Depression, weight gain, lack of energy…Is Adrenal Fatigue to blame?

The main purpose of the adrenal glands is to protect us with the ability to “fight or flight,” or get us out of danger as quickly as possible. When we were cavemen, this “fight or flight” response was necessary for our every day survival. Fast-forward to modern day, and we create the same primitive response to a stressful day at work as our cavemen ancestors did to fighting off lions. But can you imagine what fighting off lions every day, over and over, with little or no relief would do to our ancestors?

When the adrenals are consistently taxed without adequate time to rest and repair, the result is adrenal fatigue. The major symptoms of adrenal fatigue are some of the most common health complaints heard by doctors every day: weight gain, depression and chronic fatigue. So what does adrenal fatigue look like? You struggle to get up in the morning, when you do get up you never feel fully rested, it takes more and more effort to do every day things, you struggle with memory and thoughts become a little more cloudy, you’re more irritable and you have a decreased ability to fight off that lingering cough and cold, you crave sugar, caffeine and chocolate to keep you going and you have almost no tolerance for stress.

How did I get here and how can I get better?

Stress causes adrenal fatigue. To our body, all stress is created equal so causes of adrenal fatigue range from emotional and physical to environmental and psychological stressors. In order to get yourself out of the cycle of adrenal fatigue, you first have to identify and eliminate unnecessary causes of stress in your every day life. For some, the death of a loved one or another unavoidable trauma can ignite adrenal fatigue. But for others, adrenal fatigue doesn’t come from one event but rather from a series of repeated unhealthy lifestyle decisions such as staying up too last at night, drinking too much, addictions to junk foods, etc. Luckily, with the right lifestyle modifications you can start to reverse the process of adrenal fatigue starting today. So my little cavemen and women, here are some modern day “lions” you can avoid today for optimal health and vitality:

Stimulants: If the adrenals are already over stimulated, it’s best to avoid all stimulants such as coffee, sugar and alcohol. If you choose to limit but not give up any of these stimulants one hundred percent, be sure to always have caffeine, sugary foods and alcohol with other foods (such as high quality proteins and fats). In doing this, you will help buffer the stimulant’s sudden impact on your body.

Perfectionism/Negative Thinking: Don’t be your own personal energy vampire. Being hard on yourself emotionally, feeling sorry for yourself and pushing yourself too hard can all create prolonged stress on the body and disrupt your hormonal balance. Instead, write a positive script for your life. Make sure to give yourself a healthy amount of downtime every day and try to find a relaxation process that works for you (whether it’s taking baths, focusing on your breathing, napping or practicing meditation).


Too Much Exercise: Exercise is a form of stress. However, choosing the right type of exercise in the right dosage can actually help get you out of adrenal fatigue. Avoid doing too much cardio and instead focus on “big bang” strength training exercises that deliver amazing results in a shorter amount of time. In addition to strength training, try to get out for walks in nature as much as possible. Getting fresh air and sunshine and reconnecting with the outdoors will do wonders for your adrenal health.

Poor Nutrition Choices: Skipping meals and eating poor quality foods will cause a huge stress response within your body. Make sure you eat organic as much as possible and never go more than four hours without eating. Also, eliminate all foods you might have an allergy or intolerance to. The two most common foods I see allergies to in my practice are dairy and gluten. If you’re not sure if you’re intolerant to either, strictly limit them from your diet for at least a month and then reintroduce them one by one into your diet. Be sure to record any negative reactions such as bloating, digestive issues, headaches, nausea, etc. as these are all signs of food intolerance.

Staying Up Too Late: Get to bed as close to 10pm as possible to allow your adrenals to rest. If getting to sleep is difficult for you, avoid watching TV or sitting in front of the computer after 8pm. Power naps are also a great way to pay off your sleep debt. A quick 20 minute nap is as good for you as one hour of early sleep.

Head’s up migraine sufferers! Three unexpected migraine causes (that your doctor probably hasn’t told you about)

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 303 million people worldwide suffer from migraines. Unfortunately, most doctors treat only the symptom and not the underlying cause of this disease, leaving migraine sufferers dependent on migraine medications for pain relief. Could addressing one (or all) of these three unexpected migraine causes help you relive your migraines without the use of medicine?

