Increase Your Nutrient Absorption with Adrenal Fatigue

Ever wonder why you eat well, but still don’t feel well? Most likely poor nutrient absorption is the culprit. When you have poor nutrient absorption you can’t access the nutrients from your food or supplements. This is an issue because adrenal fatigue happens to be a condition of depletion. You need extra nutrients right now and this nourishment is essential for recovery. So if you want to stop wasting your money on expensive foods and supplements, that you aren't benefiting from, you need to understand this. Poor nutrient absorption is a result of poor gut health. How does our gut health become poor? There are several reasons why and we want to share those with you now.

You must rule out these issues or address them, to heal your adrenal fatigue. So here we go:

1. Poor Digestion

Do you have poor digestion? Why is digestion such an issue for adrenal fatigue sufferers? Here's why. When we are in a stressed our bodies actually push blood and energy to the muscles in our arms and legs to fight or flee. That doesn’t leave much energy for digestion. For tips on improving digestion naturally check out this vlog.

Years of poor digestion harms the walls of the gastrointestinal tract. This leads to poor gut health.

2. Leaky Gut

Leaky gut is a condition that occurs when the lining of the intestines becomes permeable. Bacteria, toxins, incomplete digested proteins & fats, "leak" out of the intestines and into the blood stream. When these substances "leak" out into the bloodstream this triggers an autoimmune reaction. This leads to a myriad of gastrointestinal problems such as bloating, excessive gas and cramps, fatigue, food sensitivities, joint pain, skin rashes, and autoimmunity. Learn more about Leaky Gut here...

3. Dysbiosis

Dysbiosis is a condition in the digestive tract. The most common contributing factors are parasites or candida overgrowth. Do you wonder if  you might have a parasite?

Have you done a lot of international travel? Have you been suffering from chronic digestive symptoms since then? I don't recommend trying to treat parasites without testing.  The test I recommend is a comprehensive parasitology and stool analysis x3.

As for Candida, Candida lives naturally in your intestines but when it overproduces it can lead to dysbiosis and leaky gut. Candida overgrowth can be the reason for intense cravings for sweets, chronic allergies, white coating on the tongue, brain fog, hormone imbalance, and so much more.

Well there you go, now you know what is keeping you from absorbing nutrients critical to your healing, poor gut health. And you know the 3 causes of poor gut health. To improve nutrient absorption and heal your adrenal fatigue, you need to rule out or address these 3 causes;  poor digestion, leaky gut and dysbiosis.

Now we’d love to hear from you in the comments below. What do you believe is standing in your way of absorbing nutrients? Have you been told you have leaky gut, a parasite, dysbiosis? What remedies have you tried? Or share some advice about how you’ve dealt with these obstacles. We are a healing community and your share will support others on their healing journey. So take a moment to drop us a line below.

Love,
Dr. Holly German

For more great health tips check out our friends at https://www.positivehealthwellness.com/

Image Copyright: <a href='https://www.123rf.com/profile_puhhha'>puhhha / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Energizing Without Coffee

One of the most obvious symptoms of adrenal fatigue is just that.. fatigue. If you have been struggling with this condition, then the thought of finding energy with stimulants like coffee might seem far fetched. For me, coffee was a crutch I leaned on for years.

I won't lie, I consider myself a coffee lover at the core of my being. However,  when I was struggling with adrenal fatigue and hormonal imbalance, my relationship with coffee NEEDED to change. Making an adjustment to my relationship with this adrenal depleting stimulant was an integral part of my recovery.

And just as coffee is a habit, I started creating some new morning habits that ignited energy  from within.  I used the tips below to support my body (and my recovery) while I made the transition.

Key Tips for Energizing Without Coffee

1.Nix the "I'm tired" mentality.

The more you tell yourself, "I'm exhausted", and "I NEED a coffee right now",  the more it becomes true. Instead of focusing on how tired you are, start affirming "I'm full of vibrant energy", "I am healthy and energized". Say affirmations like this to yourself (with heart!) 5 times and I know you'll feel a shift. It might seem silly, but this is powerful!

