COLUMN: Sleep like a baby -- drink 'Golden Milk'
By Dr. Brenda Gill
One of the issues I treat the most is compromised sleep—either folks who have a hard time getting to sleep or ones who wake and have a hard time getting back to sleep. Sleep is definitely under-rated! We ALL need 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep to fully repair all the systems in our body.
One of the remedies I suggest is drinking Golden Milk. It’s a lovely combination of yummy spices, turmeric being the primary spice. It not only helps sleep by re-balancing the adrenal hormones, but it is also anti-inflammatory and minimizes histamine reactions, therefore decreasing allergies such as reactions to irritants or foods. Turmeric also decreases asthma, hay fever, eczema, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or any other auto-immune problem. It also supports the liver to improve its functioning, improves eyesight, reduces cataract formation and macular degeneration. The active constituent, curcumin is also anti-viral, helps prevent cancer and tumour formation, protects against heart disease and improves breakdown of cholesterol. It also improves blood sugar control and improves circulation and varicose veins.
So drink your milk — Golden milk, that is!
Soothing Golden Milk Recipe
Ingredients
½ cup water
½ cup coconut oil
¼ cup organic turmeric powder
1 teaspoon freshly crushed cardamom
1 teaspoon freshly ground cloves
4 teaspoons ground Ceylon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon organic unpasteurized honey, maple syrup or agave syrup
In a saucepan, bring the water and coconut oil to a simmer. Blend the turmeric, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger and black pepper together and add to the water/oil mixture. Simmer for 4-5 minutes, stirring with a utensil you are happy to see turn permanently yellow. Add one teaspoon of honey, maple syrup or agave syrup. Allow to cool.
Refrigerate in a glass container. After it hardens, use a fork and break it up into a fine crumbly mixture. If you do this, it will make it easier to get a rounded tablespoon to add to the heated milk.
To facilitate a good night’s sleep, or to minimize any of the above problems, pour a cup of unsweetened almond, coconut, soy, hemp or goat milk into a saucepan and gently heat to a very low simmer, but DO NOT BOIL. Add a rounded tablespoon of the GOLDEN MILK mixture and stir into the hot milk until it is very creamy and enjoy!
