Thailand Detox

Sleep Problems? Do-It-Yourself Treatments

Trouble sleeping is a common complaint and popular reason for a visit to the doctor. Some people may be reluctant to visit the doctor for this problem, however, because they don’t want to take sleeping pills with side effects or are afraid of becoming dependent on the pills. There are home treatments for sleep problems that might help.

Herbs and other homeopathic substances have always been used to help people with sleep problems. Here are some of the substances that are commonly used.

*Valerian root reduces anxiety and stress levels, allowing you to fall asleep and feel more rested. Since there are no negative side effects, valerian root is one of the more commonly used herbs.

*The scent of lavender is so relaxing and helps reduce stress as well. There are many ways to use lavender, including store-bought products and fresh lavender, to help you sleep.

*Kava Kava, when taken before you go to sleep, can reduce your stress level and help you relax so you can fall asleep. Depending on how much you take, this herb can be very potent.

Not all products advertised as natural are automatically safe for you to use. You need to find out as much as possible about an herb or other natural medicine before you start taking it.

Often people will have a nice hot relaxing cup of tea to help them sleep. You may not be aware of the food items that have the same properties. Many proteins including eggs, chicken and fish contain tryptophan, a substance found to promote relaxation and to treat sleep problems. Most of us have heard of the tryptophan because of the effect turkey has on us after a big Thanksgiving dinner. This substance is also the reason that a warm glass of milk from mom always helped you sleep.

Tryptophan works best when combined with complex carbohydrates and calcium. These other substances reduce the interference from other chemicals in your body and help with absorption of tryptophan.

We all try to add things to our nightly routine like warm milk or a hot bath to help us sleep. What we often don’t think about is how we need to take out the caffeine products and alcohol before bedtime. Caffeine and alcohol can cause trouble falling and staying asleep.

All the herbs in the world won’t help if you don’t set up a regular sleep schedule with a set bedtime and set time to wake up every day. By following a sleeping schedule, you are actually teaching your body how to sleep. The more regimented your schedule is, which means no staying up late and sleeping in on weekends, all the better. When your body learns to recognize when it needs rest, you’ll sleep better. The better you sleep at night, the better your whole day will be!

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Have a Healthy Thanksgiving Dinner

We all love the big Thanksgiving dinner but we don’t love the extra weight we put on from all the fattening foods. You can have a great, tasty Thanksgiving dinner as you serve the healthy food for your friends and family members. Here are some small changes to help you do just that.

USE SPICES! Spices give food more flavor without the fat or calories contained in butter and can help you avoid that fattening gravy. The spicier your food is, the less you will probably eat as well. Just make sure you don’t overuse the spices by tasting as you cook.

Instead of cream or milk, use evaporated milk which is much healthier in your desserts and even in your gravy. Look for one with skim milk in it to avoid the most fat and calories.

MAKE YOUR TURKEY HEALTHIER by draining all the grease off it that you can. Use a drip pan to catch the grease as it drains. Take the skin off the turkey before serving it because this is the greasiest, most fattening part of the turkey.

DON’T PUT THAT STUFFING IN THE TURKEY. This is because stuffing cooked inside the turkey also absorbs grease and fat from the cooking process. Cooking your stuffing in a dish on or in the stove instead will be much healthier, and less fattening, for you and the rest of your family. Also make sure you put as little grease as possible in the gravy from the turkey and add chicken broth to the gravy.

WATCH OUT FOR BUTTER. Butter is one of the most fattening foods you can use in cooking or on cooked food. Try cooking with chicken broth or evaporated milk to make delicious potatoes without a ton of fat.

Don’t drink too much. It is easy to get carried away with the eggnog, soda or cocktails but the calories in these add up fast. It’s much better to have water or juice with your dinner.

Try new healthier side dishes like green salads. If you have alternatives like a salad, you will be less likely to go for the fattening but delicious side dishes like stuffing, rolls and potatoes. Just make sure you make a healthy salad because some salads can be just as bad as those other dishes if you add the wrong ingredients. Try eating a salad or other healthy dish first then seeing how hungry you really are for the bad for you stuff.

And of course, try not to use too much dressing in your salad; your salad greens hardly have any calories in them, but adding ranch dressing or thousand islands dressing can shoot your salad’s calorie count through the roof!

You may think it won’t matter what you eat on this one day but you can be eating thousands of calories in one sitting. You can make a delicious dinner and avoid all those calories with a few simple changes.

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How to Avoid Thanksgiving Weight Gain

Thanksgiving means hanging out with your loved ones and having a great meal (or two) together. If you aren’t careful, though, that Thanksgiving meal can mean gaining weight. You can enjoy the Thanksgiving meal without overdoing it and packing on the pounds. The following are some suggestions to help you do this.

A lot of us eat when we are stressed. Getting ready for Thanksgiving can be stressful with all the travel plans you have to make, the food you have to cook, and the family gatherings you have to plan. This can make you want to pig out the whole month long. Take time to relax and rest so that you won’t be tempted to overeat before Thanksgiving even gets here. This advice can apply to the Christmas holiday as well.

You can make that Thanksgiving dinner your family loves a little healthier without losing any of its flavor by substituting some healthier ingredients for the unhealthy ones. One thing you can do is use more spices for flavoring instead of butter and gravy. Low fat evaporated milk can be used in desserts. You can use low fat chicken broth to flavor potatoes and gravy. Changing the way you cook the meal by using a steamer for vegetables or removing the fatty drippings from the turkey can help too. Your family won’t even notice the difference.

Don’t miss lunch Thanksgiving Day thinking you’ll make up for the calories you are going to eat at dinner. Having a small meal or snack before your big dinner will help you with portion control. You don’t want to be starving when dinner arrives and eat way more than you planned. Also, try to fill up on healthier foods like green salads before the main part of the big meal. A caution about the salads: veggies are low in calories, but that salad can contribute to your weight gain if you don’t lay off the dressing!

Portion control is the key at Thanksgiving dinner. Often, though, there are so many different foods to chose from that if you eat even a little of all of them you’ll be going over your calorie goals. Decide which foods you really want the most and eat a little of all of those instead of trying everything on the table. You’ll still be full and feel like you got to eat what you wanted.

A great way to work off some of those calories from the big dinner is to go outside and get some exercise. You could go for a walk, play a game like touch football or run around with the kids. You could also play a fun game of charades which is good for ages and gets everyone up and moving. You don’t have to gain weight this year at Thanksgiving if you make good food choices and plan ahead.

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