Exhausted? Recover from Adrenal Fatigue

Feeling tired by the time the weekend hits?  I hear you.

As a busy single mom and entrepreneur, I have struggled with this myself. I’ve learned how to avoid these symptoms, but if I stay up too late even just one night the symptoms can return, so self-care is the key!

Adrenal fatigue is also known as “21st Century Stress Syndrome.”  It’s the feeling of being overwhelming tired and can affect people of all ages including children. Is generally caused by stress but food also plays a role.

Some symptoms include:

• extreme fatigue
• irritability
• fogginess, mental confusion, lack of concentration
• low libido
• inconsistent energy patterns (might get a second wind late at night and stay up too late)
• feel unwell, get sick more easily
• difficulty sleeping

The good news is you can recover from it. I share three tips in this video and more below.  There are certain foods that can aggravate the condition so if you can avoid them you will notice a huge improvement.

Here are more “avoid” and “include” foods and lifestyle suggestions to help you get your adrenal mojo back!

Avoid:

• Rigorous exercise: Choose nature walks and gentle yoga over Cross Fit or power yoga.
• Overly salty foods: Use just a light amount of sea salt, miso or soy sauce in your foods and avoid hard, dry snacks like pretzels and crackers.
• Skipping meals, especially breakfast: Be sure to eat regular meals, and include some form of protein with breakfast.
• Refined carbohydrates
• Chocolate: It overstimulates the adrenals and aggravates hypoglycemia which is part of adrenal fatigue. I use small amounts of carob powder instead.
• Too much fruit or high sugar fruits like pineapple: Choose low sugar fruits like berries and apples.  It’s preferable to skip fruit for breakfast and eat it later in the day.

Include:

• Vegetables: Include at least a hearty serving at both lunch and dinner of various types of veggies: leafy greens such as kale and collard greens, as well as orange veggies like squash and carrots.  They can be steamed, lightly boiled, or marinated with a touch of sea salt and vinegar to make what they call in macrobiotic cooking a “pressed salad.”
• Hydration: Drink enough fluid through the day to avoid feeling thirsty.
• Good quality fats: nuts, seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, avocado.
• Beans: all varieties; cooking them in soup makes them super digestible.
• Fermented foods like raw sauerkraut: Strengthening digestion will make your adrenal glands work less hard.  By improving your digestion and absorption you will boost your overall energy and immunity.
• Whole grains like quinoa and millet: Complex carbs will give you the slow steady energy you need instead of a quick blood sugar spike and crash afterward.

With even just a few of these changes you’ll be feeling a lot more energy, I guarantee it!