Taryn Rucci • Clinical Nutritionist

Oh yay it’s my first post of the year! Where has it gone?! Well I’m still here and working busily in my clinic. It’s been a fun year and one with many great outcomes for my clients. That’s a very satisfying and rewarding part of the work I do and why I love it so much!! My current clinical focus is very much gut health and digestion/hormones/allergies but everything in between. It’s a privilege to practice the type of medicine I do. Much love to you all. Maybe I’ll post again this year or… maybe I wont!! 😬😂😘

Having problems sleeping?

Let's talk about food sources of melatonin - one of our sleep hormones.

Did you know pistachios are a stand out source of bioactive melatonin? Melatonin concentration in human serum can significantly increase after consuming melatonin rich foods and pistachios record the highest amount of melatonin to date.

They would make a nice snack before bed and may help with sleep. Be mindful of the salt content (when buying them roasted and salted) but be aware that they are actually a good source potassium (the highest source of all tree nuts). They also boast many colours which your gut loves. Green, yellow and purple - half the rainbow!

What's not clear from the research is how much you need to eat to see any effect on your sleep. From my calculations it could be anywhere from 6 pistachio nuts daily (yielding 1g of melatonin).

Source: Meng et al, 2017, 'Dietary Sources and Bioactivities of Melatonin', Nutrients, pp. 1-64.

Ok I have a super spunky logo now. Tell me, what do you think?

Thankyou to my beautiful and talented friend, Constanze from CK Graphic Design for doing such an amazing job!!