Kundru can lower blood sugar: Study

New Delhi: This humble vegetable, so far met at the dining table with indifference, may now find new respect, even among picky palates. That's because new research shows that consuming 50 grams of kundru daily can help keep your blood sugar under check.

A three-month study conducted by doctors at the Institute of Population Health and Clinical Research, Bangalore, has found that the common kundru, which looks like a poor cousin of the tasty gourd parwal and has no particular gastronomic appeal, can reduce blood sugar levels in patients with mild diabetes.

The team found that sugar levels in new diabetics, with fasting blood sugar counts below 200, can drop by 16% by simply slurping the curried vegetable, known to botanists as Coccinia indica. It also reduced postprandial blood glucose (sugar count after a meal) by 18%.

The findings have been reported in the latest issue of the international journal Diabetes Care. ''We fed 30 early diabetics a daily capsule of one gram of frozen, dried powder of kundru, that is equivalent to 15 grams of the vegetable, for three months and found it to greatly reduce blood sugar. It also reduced glycosylated haemoglobin by 0.4%, which is significant,'' said Dr Ganapathi Bantwal, associate professor of endocrinology at St John's Medical College Hospital, Bangalore. However, doctors say when cooked and consumed, the dose has to be higher than that of the extract — typically about 50 grams.

Kundru used in many ayurvedic cures

New Delhi: A study conducted at the Institute of Population Health and Clinical Research, Bangalore, has found that kundru can reduce blood sugar levels in diabetics.

''For those with blood sugar count during fasting higher than 200, kundru could be a supplement along with blood sugar reducing tablets,'' Dr Bantwal said. Although modern science has just stumbled on this culinary oddity, ancient sages pounding herbs into ayurvedic cures have known of kundru's powers. It has been used to treat ''sugar urine" too. However, studies of its efficacy on blood glucose levels of type 2 diabetic patients requiring only dietary or lifestyle modifications were lacking. This triggered the research.

The study entailed giving a control group the kundru powder as well as observing a similar group given placebos. Sixty type 2 diabetics (aged 35-60) were recruited from St John's Medical College Hospital. The subjects were randomly assigned into the placebo or experimental group.

How to reduce eye strain?

This article outlines simple eye exercises and acupressure points that you can use to reduce eyestrain and support optimal vision.

To reduce eyestrain and experience optimal vision, two major requirements are as follows:

The six muscles that move each of your eyes need to be strong and relaxed.
You must have strong and steady blood flow to your eyes and to the muscles that control your eyes.

The six muscles that control all of your eye movements are as follows:

Lateral rectus - Primarily moves the eye outward, away from your nose.
Medial rectus - Primarily moves the eye inward, toward your nose.
Superior rectus - Primarily moves the eye upward.
Inferior rectus - Primarily moves the eye downward.
Superior oblique - Primarily rotates the top of the eye toward your nose.
Inferior oblique - Primarily rotates the top of the eye away from your nose.

Perhaps the single greatest reason why people in today's society suffer from chronic eyestrain and deteriorating vision is the amount of time that is spent staring at computer monitors and television screens.

Your eyes are designed to move regularly, and regular movement of your eyes is what promotes optimal blood flow and nerve function to your eyes and the six muscles that control your eye movements.

What follows are several simple eye exercises that you can do on a regular basis to keep your eyes and vision as healthy as possible:

Look as far to your right as possible for 3-5 seconds, then as far to your left as possible for 3-5 seconds. Rest for a few seconds, then repeat this sequence several times.

Look as far up as possible for 3-5 seconds, then look as far down as possible for 3-5 seconds. Rest for a few seconds, then repeat this sequence several times.

Slowly roll your eyes in a circle, first clockwise, then counter-clockwise. Rest for a few seconds, then repeat this sequence several times. Be sure to roll slowly - it should take at least 3 seconds for you to roll your eyes in a full circle.