2. Use food as fuel.

Food actually is fuel, but sometimes we don't really see it that way. When you eat the right foods, in the right amounts- it should actually energize you, not make you tired. Having a healthy, protein-rich breakfast and keeping healthy snacks on hand to help control your blood sugar throughout the day is one of the best ways to use foods to fuel good energy throughout the day. Click here to learn more about how to eat to beat fatigue!

3. Drink adaptogenic herbal tea.

These will actually energize your body, while providing great nutrition for you and your adrenals. Some of my favourite adaptogenic teas include Tulsi or Holy Basil, Ashwagandha, Rhodiola, Reishi Mushroom, Lemon Balm, Ginseng, Nettle and Schisandra Berries.

4. Find comfort in coffee-like alternatives. 

When switching from coffee, I found that even though the adaptogenic teas I was drinking were lovely, they weren't quite filling the dark and creamy void of coffee. I found that roasted dandelion root tea, matcha or chai rooibos tea were really nice alternatives. I'd often froth up some coconut milk and enjoy these tea's latte style, this helped a lot!

5. Stay hydrated! 

Dehydration is a pretty exhausting state for the body to be in; staying hydrated can actually help your raise your energy levels. Make sure to drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water daily, and remember to sip slowly (instead of chugging) so you can maximize nutrient absorption.

Check out our Co-Founder Angela, discussing more tips and tricks on how to get energized without coffee! 

Improve Digestion With Adrenal Fatigue

So most likely if you’re suffering from adrenal fatigue you have experienced poor digestion at one time or another. Maybe you've even had to give up certain foods because you have developed food sensitivities or allergies? That was me just a few years ago. And if you have poor digestion you know how uncomfortable it can be. And to make matters worse, poor digestion can have many other side effects like toxic buildup, poor gut health and poor nutrient absorption, so it’s not something you want to ignore. I will be sharing 5 simple ways to improve digestion with adrenal fatigue. So, lets dive in!

1. Chew slowly and chew well!

So simple right? You might not know this but the process of digestion starts right away in the mouth. An enzyme, amylase in saliva helps the initial digestion of foods, particularly starches.

2. Add Glycosaminoglycans

Glycosaminoglycans are found in things like bone broth and gelatin. They help build healthy nutrients for the gut.

3. Eating Fermented Foods Regularly & Consider a High-Quality Probiotic

Fermented foods include natural probiotics. Probiotics are good bacteria you need in your digestive tract in order to properly digest your food and help with nutrient absorption.

If you’re like me and grew up taking antibiotics, that kill beneficial bacteria in the gut, most likely you lack these beneficial bacteria critical for proper digestion. Of course antibiotics have their place, but it just means we need to be proactive about adding the good bacteria back in. We recommend taking a high quality probiotic at least 2-3x/week.

4. Add in Resistant Starches

Resistant starches are a type of dietary fiber naturally found in many carbohydrate-rich foods such as potatoes, grains and beans.  Resistant starches increase your body's ability to burn fat, fills you up and reduces overall hunger. Its health benefits are truly impressive as well. Studies show it improves blood sugar control, boosts immunity, and may even reduce your risk of cancer.

5. Drink Warm Lemon Water or Apple Cider Vinegar Before Meals

Lemon juice is similar to the digestive juices found in the stomach. When you drink lemon juice the liver produces bile, which helps food move through your gastrointestinal tract easily.

Apple cider vinegar is loaded with raw enzymes and gut-friendly bacteria we just talked about that promote gut health and healing.

So I’ve just given you 5 simple ways to improve digestion with adrenal fatigue.

Now I would love to hear from you in the comments below. What is your burning question? Or what has been the most helpful way you’ve improved your digestion? This is a healing community and your comments could be just what someone else needs to hear. So please take a moment to drop us a line below.

