Balancing the adrenals – the key to health success
The adrenal glands are very sacred and powerful glands in the body but they need to be looked after and protected like fort knox because they have a such a big role to play in your health.
These little lumps of tissue that sit just above the kidneys in your lower back are key components of your endocrine or hormonal system and produce hormones that are critical for all aspects of your health. They produce not only the stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, but also the sex hormones, oestrogen and testosterone.
Overall, the adrenals are in charge of managing the stress response, pumping out adrenaline and cortisol when you’re in a crisis. This is an excellent survival mechanism but if the stress continues longer term, the adrenals can become weakened, and when they do, they have the equivalent of a little nervous breakdown, behaving erratically by producing too much or too little hormone.
It is this weakening of the adrenals that can result in the symptoms of adrenal fatigue such as bouts of depression, a hoarse voice, lack of energy and motivation, overwhelm, feeling easily confused, crashing in the early part of the day or throughout the day, feeling exhausted at night but unable to fall asleep, feeling exhausted all day and then wired at night, craving stimulants or an irregular menstrual cycle.
A really good example of adrenal fatigue is when a mother experiences post partum fatigue or depression, which is so misunderstood in the medical world. The process of childbirth requires huge amounts of adrenaline that can cause the adrenals to lose the strength they need to produce enough of the right hormones at the right time to keep the mother feeling balanced and happy. This in turn leads to feelings of exhaustion, overwhelm and deep depression in some cases. This is not the mother going crazy, it is an adrenal issue with deep exhaustion and the body's cry for help. What's needed here is the right kind of fuel, which is the glucose from fruits in particular, as well as plenty of sweet potatoes and potato to build the adrenals back up again.
INTERMITTENT FASTING AND THE ADRENALS
For those of you who are intermittent fasters, understand that one of the reasons why you have more energy is because you’re running on adrenaline. Whilst this might be okay in the short term, down the line, it weakens the adrenals and can lead to adrenal fatigue. What’s more is that most intermittent fasters are also consuming caffeine, which provides the energy and high. Take away the caffeine and very often the effects of low blood sugar are experienced, such as low energy, feeling fuzzy, irritability or cravings for stimulants or carbs.
We live in a highly stressful world and the sheer pace of life means that our adrenals are constantly over taxed in trying keep up. Most people in this world will go through bouts of adrenal fatigue multiples over throughout their life but do not understand why they are experiencing depression, restless nights, intense cravings for stimulants or highs and lows in energy.
This means we need to learn how to take of the adrenals. Getting more rest and managing our stress and workload are the obvious ones, but there are also smaller steps we can take that make a huge difference, including simple snacks, go-to foods and what to avoid, outlined below.
HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR ADRENALS
1. AVOID CAFFEINE
Including coffee, tea, chocolate, cocao and matcha. While cocoa and chocolate is said to be medicinal, it is also full of caffeine. The darker the chocolate the more caffeine it contains. Dark chocolate and cocao can wreak havoc with the endocrine system and adrenals and also feeds streptococcus bacteria, which is responsible for a myriad of symptoms such as UTIs, acne breakouts, sinus infections, SIBO and other gut issues. So, go easy on chocolate. Treat it as a treat rather than an everyday thing.
2. BRING IN MORE GLUCOSE
Especially in the way of fresh fruits in the morning, to give you energy. And if you lower your fats at the same time, the glucose will be delivered to your cells more efficiently. Remember that fat blocks the entry of glucose to the cells.
3. GRAZING
If you’re already in a bout of adrenal fatigue, this step is absolutely critical. Grazing works because it keeps your blood sugar steady throughout the day. Without the grazing, the blood sugar drops about one and a half to two hours after a meal, which means the adrenals are forced to produce adrenaline to keep you running. But as long as your glucose isn’t drooping, your adrenals don’t have to interfere. Light, balanced meals or snacks every 90 minutes to two hours will help your adrenals and energy in the longer term.
Ideally the snacks should contain a combination of potassium, sodium and sugar, so for example:
Date (potassium), celery sticks (sodium) and apple (sugar)
Banana (potassium), dates (sugar), spinach (sodium)
These are two of my favourite adrenal snacks, as they’re so delicious and super quick. You can also blend the dates to make a puree and then it becomes a dip for the celery and apple! To see the full adrenal snack list, go to Medical Medium’s adrenal snack list.
4. FOCUS ON ADRENAL HEALING FOODS
Sprouts
Asparagus
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Coriander
Spinach
Garlic
Broccoli
Kale
Romaine lettuce
Wild blueberries
Bananas
Papayas
Mangoes
Raspberries
Blackberries
Red apples