Don’t you just envy them? They simply curl-up on a chair or in a box or just about anywhere and have a refreshing little snooze at any time of the day? Sadly, it’s not so easy for us humans!

If you struggle to get to sleep or wake in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep, your roller coaster of sleep deprivation becomes a physical and emotional nightmare. You are desperate, you are exhausted, mild irritations can catapult you into adopting the persona of an axe murderer and you want a solution and you want it now!

Stress (emotional or physical or physiological or all three) is most likely the cause of disrupted sleep in many of us and stress of any kind stimulates our adrenal glands to release the stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol.

This incredible ‘double act’ ensures that when we are in a life-threatening situation (a potential car accident for example) we react swiftly and efficiently. Our heart rate goes up, we become very alert and stored fuel is converted into energy and directed to those parts of the body which enables us to take quick and evasive action (brain, eyes, nerves, muscles etc.) But this is hardly what we want when we are looking for uninterrupted sleep. Suddenly we are wide-awake and because cortisol keeps on releasing fuel for some time after believing our ‘stores’ need re-stocked, the chances of getting back to sleep are slim.

One of the biggest secrets is ensuring that we have sufficient stores of glucose to get us through the night and warn off the cortisol-devil… no, we are NOT under threat, we just want to sleep! This is where ‘what and when’ to eat to keep our blood sugar levels balanced day and night is imperative. It may not be the total answer but it certainly can help.

Turkey or Tofu & Spinach Broth

To achieve this, it is important to eat regularly throughout the day (small and often - every 3-4 hours is my recommendation), eat energy-dense foods earlier in the day (a combination of protein, fats and some, but not too much in the way of starchy carbohydrates) and major on top quality protein, fats and vegetables in the evening (but little or no starchy carbohydrates), forego stimulatory foods and drinks after mid afternoon (caffeine, alcohol, fizzy drinks, processed foods), try not to exercise too late in the day and please, please find alternatives to ‘junk’ foods and foods that release their sugars too quickly and play havoc with blood sugar. Rather many ‘takeaways’ can play real havoc and are often ‘the choice’ for many in the evening! Having said that, some of the ‘takeaways’ now on offer whilst restaurants are unable to open during the pandemic are extremely well-balanced - perhaps a little more pricey but you may wish to seek them out!

Many studies show (and personally, I am a fan) of a bedtime snack to keep stress hormone levels at bay during the night. All the following are rich in the amino acid l-tryptophan which when combined with a little carbohydrate (yes, just a little), helps to boost levels of the ‘calming chemical’ serotonin. Have your bedtime snack around 45 minutes before you get ready for bed and keep it small AND… if you wake during the night and can’t get back to sleep, get up and have another oatcake (or keep one on the bedside table!) They really are a bit of a wonder (protein, fibre, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals) and no, this is not just because I am a Scot!!

Suggested Bedtime Snacks

• 2 mini or 1 large oatcake with flaked tinned tuna or almond butter or half a banana (well mashed)

• a small bowl of my Turkey or Tofu & Spinach Broth

• a peach or nectarine with a few fresh walnuts

• a couple of dark brown Ryvita with almond butter

• a banana and soya milk smoothie

• a handful of mixed seeds with sliced apple

• 2 mini or 1 large oatcake with cottage cheese and sliced cooked turkey breast

• a small pot of natural yoghurt with a couple of dates or berries

• a cup of warmed soya milk, a teaspoon of honey and a sprinkling of cinnamon

• hot chocolate made with milk or milk alternatives and no-sugar dark chocolate grains (Green & Blacks is one of the best)

• a pot of calming herb tea (chamomile, passionflower, hops, valerian (or a ‘sleepy’ combination which you can get in most health shops).

more tryptophan-rich foods you may wish to add to your day to encourage the calming and good mood chemical, serotonin

There aren’t many people in their 50s, 60s and beyond that don’t worry about the health of their bones (particularly women). And it’s easy to understand why. People are often unaware that they have fragile bones until a fracture occurs and low bone density can be a difficult condition to reverse in our later years.

A genetic predisposition and/or a poor diet plus a lack of weight-baring exercise over a number of years are usually the first things to merit blame but there’s no going back so the norm is for sufferers to be advised on a calcium-enriched diet, a gradual increase in physical activity where possible and more than likely, some sort of supplement*. In more severe cases, drugs are often prescribed but these can have a range of side-effects and studies show that up to 50% of women stop treatment within a year.  

Chicken, Chorizo & Greens Soup

Our bones certainly need calcium (and magnesium) and lots of both but what is vitally important is that the calcium and magnesium we get from our diet and/or supplements actually gets into our bones and that’s where a number of other vitamins and minerals come into play. Vitamins K, C, B6 and D and the minerals zinc, copper and manganese are vital for the regrowth of the protein mesh that both calcium and magnesium latch onto before new bone can be created so we need the lot and that’s where Popeye’s favourite comes in.

Spinach provides good to excellent levels of all of the above, other than vitamin D but it is its wealth of vitamin K which has seriously raised its status as a bone-builder. It’s not only bone that thins with age, bone marrow also becomes more ‘fatty’. Vitamin K has a huge fondness for fat and recent research on the bone marrow in elderly patients receiving hip replacements indicates that much of the vitamin K required for the bone-building process gets ‘locked’ inside the bone marrow and therefore unavailable. To add insult to injury, the richest food sources of vitamin K are ‘greens‘ and for a number of different reasons, many ‘seniors‘ are eating well below the recommended amount of not only ‘greens‘ but vegetables in general.

Around 200g of spinach provides a massive 888mcg of vitamin K so when you consider that in recent studies, a supplement of 1mg** reduced calcium loss and encouraged new bone growth it is easy to understand why spinach continues to create a deal of excitement!

