The Truth About Salt and Treating Adrenal Fatigue

Salt, for the most part, has a pretty bad rap. That's because many of us are misinformed or under-informed when it comes to salt. And many of us have been using the wrong kind of salt for most of our lives. I hope to clear up some common confusion and misconceptions about salt because you need to understand that not all salt is equal and that the right kind of salt is beneficial in treating adrenal fatigue.

I want you to take advantage of what has the potential to be a cheapest and powerful natural remedy out there for treating adrenal fatigue.

Good salt has the power to improve your digestion, hydrate your body, cleanse your GI tract and fix your mineral deficiency. Learn more about these benefits HERE.

And please note**If you have high blood pressure or history of high blood pressure, or kidney disease please consult your doctor or health practitioner before trying this remedy.

As I mentioned, not all salt is not created equal…

…Or let me rephrase that: all salt is not the same or processed the same.

What is Salt, Really?

When most people think about salt they think of high blood pressure and that they need to limit salt for health reasons.  But what is it exactly? Salt is a crystalline mineral made up of two elements, sodium and chloride. Both of these elements are essential for human life.

We are going to look more closely at 2 varieties of salt, Himalayan Salt and table salt.  Even though sea salt and table salt have the same amount of sodium chloride (about 98%), it’s the other 2% that makes the difference. It’s important that you understand the difference before we go any further.

Himalayan salt is unprocessed and made by evaporating seawater. The other 2% of sea salt is made up of trace minerals and electrolytes essential for optimal health such as calcium, potassium, sodium and magnesium.

On the other hand, table salt or common salt is processed by being dried at more than 1,200° Fahrenheit. This process removes all the beneficial trace elements, and replaces them with additives such as anti-caking agents and often sugar! This means that table salt has very little, if any nutritional value. This is why salt gets a bad rap.

But as I mentioned, all salt is not created equally beneficial, and the 2% of trace minerals and electrolytes found in Himalayan salt can have a very real impact on your health.

So What Exactly Makes Himalayan Salt So Great?

Biochemist Graham Ryan explains the science behind the value of Himalayan sea salt: “It supplies an astonishing 83 unique trace minerals.  There are 21 trace minerals that are widely agreed upon to be necessary for the body's metabolic processes.  Most biochemists agree that there are very likely several (even dozens) more that the body will use when available.  Most of the 83 trace minerals found in Himalayan salt are extremely rare (if not impossible) to find in food.  Because Himalayan salt is mined from 200 million-year-old sea beds, it is completely free of the heavy metals and other toxins that show up in sea salts harvested from today's oceans”.

So now you know the truth about salt and why salt is important for proper functioning of the body and for treating adrenal fatigue.

Learn about the 5 benefits of Himalayan salt to restore adrenal health HERE.

Now I would love to hear from you. Have you experimented with different types of salt for treating adrenal fatigue? If so have you noticed benefits? What is your biggest question about salt? This is a healing community and your comments or questions could be just what someone else needs to hear or know. So take a moment to drop us a line below.

xoxo,

Angela 

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3 Reasons Why Skipping Meals Is Bad For Your Adrenals

If you're exhausted and stressed-out, your day probably looks something like this:  You wake up in the morning feeling exhausted; you hit the snooze button several times hoping a few more minutes will make you feel better. You stay in bed till as long as you can and then you don't have time to "break the fast". Or, if you do eat breakfast, its on-the-go and it might not be the most nourishing choice to kick-start your busy day ahead. Maybe you depend on your coffee to not only wake you up, but to satisfy your hunger. Then your morning is so busy that you don’t feel you have time for lunch so you skip it or delay it an hour or two. Instead, you rely on sugar or other snacks to get you through. Sound familiar? Believe me, I get it. I've been there. But let me share with you 3 reasons why skipping meals with adrenal fatigue is bad news.

1.Slows down your metabolism  

Skipping meals gives your body the message that it needs to conserve energy by storing calories as fat.

2. Causes Your Blood Sugar to Drop

When you skip meals it allows your blood sugar to drop. A drop in blood sugar puts added stress on your adrenal glands because the adrenals are responsible for maintaining your blood sugar levels. So your adrenals, that are already exhausted, to begin with, have to work even harder now.

3. Limits Glucose Production  

When you eat, the body breaks down your food and produces glucose. Glucose is the primary source of energy for your brain and your nervous system. So when you don’t eat, the glucose in your brain decreases, which means less energy. This lack of glucose impairs your concentration, focus, mood and memory.]

I just gave you 3 important reasons why skipping meals with adrenal fatigue is a bad idea. Here are a few tips to help you avoid this.