Hold a pen in front of you, about an arm's length away. Focus your vision on the tip of your pen for 3-5 seconds, then shift the focus of your vision to an object that is farther away for 3-5 seconds. The greater the distance between your pen and the distant object, the better. If you are indoors, look out a window to find a distant object to focus your vision on. Repeat this sequence of going back and forth between your pen and a distant object several times.

Just for interest's sake, this exercise is routinely used by professional baseball players to optimize visual acuity, which is essential for the hand-eye coordination that is needed to play pro ball.

Please note that all of these exercises should be done with your eyes, not your head and neck. In other words, keep your head and neck still while you take your eyes through the movements described above.

Preventing Asthma!!

Asthma is an ancient Greek word meaning 'panting or shortdrawn breath'. It is an allergic condition resulting from the reaction of the body to one or more allergens, and is the most troublesome of respiratory diseases. An asthma patient gets frequent attacks of breathlessness, in between which he may even be completely normal.

Asthma Symptoms
Gasping for breath
Patients suffering from asthma appear to be gasping for breath. Actually, they have more difficulty in breathing out than breathing in, and this is caused by spasms or sudden involuntary muscular contractions of the smaller air passages in the lungs.

Asthma Causes
Allergy caused by weather conditions
Asthma is caused by a variety of factors. It may be due to an allergy caused by weather conditions, food, drugs, perfumes, and other irritants. Allergies to dust are the most common.

Asthma Cures
Asthma treatment using Honey
Honey is one of the most common home remedies for asthma. It is said that if a jug of honey is held under the nose of an asthma patient and he inhales the air that comes into contact with it, he starts breathing easier and deeper.

Asthma treatment using Figs
Among fruits, figs have proved very valuable in asthma. They give comfort to the patient by draining off the phlegm. Three or four dry figs should be cleaned thoroughly with warm water and soaked overnight.

Asthma treatment using Lemon
Lemon is another fruit found beneficial in the treatment of asthma. The juice of one lemon, diluted in a glass of water and taken with meals, will bring good results.

Healthy vs. Unhealthy Fats and Oils-Dr.Ben Kim

After graduating from chiropractic school, I made my way to a small Inuit village at the northern tip of Alaska to begin my first practice as a chiropractor. One of the most impressive memories I have of my time in northern Alaska was watching the natives haul a 20-foot whale onto the beach and divide the “muktuk” (whale blubber) into three by three sheets, one per family. I learned that the natives chopped these sheets of whale blubber into small pieces, about the size of small grapes, to be eaten raw and sometimes dipped in seal oil. In addition to whale blubber and seal oil, the natives continued to eat traditional staples such as whale meat, caribou meat, fish, and goose meat.

My observations in rural Alaska are congruent with the studies of Weston A. Price, a Harvard-trained dentist who traveled around the world in the 1930s, visiting many indigenous populations and observing their diets and health. Dr. Price found that the foods of isolated primitive peoples contained at least ten times the fat-soluble vitamins A and D found in modern diets. He also found that all healthy populations had at least one source of animal fat and protein in their diets, such as fatty fish, wild game, organ meats, eggs, and butter. These healthy populations did not suffer from heart disease, digestive problems, cancer, or obesity at the rates that we do.

For the past twenty years, we have been encouraged to believe that saturated fats and cholesterol, both found in animal fats, are the main causes of chronic degenerative diseases. Ask the average North American what they know about saturated fat, and the majority will answer that it causes heart disease. Ask the average high school student what they know about cholesterol, and they will tell you that it is bad for you. For years, I would have answered the same. Are these views on saturated fat and cholesterol with merit?

