by Valerie Ghitti
If the change of season and spring will take your sleep away, nothing better than one vegetables which is almost a spring “must” to try to recover a good night's sleep. Let's talk about the lettuce, but not of its consumption in the classic salad.
In fact, if eaten raw, it has a good quality moisturizing and satiating effect and improves bowel activity, but can make it difficult digestion for the important presence of vitamin E, chlorophyll and iron, so it could be counterproductive at dinner. If you cook it, however, things change.
ALL ABOUT THE "MILK"
«Cotta, lettuce is well tolerated even by those with digestive problems, but above all it becomes sedative and soporific ”, explains Anna D'Eugenio, nutritionist. «This property is linked to the substances present in the lactucarium, the whitish juice found in the leaves and at the base of the plant.
In particular, the lattucina, an active ingredient with a bitter taste and hypnotic properties ». This salad is also rich in calcium and potassium, which aid neuromuscular relaxation.
TO INCREASE THE EFFECT
To promote deeper sleep, you can combine lettuce with other foods with a soporific effect. «For a sedative and muscle relaxant action, try risotto with lettuce (rice is a powerful muscle relaxant) and another salad to your liking enriched with a handful of almonds (calming like lettuce) », advises Anna D'Eugenio.
The same hypnotic and anti-stress action is given by one pasta with lettuce, zucchini (rich in potassium) and sage, which favors the secretion of bile and stimulates its flow towards the intestine, with a digestive and relaxing effect.
«If you don't have a good adjustment of the sugar metabolism, not only do you need a meal that can relax the muscles, but you also need foods that keep the value of the glycemia to avoid possible nocturnal awakenings. For this purpose, a cream of pumpkin, lettuce sautéed in a pan with garlic, oil and chilli pepper and chicken breast with almonds is fine ", concludes the nutritionist
NUTRITIONAL VALUES
A pound of raw lettuce provides 94,3 g of water, 1,5 g of fiber, 1,8 g of protein, 240 mg of potassium, 45 mg of football, 229 micrograms of provitamin A, 6 mg of vitamin C e only 19 calories.
EFFECTIVE EVEN AS DECOCTED
If you don't like dining with lettuce, you can take advantage of its soporific effects by using it for a decoction: you just need to boil a clean head in half a liter of water for about a quarter of an hour. You must therefore filter everything and drink a cup, better lukewarm, before going to bed. And you can keep the rest in a thermos on your bedside table to buy back the sonno in case you are subject to nocturnal awakenings.