4 Tips to Avoid Skipping Meals:

1. Make eating a priority. Eat every 3 hours (meals and snacks in between or 5-6 small meals.)

2. Go to bed at a reasonable time, preferably before 10 pm in order to wake up a bit earlier.

3. Wake up 30 minutes earlier than you do now, in order to make and eat breakfast

4. Stock up with lots of healthy snacks on Sunday. Bring several pieces of fruit, some veggies and/or an energy bar to eat for snacks in between meals.

Why Adrenal Fatigue Makes You A Hypochondriac

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 A hypochondriac by definition is someone who is abnormally anxious about their health. If you’ve been suffering from adrenal fatigue chances are you’ve felt this way at some point. Or, maybe your friends and family members have suggested you’re a hypochondriac. You’re not crazy! Here's why adrenal fatigue makes you a hypochondriac:

4 Ways Adrenal Fatigue Makes You a Hypochondriac

1. Mystery Symptoms

Because adrenal fatigue is often overlooked or misunderstood by mainstream medicine often people experience many symptoms, have chronic pain or irritability, and are constantly exhausted without an explanation. The “unknown” can make anyone abnormally anxious as the future seems uncertain and somewhat scary.

That was me before I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue. My symptoms all across the board, something was physically wrong with me, and I knew that, but doctors couldn’t find anything. I was beginning to feel as though they thought I was making it all up, but I knew my symptoms were NOT in my head.  I felt frustrated and hopeless.

2. Basic Needs Aren’t Being Met

It’s hard to think of anything else when your basic needs aren’t being met. Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, based on the idea that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. The most basic needs being food, water, shelter, sleep, etc. Next in order is protection, security. After that are the “higher” needs like love, friendship, intimacy, personal growth and so on.

When you have chronic health issues often times you’re basic needs like getting enough sleep and having good health aren’t being met making it hard to focus on other “higher” needs. This means you’re missing out on so much. Your life is consumed with your illness and your ability to be happy and focus on “higher” needs is seriously compromised.

Maybe your friends notice that you are preoccupied or anxious about lots of things and that is why they're calling you a hypochondriac.

3. Have to Watch What You Eat

Every time after I ate, I felt horrible. I would feel itchy and tingly. At first, I thought I was just allergic to everything: gluten, dairy, sugar…

Little did I know, I had low blood sugar. Adrenal fatigue often contributes to blood sugar imbalance because the hormones produced by the adrenal glands play an important role in the way we metabolize and regulate blood sugar.

When you have low blood sugar it can cause many symptoms like blurry vision, rapid heartbeat, sudden nervousness, unexplained fatigue, shaking, skin tingles and trouble concentrating.

It’s easy to think these symptoms are a reaction to what you just ate, that you must be allergic to it. This might not be “it” at all. The symptoms you are experiencing could be a result of a blood sugar imbalance.

Again, how could you ignore symptoms like this, especially when they are happening every day?  Anxiety seems like a normal response to a prolonged struggle with the basic practice of eating!

4. Seems Like Your Sensitive to Everything

At the height of my untreated adrenal fatigue, my allergies became so severe that I couldn’t breathe through my nose or taste, or smell for months at a time. I became hyper aware of the environment around me because I was afraid of what I would react to; trees, plants, pets, dust, chemicals, intense smells…I was never sure what would set off a mild or a severe reaction.

I had to avoid people’s houses with pets. During allergy season, I would choose to miss out on outdoor activities rather than deal with the aftermath. I had to avoid certain beauty products and clothing that caused allergic reactions.  People noticed, and I’m sure their feelings were hurt when I stopped coming over or participating in events, but I had to take care of myself.

Nevertheless, I am sure that without a full appreciation of the ongoing discomfort and pain I was experiencing every day, it was easier for them to think my behavior was “excessive” or “crazy”.

In fact, it was simply a matter of doing what I needed to do to keep myself safe and functional.

These four examples are all excellent reasons why you might feel anxious about your health even if you are not usually an anxious person.  Any anxiety you feel given these challenges is completely justified and it’s important to remember that.

But how can you cope with the daily anxiety or the pressure that comes from judgment, even if it is rooted in loving concern?

I am about to give you 5 Simple ways to deal with this.

5 Things to Do About It

1. Stop Caring What Others Think

If your family and friends don’t understand what you’re going through, it is natural for them to feel confused, which can often resolve itself in judgmental behaviors. Try to explain what you're experiencing in an effort to help everyone. You will get more support from people who don’t think you’re crazy, exaggerating or just like to complain.

If they don’t get it, don’t waste your precious time and energy worrying about them. Save that energy for your healing. If you believe in yourself they will come around.

2. Get Support

If you find yourself without enough (or any) supportive friends, find some.  It may help everyone if you explained to them the basic challenges you’re facing in your life: perhaps they will be willing and able to help provide for some of those more basic unmet needs, freeing you up to enjoy those “higher levels” again!