Here are some facts about saturated fats:

They make up at least 50 percent of our cell membranes, providing essential rigidity and strength
They enhance the immune system
They help incorporate calcium into our bones
Some of them have antimicrobial properties that protect us against harmful microorganisms in our digestive tracts

And here are some facts about cholesterol:

It contributes to cell membrane rigidity and strength, just as saturated fats do
It is used to make hormones that help us deal with stress, as well to make sex hormones
It is converted to vitamin D, essential for proper growth, healthy bones, a healthy nervous system, muscle tone, and proper immune system function
It is used to make bile, needed for digestion of fat in our foods
It acts as an antioxidant, actually protecting us against cellular damage that leads to heart disease and cancer
It helps maintain a healthy intestinal lining, offering protection against autoimmune illnesses

Clearly, saturated fat and cholesterol are needed for many vital processes. We need both in our diets to be as healthy as possible. The danger comes when we eat fats and cholesterol that have been damaged by heat, oxygen, and unnatural farming practices. Damaged fats and cholesterol can lead to injury to the walls of our blood vessels, promoting a build-up of plaque that heals the injured areas. It is this build-up of plaque that impairs blood circulation and paves the way to heart disease and other chronic illnesses.

The following foods are likely sources of damaged fats and/or damaged cholesterol:

Pasteurized dairy products – this includes cheese and ice cream that have been made from pasteurized milk
Powdered milk
Powdered eggs
Meats that have been cooked at high temperatures, especially those that have been fried or deep-fried
Most vegetable oils
All hydrogenated oils

The following foods are concentrated sources of healthy fats and/or healthy cholesterol:

Avocado
Nuts and seeds
Cold-water fish
Organic eggs
Organic chicken
Grass-fed beef
Virgin Coconut Oil
Red Palm Oil – used throughout Africa
Cold Pressed Olive Oil

The difference in organic and non-organic animal foods is significant. As an example, let’s look at the difference between organic and non-organic eggs. We function best when we eat an equal balance of two fatty acids: omega-6 and omega-3. Having too much omega-6 and too little omega-3 leads to numerous health problems, including generalized inflammation, high blood pressure, depressed immune function, weight gain, an irritated intestinal tract, and a tendency to form blood clots. An organic egg, one that comes from a hen allowed to eat green plants and insects, contains an optimal ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids of 1:1. A commercial supermarket egg from a hen that is fed mainly grain in a factory-farm environment has a ratio closer to 15 or 20:1.

Virgin coconut oil and red palm oil are the best oils to cook with because they contain a large percentage of saturated fats that remain stable and undamaged with heat. All other vegetable oils are damaged easily with heat exposure. This is why cold-pressed olive oil is best eaten raw.

Getting back to my time in rural Alaska, I remember being impressed with stories that some of my elderly patients told me about how strong and healthy their parents and grandparents were. For Inuits living before the mid 1900s, it was a regular occurrence to use small, homemade kayaks to go hunting in cold arctic waters. Every spring and fall was time to go out on the ice or water for several days to weeks at a time to hunt for whales. Although hunting and eating traditional foods are still a part of the Inuit culture, some of my older patients remarked how sad it was to see today’s generation of Inuits suffering from numerous health problems like cancer, heart disease, horrible dental health, and crippling arthritis. By all accounts, these ailments were very rare in the recent past.

Of course, it was no surprise to discover that soft drinks and fast food have become staples in the Inuit diet. Planes flew in to our village everyday, carrying many cases of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Doritos, and most processed convenience products found in regular supermarkets. As a special treat, many people who were returning from trips to Anchorage and Seattle brought back boxes from Pizza Hut and McDonalds for their families and friends.

I can only hope that populations like this one will not mistakenly group their pizzas and Big Macs with their traditional animal foods as fatty foods that cause chronic disease. Many people I have worked with over the years have made this mistake and ended up developing health problems that were partly due to a deficiency of healthy fats in their diets. I made this same mistake for five years

How to prevent Osteoporasis?

Based on my work experiences over the past several years, I'm convinced that osteoporosis is one of the most misunderstood health conditions that we know of. The purpose of this article is to help you identify the essential choices that you must make on a regular basis to minimize your risk of developing osteoporosis. Put another way, this article is intended to help you understand what it takes to build and maintain healthy bones.

Understanding how to prevent osteoporosis requires that you have a clear understanding of the physical structure and functions of your bones.

