Welcome to Dr. James Wilson's Adrenal Fatigue Blog

The Secrets to Fighting Fatigue with Food

By Rosanna Commisso

(ArticlesBase SC #1762818)

Bad Marriage Raises Stress Levels For Men and Women

Your relationship could be literally killing you, and it may be more important to fix a bad marriage than fix a time with your doctor for that next check-up. A recent study has shown that men and women who are in bad marriages take that stress to work with them, thereby increasing their risk of developing heart disease and diabetes and other chronic complaints stemming from stress.

"What is happening is that marital problems are spilling into the workplace," said Brandeis University's Rosalind Barnett, one of the study's authors, in a news release. "And if these tensions persist over time, there could be serious health problems."

In the study, which was published in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Barnett and colleagues looked at 105 middle-aged married adults -- 67 men and 38 women -- to determine the relationship between the quality of their marriage and several physical and mental stress indicators.

Participants' feelings about their marriage were assessed using a standardized scale. Then, their blood pressure and levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol, determined from saliva samples, were checked throughout a working day. Those who expressed more marital concerns had higher blood pressure during the workday. They also had higher morning cortisol levels, with fewer changes in levels over the course of the day than those with fewer marital concerns. People who scored worse on the marital quality scale also reported feeling more stress.

Over time, high cortisol levels can increase your risk for obesity, diabetes, depression, immune problems and more, while high blood pressure raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. Contrary to what some may expect, these effects were seen in both men and women.

"It's generally assumed that primary relationships are more critical to women's psychological well-being than men's, but this is not the case," Barnett said. "When there is marital concern, men and women are equally affected." Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2009

Comment by Eric Bakker, ND:

Here is yet another study highlighting the relationship with emotional conflict creating long term ill health by way of altering the sensitive stress mechanism of the human body. Countless studies have shown that high cortisol levels (a hormone produced by the adrenal gland) which stays high can lead to many chronic degenerative diseases for which pharmaceutical drugs are conveniently prescribed by your doctor. There are some enlightened doctors however who do understand the relationship with stress and health, and here are a few comments I received from doctors who use Dr. Wilson's Adrenal fatigue Program in their clinics. A doctor I know here in New Zealand has been using Dr. Wilson's Adrenal Fatigue Program successfully in his primary practice for the past two and a half years. His comments: "The more patients I see in primary care, the more I can see the connection with many of their presenting complaints and stress. In fact, if I placed half of my primary care patients on Dr. Wilson's Program I could reduce my workload at least by half." Another doctor I spoke with in the South Island of New Zealand mentioned that he used to treat depression as a "disease in its own right" but after studying Dr. Wilson's work has seen that many cases of depression actually stem from adrenal exhaustion (and altered cortisol levels) in men women. His comments: "Many cases of depression I see in patients seems to be connected to their level of stress and tiredness, and once I got used to treating their fatigue and stress patterns, their depression lifted and in some cases disappeared."

 

Vitamin C and Adrenal Fatigue – Part 2

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient and antioxidant necessary to many aspects of your health, including adrenal function; carbohydrate metabolism; formation and repair of bone, skin and all other tissues; cardiovascular fitness; immune function; and the production of hormones and neurotransmitters. It helps your body absorb iron, which is needed to make red blood cells, and speeds the healing of burns, wounds and scars. It is the major water-soluble antioxidant responsible for preventing oxidative damage to cell membranes throughout your body.

The highest concentrations are found in your adrenal glands, eyes and brain. Stress, cold, pollution, smoking and alcohol consumption all cause vitamin C to be used up at a more rapid rate, making less available for critical activities like immune responses and adrenal function. Bioflavonoids normally occur in nature with vitamin C and greatly enhance its activity and anti- oxidant strength.  However, vitamin C and bioflavonoids are not manufactured by the human body and, therefore, have to be regularly replenished through food or supplements.

