When it comes to an adrenal fatigue diet there is a lot of advice out there. It’s confusing right? Well let us help clear up some of that confusion. We know through personal experience and from the success of our patients that there are 5 common foods that will compromise your healing and feed your adrenal fatigue every time. You want to avoid these top 5 foods as best you can. Avoiding or minimizing these foods are essential for recovery.
1. Simple Carbohydrate Foods
Does it taste intensely sweet? Does it come in a box and have mostly grains as the ingredients? Think cereals, pastas, chips, crackers, cookies, juices, and sodas. A body suffering from adrenal fatigue will send signals that these are good, but they aren’t. They provide a quick energy spike and then a crash. This blood sugar roller coaster will undermine adrenal healing every.single.time. For an adrenal fatigue diet try small amounts of natural sweeteners like honey, coconut sugar, and stevia leaf powder to help sugar cravings without the blood sugar crash.
2. Alcohol
Really the same as simple carbs. Alcohol is quick to break down to sugar and it’s a depressant. It will undermine quality sleep and metabolism - essential parts of adrenal healing. Consider the reasons you may be drawn to alcohol – are you wired in the evenings and using it to switch into relax mode? A lot of people are on the coffee/wine cycle of ramping up and winding down. These substances, although fine in moderation for healthy people, can perpetuate the hormonal and nervous system patterns seen in adrenal fatigue.
3. Stimulants
Yep, that means coffee. And this is the point at which many patients want to leave the room or hang up the phone. Believe me I know, I was there, not that long ago. No coffee?!, No wine after dinner?!
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but caffeine creates fake energy from empty reserves. It’s depleting. If caffeine energy is critical for you, try half-caffeine, decaf, or better yet, use small amounts of green tea, yerba mate, or maca to energize.
Before we move on to #4 Keep in mind, that this is part of a adrenal fatigue treatment diet. It’s a relatively short-term protocol to help you recover from your adrenal fatigue. It is not a long-term or maintenance diet. Embracing this understanding will bolster will-power when you need it the most. There will come a time when the foods on this list will be okay in moderation but for now, you are better off without them.
4. Food Allergies/Intolerances/Sensitivities
These foods will vary from person to person. If you suspect you don’t do well with a certain food or food group, cut it out for several weeks and then re-introduce it. If your symptoms worsen in the few days after re-introduction, it’s not a good food for you right now. You may also want to consider food intolerance (IgG) testing to get some guidance and foods that don’t work for your body right now. The most common food intolerances are eggs, corn, soy, dairy, and gluten. Continuing to consume foods that are pro-inflammatory will damage gut health – which is highly detrimental to adrenal healing.
5. Unhealthy Fats
Unhealthy fats are not ideal for an adrenal fatigue diet. Examples of unhealthy fats are fried foods, canola, vegetable, soy oils, rancid oils like most flax oil or overly heated olive oil. These oils make your cell membranes stiff and resistant to nutrient uptake – your body needs extra nutrients right now.
There you go, the Top 5 foods to avoid with an adrenal fatigue diet.
So what’s next? Now that you know what foods to avoid, we want to tell you what foods to eat on an adrenal fatigue diet. We want to give you our Adrenal Healing Food Guide called Eat to Treat Adrenal Fatigue which includes the top 10 adrenal superfoods and we have thrown in our Adrenal Healing Shopping List, as a BONUS!
To get your hands on the Adrenal Healing Food Guide and Shopping List for FREE, simply tell us where to send it, below!
Now we’d love to hear from you in the comments below. Which of these food group has been the hardest to eliminate? How can we support you? 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