Your bones are active organs that are filled with a number of different tissues, the main ones being bone tissue (hardened minerals), bone marrow, specialized tissues that line different sections of your bones (endosteum and periosteum), cartilage, blood vessels, and nerves.

Why are there so many different types of tissue in your bones? Because your bones need to carry out a number of functions, the most important ones being:

Production of blood cells (hematopoiesis) - The inner portion (medulla) of your long bones is where most of your blood cells are formed.
Maintenance of delicate acid-alkaline balance within your blood - Your bones act as storage sites for minerals, providing a buffering mechanism that allows the pH of your blood to stay within a slightly alkaline range (approximately 7.35 to 7.45).
Provision of structural framework and protection - Your bones serve to support your entire structure and protect your internal organs. For example, your ribcage serves to create and protect your thoracic cavity, home to your heart and lungs.
Transduction of sound - Small bones that exist in your inner ear region help you hear and distinguish different sounds.

Due to the number of functions that your bones carry out on a daily basis, they are constantly being remodeled according to your needs and circumstances. This remodeling process is mainly carried out by two types of cells that exist within your bones:

Osteoblasts - Responsible for new bone production.
Osteoclasts - Responsible for removing damaged or unneeded cells.

Together, osteoblasts and osteoclasts remodel your bones on a continuous basis with three primary goals in mind:

Repair areas that are damaged from stress associated with your activities of daily living - most of this damage is microscopic.
Regulate calcium levels in your blood.
Optimally shape your bones while you are growing.

If you are not yet impressed by the amount of activity that goes on within your bones on a second-to-second basis, consider the fact that virtually all of the hormones that your body produces have some effect on your bones. Here is a severely truncated list of hormones that you produce on a daily basis that affect the activities and health of your bones:

Growth hormone
Testosterone
Estrogen
Progesterone
Thyroid hormones (T4, T3 and their derivatives)
Cortisol
Erythropoietin

At this point, it should be clear that primarily focusing on how much calcium you need to take each day is not likely to ensure that you build and maintain healthy bones. As dynamically alive as your bones are, I also hope it's clear that you can do so much more than take the right daily dose of alendronate (fosamax) or any other osteoporosis-related drug to keep your bones strong as you age.

So what should you be doing to keep your bones strong and flexible as you age?

How to Build and Maintain Healthy Bones

1. Be physically active.

No other facet of your life has greater impact on the health of your bones.

Your body is designed to adapt all of your organs -- your bones included -- to your specific needs. If you are physically active, your body will work to make your bones as strong and flexible as possible with its resources. If you lead a relatively sedentary lifestyle, your body will not work to produce and maintain strong bones since your lifestyle is not signaling a need for such bones.

Being physically active doesn't mean that you have to jog "x" number of miles per day or attend aerobics classes at your local gym 3 times a week. If you are regularly doing chores around your living and work areas, walking or biking when you can instead of taking your car, and finding other ways to go about your daily routine while being physically active, there is no need to make time to "exercise," since you are already exercising for most of the day. If you spend most of your day sitting for long stretches at a time, for the sake of building and maintaining healthy bones, you should incorporate more physical activity into your daily routine.

2. Eat mineral-rich foods on a regular basis.

Your body needs much more than calcium supplements to build and maintain healthy bones. When you consider that your bones are comprised of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, manganese, zinc, iron, silica, and many other trace minerals, it should be clear that eating mineral-rich foods is far superior to taking calcium-based supplements when it comes to providing real nourishment for your bones.

Generally speaking, green vegetables and herbs are the healthiest, mineral-rich foods that you can eat. If you want to ensure that you are actually getting the minerals in green vegetables and herbs into your bloodstream to become available to your bones and other organs, you must be mindful of chewing these plants thoroughly. Thorough chewing helps to ensure that the protective cell walls that surround all plant cells are broken sufficiently to allow your digestive tract to have access to the many minerals contained within those cells.

Drinking freshly pressed vegetable juices and well blended green smoothies are other ways of ensuring that you actually get the minerals in green vegetables and herbs into your bloodstream.

