Transcription
Do you wake up feeling groggy and bloated even after a full night of sleep? Or maybe you find yourself wide awake at 3:00 a.m. staring at the ceiling, feeling wired and tired. Or maybe you just can't seem to fall asleep no matter how tired you feel.
Look, I've been there myself. And then I started doing these things before bed and it changed everything. More energy in the morning, fewer cravings at night, waking up with a flat stomach, the bloating is completely gone, and deep, uninterrupted, restorative, fat burning sleep. In this lesson, I'm going to walk you through this nighttime routine so you can do it, too, and get all of these wonderful benefits.
The first thing I implemented was no food at least 3 hours before bedtime. This one is a game changer. Here's why. When you eat right before bed, you're going to be digesting food. It's going to increase your body temperature. This is the exact opposite of what needs to happen for you to rest and get into deep stages of fat burning sleep. We actually need our body temperature to drop one to two degrees those first few hours you're in bed. That will not happen when you're digesting food.
Also, there's going to be a glucose response from that food. Insulin is produced to clear that glucose. And what will end up happening is the blood sugars go up. Maybe you fall asleep and then those blood sugars crash and then you wake up at 2:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m. staring at the ceiling feeling wired and tired. It's a blood sugar issue.
Oh, and it gets worse when glucose goes up because you ate before bed. You don't produce melatonin. You see, there's an inverted relationship between glucose and insulin and melatonin. Melatonin is not just important for sleep, by the way. It's the most important and the most powerful antioxidant for your mitochondria. Those are the little battery packs within your cells that produce energy and help you burn fat. The mitochondria actually produce melatonin. So, when you produce good amounts of melatonin, you burn fat, you have more energy, and of course, you get amazing restorative deep sleep.
Well, when you eat before bed, it blunts that melatonin production. This is going to age you faster, create oxidative stress, and increase your waistline and belly fat. The metabolism will prioritize digestion over restoration. Your body will be so busy breaking down food instead of detoxifying, burning fat, and getting all the incredible benefits from deep sleep.
And one more issue here. When you eat food and go lie down, it can create acid reflux, gird, and for sure bloating, and some other digestive issues. It's because you're eating and then you're lying down horizontally, and that's not good for digestion. So, I could go on and on for the many reasons why we don't want to give the body energy, not use that energy, which is eating before bed.
When you give yourself at least three hours of no food before bed, and even better, if you want to be a pro here, 5 hours of fasting before bed, no food at least 5 hours before bed, you're going to wake up with a flat stomach, deep fat burning, detoxifying sleep every night. Your blood sugar levels are going to be optimized, insulin is going to be normal, and you'll start to burn fat. So the first thing I implemented that I want you to implement as well, no food at least 3 to 5 hours before bed.
This brings us to the second thing that has been a game changer. I started to take apple cider vinegar 30 minutes before bedtime. No, it does not break a fast. It keeps you in a fasted state. You're not digesting that. It's actually being assimilated and used in the metabolism right away. But there's some amazing things that happen when you have apple cider vinegar 30 minutes before bed. Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to give you a timeline of what happens throughout the night.
You see, apple cider vinegar contains it's an ancient tonic and it contains these incredible properties, okay? It contains acetic acid, which is the hero compound. It's a short-chain fatty acid. It has trace minerals, prebiotics, and beneficial enzymes and bacteria. All great for the gut. And here's what it's going to do. It's going to stabilize your blood sugar levels so you don't wake up in the middle of the night feeling wired and tired from a blood sugar crash. Because when your blood sugars crash, your body produces cortisol to wake you up, and then that's going to keep you up. This prevents that.
Apple cider vinegar helps with fat metabolism, so you wake up with a flatter stomach, a slimmer waistline. Apple cider vinegar also helps with satiety and appetite control. All right, that's important because you're not eating 3 to 5 hours before bed. And if you struggle with sugar cravings, take some apple cider vinegar. That will go away. The cravings will go away. And we know it also helps with gut health, digestive health. So if you suffer with acid reflux, gird, and bloating, this is going to be extremely beneficial for you.
So when you have the apple cider vinegar, the first 30 minutes, what's going to happen is number one, stomach acid increases in your gut. This means better digestion for the meal you had 3 hours ago or 5 hours ago. This helps with reducing gas and bloating, and it helps you feel fuller longer, so you're not snacking before bed.
One to two hours in after you've taken the apple cider vinegar, you're asleep, and you're lowering your stress hormones. You're getting into deep delta fat burning sleep with where your fat burning hormones are fully activated burning fat. Your brain is shrinking in size and literally 20% in size. And then you have a fluid going over it called the glimpmphatic system, the cerebral spinal fluid, flushing out toxins. Your body is enhancing melatonin. We just discussed how important that is. Increasing growth hormone, an anti-aging fat burning hormone, reducing inflammation in the gut and in the body, and promoting cellular repair. This is only happening 2 hours in.