Love, 

Dr. Holly German

For more great health tips check out: https://www.positivehealthwellness.com/

Treat Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue with Magnesium

Whether you’re here because you’ve heard about the importance of magnesium with adrenal fatigue, but you’re not sure why or how to use it. Or maybe you’ve taken magnesium and it didn’t help with your insomnia or other symptoms as promised and you're trying to get more information. Don’t completely rule out magnesium for treating your symptoms of adrenal fatigue just yet. Even if magnesium didn’t help with your insomnia it doesn’t mean you still couldn’t benefit a great deal from this amazing mineral. Today, we are answering 5 important questions about magnesium.

The truth is studies show 50% of Americans are deficient in magnesium.
Magnesium deficiency is not something to ignore since it contributes to many health problems and diseases such as heart disease, stroke, adrenal fatigue, diabetes, fibromyalgia and infertility. Also, it is important to consider that maybe the reason you didn’t notice any benefits was because you weren’t able to properly absorb the magnesium. Absorption of magnesium is an issue and I will address a solution in a minute.

This mineral is powerful, so powerful that hospitals use it regularly for life-threatening and emergency situations like seizures and heart failure. It’s so important that it is a critical “medication” on the crash cart.

Watch this video or continue reading.

WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U97y6P1gjx4

1. Why are 50% of Americans deficient in magnesium?

Even though the RDA requirement for magnesium is only 300 mg a day, some doctors believe this requirement is low.

Most people would benefit from 400 -1000 mg a day. It is said that the average person gets less than 200 mg a day. Why is our magnesium intake so low? First, the American diet is made up of highly processed foods and foods high in white flour, dairy and meat. Each of these common foods have no magnesium.

Second, magnesium is often poorly absorbed and easily lost from our bodies. Sometimes our bodies are able to absorb certain forms of magnesium easier than others, so it’s important to try several forms before ruling it out.

To further complicate the issue, magnesium levels decrease with excess coffee, alcohol, soda, stress, diarrhea, antibiotics, and medications to treat acid reflux, which are common substances we consume in this culture.

Also, to properly absorb magnesium we need quite a bit of magnesium in our diet, plus enough vitamin B6, vitamin D, and selenium to work with in order for us to properly absorb magnesium. 

2. How to tell if you’re deficient?

Do you have difficulty falling asleep? Do you wake up easily?

Do you get cramps or stiffness regularly?

Do you find fluids pass through you easily?

Do you often have cold hands and feet?

Do you get muscle twitches?

If you answered “yes” to most of these statements, chances are you aren’t getting enough magnesium in your diet.

Common symptoms of mineral deficiency are anxiety, adrenal fatigue, acid reflex, infertility, high blood pressure, constipation, migraines, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), inflammation and insomnia.

3. Why is magnesium so important particularly for adrenal fatigue sufferers?

Magnesium is important in order to achieve optimal health for anyone, but particularly important for those suffering from adrenal fatigue. Here’s why… Stress is a common issue for adrenal fatigue sufferers, right? It’s the root cause of adrenal fatigue, whether we are talking about physical stress, emotional stress, chemical stress or mental stress. Stress causes the adrenals to become fatigued and work less optimally, making it harder for you to handle more stress.

As adrenal fatigue sufferers, we need all the help we can get to counteract the chemical effects that stress has on our bodies, particularly our adrenals. This is where Magnesium comes in.

Magnesium is a relaxing mineral that allows the chemicals in our bodies to come back into balance after the hormone surge of the stress response. The flood of hormones created by the stress response is great for survival but is only meant to be short term. Magnesium can help the body, particularly the muscles relax and heal after the stress response.

Stress isn’t the only thing magnesium is good for. According to Dr. Hyman “This critical mineral is actually responsible for over 300 enzyme reactions and is found in all of your tissues — but mainly in your bones, muscles, and brain. You must have it for your cells to make energy, for many different chemical pumps to work, to stabilize membranes, and to help muscles relax”. We all know that having enough energy to get through the day is one of the top symptoms of adrenal fatigue.

4. Why in theory magnesium can help improve your sleep.

There are receptors in the brain and nervous system called GABA receptors. The GABA receptors are neurotransmitters that the brain needs to switch “off”. And guess what mineral allows these GABA receptors to function properly? You guessed it, magnesium. If we don’t switch our brains to “off” then we remain tense and our thoughts race, keeping us up at night staring at the ceiling. Sound familiar?