Use of high quality green food powders can also help to provide your bloodstream and bones with a rich supply of minerals.

3. Consider drinking mineral-rich broths on a regular basis.

Broths that are made by simmering bones and a variety of vegetables for an hour or longer are a fantastic source of calcium and other minerals that can be used to keep your bones strong and flexible.

Mineral-rich broths are a chief source of dietary calcium in east Asian countries like China and Korea, where many people are unable to fully digest dairy products. These broths take significant time and effort to make on a regular basis, but there's no question that they can provide almost instant nourishment to your bones and other organs.

4. Ensure adequate vitamin D status.

Adequate amounts of vitamin D must be present in your body for calcium in your foods to be optimally absorbed and used.

When the weather is warm and sunlight is readily present, the best way to ensure adequate vitamin D status is to expose your skin to sunlight on a regular basis without getting burned. Sunlight acts on cholesterol found in your skin to produce vitamin D. Your body knows to stop producing vitamin D in this fashion when you have built up an adequate level. Please keep in mind that use of a sunscreen with an SPF of 8 or higher can prevent sunlight from acting on cholesterol in your skin to produce vitamin D.

When the weather is cool and sunlight is not readily available, the best way to ensure adequate vitamin D status is to eat one or more foods that are naturally rich in vitamin D on a regular basis. Different varieties of fish like wild salmon and sardines are good food sources of natural vitamin D. High quality cod liver oil is another good food source of natural vitamin D.

5. Eat high quality fats and cholesterol.

Consumption of high quality fats optimizes the absorption of vitamins A and D into your bloodstream. And vitamin A is needed to keep your intestinal lining healthy and readily able to absorb minerals in the foods that you eat. For these reasons, it's virtually impossible to have optimally healthy bones and teeth without including healthy fats in your diet.

Here are some examples of foods that are rich in healthy fats:

Extra virgin olive oil
Avocados
Organic eggs from cage-free birds
Soaked nuts and seeds (about a handful per day at most)
Cold-water fish and high quality fish oils
Coconuts and coconut oil
Bone broths

Organically raised red and white meats (should be eaten sparingly if eaten at all - with proper planning, there is no physiological requirement for red and white meats)
Healthy cholesterol is also needed for a healthy intestinal lining that is able to optimally absorb minerals into your bloodstream. Healthy dietary cholesterol can help to ensure adequate cholesterol status in your system so that sunlight has enough cholesterol to act on when producing vitamin D. While your body is capable of producing cholesterol from other nutrients, it makes sense to ensure adequate cholesterol levels via intake of healthy cholesterol.

For more information on healthy fats and cholesterol, view:

Healthy vs. Unhealthy Fats and Oils

6. Learn how to effectively manage emotional stress.

Chronic emotional stress can elevate the level of cortisol in your blood. Cortisol is useful for combating stress, but if it remains elevated in your system over the long term, it can cause the matrix of your bones to weaken. Corticosteroid drugs can also weaken your bones and cause osteoporosis if used in large quantities and/or over the long term.

For comprehensive help with stress management, visit:

The Less Stress System.

7. Avoid regular consumption of foods that may cause your bones to lose calcium.

Acid-forming foods are foods that bring the pH of your blood down. Because you cannot survive if the pH of your blood moves outside a very narrow range (7.35 to 7.45), your body must buffer the effects of acid-forming foods to maintain a healthy blood pH level. One of the main ways in which you body buffers acid-forming foods is to take calcium from your bones and use it to neutralize the remnants of acid-forming foods. If your body is repeatedly forced to do this, your bones may be weakened.

Foods that are strongly acid-forming in your blood and should not be staples in your diet include:

Artificial sweeteners
Soft drinks (pop)
Sugar
Cookies, cakes, and pastries made with white flour
Table salt
Alcohol

8. Regularly eat foods that are rich in vitamin C.

Collagen is a long, fibrous protein that is critical to providing your bones with tensile strength. In short, the more quality collagen that you have in your bones, the more physical stress that your bones can tolerate before breaking.

