Trouble Sleeping? It Could Be Caused By What You Eat

by Dr Daryl Gioffre December 01, 2015

Insomnia Do you wake up during the night?

Have trouble getting to sleep or falling back asleep?

Are you waking up multiple times to go to the bathroom?

Does your mind start racing at 2:00 am but you feel like you need 3 hours more sleep at 7:00 am?

If so, these are all signs that your body is having trouble fighting ACID.

Waking up consistently between 1:00 and 3:00 am is a tell-tale sign you are ACIDIC and your liver and your kidneys, your major detoxification organs, may be asking for some help.

Your body is always most acidic at 2:00 am, and if you’re not alkalizing your body on a daily basis, acid will build up and begin to drive the pH of your body down (bad!), and your body will do ANYTHING it needs to do to prevent this from happening.

The 5 major pathways it uses to eliminate acid is urination (pee it out), perspiration (sweat it out), respiration (breathe it out), defecation (I think you got this one ☺), and FAT retention.

That’s right, your body will use fat as buffer to prevent these damaging acids from harming the more vital organs and delicate blood pH – so if you are looking to lose some weight, have better digestion, glowing skin, or sleep like a baby again, GET OFF YOUR ACID so that your body can heal!

While we sleep, the liver and your body become more active and work on cleansing and detoxification. Waking up around this “liver time” can signal that the liver and the body are exhibiting signs of acidity and need some cleansing.

Many times this happens from eating either too much sugar or animal proteins in the evening, or a gradual build-up of dietary and metabolic acids during the day.

When we get up to urinate during the night, our body is doing whatever is can to get rid of the acid that it’s having trouble handling.

Liver Every acid and toxin you come into contact with must be filtered through the liver. The liver is the second largest organ in your body and it is also the most overworked.

Our bodies are barraged by a whole host of toxins on a daily basis in our modern world, so it is easy to see how your liver is being put into overdrive. When the liver becomes overburdened, it loses its ability to function efficiently and detox the acids and toxins on its own.

This leads to a cascade of potentially serious health consequences and uncomfortable symptoms.

What happens when the liver and kidneys are not functioning properly or are overburdened?

Acid begins to find its way into other important organs, skin, fatty tissues, and most dangerously, the blood. When this happens your body goes into instant ‘panic mode’ doing whatever it can to neutralize and fight the acid.

In addition to the 5 pathways I previously mentioned, perhaps the fastest way your body does this is by using calcium from its bones, and/or magnesium from its muscles, and/or bicarbonate from its blood to mop up all that acid.

That’s right, the pH of your blood is SO important that your body will sacrifice its own resources to keep it stable – pretty amazing.

And as it does this, it is expending large amounts of energy that is keeping you from having the quality of sleep that you have been looking for. With that said, here are 11 simple steps you can put into action right away to help you have your best sleep ever!

11 STEPS THAT LEAD TO BETTER SLEEP

1. Eliminate acid from your diet and your life as best you can. The more alkaline you eat, the better you will sleep. It’s that simple. Minimizing these acid-forming foods in your diet will go a long way toward neutralizing acid and helping you sleep:

Sugar
Soft Drinks and Carbonated Water
Milk / Cheese / Yogurt
All Meats
Margarine
MSG
Yeast
Vinegar
Alcohol
White Bread / White Pasta

2. Drink lots of pure alkaline water throughout the day. Dehydration has two negative effects on the body, both of which can affect your ability to sleep. First, water deficiency is one of the first and most prominent deficiencies in the human body. Second, a lack of water slows down the detoxification process that’s constantly taking place in the liver and digestive system. So it’s doubly important you stay hydrated throughout your day. Drink 3-4L of alkaline water to stay hydrated.

3. Break your caffeine addiction! Did you know that drinking caffeine even first thing in the morning can mess with your adrenals all day and night? That’s right, if you’re having trouble falling asleep, think back to that coffee you had 12 to 18 hours earlier as the culprit. Coffee and all caffeine products (yes, even green tea) are acid-forming.

4. Eat dark greens, preferably raw, every day. Think green in whatever forms you can get it: Green juice, green smoothie, a big green salad, green food supplements, watercress, broccoli, kale, cucumber, spinach, romaine, and fresh herbs like basil and cilantro. Eat lots of celery (a powerful cleanser that supports liver detoxification)

5. Avoid animal protein and even fish. It can be stressful for the liver to break down animal proteins, as they are acidic. So they require a lot of nerve energy to metabolize, especially during your sleeping hours. On the other hand, you need protein to support and detoxify the liver. Read my blog post about getting enough proteins for ideas on transitioning away from animal protein to plant-based proteins.

6. Eat dinner at least 2-3 hours before bedtime. That will prevent your digestive process from keeping you awake. Keep in mind that dinner is not supposed to be your big meal of the day.

7. Make sure the colon is supported and clean. The average American has 10-15 pounds of toxin laden, impacted fecal matter in their colon. When toxins remain in the colon, they are sent back to the liver. The liver then sends them right back down to the colon in the bile. To help permanently eliminate these toxins from the body, add extra fiber, probiotics, and filtered water.

8. Fight stress. As you know, stress is the number one cause of acid in the body. So the effects of stress on your sleep are two-fold. First, it’s harder to sleep if you have a lot on your mind. Then to make matters worse, your body is busier fighting acid as you try to sleep. So practice meditation, yoga, deep breathing exercises, high impact workouts early in your day, massage, keep a gratitude journal, or anything else that helps keep your stress down.

9. Sweat! Saunas (infrared is ideal) and exercise are a good way to sweat. Another way is a toxin elimination bath with Epsom salts, baking soda, and lavender oil in very warm water 3-4 times per week.

10. Assist your lymphatic system. Use a body brush every day to stimulate your lymphatic system and help move lymphatic fluids. You can also use a rebounder, or small trampoline, which is a way to stimulate lymphatic drainage, ridding your body of toxins, wastes, trapped protein, bacteria, and viruses. This creates an ideal condition for cleaning the cells. The vertical acceleration and deceleration help the cells squeeze out waste, and is perhaps my most favorite form of exercise.

11. Drink your AlkaMind Daily Greens and Daily Minerals. Start the day off by drinking Daily Greens first thing every morning. This step replenishes the liver each morning after the overnight process of detoxification. Then taking Daily Minerals 30 minutes before going to bed is going to fight the acid you’ve consumed during the day, setting your liver up for overnight success so you can sleep soundly.

The DAILY MINERALS is my SECRET WEAPON when it comes to trouble sleeping. I can't tell you how many hard core insomniacs have come to me, and starting them on the minerals, how quickly their sleep habits change.

The minerals, specifically magnesium, is very calming to your nervous system. And again, you body is MOST acidic from 1-3am, and if you are very acidic, your body spends YOUR energy to clear out this acid, which it SHOULD be using for sleep.

When you take the Daily Minerals before bed, they will neutralize all of those damaging acids, thus preventing your body from having to do all the work.

What's the result? You sleep better, so that you wake up with this newfound energy that will give you what you need to take on your day! Check them out now!