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Per a post on Seth Roberts blog (i’m David199 there also), my own sleep issues, and Dutchie telling me about the Hibernation Diet, i have been looking into better sleep through food (see my link to Honey as a sleep aid under the articles section of this forum). Here [ http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php’t=20754 ] is a great thread on the Crossfit forum where some guys/girls found eating ice cream at night before bed made them lose weight (its 56 pages and has been going on for 7 yrs). The Hibernation Diet says taking a little honey (tsp to tbl spoon) before bed helps regulate blood sugar, nourish the brain and keep stress hormones low. I’ve been playing with this for the last few nights and i’m finding that a tablespoon of honey helps, but that the more i eat the better. In the thread linked above, crossfit found that eating ice cream before bed did the same thing and better sleep = weightloss. Ray Peat also mentioned in a Q&A session on Danny Roddy’s site: “During the night all of the hormones of stress and inflammation rise, and the ice cream decreases them enough for you to stay asleep . . .”
And comments like this on page 45 of the Crossfit thread, point out that sugar seems to be an important part of the equation: ?Oddly, I almost always PR [set a personal record] the next day after eating a bowl or two of ice cream. If I go overboard on pasta or something the night before, I am usually burned out halfway through a respectable length metcon [metabolic conditioning workout] (20 minutes), but with ice cream it doesn’t matter what the WOD [workout of the day] is, I always feel and perform better. 180 Degree Health has helped me add carbs to my former Paleo ways and I’m no longer terrified of sugar, but i think one issue has been timing of meals. I used to eat dinner at 7:30pm and then not eat until breakfast (around 8:30am). I realized i was going a solid 12 hours or more each day without food and most importantly, i was going without food during the very time i was hoping to rest and rebuild. Ice cream for dessert wasn’t helping me if i went to bed 4 hours later. We know that big meals can make us sleepy, why are we not using them to . . . well . . . make us sleepy? I have always been taught that trying to digest food all night would make you wake up tired and that eating before bed will make it “turn to fat.” Nighttime snacking is viewed a health problem, but maybe its the solution. I had previously tried Matt’s sugar and salt under the tongue if i wake up in the middle of the night (which i do every night) but that didn’t seem to help and at that point i was already awake.
Second, the idea that a meal with sugar before bed stops the stress hormones and allow you to 1) recover better and 2) burn fat all night since your stress hormones are low is fascinating. We’ll see. I’m skeptical. No way it can be this easy.
Just a few more perspectives from around the web.
http://paleohacks.com/questions/153347/why-does-ice-cream-help-me-sleep-thru-night-but-sw.html#axzz2k9w184BD A paleo person found ice cream made her (?) sleep well. She tried a more paleo friendly meal at night – sweet potatoes and butter – but it didn’t work and she awoke with her mind racing. She ate some ice cream to go back to sleep.
Also, people over at Mark’s Daily Apple reported success, but 1) tried to turn it into Paleo ice cream by not having dairy and having less sugar or 2) stopped because they didn’t think it was healthy. From a poster: “So I ate my last pint of coconut milk ice cream last night before bed – yes I ate the entire pint in one sitting, 840 calories and 84g of carbs – and I slept like a baby! I lasted almost 2 weeks on the ice cream diet and didn’t gain any weight and have probably added a little bit of muscle. I didn’t eat the ice cream every single day, probably only 2 out of 3 days.
Why am I quitting you might ask? Well, I am really trying to focus on completely eliminating processed foods from my diet. And even though I found organic ice cream made from coconut milk, there were still some chemicals in the ice cream (including soy and peanut products). For me, overall health trumps gimmicky weight loss or muscle gain pursuits. “Ooh! I’ve nearly 4 doz eggs and icecream has been on my list of to-do’s :D I remember the days where my husband and I would enjoy icecream late at night, and Miss 9 is gonna love me when I give her some after dinner :D Will keep an eye on this post and post my own findings. I’ve been very unkind to my body over the last 15 years with restrictive eating and yo-yo dieting.
Admittedly, I’m new to all this, but OMG! Ice cream before bedtime helps you sleep better and lose weight? Totally counterintuitive isn’t it?
Well, I’ve learned to make my own ice cream from pure heavy cream and various sweeteners such as stevia and xylitol. (I don’t like most store bought ice cream) The recipe is simple if you want to try it (and the Cuisinart electric ice cream maker is the BOMB!) and I’ll be glad to share if anyone asks.
Basically a little cream cheese, xanthan gum, heavy cream and flavoring or fruit puree. It is divine. But of course I’ve been eating one tiny scoop at a time afraid of the calorie content. Maybe I’ll have to rethink that.
I found that drinking cream before bed helps me stay asleep longer, but I haven’t done that for a long time… and my sleep is terrible again. I didn’t know that sugar is part of the equation, but I usually had something sweet with the cream, so that makes sense. I had a crazy milkshake craving late last night, but it was too late to go get one. I need to start keeping ice cream on hand, apparently!
I was wondered with the post. Thanks for the suggestions about icecreams for good sleep.
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