I use it in a great many dishes. Here are a selection that not only provide good levels of bone-building nutrients (including vitamin D) but are also quick to prepare and delicious.

Poached Egg Special

One-Pot Chicken

Spinach & Watercress Soup

Chicken, Chorizo & Greens Soup

Lamb & Rice Soup

Fish in a Parcel

Parcel-Baked Fish

*Should you wish to consider an anti-osteoporosis supplement, ensure that it includes at least 600mg calcium, 300mg magnesium, 8mg manganese, 2mg boron and 2mg copper together with vitamins K, D and B6.

**If you are on an anti-coagulant such as Warfarin do not supplement Vitamin K as it may reduce its effectiveness.

Looking great, staying focused and having loads of energy when every day is full-on is a big ask and when you are often up at the crack of dawn, work long hours and regularly have to attend social events in the evening, getting your diet right to keep you firing on all cylinders can be stressful to say the least. And if you are trying to lose weight, can be even harder. But, a few little secrets up your sleeve can give you the edge over your bleary-eyed, stress-ridden contemporaries!

The Big Secret

Get this one right and you will be well-ahead of the game! You can’t afford energy dips if you want to keep all the balls in the air from morning to night, get a good night’s sleep and wake up refreshed every day. The diagram below illustrates very simply why eating small, often and well provides sustained energy all day (the red line) and why forgetting to eat, eating on the run, grabbing a sugary/salty snack or following a very low calorie diet results in you roller coasting from huge bursts of energy which see you achieving mammoth tasks in record time only to be quickly followed by monumental energy dips where you just want to put your head on the desk and close your eyes (the black line). Keep your hungry brain satisfied and blood sugar highs and lows won’t invade your day (or night). 

TOP TIPS TO KEEP YOU IN THE RED ZONE

GRAZE ON FABULOUS FATS: Foods rich in essential fatty acids (particularly Omega 3s) keep you feeling fuller for longer, keep your brain sharp, plump up your skin cells delaying wrinkles, keep hair shiny and nails strong, accelerate fat loss and provide sustained energy.

Top Foods: Fresh nuts and seeds, nut and seed oils and butters, oily fish (fresh, frozen or tinned), Omega 3-rich eggs and avocado.

MAKE PROTEIN A PRIORITY: Adding a little quality protein to every meal and snack throughout the day ensures that the sugars derived from the carbohydrates you eat are delivered more slowly into the bloodstream thus avoiding energy dips and cravings.

Top Foods: Lean meats and poultry, game, eggs, beans, lentils, chickpeas and hard cheeses.     

BUY A BIGGER HANDBAG/BRIEFCASE: The power of a portable snack can’t be overstressed! With just a little pre-planning you can ensure that you keep the hunger monster at bay by grazing on a small healthy snack.

Top Foods: A bag of mixed nuts, seeds and dried fruit, a couple of mini oatcakes with cottage cheese, a few vegetable sticks with hummus, a small pack of fishy sushi or a pot of natural yoghurt with fresh fruit are easy to find, easy to transport and light on the pocket.

WATCH OUT FOR WHITE FOODS: White foods are mostly refined foods. The nutritious outer coating of the grain has been removed leaving little more than sugar and starch which are broken down and released into the blood stream at record speed, don’t satisfy you for long and prompt a need for another snack all too soon.

Top Culprits: White bread, white pasta, crisps, biscuits, cakes, pastries, fries, buns and sugary, fizzy drinks are the worst culprits. Keep them to a minimum wherever possible and if they are unavoidable have some protein alongside (see above). 

HIKE UP THE HAPPY FOODS: Some foods encourage the production of the reward chemical, dopamine which makes us feel happy and when we feel happy we are less likely to want or need a generous helping of our favourite comfort foods which more often than not don’t tick the healthy, nutritious foods box!

Top Foods: Fish, shellfish, chicken, turkey, venison, eggs, oats, bananas and peanuts.

BECOME A BEAN-AHOLIC: Beans, lentils and some of their legume cousins are a rich source of non-digestible carbohydrates which help to slow down the pace at which other carbohydrates get broken down, keep you feeling fuller for longer, increase the absorption of calcium which is linked to reducing fat storage and promote a phenomenon where we regularly eat less at our next meal or snack.

Top Foods: All beans and lentils, corn, split peas, barley, brown rice, millet, oats

EXERCISE OUTDOORS: A deficiency of vitamin D can interfere with our appetite-suppressing hormone, leptin causing us to eat more. Vitamin D is primarily synthesised after exposure to sunlight. Exercising outdoors for half an hour a day, preferably with bare arms and legs ups the synthesis and helps to ensure we don’t become deficient.

Top Foods: Mackerel, herring, tinned salmon, tinned sardines and eggs provide reasonable levels of vitamin D so get them into your diet wherever possible.   

HAVE A BEDTIME SNACK: Sleep deprivation not only makes it nigh on impossible to fire on all cylinders all day but also, upsets the balance of the hunger and fullness hormones, ghrelin and leptin which prompt disordered eating patterns. One of the major reasons we find it difficult to get to sleep or wake up at five in the morning and can’t get back to sleep is because our blood sugar levels are all over the place. A small bedtime snack taken around half an hour before bed involving foods rich in the amino acid, tryptophan which prompts the production of the sleepy chemical, serotonin can be an extremely useful tactic.

Top Choices: A mug of hot chocolate made with 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate granules and soya milk, one egg lightly scrambled on an oatcake, a small plate of porridge with a drizzle of Manuka honey or a small bowl of turkey and spinach broth.