Are Supplements Holding You Back From Recovering from Adrenal Fatigue?

When it comes to all the puzzle pieces that go together when taking a holistic approach to addressing adrenal fatigue I always say that supplements are the easy part.

I don’t mean they are easy in the sense that they are easy to pick out or necessarily easy to afford, that part can be tricky sometimes—- but when I say easy, I mean it in the sense that they are something that you can just ADD to you current lifestyle without much interruption to business as usual.

After working on the floor in a busy supplement shop when I was studying nutrition, I saw the pattern of people coming in looking for that one silver bullet— that one supplement that was going to make all the difference in the world— to help them lose weight, to help them balance their hormones, clear up their skin, improve their sleep or all of these things put together and the some.

The truth is, I used to be like this too…spending whatever I had to on things I had heard were really effective for certain things. I was right there with ya, I wanted it to be that easy too.

Perhaps you can relate to the disappointment that crept in when you were done a bottle and you literally didn’t notice anything different.. or maybe a bit, but you still didn’t feel fully fixed… and this is something we see ALL THE TIME in this community and with the clients we work with.

Here are 3 common mistakes that can actually sabotage your results

MISTaKE 1: You think a supplement alone is going to be that silver bullet that heals you.

• If it were ONLY that easy… and yes, in some cases we HAVE seen that a supplement can be enough to bring someone back into balance simply and easily. For instance, this is commonly seen in cases where someone is deficient in a certain nutrient and starts supplementing it, but there is almost always more to the picture.

• When it comes to adrenal fatigue, there is more often than not, a lifestyle behind the fatigue that has been supporting the burnout for sometime. Supplements can be supportive and help us feel better day to day— but dealing with the lifestyle and the way the body is perceiving stress on an ongoing basis MUST be addressed if you really want to address this long term. Click here to learn our 7 step system to adrenal fatigue recovery!

KEY THING: DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE LIFESTYLE CHANGES NEEDED!

Mistake 2: You are using supplements to put a band-aid on an issue that is not the root cause

• This is another really common situation and with adrenal fatigue, there are 2 layers to this mindset we want to shine a light on.

  • Layer 1: You are using supplements to support your adrenals but there is another, deeper and larger root cause to your adrenal issues that is being looked over. This is common because for many, adrenal fatigue is much more complicated then simple fatigue and simple burn-out—there is often mineral imbalance, heavy metal toxicity, underlying infections or bacterial overgrowth, auto-immune conditions, etc. In these cases, if you aren’t sure, when it comes to supplements- there is likely a lot of guessing going on. This can draw out the process for a long time in an expensive and frustrating way. We recommend working with a professional who can run the appropriate tests and help you target the right root cause so that all your supplement efforts can be more targeted and more effective.

  • Layer 2: You jump straight to adrenal formulas or adaptogens without addressing an anxious, wound up nervous system that needs calming. You can support and stimulate the adrenals all you want, but if you neglect to address the overdriven nervous system that is keeping the demands on the adrenals high, then you’ll be supporting the adrenals forever. This requires lifestyle adjustments (more deep breathing, more meditating, more sleep) and when it comes to using supplements, think about supplements that are calming and rejuvenating to the nervous system—instead of stimulating or energy producing.

kEY THING: FIGURE OUT THE ROOT CAUSE and ADDRESS iT FIRST!

mISTAKE 3: LACKING PATIENCE

• Patience is a virtue, but when we are burnt-out, exhausted and tired, sometimes we don’t want to wait. We wanted results yesterday! However, we have to remember (especially with hormones) things take time and a supplement may be providing tremendous benefit but the results won’t really be seen or felt for a good few weeks or even months. For this reason, it’s common to see people jumping from one supplement to the next month after month, bottle after bottle, because they aren’t seeing the desired result quick enough.

• We encourage you to think about how you can gauge small and subtle changes that might be showing up along the way—sometimes we are so focused on going from 0 to 100, that it’s easy to discredit or disregard the progress being made along the way.

  KEY THING: Consider how can you track your progress more objectively and less emotionally?

