The Stress That Kickstarts Adrenal Fatigue Can Be:
- Physical: You experience infections or suffer allergies and food sensitivities. Excessive sports like marathon running and over-exercising can cause or worsen adrenal fatigue.
- Emotional: Caused by issues like work pressures, financial or relationship problems. Past unresolved trauma and abuse. Feeling unworthy, not good enough, pushing yourself to over-achieve all the time.
- Chemical: Your liver is overloaded by toxins coming from xenoestrogens, antibiotics, prescription drugs or you have lived or worked near places that are highly toxic. Chemo and radiation can also contribute.
- Spiritual: You feel a lack of purpose or direction in life.
- Dietary: A period spent overloading on caffeine, carbs and high-sugar foods can stimulate repeated cortisol release, setting up the adrenal fatigue pattern. Chronic gut issues like constipation, diarrhea, bloating, IBS, leaky gut and unaddressed food sensitivities can also cause adrenal fatigue.
Whatever the trigger, if the resulting hormonal imbalances are not corrected and the stress continues, your adrenal glands may end up completely and utterly taxed and worn out. Then the very hormones meant to give you energy and keep you alive if youre under threat, can start to compromise your health. And eventually, they become depleted.
Tips For Adrenal Fatigue Healing & Recovery
If youre dealing with symptoms of adrenal fatigue or excessive stress, the homeopathic remedies listed above are definitely something to try, but they can only assist your body. You will probably have to make a few lifestyle changes as well.
Here are a few tips that can help get you started on the road to a healthier, happier you!
Interested in more helpful tips for adrenal fatigue recovery?
Can Poorly Controlled Blood Sugar Cause Adrenal Fatigue
Yes, one common cause of adrenal fatigue is out of control blood sugar. Low blood sugar makes the adrenal glands work hard to make cortisol which raises blood sugar levels. During severe adrenal fatigue, the adrenal glands cannot produce enough cortisol. The symptoms of low blood sugar are dizziness, shakiness, and irritability. These are also symptoms of adrenal fatigue.
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Menu Of Meals For Adrenal Fatigue
What you eat not only affects your energy levels, but how you physically feel as well. While adrenal fatigue is not a recognized medical condition, a healthy diet can help make those feeling run down from the stresses of life feel a little better. Consult your doctor before making changes to your diet, and discuss any ongoing fatigue to rule out an underlying medical condition.
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Some Simple Dietary Principles
If your diet currently includes lots of processed foods, added sugar and soda, youre not alone. This is what is commonly referred to as the Standard American Diet, and it is a contributory factor to most cases of Adrenal Fatigue. Improving your dietary habits has to be a crucial part of your recovery. Here are some simple guidelines to follow.
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Eat At The Right Times
Too many of us follow a similar, unhealthy pattern. Skip breakfast, have a sandwich for lunch and then a big meal in the evening. If youre looking to make your Adrenal Fatigue worse, this is a great plan to follow!
The importance of breakfast for Adrenal Fatigue sufferers cannot be overstated. When we sit down at our breakfast tables we have been fasting for approximately 12 hours. Our bodies need fuel, and the need the right kind of fuel that is going to last us through the morning. At breakfast you should be eating a high quality source of protein combined with a small amount of high quality carbohydrates. A vegetable omelet or two poached eggs with blueberries would be two good examples. A healthy breakfast smoothie packed full of healthy fats would be another. The typical American breakfast, packed full of sugary cereals, waffles and more, is exactly what you shouldnt be eating.
Also be aware that Adrenal Fatigue sufferers struggle to maintain optimal blood sugar levels throughout the day. This is because cortisol is intimately involved with blood sugar stability. As a consequence, Adrenal Fatigue sufferers should focus on eating lots of small meals throughout the day, with a maximum of three intervals. This will help to reduce food cravings, blood sugar crashes and stresses on your HPA axis.
Can Adrenal Fatigue Make It Hard To Lose Weight
In a word, absolutely.
If youre suffering from adrenal fatigue, youve got a few things working against you.
Plus, the excess weight around your waist can be the most difficult to lose.