Make an effort to reach out to a friend or family member you think will listen while you talk about what you’re going through from your own perspective. You can also work with health coach like me or another health professional who recognizes adrenal fatigue and is dedicated to your healing journey. There are also support groups on Facebook such as Holistic Healing from Adrenal Fatigue.

3. Give Yourself Some Credit

I applaud you for seeing the warning signs and listening to your body. Symptoms are your body’s way of telling you something isn’t right. Ignoring them is only going to make it worse.

But, don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting you focus all your energy on what is wrong. That’s only going to make matters worse. Instead…

4. Start Asking Questions

Get ready because I am going to be real HONEST with you. You might not like it, but it’s necessary. At this stage, complaining won’t help. Each time you notice you’re feeling sick or sorry for yourself, don’t beat yourself up—break that habit! Instead, document your symptoms and ask yourself a few constructive questions in order to shift your focus from your pain to your healing:

• What could this symptom be telling me?

• What can I be grateful for in this moment?

• What is the next best step for me?

5. Stay committed To Your Healing and Trust

Whether you’re suffering from adrenal fatigue or another illness that results in chronic fatigue, don’t give up hope. You’re not alone and you’re not crazy.

You deserve great health, we all do. Stay committed by envisioning great health and trust you will find the answers in the right time

Now I would love to hear from you. Do you feel like a hypochondriac? Or have others suggested you are? How do you deal with it? Please share in the comments below.

Lots of Love,
Angela

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Balance Hormones Naturally & Reduce Stress: 3 Simple Ways You Will Love

What do stress and adrenal fatigue have in common? When the mind perceives a stressful event, the body automatically begins the biological “fight or flight” stress response. The body releases adrenaline, tensing muscles, boosting heart rate, constricting blood vessels, slowing the digestive system, causing “tunnel vision” and so on. Without proper rest, the body continues producing the stress response until it is fatigued or exhausted. If stress continues or isn’t managed, it leads to pain, illness, injury, emotional problems, adrenal fatigue and so much more. Here are 3 simple secrets to “turn off” or reverse the stress response so you can balance hormones naturally and overcome adrenal fatigue.  

Stress is something we encounter every day. We often think of stress as a bad thing, but stress is not necessarily toxic by itself. It has a purpose, to keep us safe and prepare our bodies to “get moving” in order to deal with danger.

Stress can be toxic when we don’t know how to react to it. The truth is we are all guilty of creating most of our own stress. This is great news because it means we can also learn to manage our stress.

It’s really about perspective.

What if we saw stress as opportunities and focused on the positive outcome? Just think what is possible rather than reacting out of fear and focusing on the negative?

What if we used the energy our bodies create in stressful situations to motivate us to take action in order to solve the problem?

It’s habit really. We are taught at a young age to react negatively to stress, so we continue dealing with stress the same way into adulthood. This is why we need to make a conscious effort to “turn-off” so we can function optimally and have all the energy we need.

We heal from stress by producing what are called “happy hormones”. The main hormone in charge of this is Oxytocin. Oxytocin is often called the stress ‘off-switch’ or the ‘love’ hormone. It lowers the stress hormone, cortisol.

In order to produce oxytocin, we need to make time for activities that trigger a relaxation response both in the brain and in the body. During the relaxation response, our mind clears, our muscles relax, and our heart rate and blood pressure lower.

Here are 3 simple secrets to balance hormones naturally and reduce stress by producing these “happy hormones”.

1. LAUGHTER

This can be genuine or fake laughter, the brain doesn’t know the difference, so you will have the same result.

• Spend a few minutes laughing by listening to your favorite comedian during your commute to work or while exercising

• Surround yourself with people who make you laugh

• Or just start laughing, it may feel kinda silly at first, but you will feel a ton better afterward

2. HUG SOMEONE

• Embrace someone. Give someone you love a hug.

• Really enjoy the hug. Stay a little longer than normal and feel the effects

• If you can't hug someone you love at that moment then imagine you are hugging someone you love.

• Cuddling has the same effect

3. TAKE A WALK

• Even if you don't have much time a walk will help, even if it's only 5-10 mins. You will feel the difference.

• Walking, and walking outside is recommended and is statistically correlated with higher levels of oxytocin

• If your day is full of meetings, perhaps you can suggest a walking meeting with a co-worker, you might be surprised that when walking and talking business you can experience more inspirations, creativity and ah-ha moments!

We've just given you 3 simple secrets to balance hormones naturally and heal your adrenal fatigue.

It can be challenging at first to find time to turn “off” and slow down. But I promise once you start practicing this, it won’t take long before you will notice its positive effects. You will not only feel happier but energized too! How does it get any better than that?

Now, I’d love to hear from you.

What things have you tried to relieve stress?  Specifically, what worked and what didn’t?

Leave a comment below and let me know.

Remember, do your best to share details as incredible people just like you come here each week for insight and inspiration. Your experience may be just what she needs to have a breakthrough.