When it comes to using supplements to support your adrenal fatigue, think about what’s causing the imbalance in your body carefully and intuitively. If you aren’t sure, working with a professional who can help make this clear for you can make a huge difference and can really help get you our of a rut if you have felt stuck with the progress you have made up to this point.

Intermittent Fasting and Adrenal Fatigue

We get asked questions about fasting and adrenal fatigue all the time.

Is it safe?

Will it help us recover?

What about my blood sugar issues?

On today’s blog we are sharing our thoughts on time restricted eating or intermittent fasting.

To start things off…

What is intermittent fasting or time restricted eating?

What this means it that you essentially give yourself a certain amount of fasting hours regularly (a certain amount of hours that you do not eat).  We tend to do this naturally (when we sleep) but lately science and more and more people are experimenting with different and longer fast times and reaping numerous benefits from it.

How do you do it?

There are many different ways you can do this and people everywhere are experimenting with different eating windows (the hours in a day you allow yourself to eat). Some people are eating 6 hours a day and fasting the other 18 hours and  some people are fasting for a full day at a time each week and there are lots of variations in between.

Fasting and Adrenal Fatigue

We know that fasting can be a bit stressful for the adrenals because when a cortisol response will go along with it as cortisol spikes to make stored glucose available to use for energy.  For a long time, fasting was not recommended at all for those struggling with adrenal fatigue and instead they were recommended to eat small portions regularly as needed to help keep blood sugar levels steady.

However, the stress-reducing benefits that intermittent fasting can bring about can be more powerful and significant than the adrenal stress, out weighing the cortisol response required for benefits like improved sleep, less inflammation, increased muscle mass, decreased body fat percentage and improved mitochondrial function, metabolism and support in regulating a healthy circadian rhythm.

When it comes to intermittent fasting and adrenal fatigue, we do have some guidelines to follow if you do want to try it.. and those guidelines start with not doing anything too extreme.

TIPS FOR DOING INTERMITTENT FASTING WITH ADRENAL FATIGUE

1. Start with a long feeding window
   Instead of doing 6 hours and fasting the rest of the day, eat within a longer 12 hour window
   (ie. from 7am to 7pm) or 8am to 8pm.

2. Eat nourishing foods
   When it comes to adrenal fatigue, many of us are depleted. Instead of going the route of “bulletproof” coffees and tea lattes, we recommend eating nourishing meals with a nice balance of carbs, fats and protein and lots of colourful veggies. You really want to maximize the nutrition you are consuming.

BLOOD SUGAR ISSUES AND INTERMITTENT FASTING

This is a big question we get.
As mentioned above, we don’t want to exacerbate the adrenals by excessive fasting if we are prone to blood sugar issues or subclinical hypoglycemia (if you have diabetes, it’s different and we recommend you work with your health practitioner in that case) The symptoms of hypoglycemia include things like headaches, fatigue, weak, light-headed, nervousness, excessive hunger and irritability. We tend to get caught in a roller coaster of high and lows, especially when we struggle with adrenal fatigue.

For many, it’s easy to get STUCK slaving away to snacking to help keep the scales balanced.
Intermittent fasting along with dietary tweaks can be a very helpful way to help correct the issues behind the blood sugar imbalance in the first place and thus, can help you break-free of the need to be at the mercy of chronic snacking to feel normal.

TIPS FOR DOING INTERMITTENT FASTING WITH HYPOGLYCEMIA

1. Eliminate sugar and refined carbohydrates from your diet
   Focus on plant based carbohydrates (like veggies and moderate starchy ones like sweet potato, carrots, beets, etc)

2. Work yourself into intermittent fasting SLOWLY
   If you jump into it over night, you will likely have symptoms and feel unwell, but if you get rid of the main sugar sources in your diet (processed sugar and refined carbohydrates) and eat cleaner more balanced meals, you’ll be starting on the right track. If you eat 6 times a day, ease it down to 5 meals a day—adding MORE fat to your meals to help you go longer in between. Do this gradually and eventually, you’ll be able to go longer between meals and comfortably adapt an intermittent fasting schedule that feels good to you.

We love the idea of integrating intermittent fasting into your adrenal recovery plan because we know there are tremendous benefits in how the body is able to repair and rejuvenate throughout the night and because it’s really helpful in supporting a healthy sleep/wake cycle both metabolically and hormonally.