On top of that, losing weight isnt as easy as fewer calories consumed than calories burned. Every person and every human body is different.
Weight gain and visceral fat around the midsection are often an indication that something in your system is out of balance. So, if you feel like youre exercising regularly and eating a balanced diet, but the scale still wont budge, it may be time to address other possible issues.
In addition to adrenal fatigue, this stubborn belly fat may be a sign of:
- A hormone imbalance
- An imbalance of gut bacteria
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I Was Shocked To Know That Following The Conventional Health Wisdom Had Driven Me Into The Ground And Made Me Extremely Sick
I was only doing as so many others I knew had: living a high-stress life, exercising more and eating less, not sleeping enough, on top of other suboptimal lifestyle factors like a job I didnt love.
I slowly started to realize that all my symptoms were connected by that one very sneaky, silent killer stress. And instead of focusing solely on keeping to a strict eating and exercise regimen as the cure-all to my problems, I started working on my health in a more holistic way: by listening to my body and giving it what it really needed real nourishment, and a break.
Address Root Causes Of Your Stress
- Seek counseling: if you need to help heal from unresolved trauma or need support for depression.
- Reduce lifes daily stressors: These can add up to big adrenal impacts if they continue day after day. That might mean you get up just 15 minutes earlier so you dont have to rush and have time for breakfast. Or it might mean that you try pull back your mortgage payments so you have more money to get through the week.
A while ago, a woman from our Hormones Balance community contacted me for help with stabilizing her hormones. When she wasnt improving we tried to identify hidden stresses that may be standing in the way of her hormonal balance. She identified that she was suffering stress every morning when she had to walk through an area where she didnt feel safe on her way to work. Once she took a different route, even though it took her a little longer, her stress levels significantly reduced and her hormonal health substantially improved. Its a potent reminder of just how much we are hardwired for survival and as a result, how big even seemingly small stressors can be.
- Address relationship problems and potential abuse: Make time for more intimacy and improved communication with your partner. If youre not in a good place together, read some self-help books together or attend couples counseling. I did a call about abusive relationships , watch it here.
Dont:
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After A Really Stressful Week My Belly Suddenly Looks Bigger
Even women who have a healthy weight, have excess abdominal fat if theyre stressed, shows research from the University of Yale:
This study also showed that women who reported more stress in their lives, also secreted higher levels of cortisol in response to doing stressful tasks.
Cortisols job is to ensure you have enough energy to get through an emergency. And when stress triggers you to release cortisol it remains in your system for around nine hours . When in high circulation, cortisol can widen your waistline because it:
- Triggers gluconeogenesis: Cortisol wants high levels of blood glucose and other fuel sources in your bloodstream. Now. To produce that quick energy it triggers your liver and muscles to release and break down stored protein and fat as well as glycogen, so you have readily available blood glucose. But if the cause of your stress is a huge house repair bill or fight with your boss, you cant burn up that blood glucose through fighting someone or sprinting away. So you end up with an excess of sugars in your bloodstream, which usually get stored as fat.
- Makes you store tummy fat: Cortisol tells your brain youre under threat. If that threat appears day after day, it tells your body to lay down fat cells in your tummy and start storing fat there in case food becomes scarce. Those fat cells in your belly also contain more cortisol receptors.
So when youre stressed, along with the adrenal glands, your fat cells release cortisol too .
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More than 70% of women experience estrogen dominance. The symptoms range from lumpy and fibrocystic breasts to thyroid nodules, hot flashes, fibroids, uterine polyps, painful, heavy or irregular periods to infertility and miscarriages, from mood swings to insomnia, weight gain to fatigue.
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Belly Fat: A Common Sign Of Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal imbalance can lead to all kinds of different issues, including an expanded waistline. Why is it the belly in particular that tends to collect extra fat during periods of high stress and adrenal dysfunction?
The science behind it is quite interesting. Normally, when we begin to feel hungry, our blood sugar drops and the brain sends a message to the adrenal glands to release cortisol. Cortisol activates glucose, fats, and amino acids to keep our body fueled with energy until we eat.