Now, 6 to 8 hours in, this is when you're about to wake up, you're going to notice a flatter stomach, no cravings in the morning, more energy in the morning, and a sharper brain. And I think you want all those things. I know I sure do.
So, here's how you do it the right way. Grab yourself a bottle of organic apple cider vinegar. Get two tablespoons and put that into about 6 to 8 ounces of spring water and mix it. Let it dilute. And then drink it ideally through a straw. Do that 30 minutes before bed. I have to say I personally do not like the taste of apple cider vinegar. So, I take high quality capsules, apple cider vinegar capsules. Now, they're not all created equal, the gummies and the supplements out there, but the one I take is high quality. It's from Paleo Valley. It also includes ginger and cinnamon, other compounds that help with blood sugar and deep sleep. So, I take two to three of those Paleo Valley apple cider vinegar capsules 30 minutes before bed with water. Or you could just have the liquid. And I have a coupon code for the apple cider vinegar capsules from Paleo Valley, which I'll put in the notes down below.
This brings us to the third thing I started to do right before bed. And this might be weird, but it's called mouth taping. May have seen this trend on TikTok, the mouth taping trend, but there's actually some some really cool scientific evidence and personal experience to show it actually does work. You see, in order for you to get deep, fat burning, restorative sleep, we need to be breathing through our nose, not our mouth. And most people were mouth breathers. I was a chronic mouth breather. And you're not going to get good sleep doing that because it depletes nitric oxide when you're breathing through your mouth. Nitric oxide is important for something called vaso dilation where your blood vessels open up and you deliver nutrients and oxygen and blood flow to tissues for healing. It also helps the mitochondria. It helps with deep sleep. It helps with fat burning. And when you breathe through your mouth overnight, you deplete it.
How do you know if you're a mouth breather? Well, most people are. But if you wake up and your mouth is dry, red flag. You're breathing through your mouth. So, we need to retrain the body to breathe through the nose. And we do that by putting a piece of tape over the mouth. It sounds weird. You might feel claustrophobic at first, but you get used to it. I promise you, I felt weird at first, and now I've been doing this for years. And I noticed a big difference in my sleep when I forget to do it versus when I do do it. Now, the company I use is called Somnifix. I have them shipped to me. I have a coupon code with them. I'll drop it down below. But here's what's going to happen when you mouth tape. Less snoring. As a matter of fact, your snoring might go away completely. More oxygen saturation, more deep fat burning sleep.
This brings us to the next thing I did. There's a couple more things that I want to share with you that's been a game changer for my health. The fourth thing here is taking a high quality magnesium supplement. Most people are magnesium deficient and magnesium is responsible for 400 different activities inside of your body and your metabolism. So, if you're deficient in this crucial nutrient, that means your body cannot do 400 things efficiently. But I like taking it before bed because it helps with relaxation, deep fat burning sleep, and even REM sleep, which is rapid eye movement sleep, great for memory processing, helping with brain fog, productivity, and focus. The studies show around 80% of people are deficient in magnesium, which leads to restless leg syndrome, anxiety erasing thoughts, muscle cramps, and trouble falling asleep and trouble staying asleep.
When you take magnesium 60 minutes before bed, you're going to fall asleep faster, wake up less times throughout the night. It's going to improve your heart rate variability, which is a really important marker showing how healthy your nervous system is, and it's going to calm your nervous system overall. There are different magnesiums out there. You're wondering which one is it? Glycinate, is it 38? Is it citrate? There's many ones out there. I like the one from Bioptimizers, Mag Breakthrough, because it has all seven different types of magnesium. They're all beneficial, and you get all the benefits of all seven of them, and I actually have a coupon code with them as well. So, I take two to three of them about an hour before bed, and I'll drop a link in a coupon code for the magnesium breakthrough in the notes down below.
This brings us to the fifth thing I started to do right before bed that has been a game changer. That's going to be wearing a sleep mask. This is like $15, $20. It's not expensive, but light at nighttime is the enemy of melatonin production. It activates cortisol and it disrupts your sleep and circadian rhythm. I talk all about this on in chapter six of my brand new book, Metabolic Freedom, the circadian rhythm. So, what you want to do, and the reason why we wear the sleep mask is because it doesn't allow light through your eyes. But here's an unknown benefit to wearing the sleep mask. This is going to blow your mind. I learned this from Dr. Peter Martone, who's also called Dr. SleepRight. He taught me that when you put a sleep mask on and it goes over your eyes, the light pressure that it applies on your face, activates your veagal tone, which is your parasympathetic nervous system. That's the part of your nervous system you want activated before bed because it tells you you're safe. It helps you calm down. It lowers cortisol and helps you get really incredible sleep. It helps you feel relaxed.
So, if you pair the sleep mask, and I'll drop a link for the one I use down below. They're not expensive. But if you pair that with no screen time 90 minutes before bed, no food 3 hours before bed, and keeping your bedroom cold, like 65 to 68° Fahrenheit, with all the other tips I mentioned today, oh my gosh, you are going to feel incredible. And here's the best thing about this routine. You're going to notice a difference the first night you do this. So implement it and watch what it does for you.
