5 Dinner Ideas For More Restful Sleep

When preparing your dinner, it’s important to choose foods that will help you relax after your long day.

It is then necessary to favor those which can allow you to sleep better, and to rest well.

Unfortunately, we often eat foods that activate us and give us energy, which can be very healthy but are meant to be eaten at other times of the day.

In this article, we’ll teach you how to choose the most suitable ingredients for dinner.  You will discover some suggestions of light, satiating and delicious recipes. You will be able to rest serenely.

Preliminary advice

Before suggesting some recipes, we are going to give you some general recommendations, valid for everyone:

• Do not consume sugar and foods high in sugar,  as is the case with certain fruits (peaches, melons, apricots, etc.).
• Avoid citrus fruits,  which are great for waking up in the morning, but are too energetic for the evening. The only exception is grapefruit, but eat it a few hours before bed anyway.

• Limit your consumption of starchy foods and flour: cereals, flour-based foods (bread, dough, etc.) and starchy-based foods (pasta, bananas).
• Minimize fried or pre-cooked foods. 
• Do not consume stimulants:  coffee, cocoa, cola.
• Prefer fish or eggs,  to meat or cold cuts.
• Don’t mix too many different foods in your dinner (for example, no meat and fish at the same time).
• Don’t eat too much food, and don’t eat dinner too late. The ideal is not to be completely full at the end of the meal, and not to have dinner after 8 p.m.
• Don’t drink a lot of fluids  after dinner, it will keep you from going to the bathroom overnight.
• Don’t eat too fast. If you are very hungry, try eating a piece of fruit before dinner, or having a glass of water before you start eating.

The green gazpacho

Green vegetables provide us with large amounts of magnesium, an essential mineral for regulating our nervous system, but also for relaxing all the components of our muscular system.
This allows us to let go of all the tensions of the day.

To prepare this gazpacho, combine the following ingredients:

• Raw spinach,
• Rocket,
• Parsley,
• Lawyer,
• Olive oil,
• Apple vinegar,
• Sea salt.

The amounts of each vegetable depend on your personal taste. Serve this gazpacho cold, of course.

Zucchini, oat and wakame velouté

Oats are a very nutritious cereal, which can be eaten in small quantities in the evening, as it helps us regulate our nervous system and fight anxiety states. Add a tablespoon of oatmeal to each plate of your soup. It will add a lot of smoothness to your recipe.

The zucchini will allow the whole to be very light, because it has a low calorie content, and is very satiating thanks to its high concentration of fiber.

The wakame seaweed, rich in minerals, will bring a nice creaminess to the whole, thus avoiding adding dairy products to the soup.

The omelet with peppers and mushrooms

Eating protein at night is only healthy if it is easy to digest. Eggs then emerge as  the ideal option, because they are nutritious and contain a large amount of beneficial healthy fats.

The egg allows you to prepare a large number of recipes, and today we suggest you make a beautiful omelet with peppers and mushrooms. A delicious option!

Serve the omelet with a good green salad, and do not eat it with bread, or any other food containing flour.

Artichokes a la plancha and grated egg

Artichokes are very healthy, especially eaten in the evening, because they allow us to improve the functioning of our liver, an organ that regenerates itself during the first hours of the day.

You can cook them so that they are very soft, then cook them a la plancha with olive oil and raw garlic.

To make this meal complete, add a grated hard-boiled egg to your dish when serving.

Cream of peas and brown rice

Soups are always the best option for dinner because they are nutritious, filling and very relaxing when eaten hot.

In this soup, you can use peas, which are the most digestible pulses, and those which cause the least gas.

In addition, if you combine them with brown rice, a food rich in vitamins and minerals, you will get a good dose of vegetable protein that will be well assimilated by your body.

Imágenes by Jack Letourneau, lasrecetasdecadadia and floridecires