Cortisol maintains blood sugar levels, and insulin helps our cells absorb glucose. When we have long term stress, both insulin and cortisol remain elevated in the blood, and the extra glucose is stored as fatmostly in the abdomen.
Heres where it gets interesting. Scientists have discovered that fat cells actually have special receptors for the stress hormone cortisol, and there are more of these receptors in our abdominal fat cells than anywhere else in our bodies!
In addition, scientists have shown that belly fat is actually an active tissue, acting as an endocrine organ that responds to the stress response by actually welcoming more fat to be deposited! This is a vicious cycle that will continue until we take steps to correct this adrenal imbalance. How do we do that so we can overcome adrenal fatigue and achieve weight loss?
Keto Diet Adrenal Fatigue
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What To Include In Your Diet To Support A Adrenal Health
- BREAKFAST! Its important is to make sure your blood sugar is regulated. So eating a good breakfast thats protein rich and/or good fats will do wonders.
Need some ideas for a protein rich breakfast? Try Purely Twins Breakfast Pizza
- Sea salt. I wrote about this here. Sea Salt can definitely help to feed the adrenal glands when they become depleted. Which they do if you are constantly burning them out. When you have any form of adrenal fatigue, your salt levels can become extremely low due to the reduction of aldosterone . So ya, weve been adding pink sea salt to everything!
- Foods that can support digestion and boost immunity That means high in Vitamin C, K, resistant starch, and probiotics.
- Good CARBS/Starch. This can be tricky. I think most people are told to avoid carbs at night, but for us, adding in resistant starch or starchy vegetables can really help with sleep and lower cortisol levels. That being said, its also important to pair those CARBS with GOOD fats in the form of EPA/DHA omegas. EPA and DHA may also have a positive effect on levels of cortisol as well as help fight inflammation.
Id pair Amies white bean portobella bowl with my rosemary orange zest salmon to make a healthy adrenal fighting dinner!
- And last but not least, foods that Support SLEEP. This might include natural herbs as well as foods rich in serotonin .
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Treatment For Adrenal Fatigue
At Health and Vitality Center one of the ways we support the adrenal glands is through IV vitamin therapy.
For stage 1 of adrenal fatigue, Dr. Lalezar would recommend the Myers Cocktail, a Vitamin IV therapy of Magnesium and B Vitamins to calm the adrenals, reduce production of cortisol and alleviate stress.
For stage 2 and 3 of adrenal fatigue, we use Vitality drip which consists of 15-30 grams of vitamin C, minerals, B vitamins, Zinc, Chromium, Magnesium, and Calcium.
Additionally, we may recommend IV Glutathione which consists of three amino acids and is a very powerful antioxidant to support the adrenal glands. Different oral supplements may also be recommended for different stages of Adrenal Insufficiency.
As a last resort, Dr. Lalezar may prescribe physiologic doses of Hydrocortisone to help heal the adrenal glands. Please refer to Dr. William Jeffriess book Safe Uses of Cortisol.
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The Adrenal Fatigue Diet Plan
The foods you eat are your first line of defense against Adrenal Fatigue. The advantage of creating an adrenal-supportive diet plan is that it does not involve a trip to the doctor or naturopath, will likely cost you no more than your regular diet, and will have a host of other benefits for your health too.
There are two basic principles to building an Adrenal Fatigue diet plan. First, you should avoid any foods that will make your Adrenal Fatigue worse. Second, you should actively try to eat foods that will aid your recovery .
Among other things, this means eating meals at the right times, consuming lots of nutritious whole foods, and avoiding foods to which you have sensitivities or intolerances. However this is a broad and complicated subject, so I will try my best to outline the basics on this page.
Here are 8 key elements of an Adrenal Fatigue diet:
If you want some more detailed instructions, I have created a recipe ebook full of delicious recipes for restoring your adrenal health. It contains more than 50 tasty recipes, including Spicy Fried Chicken Livers, Apple Cardamom Muffins, Almond-Crusted Chicken Tenders, Carob Mousse, Grain-Free English Muffins, and Pear & Pine Nut Scones. You can see a sample page here, and purchase the ebook as part of our Complete Package. Enjoy!
