker 3: or seven, you get to nine and you're hungry.
Speaker 1: How do we navigate the late night snack thing?
Speaker 2: So we nate like snacks.
Speaker 3: You want to keep it sleep supportive again, So you
Speaker 3: know a handful of nuts, keeping it a little bit
Speaker 3: of almond butter with you.
Speaker 2: Know, slices of apple.
Speaker 3: You're getting your proteins, your essential fatty acids which keep
Speaker 3: you satiated through that overnight fast. I don't have an
Speaker 3: issue with a late night snack, but if you can
Speaker 3: pair it with some fats and carbohydrates, you're definitely setting
Speaker 3: yourself up for a Blisbel night sleep.
Speaker 1: Dark chocolate does that pass.
Speaker 2: We'll put that in there. I can definitely.
Speaker 1: Catherine, thank you for coming on healthy.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1: Well protein once again, protein it comes up. Honestly, I
Speaker 1: think protein comes up in this podcast every week. Eat
Speaker 1: more protein and magnesium always a winner as well. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed this chat with Catherine. If you
Speaker 1: do want any other info about sleep and nutrition, jump online,
Speaker 1: Body and Soul dot com dot you. You can follow
Speaker 1: us on social media. If you have any feedback, dm
Speaker 1: me at Felicity Harley or grab our print edition which
Speaker 1: is out in your local Sunday paper. Thanks again for
Speaker 1: listening and stay healthy ish