Ulog7 – Trouble sleeping? Try my Bedtime Bliss Ball recipe.

in #ulog6 years ago

These bliss balls can be eaten just as a tasty snack, but I want to try them out specifically for sleep enhancement.

I’ve had lots of sleep issues since menopause and done a lot of work on many different underlying issues. Although I’ve had a big improvement, sometimes I still can’t get to sleep, or wake up a lot over night.

One of the balancing acts is what time to have dinner. Have it too early and I’m hungry again by bedtime, or don’t stay asleep through the night. Have it too late, and it’s not digested enough by bedtime.

At the moment, I’m playing with having it a little earlier, then having a small snack about an hour before bed. For that snack, I want foods that are good for sleep. You’ve probably heard that tart cherries, turkey and warm milk are all good for sleep. Turkey and milk are high in an amino acid called tryptophan, while tart cherries are high in melatonin.

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How do tryptophan and melatonin relate to each other?

In the body, tryptophan converts to 5-HTP, which converts to serotonin, one of the neurotransmitters that makes us feel good. At night, serotonin then converts to melatonin, which helps us sleep.

So can I come up with a combination that includes melatonin, tryptophan, magnesium for muscle relaxation, and a good amount of fat and carbs to keep blood sugar level throughout the night?

What foods shall I use?

Tart cherries are the best food for melatonin, with prunes coming in second. So either all tart cherries or a combo is the cornerstone of this snack.

Almonds, cashews, pistachios and walnuts all have good levels of magnesium and tryptophan, and walnuts also have naturally occurring melatonin. So any of these will go well too.

Last week I had a go at making a ball using nut butter and tart cherries, which was a dismal failure. The nut butter was too soft, and I ended up having to eat it with a spoon.

Today’s effort worked much better.

The recipe

This was my plan, for making 8 serves.

• 160gm (just over a cup) raw cashews (because that’s what I had available, and they are a neutral flavour)
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 40gm tart (Montmorency) cherries
• 40gm prunes

I wanted to use the prunes, as they are stickier and would hold the balls together better. But I didn’t have any, so ended up using all tart cherries.

All of the ingredients went into my mini food processor and got blended up, periodically stopping and checking the consistency. It will take a little while, but keep going till it’s starting to come together into a clump. If you use the prunes, it might be sticky enough to hold the balls together, but with the cherries I needed a little bit of water. I put in 2 teaspoons, but it was a bit wet. One might have been enough.

Once you have something that will hold together, take out and roll into a ball. Cut that into quarters, and roll each quarter into a ball, then split it into two balls. So you should end up with 8 equally sized balls.

bliss1.jpg

bliss2.jpg

I wanted to keep it simple this time, so didn’t add anything else. I just popped them into a container and into the fridge. Each ball is about 150 calories, with approximately 3.5 grams protein, 9.5 grams fat and 14 grams carbs.

bliss3.jpg

Variations to try

• Replace the cashews with almonds, walnuts or pistachios
• If you don’t have (or like) prunes, you could add in some dried blueberries or strawberries. They don’t have as much melatonin as the prunes, but they have some. Or just go with all tart cherries, like I did.
• If you want to have more protein and less fat, you could use a bit less of the nuts and add a little protein powder
• The balls could be rolled in dessicated coconut or cacao powder to make them a little prettier
• Instead of adding water to hold them together, you could try a little melted chocolate or cacao butter
• Or maybe add some cannabis infused coconut oil, or canna-butter, if it’s legal where you are. Make sure you use a strain that’s relaxing, not stimulating
• You could even dip them in a little dark chocolate to make them extra special

Let me know if you try any of these, and what results you get.

Other things this week

Oh gosh, now I need to think back a few days.

The main thing that’s been different is that I’ve started back with my daily walking. Through the first part of winter, I’ve been very tired, and haven’t been walking every day. But I’ve got back into it now – four days and counting. Or maybe not counting, just doing it, every day without fail!

I also haven’t done much in the way of weight training for quite a while, for a variety of reasons. But I’ve started that up again too. But starting very, very slowly - like 10 bicep curls with 4kg each hand. Pitifully light, and pitifully few reps. But I figure better to do too little and be able to keep going, than to overdo things. So watch this space.

Finally, an apology!

To those of you who have been commenting or replying to my comments and not getting a reply. I’ve got a bit behind, but will aim to catch up over the next day or so.

Thanks for reading

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Amazing! I’ve just eaten something very similar right now:) for me it’s the middle of the day, but I sure do feel good!

I used to make my own ‘protein bites’ with a similar recipe :) thanks for the quality information too!

Hopefully mine taste as good as yours, and then lull me off to sleep! Thanks for stopping by.

I am going to give this balls a try. I am having difficulty sleeping lately and I don't think think the lack of sleep is doing me any good.

I'm not surprised you're having trouble sleeping! You might need something a bit more hard core. No, not thinking of drugs, thinking of energy medicine. Look up Paul McKenna and Havening on Youtube. That might address the stress better.

Congratulations your post is featured in this week's edition of the Make It Healthy Curation Magazine!

Thanks! Hope all is well with you.

Cherries and balls, why is it my mind is going straight to the gutter today? hee. Of course the prunes distill the effect a bit.... ;)

Trust you! ;-)

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Damn it, I suppose you want me to share now! Double mixture next time.

This is brilliant and may be the best natural solution for jet lag as well. I will keep this in mind when traveling to America. Today it's just too hot to sleep in Korea.

Oh, that's awful when it's too hot to sleep. Even here, I have trouble in the summer. There are other energy exercises you can do for jetlag too. Remind me to look them up and do a post!

Thank you ^^ ♥

It will be two more weeks that we are on the plane. Take your time. I look forward to reading about ways to overcome jetlag... especially if it worked for you.

They look a right good consistency despite the no prunes. I was always a dates person but they are terrible to blend!

The little dash of hot water helped. Dates would be good consistency and flavour wise, but I don't think they have any melatonin. So we'll just have to enjoy them earlier in the day. If you soaked them in water first, would they blend better?

A very good idea ,I bet they would!

Oh yum yum yum.
I have to admit to being one of the lucky people who usually have no issues at all sleeping (in fact I fall asleep a bit too easily!) - but that won't stop me trying these out... though I have to say it might be hard getting hold of the cherries- I wonder if an all-prune version would do it?

E x

If you don't need the tart cherries for sleep, yes, I'm sure the prunes would do beautifully. Lucky you, I'm so jealous!

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