We hope the tips above will allow you to experiment with this way of eating, in a way that stays supportive in reducing stress on your body— and not the opposite.

If you are ready to get clarity click here to download the free recovery starter kit (a guide to navigating through this fatigue thing once and for all) plus a whole lot more.

Do you do IF with AF (or have you tried)?
If so, let us know how your experience has been below!

xo Danielle

Got Sleep Issues? Stop Doing This.

Sleep issues and insomnia are prominent issues for those with adrenal dysfunction or HPA dysregulation.

Waking up throughout the night is common and it can be hard to fall back asleep.
It’s easy in those moments to feel frustrated..especially because we often know how difficult these sleep disruptions can make the following morning.

When it comes to improving our sleep, it’s obvious we want to notice results quickly (overnight if you will), but sometimes when we are addressing our hormones and correcting imbalances with the hormone fluctuations in our sleep/wake cycle, the results don’t present themselves this way… especially when using natural supplements and when shifting our habits.

For this reason, I recommend tracking things in an objective way— so that you can actually SEE and CELEBRATE the small improvements. So often, I see people jumping ship on supplements or bedtime habits they are trying because they aren’t seeing results fast enough. When you check in regularly and take note of the subtle changes, it can help encourage you to press on with the natural solutions.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE RECOVERY STARTER GUIDE

The success and results we get are often the cumulative sum of our habits, but I often see this one bad habit sabotaging our efforts on all levels.

.. can you guess what it is?
**hint — it has to do with your phone

Yes, friend. Oogling your phone before bed and in the night if you can’t sleep is sabotaging your sleep (and your health).

Our brains need time to relax and wind down to prepare our body for sleep. Our brains need to distinguish the difference between day time and night time, unfortunately— the light from our phones can trick our brains into thinking it’s still day time and we need to remain alert.

Whether you’re reading e-mails, scrolling through social media or watching videos, I want to ask you if what you if it’s worth it? ESPECIALLY, if you struggle with insomnia.

For many of us, it’s an addiction we need to break.

I find a helpful way to start is setting a firm boundary.
“I use my phone as an alarm clock” — this is the number one reason I hear people using justifying why they keep their phones beside their bed. If this is the case for you, I recommend buying an “old school” alarm clock and keeping your phone in a completely separate room after a certain hour in the night can be a good way to start.

If you have work to do late into the evening, I recommend investing in some blue glasses to help protect your eyes and support a regular sleep/wake cycle—- because as we know—when we have adrenal issues, this cycle is often times already dealing with some irregularities.

Sorry for tough love, but I SEE how impactful this can be… and I just want the best for you. :)

Let me know in the comments below if this is an issue for you— what are you going to about it, starting tonight!?

xo
Danielle

WHY YOUR GUT HEALING STRATEGY ISN’T WORKING - 3 Common Misconceptions & 3 Great Solutions

We’ve been getting email after email from our community and question after question popping up in our membership group from people struggling with gut issues. They are experiencing symptoms like bloating, constipation, acid reflux, food sensitivities, blood sugar issues and so much more.

And the sad thing is, many have eliminated so much already, so restricted in their diet (some down to just meat and vegetables) and they still haven’t seen much progress. They don’t know where to go next.

It’s so unbelievably frustrating isn’t it? You put so much effort in for what feels like nothing in return.

So today, I’m going to share 3 common misconceptions that people have about digestion and gut issues and offer 3 proven solutions.

3 COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS

1.PROBIOTICS ARE THE ANSWER

Probiotics have been all the buzz lately, which is understandable. Probiotics make perfect sense to help your gut flora, right? Our guts need more support than ever. They are getting quite the workout these days.

1) Our diets consist of so many different ingredients and types of foods

2) Many of us take (or have history of) antibiotics, killing all the bacteria in the gut, good and bad

3) Many of us take (or have history of ) NSAIDs, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and Aleve for the aches and pains

4) There are plenty of chemicals in our food, air, and water

5) Lack of nutrients in the soil or people not eating from the soil at all

All these factors affect our gut flora. The gut flora is the environment inside our gut made up by trillions of microorganisms.

