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Did you know that there are anti-sleep foods?   At night, it's advisable to prepare a meal that doesn’t have irritating or hard-to-digest foods.  Ice cream, chocolate, and fried foods are some of the things you should avoid.

Pedro's mother knows it very well:  each time her son has dinner at a fast-food restaurant, he has trouble sleeping.  When she took her son to his regular checkup with the pediatrician, she thought the doctor would say that the “stimulating” environment at these places is the cause of sleep difficulty in children.  She was surprised to hear that what interferes with sleeping is junk food itself.  Sodas produce excessive gas, while fried foods are high in fat, which makes digestion difficult.  

Junk food is not the only culprit. There are other foods that may hinder the digestive process:   

• Ice cream:  Its fat content slows down digestion, so eating too much of it can cause digestion disorders.    
• Citrus drinks: These beverages can irritate the esophagus by stimulating and irritating sensory nerves. Sometimes you may experience acid reflux, but it’s really an inflammation. 
• Mashed potatoes: Can cause severe discomfort in people with lactose intolerance who usually only take care of minimizing milk ingestion.
• Spicy foods: They can irritate the lower esophageal tract, causing excessive gastric acidity after eating.  
• Legumes: These foods can produce gas and cause inflammation, especially in people who are not used to eating vegetables regularly, since they lack the enzymes necessary to digest them.  
• Chocolate brownies: They can make the low esophageal sphincter relax, allowing stomach acid reflux.  
• Raw onions:  They can affect your stomach and taste buds (which are found on the palate).
• Fried foods:  They’re oily and high in fat, and both characteristics cause stomach disorders.
• Broccoli and cabbage:  These vegetables can cause plenty of gas in the intestinal tract, because they have lots of fiber and nutrients.
• Sugarless gum: Produces gas due to an ingredient, sorbitol, which is an artificial sweetener found in many chewing gums.  
• Popcorn: Who doesn’t like watching a movie before bedtime, with a huge bag of popcorn!  Although it has many properties, popcorn isn’t anything but puffed corn kernels. Moreover, it can produce inflammation and gas in the intestines.  

Some of these foods have nutritional properties.  Therefore, you shouldn’t eliminate them from your diet.  You can have them at noon.  If you want to eat them at night, try not to go to bed immediately after dinner.  Since digestion becomes slower at this time, wait a while before going to bed in order to rest without discomfort.  

Source: Sugar Inc.  www.fitsugar.com