I just shared with you why you should consider using magnesium to treat your symptoms of adrenal fatigue. Now we want to help you incorporate this important mineral easily into your diet.

5. How do I use magnesium effectively?

Discover how to use magnesium effectively in our Magnesium InfoSheet. All you have to do is enter you name and email below and we will send the infosheet right to your inbox. The infosheet includes a list of magnesium-rich foods and magnesium supplement recommendations from our team of specialists.

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. Have you used magnesium? What did you notice? And what has been the most helpful piece of information shared here? This is a healing community and your comments could be just what someone else needs to hear. So take a moment to drop us a line below.

Image Copyright: <a href='https://www.123rf.com/profile_photka'>photka / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

 

How Adrenal Fatigue Changed My Life

My struggle with adrenal fatigue was a big wake up call for me, one that I needed so desperately. Adrenal fatigue saved me from the mediocre and unconscious life I was living. By saying this, I don’t mean to undermine the struggle that you are going through right now; because, I get it. It sucks! I remember the sleepless nights, the debilitating exhaustion, the fear that I wouldn’t get better, the digestion issues, the food sensitivities, the mood swings, the dry skin, not being able to eat anything but vegetables, having to pee every 20 minutes…

But I also know my suffering was a true awakening for me. Without this illness I would not have gotten so low and hit rock bottom. It was hitting rock bottom that really made it clear that I had two choices; I could let this condition take over my body and my life or I could choose to keep fighting and believe in my healing.

WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApRsP8F19g0

I didn’t exactly like life I was leading before adrenal fatigue or the person I was becoming.

Let me give you a glimpse of my old life. Ever since I can remember I loved getting things done. I loved accomplishing things and as a result I learned at an early age to never slowed down. I started working when I was 14 and never stopped. I was putting myself through college working 2 jobs with a full load of classes. When I wasn’t working or going to school I was filling my time with working out, trying to finish my to-do list, trying to do everything and be everywhere. This incessant doing followed me into adulthood and I continued this same pattern. I would never take time out for lunch breaks, self-care and always chose to fill my free time with busy-ness.

I know now that me, my A-type personality and addiction to incessant doing is what got me sick in the first place. And all the things I was doing to be “happy” wasn’t making me happy at all infact, I was miserable. Even when I was doing something I should “enjoy”, I was constantly focused on the next thing really missing out on being in the moment and being “in joy”. I didn’t want to keep living that existence.

So once I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, it all started to make sense. The root cause of my condition was my chronic stress and addictive to incessant doing. It made me really stop and think about the choices I had made. I realized that if I kept on living like this, I would miss out on my life completely. Does this sound familiar? If so, I want to give you a great tool that helped me break the vicious cycle of busyness so I could finally LIVE more and heal my adrenals for good.

I didn’t get this realization overnight, but it was a process.

I started to work with a spiritual mentor. With her guidance, I started incorporating a simple gratitude exercise which little did I know at the time was going to transform my life.

Every night before bed I would write down 3 things I was grateful for from the day. It didn’t take long for me to recognize that this simple practice was not only changing my perspective, but had a positive impact on my body’s ability to heal as well. This practice quickly started to trickle into more of my day. I started to think about gratitude more often, not just at night.

View fullsize

I began to recognize in the moment when something magical happened, even something really small and felt grateful. Also, with this shift in perspective, I started to notice I had more energy throughout the day. I started to look at life through a more positive and healthy lens.

So for me it was such an important lesson in life, that my health crisis was an opportunity for me to make a have more awareness, fill my life with gratitude and that all I needed to do was choose healing and happiness. I chose to believe in my healing and trust my process and my body.

So now you know my story and how adrenal fatigue changes my life -  for the better.

Now we'd love to hear from you in the comments below. How has your struggle with adrenal fatigue shaped your life? What are the biggest lessons you have learned? You are part of our healing community and your comments could be just what someone else needs to hear. So take a moment to drop us a line below.

Image Copyright: <a href='https://www.123rf.com/profile_sifotography'>sifotography / 123RF Stock Photo</a>