Your body needs vitamin C to synthesize collagen. Please note that there is a big difference between the full vitamin C complex found in real foods and synthetic forms of vitamin C found in many nutritional supplements. Some excellent food sources of real vitamin C are:

Organic goji berries
Bell peppers
Citrus fruits
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Acerola cherries

I hope that this article makes it clear that your bones are active organs that are slowly supported or eroded by every food and lifestyle choice that you make. Addressing osteoporosis with a calcium supplement or drug without regard for your overall health will not allow you to build and maintain the healthiest bones that your genetics and upbringing will allow. If you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis, please be encouraged by this article; weakened bones can become healthy again if you consistently make the right choices in the days ahead.

Health Myths:Do you know the truth?

You may be making health decisions based on incorrect or outdated information. Make sure that your sources for health information are current and accurate. Also, check with your health care provider if you have any questions about living a healthier life.

You CAN take simple steps everyday to protect yourself against illness and disease. It is important to get appropriate health screenings to find potential problems early and get proper treatment to prevent more serious problems later. Know that the health choices you make can also impact the health of others.

Below are links to health-related myths and rumors you may have heard from others or the internet. Click on a health topic for related myths, facts, and links to more information.

Cancer
Myth: Cancer cannot be prevented.
Fact: Scientists estimate that as many as 50 percent or more of cancer deaths in the United States are caused by social and environmental conditions and unhealthy choices. These conditions and choices can result in an unhealthy diet, obesity, or unhealthy human behaviors such as smoking and physical inactivity. We now know more about how to prevent many cancers including cancers of the lung, cervix, colon, rectum, and skin.

In general, the factors that can help prevent cancer include:
· not using cigarettes or other tobacco products
· avoiding second-hand smoke
· not drinking too much alcohol
· avoiding weight gain and maintaining a healthy weight
· eating five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables and a low-fat diet
· balancing calories with physical activity
· being physically active
· protecting skin from sunlighy
· supporting community efforts to develop a healthy social and physical environment

Breast Cancer
Researchers estimate that a fourth to a third of breast cancers in postmenopausal women may be due to physical inactivity and overweight/obesity.*

·Mammography is the best available method to detect breast cancer in its earliest, most treatable stage— an average of 1 to 4 years before a woman can feel a lump. Women aged 40 years or older should have a screening mammogram every 1 to 2 years.
·Maintain a healthy weight. Limiting weight gain during childhood and adulthood is likely to reduce the risk of breast cancer. Losing weight if overweight may also reduce risk
·Regular physical activity is likely to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
·Community efforts to increase physical activity, such as school-based physical education programs and creation of walking trails, can contribute to increased physical activity in your community.

Cervical Cancer
Cervical cancer can usually be prevented if women are screened regularly at least every three years with a test called the Pap test. The Pap test can find abnormal cells in the cervix. These cells may, over time, turn into cancer, and could take many years to happen. If the results of a Pap test show there are abnormal cells that could become cancerous, a woman can be treated. In most cases, this treatment prevents cervical cancer from developing.

Pap tests can also find cervical cancer early. When it is found early, the chance of being cured is very high. When it is found early and treated, cervical cancer is highly curable. The most important thing you can do to avoid getting cervical cancer is to have regular Pap tests.

Abnormal cells in the cervix and cervical cancer don't always cause symptoms, especially at first. That's why getting tested for cervical cancer is important, even if there are no symptoms.

Community efforts to increase access to and use of cancer screening can lead to greater cancer screening in your community.