Now, I'm going to answer some of your commonly asked questions on this topic. Before I do, I want to encourage you to go get my brand new book, Metabolic Freedom, which just released a few days ago into the world. It's available worldwide on hardcover, Kindle, Audible, Spotify. I narrated the audios myself. It'll change your life. There's a 30-day plan in here that it's going to help you burn 20 pounds in fat in 30 days. A chapter on sleep, a chapter on fasting and keto, and my favorite chapter, chapter 10, on how your thoughts influence your metabolism. So, you can get this with a free course on the metabolism and exclusive interviews by scanning the QR code on the screen here or clicking the link down below or going to metabolicfreedombook.com. Now, let's get to your questions.
Can I use apple cider vinegar in the morning too or is it only beneficial at night? You could also use it in the morning. You could also use it 30 minutes before your meals throughout the day. It is beneficial. It's going to be a game changer for gut health, inflammation, and that post sugar spike from meals if you have it before a meal. I'm a fan.
Is it safe to take apple cider vinegar long term? Will it affect my teeth or stomach lining? That's why I want you to dilute it and drink it through a straw so it doesn't affect your esophagus or it doesn't affect your teeth. So, if you do it that way, it's safe long term.
Will this routine help with hormone imbalances like cortisol, insulin resistance, or menopause symptoms? 100% yes. In chapter six of metabolic freedom, I say that sleep is the Swiss Army knife of your metabolism. So, hormone imbalances, high cortisol, high insulin, menopausal symptoms. When you upgrade your sleep, all of those conditions upgrade as well, and it happens the first night. So, I'm excited for you to experience that.
Is it okay to take supplements like the magnesium you suggested with apple cider vinegar at the same time, or should they be spaced apart? You can take them at the same time. That makes it easier for you. 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime, take the apple cider vinegar and the magnesium. It's fine to take it together. Not an issue.
How soon can I expect to notice results in my energy, sleep, or fat loss after starting this routine? As I mentioned, you're going to notice a difference the first night. It's a compounding effect. So, three nights in, you'll get three times the benefits. 7 days in, you'll get seven times the benefits. Every night you are intentional with this and consistent, that compounds with your health, fat loss, energy, and metabolism.
What are the best foods to eat for dinner if I'm finishing my last meal early so I don't get hungry later? That's going to be a high protein, high fat meal. Get at least 30 to 40 grams of high quality protein at that meal because it activates these different hormones and chemicals that help you stay full longer. So 30 to 40 grams of fat and protein at dinner is what I would recommend. So that would be like steak and eggs or steak and Brussels sprouts or some burgers without the bun. Even a high quality protein shake. Focus on protein, focus on fat, and keep your carbohydrates under 20 to 30 grams of total carbs for that final meal as well.
What if I have acid reflux? Can I still use apple cider vinegar safely? And are there alternatives? Actually, with the thousands of students I've worked with that have had um acid reflux, including my fiance when we first started dating, fasting strategies, which I talk about in chapter 8 of metabolic freedom, and apple cider vinegar were the solutions. Most people think, "Oh my gosh, but I have acid reflux. It's too much acid. Why do I want to have apple cider vinegar? That's acidic." Well, here's the truth that your doctor has not told you. Having acid reflux is not too much acid, it's too little acid. It builds up in your lower esophageal sphincter, your LES, and the valve stays open and it feels like an excess of reflux or acid, but it's actually too little acid. So, we want to repopulate the acidity in your gut, which is meant to be very acidic. So, apple cider vinegar helps with that. And different fasting strategies also help as well.
Will this bedtime routine improve my deep sleep scores on my wearables like the Aura Ring or the Whoop Band? For sure. And I love that you're tracking that because I use an Aura Ring. You'll see your deep sleep go up, REM sleep go up. You'll see your heart rate variability improve, your resting heart rate drop, and you'll also see less white dots throughout the night, meaning you waking up less times throughout the night. And you'll notice that the first night you implement these strategies. I'm excited for you.
Hey, share this lesson with somebody you know. It can make a big difference for them. And if you're listening on the podcast, leave it a rating and a review. Go get Metabolic Freedom. Follow the 30-day plan. Get the free course when you buy the book over at metabolicfreedombook.com or clicking the link down below.
Oh, and hey, if you love this lesson, I just published another video. Speaking of what to do before sleep, these are different drinks that you can have one cup of right before bed that really helps with fat loss. So, if you're looking to burn fat and wake up with an even more slimmer stomach, you want to drink these special liquids. So, check out the clip and I'll see you in that video. Banana tea. Banana tea is called nature's nightquil. And the cool thing about banana tea, especially for those who have their mind racing at night, it's hard to fall asleep. You have all these ideas. You feel stimulated and alert at night. This helps to calm the brain, calm the body, get you into a deep what's called parasympathetic state where you are relaxed.