Probiotics are something that can certainly help with creating a healthy gut flora (in some situations) but they aren’t always the answer or the end-all. Too many people jump to probiotics because it’s easy to pop a pill. (not always easy on the pocket book though).

What you need to know is probiotics can - not only be a waste of money if you have deeper gut issues going on, but they can actually be detrimental too, particularly if you have Intestinal Permeability aka Leaky Gut or Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth (SIBO)

In these cases, there is some balancing/repairing that we recommend happen first before throwing probiotics into the mix, this is why adding probiotic supplements are one of the last steps of our 5-step gut healing protocol. These are taken once you’ve taken measures to address issues like SIBO and repair the gut lining.

Probiotics are not just a one sized fits all either. Many issues do better with certain strains in certain doses. Quality products can be quite expensive and it is not uncommon to see people throwing their money into cheap products when they could be investing in something better that is more likely to help get them the results they’re looking for. We recommend you get advice from a professional if probiotics are best for you at this particular stage of your gut healing and let them give you some suggestions on the best one for your condition.

2. ELIMINATING COMMON ALLERGIC FOODS

Yes, eliminating common allergens like dairy, gluten, eggs, nuts and soy is a popular step in the adrenal recovery process for many and we’ve given this advice to many of our clients. In many cases, eliminating common allergens like these can be helpful and even transformative for some. However, we find with many of our clients they find themselves at a sticking point where their diet is limited and they are still struggling with symptoms— they feel stuck.

In these cases, the root of the problem must be addressed. Eliminating these problem foods is just the first step in a deeper exploration and trial and error process for gut healing.. but it doesn’t STOP there.

We believe getting testing or having a professional analyze your situation to determine which gut issues you are most likely dealing with (different gut issues listed below). Getting this clarity first will save you money, time and a bit more sanity. There will always be a bit of trial and error involved, but working with a professional will help you streamline the process…and your dollars.

For many it takes time and a more thorough protocol that lasts about 2-3 months to get to the deeper issue and heal the gut.

3. JUST DO A WEEK LONG JUICE FAST OR GUT CLEANSE

We know these short cleanses are popular these days and seem a bit more doable, right?

They can help the body a bit depending on what you’re struggling with. However, for most a week long juice or gut cleanse is not an adequate gut repairing protocol and won’t have lasting results. Why, because most likely the wear and tear on the gut has been years in the making and it will take some time.

For example if you have a parasite, you will need longer than a week or two to kill those bugs.

So if you’ve been approaching gut healing from any of these angles only…

• Taking Probiotics

• Eliminating so many common allergens without understanding the root issue

• Not following an extensive gut healing protocol

...and you haven’t had much improvement, you’re not doing anything wrong. It just means you haven’t quite got to the root of it all. Don’t worry because it hasn’t all been a waste of your time and energy. This process takes a lot of trial and error and it just means you’re closer to figuring this all out. Yay!!!

So, to wrap this up here are 3 solutions to take your gut healing to the next level and support great digestion.

1.GET CLARITY WITH HELP OF A HEALTH PROFESSIONAL OR TESTING AS TO WHICH GUT ISSUES OR DEFICIENCY YOU MIGHT BE DEALING WITH

Before you stress yourself out by doing too much, get clarity on the very root of the symptoms with the help of a professional.

There could be other things going on besides a basic gut imbalance issue like; mineral or nutrient deficiency, gut infections, heavy metal toxicity or fungal or bacterial overgrowth. The symptoms of these conditions can often look very similar to adrenal, hormone and other gut related issues and you want support to figure it all out.

Here are the various gut related conditions people are commonly dealing with:

1. Leaky gut

2. Fungal overgrowth, Candida

3. Dysbiosis

4. Parasites

5. Bacterial overgrowth, SIBO

6. Food allergies

The recovery approach you take will be slightly different for each of these conditions so that’s why you want to work with a professional and/or get tested. They can get clarity based on your symptoms or get further confirmation through testing.  