Colorectal Cancer
If you're 50 or older, getting a screening test for colorectal cancer could save your life.
Colorectal cancer usually starts from polyps in the colon or rectum. A polyp is a growth that shouldn't be there. Over time, some polyps can turn into cancer.
Screening tests can find polyps, so they can be removed before they turn into cancer. Screening tests can also find colorectal cancer early. When it is found early, the chance of being cured is good.
Researchers estimate that a fourth to a third of colorectal cancer may be due to physical inactivity and overweight/obesity.*
Maintain a healthy weight. Limiting weight gain during childhood and adulthood is likely to reduce risk of colorectal cancer and losing weight if overweight may reduce risk.
Regular physical activity is likely to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.
Community efforts to increase physical activity, such as school-based physical education programs and creation of walking trails, can contribute to increased activity in your community. Community efforts to increase access to and use of cancer screening can lead to greater cancer screening in your community.

Lung Cancer
Avoiding tobacco use is the single most important step Americans can take to reduce the cancer burden in this country.
Secondhand smoke is associated with an increased risk for lung cancer and coronary heart disease in nonsmoking adults. Secondhand smoke is a known cancer-causing agent.
Quitting smoking has immediate as well as long-term benefits, reducing risks for diseases caused by smoking and improving health in general.
Community efforts to limit smoking, such as indoor smoking policies and cigarette taxes, can help reduce smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Skin Cancer
Exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays appears to be the most important environmental factor involved in the development of skin cancer. When used consistently, sun-protective practices can prevent skin cancer.
Although anyone can develop skin cancer, some people are at particular risk, including those with light skin color, hair color, or eye color; family history of skin cancer; personal history of skin cancer; chronic exposure to the sun; history of sunburns early in life; certain types of moles or a large number of moles; and freckles, which indicate sun sensitivity and sun damage.
Protect your skin from the sun, by choosing five sun protection options: seek shade, cover up, get a hat, wear sunglasses, and rub on sunscreen.

Healthy Foods That Promote Deep Sleep

By Dr. Ben Kim
DrBenKim.com

If you are following sound advice on how to get a good night's sleep, but are still having trouble sleeping soundly, you may want to try eating a bedtime snack that combines a concentrated dietary source of tryptophan with a healthy carbohydrate-rich food.

Tryptophan is an amino acid that your body cannot make; you must obtain it from the foods that you eat. Once tryptophan crosses your blood-brain barrier to gain access to your brain, it is used to make a hormone called serotonin.

Serotonin acts within your body to promote feelings of sleepiness, calm, and relaxation.

Without adequate levels of serotonin in your system, you will have a hard time feeling sleepy enough to rest soundly. And without adequate levels of tryptophan within your brain, you will not be able to produce significant amounts of serotonin.

The challenge with shuttling tryptophan through to your brain is that it has to compete with other amino acids for access to the limited number of channels that line your blood-brain barrier. And tryptophan tends to be outnumbered by other amino acids in natural foods.

The key to getting enough tryptophan to your brain to sleep well at night is to combine a tryptophan-rich food with a carbohydrate-rich food. This is because ingesting a carbohydrate-rich food causes your body to release insulin, which diverts many of your other amino acids away from your brain, leaving tryptophan with little competition to cross your blood-brain barrier to gain access to your brain.

Here is a list of some healthy foods that are naturally rich in tryptophan:

Beans
Whole grains, including rice
Lentils
Chickpeas
Hazelnuts
Peanuts
Eggs
Sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds
Miso (fermented soy beans)
Unsweetened soy milk
Raw dairy products (if you can tolerate dairy)

If you combine any of the food listed above with a healthy carbohydrate-rich food as an evening snack, you will provide your body with a good opportunity to produce enough serotonin to facilitate a good night's rest.

What follows are some suggestions for healthy meals and snacks that combine a tryptophan-rich food with a carbohydrate-rich food:

Rice with miso soup
Whole grain pita with hummus (add tomato and red onion slices for flavor)
Whole grain crackers with organic peanut butter (add a touch of honey for sweetness, if desired)
Unsweetened whole grain cereal with soy milk
Rice with lentils
Rice, black beans, and guacamole
Hummus with steamed broccoli
Eggs with whole grain toast

Clearly, the possible combinations of tryptophan-rich foods and carbohydrate-rich foods are endless. Be creative and enjoy the process of figuring out which combinations suit your palate and help you sleep like a bear.