H. Pylori: Helicobacter Pylori, a parasite that has been known to cause stomach ulcers, acid reflux disease, GERD and gastric cancer, has recently been linked with migraines. A study presented at the infectious diseases conference in Italy found that 18% of chronic migraine sufferers were infected with the H. Pylori bug. After receiving treatment for the H. Pylori infection, migraine sufferers reported a marked decrease in both the frequency and severity of their migraines. Infecting more than 50% of the population, H. Pylori is the most common pathogen in the world. Common ways of contracting H. Pylori include unclean water, sexual fluids and contaminated raw foods such as chicken and eggs. Because H. Pylori infections often thrive in their hosts without any obvious side effects, stool testing (the best way to test for H. Pylori) is a good idea even if common H. Pylori markers are not present. It’s a nasty little bug, and one that can lead to a wide range of more serious diseases, so testing is highly recommended.

Aspartame: The consumption of aspartame, one of the most common artificial sweeteners, is strongly associated with migraines and even seizures. Recent studies show that the chemical substance aspartame acts as an excitotoxin in the body, meaning that it overexcites your brain cells to the point of damage. Over time, this brain cell damage leads to severe migraines and a variety of other neurological disorders. Because so many products contain aspartame (everything from diet sodas to sticks of gum), you might be consuming aspartame and not even realizing it, so make sure to read all food labels (or better yet, stick to eating foods that don’t need labels).

Gluten: For many, migraines may be the result of gluten sensitivity. About 70% of the population has some form of subclinical gluten sensitivity and of that 70%, 90% have no idea. If you’ve been following my blogs, by now you know that gluten causes inflammation in the gut and inflicts major stress on the body’s immune system. Because the brain (central nervous system) and the gut (enteric nervous system) are linked, it makes sense that inflammation that happens in the gut would also affect inflammation in the brain. As doctors have started to make connections between various neurological disorders and gut/diet issues, they have found increasingly strong links between gluten sensitivity and migraines, seizures, ataxia and various proprioceptive dysfunctions. Many doctors believe that migraines are one of the most obvious red flags for gluten sensitivity, as is craving gluten. So if you are one of those people who feel you truly can’t live without gluten, the chances are very high that you’re intolerant to gluten and should avoid it completely.

The Key Nutrient for Optimal Health (that most people don’t know about)

You want to increase your energy, slow down the aging process, prevent disease and have some mental acuity and vitality along the way. You spend time working out, get a bit of sunlight and try to eat right. But are you unknowingly undermining your own health and fitness efforts with this common diet mistake?

If you’re still eating a diet that is high in grains and vegetable oils, it’s highly likely that your ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is critically out of balance. While the optimal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 should be roughly 1:1, in the average American this ratio is anywhere from 20:1 to 50:1. Recent studies show that this imbalance can be a major cause for the increasing incidences of heart disease, cancer, hypertension and even certain neurological diseases such as depression, postpartum depression and Alzheimer’s. Essentially, as the body’s omega-6 number rises, so does the body’s overall inflammation, and as most of you know, too much inflammation in the body causes the majority of the most common diseases plaguing us today.

So where does this imbalance come from? More and more, scientists are finding a link between high levels of omega-6 and the over-consumption of grains and certain vegetable oils such as soy oil and canola oil, and an under-consumption of high quality foods such as grass-fed beef, fatty fish and healthy oils such as flaxseed oil, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil and walnut oil.

What can increasing your omega-3 do for you?

Omega-3, with its high levels of DHA and EPA, is extremely anti-inflammatory. As a result, if you suffer from inflammatory diseases such as arthritis or ulcerative colitis, taking omega-3 can help reduce the level of pain in your body. In addition, because of its anti-inflammatory properties, omega-3 prevents (and might even reverse) heart disease, prevents certain types of cancer, and even aids in the body’s physical repair processes (making it extremely anti-aging). In addition, omega-3 is highly beneficial and necessary for brain health. Because the brain uses DHA as fuel, low DHA levels are now being linked to low serotonin levels, which in turn causes depression, postpartum depression, memory loss, fatigue and a host of other negative health effects. In fact, omega-3 is so beneficial to brain health that researchers at Harvard Medical School have successfully used omega-3 to treat manic depression and schizophrenia.

So what can you do to balance out your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio? Reduce the amount of grains in your diet and increase high-quality fish and grass-fed meats, eliminate all vegetable oils from your diet and take a high quality omega-3 supplement. It’s very important to find a high quality brand of omega-3 as many of the most popular brands on the market today come from fish sources that are extremely high in mercury. Obviously the effects of too much mercury and heavy metal toxicity would counteract the benefits of taking an omega-3 supplement.

How much omega-3 should you take? Most likely more than you think. Check out this simple fish calculator to see just how much your body might need.

http://whole9life.com/fish-oil/