What worked for my insomnia and a few questions

[rfrfnyny]

Hi everyone,

My two year run of insomnia has been significantly improved (like 90% better) by the use of several things. I tried everything from tryptophan to valerian to various yoga and qi gong exercises to very little success. I was advised to take royal jelly ( I use the YS Organic mixture of pollen, jelly, honey and ginseng; Royal Kick by North American Herb and Spice is also great) in order to strengthen the adrenals. This lead to me falling asleep every night, but waking up several times through the course of the night and having a difficult time falling back asleep. By trial and error, I have found that eliminating starch and large meals late in the day and taking lecithin (usually about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons) helps a lot.

My questions for anyone game to give input are:

What are the chances of experiencing negetive soy side-effects by consuming lecithin? I don't see to notice anything obvious so far.

Also,

Is consuming beet/carrot juice once a day in order to cleanse the liver to harsh on insulin levels? I tried this once last week at the advise of a radio interview of John Thomas and I felt amazingly clear, in my thoughts and body, afterwards.

Thanks for listening,

Rob

[shelley]

One tablespoon of lecithin should be fine for long-term use. It's what the Queen of England did for decades. Since a good lecithin product is 96% pure, you really aren't getting any soy, just the phospholipid itself. in this case refinement is a GOOD thing.

Depends on how much beet/carrot juice. I haven't found any problems with large amounts for months at a time, but beets do have a lot of acids that the kidneys must excrete, so it's best to eat beets after they've been fermented if you plan on eating a lot of them for a long period. Check out Beet Kvass, it's a way to drink fermented beet juice. I haven't made it yet but I plan too, it's a great way to get B vitamins and such. You can Google for the recipe.

Now carrots are a somewhat estrogenic root vegetable, but again, I totally overdosed on carrot juice for months without experiencing any negative side effects beyond a slightly orange skin. Julia Chang recommends avoiding them but I'm an avid carrot supporter.

Be sure to read the FAQ for more guidelines on digestion, and analzye your diet for sources of calcium. The most common cause of insomnia is calcium imbalance, usually the lack of calcium if you're not supplementing.

If lecithin is helping you sleep you may want to consider doing a little more liver management.