2. TAKE DIGESTIVE ENZYMES

Many of the gut related symptoms we experience are because we don’t have enough stomach acid (HCL) or digestive enzymes in our gut. These acids and enzymes break down the fats, proteins and carbs in food, properly.

When the body can’t break down our foods properly that’s when we experience all the symptoms and reactions like irregular bowel movements, constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating, acid flux and more.

Adding digestive enzymes help you tolerate more foods and stop the ongoing stress happening every time you eat, meaning less inflammation, which allows more healing to occur.

Just like probiotics, it’s important that you get a quality formula and do a little trial and error to get the right dosage.

If you can’t afford digestive enzymes, you can see if taking a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a bit of water before a meal helps you. It has been known to do the trick for many.

When taken at the beginning of a meal, enzymes help ensures that foods are fully digested. This decreases the chance that partially digested foods particles and proteins are damaging your gut wall. They also help to relieve digestive discomfort like bloating and gas.

A few of our favorite brand suggestions are Digestive Enzymes SAP by NFH or BioGest by Thorne

3. FOLLOW AT THE VERY LEAST A 6 WEEK GUT HEALING PROTOCOL

Don’t expect everything to change overnight. Follow a proven system for AT LEAST 6 weeks and see the process through until you get the results you seek.

Overcoming Productivity Guilt

Every day, we are bombarded by information and advice on how to make our lives better.

Do this.

Don’t do that.

Eat this.

Don’t eat that.

… the list goes on and on…and on!

If you are a part of our Adrenal Fatigue Community, when you wake up, you probably feel pretty tired. We know mornings can be a great time to kick off momentum and power to our day, but it can be hard to take advantage of mornings when you don’t feel well or can’t seem to wake up with vigor like you used to be able to.

We know you have a lot going on.

You have work to do, places to be, a family (maybe some furry friends) to care for and things you want to accomplish. For many, time may feel like it flies by in a flash and our to do lists seem ever endless.

You have dreams that are falling to the wayside.

Many of the people we work with in our Adrenal Fatigue Recovery Revolution are TYPE A. They are driven, hard working people who have burnt themselves out trying to “do it all” and pushing themselves past the comfortable capability of their bodies.

I used to struggle with this a lot myself.. and deep down, I still have this tendency to push myself inside of me, but like those individuals in our program — it all comes down to retraining ourselves to find better balance in our lives— staying productive— but staying productive within our means.

Many of us, are ADDICTED to getting stuff done... and many of us, are addicted to social media that is constantly reminding us of all the things we SHOULD be getting done.The combination easily leads to a feeling that we call “productivity guilt” which is a relentless feeling of not doing enough or not functioning at an optimal level.

When we live this way, nothing is enough and we can slip into a space where we constantly feel overwhelmed by the pressures we put on ourselves. When we live this way, how can we expect to feel at ease? We are setting ourselves up for chronic anxiety and hurrying ourselves along the path to burnout.

It can be hard to change this habit, but trust me, if you can relate— you have to.
You OWE it to yourself to get control of the pressures you put on yourself and to allow yourself to BE ENOUGH and TO REST. (hugs).

Here are 5 helpful tips on how to release productivity guilt:

• STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHER PEOPLE

  • Remember, all those people with “perfect”lives, families and businesses are only sharing their “highlight reel” with the world.

  • Download an app like “rescue time” to help control how much time you expose yourself to social media like this in the first place.

• ACCEPT IMPERFECTION

  • Not every day is going to be perfect, but every new day is an opportunity to start again.

• PRIORITIZE YOUR GOALS

  • What tasks are essential and why? Knowing this will help you stay focused and help prevent overwhelm

  • Click here to see our guide to setting micro goals and actually hitting them.

• AFFIRM

  • YOU DO ENOUGH. YOU HAVE ENOUGH. YOU ARE ENOUGH.

    • ^ Say it out loud..and BELIEVE it, baby!

• CELEBRATE YOUR DAILY WINS

  • I’m a big fan of writing down my daily goals and love the sounds of my white board marker squeaking as I cross goals off as I accomplish them.

  • Take time to acknowledge your accomplishments and time to appreciate the effort that went into them.

You’ve got this!

If you need some help getting things under control and a community to do it with, click here!

xo Danielle