Big thanks for reading, watching and sharing with such enthusiasm! You’re an amazing demonstration of how lovely and supportive the internet can be.

All my love and appreciation,
XO Angela

Improve Adrenal Health & Manage Stress - 5 Strategies

As you probably know by now, adrenal fatigue and stress go hand-in-hand. The very root cause of poor adrenal health is stress. When we encounter stress whether it’s physical, mental or emotional, the same chemical reaction occurs. It looks something like this.

1. Our adrenals release and shower our bodies with hormones like cortisol and adrenaline

2. In response, our heart beats faster and harder, our blood pressure rises, our breath becomes shallow and weak and our blood rushes away from major organs (ie: organs of the digestive tract) and into our muscles so we can fight or flee from the stress, appropriately.

There are so many situations in our external world that have the potential to be stressful. Whether you have experienced a traumatic event in your life, you lead a high-stress lifestyle, have a habit of over-committing, or choose to burn the candle at both ends, without self-care and proper rest and relaxation, your adrenals will become depleted and your health will suffer?

So the question is, how do we make the necessary changes in order to improve our adrenal health?

The truth is, we do have control over how we react to stress. 

If we do not learn how to cope better with stress and take life down a notch, (even just mentally) we will never truly recover from adrenal fatigue and our health will continue to suffer.

And to further prove my point of the deep connection between stress and our health, new research reveals that 80% of all diseases may actually be stress related. But, it’s not all bad news.

The good news is there are ways to teach your body and mind to cope better with stress. And there is science behind this.  There is a powerful hormone that is able to lower cortisol (the stress hormone), balance the body after the stress response and as a result, improve adrenal health.

This hormone is called Oxytocin. Oxytocin is often called the stress ‘off-switch’ or the ‘love’ hormone. In order to produce oxytocin, we need to engage in certain activities that trigger a relaxation response both in the brain and in the body. During the relaxation response, our mind clears, our muscles relax, and our heart rate and blood pressure lower.

Oxytocin is mainly released in three ways; during an orgasm and for women during labor and when breastfeeding. You might be thinking, that's it?

Thankfully, there are several ways we can trick the body into releasing oxytocin and heal the body from stress.

5 Simple Ways to Release Oxytocin

1. LAUGHTER

Did you know there is science behind the saying, “Laughter is the best medicine?” When we laugh, our bodies produce Oxycotin. Laughter is also known to help boost your energy, your immune system and even reduce pain.

This can be genuine or fake laughter, the brain doesn’t know the difference.

• So either spend a few minutes laughing by listening to your favorite comedian during your commute to work or while exercising

• Surround yourself with people who make you laugh

• Or just start laughing

2. HUG SOMEONE

• Embrace someone, it’s best when you hug someone you love

• Enjoy that hug and stay a little longer than normal and feel the effects

• If you don’t have the opportunity to hug someone you love than imagine you are hugging someone you love or that you are being hugged by someone you love

• Cuddling has the same effect

3. TAKE A WALK

• It doesn’t have to be long, even 10 minutes is beneficial

• Walking, and walking outside is recommended and is statistically correlated with higher levels of oxytocin

• If your day is full of meetings, perhaps you can suggest a walking meeting with a co-worker, you might be surprised that when walking and talking business you can experience more inspirations, creativity and ah-ha moments!

4. DO SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR YOURSELF DAILY

• We often over-extend ourselves by trying to do and be everything. Especially as women, we learn to do this at an early age and then it becomes a habit that is hard to break. This busyness just becomes our new normal. As a result, we end up deleted ourselves and our adrenals.

• Make a commitment to do something special for yourself every single day. For example, take a bath, walk in nature, book a massage, go to a movie by yourself, plan a date with a friend or treat yourself to a special treat

5. BREATHE DEEP

• When our bodies are stressed we breathe shallowly and fast.

• Breathing deep is one of the best ways to lower stress in the body. This is because when you breathe deeply it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. The brain then sends this message to your body which slows down your heart rate and decreases your blood pressure

• Ideally sit comfortably, close your eyes, set a timer for 2-3 minutes and just allow yourself to inhale and exhale, each for the count of 5 seconds. Try not to judge yourself for being distracted when distractions come up. Our brains are just doing their job. When distracted bring yourself back to the breath. And just keeping doing that over time it gets easier. But know that we all struggle with it, even those that have been practicing meditation for years.

Well, there you go. I just gave you 5 strategies to improve your adrenal health and manage your stress naturally. I don't want to stop there. Here's a great tool to help you take ACTION...

Now we’d love to hear from you in the comments below. Which strategies would you like to incorporate more of into your day? Keep yourself accountable and tell us what action you’d like to take this week. Your share will inspire others on their healing journey. So take a moment to drop us a line below.