Vitamin C is so essential to your adrenal glands and your ability to cope with stress that if you do not make vitamin C available to your body through supplementation and diet, adrenal hormone production cannot begin or continue. When your adrenal glands are unable to make the additional adrenal hormones required to maintain you during stressful times, you will feel worse and take longer to recover. Because there are so many other tissues in your body that also need increased vitamin C during any kind of stress, an adequate supply of it is vital to your ability to respond properly. If you find yourself in one of the following stressful situations, it can be helpful to take extra vitamin C:

• If you feel yourself starting to come down with a cold or respiratory infection, it is a good idea to start taking vitamin C right away. This not only aids your immune system in fighting the infection, but it helps your adrenals to respond to the stressful situation in your body created by the infection.
• If you know you are going to be up late
• If you are stressed for an examination or work even
• If you are going through an emotional crisis or have to push yourself
• If you are injured, ill or going through surgery
• If you are experiencing adrenal fatigue

Cautions with Vitamin C

As you take more supplemental vitamin C your body adapts to this higher level of vitamin C. Therefore, if you later decrease your vitamin C intake, do it gradually. A sudden drop in vitamin C can lead to deficiency symptoms even when your actual vitamin C intake is well above the recommended quantity. Decrease your intake by 500 mg, or less, every three to five days until you reach your desired daily amount. If you begin experiencing unusual weakness, swollen gums or easy bruising, it could mean you are decreasing too fast and should temporarily increase your amount of vitamin C and bioflavonoids. Then step down the dosage more slowly. Just as your body adapts to an increase in vitamin C, it will also adapt to a decrease in vitamin C. However, it takes about twice as long for the body to get used to the decrease as it does to the increase.

This applies to babies whose bodies also adapt to whatever level of vitamin C their mothers are taking. If a mother has been taking high doses of vitamin C during her pregnancy or while nursing, the baby may need to be given gradually decreasing amounts of vitamin C/bioflavonoids from birth, if bottle fed, or at weaning, if breast fed. 

If you are on blood thinners, monitor your blood clotting. Vitamin C works with vitamin E and other antioxidants to decrease blood clotting and coagulation.

The Myth About Vitamin C in Oranges

There is a myth about the amount of vitamin C in oranges. Not only have there been questions about the actual content of vitamin C contained in the juice compared to label claims, but the amount of vitamin C contained in the orange dissipates with time. After oranges are harvested and remain in storage for two months, only a small percentage of the original amount of vitamin C remains. This dissipation during storage occurs with all fresh foods and vitamin C is also destroyed by heat and exposure to air. In addition, the bioflavonoids in fruit are found mostly in the white part on the inside of the rind that is usually not eaten, rather than in the juicy part of the fruit that usually is consumed. Commercially, orange juice made without the rind lacks the appropriate amount of bioflavonoids. Orange juice made with the skin, including the rind (the most common method), from non-organically grown fruit often contains chemical residues and sprays which may adversely affect some people. Orange juice – and fruit juice in general – is specifically not recommended for people experiencing adrenal fatigue because it raises blood sugar too quickly followed by a subsequent abrupt drop.

Because stress can dramatically increase your need for vitamin C, especially in your adrenal glands, the most reliable way to ensure you are getting enough when you are stressed or experiencing adrenal fatigue is through supplementation. The optimum form of supplemental vitamin C to look for is a true sustained release supplement that provides a gradual, steady supply of vitamin C, with a 1:2 ratio of bioflavonoids to vitamin C to enhance its activity, and trace minerals to balance the acidity the of vitamin C so it’s easier on your stomach.

Tracking Hidden Food Allergies and Sensitivities in Adrenal Fatigue

Food sensitivities can affect your life in subtle ways. They can manifest by increasing your fatigue, clouding your judgement, intensifying your anger and other emotional reactions, or just make you feel bad for no apparent reason. Here are some tools to help you learn which foods, drinks or substances are the offending agents -- and how to relieve your body's stress and speed your adrenal recovery time.

Food & Environmental Intolerances Questionnaire

Food and environmental intolerances affect your body's ability to function and can contribute to adrenal fatigue. A “Food & Environmental Intolerances Questionnaire” is available at our website at http://adrenalfatigue.org. It lists common signs and symptoms of food and environmental intolerances. They may or may not show up on allergy tests, but if you have many of these signs and symptoms, your body is likely reacting to one or more substances you are eating, drinking or have been exposed to. Once you determine which substance(s) is bothering you and remove it, you should see improvement, provided that your adrenal glands have the capacity to respond and recover.

Elimination/Provocation Confirmation Test

The elimination/provocation test is an accurate, inexpensive and easy way to confirm suspicions about food sensitivities/allergies. To do this, you simply eliminate the suspect food from your diet completely for at least three weeks and then reintroduce it. The first time you reintroduce the food, beverage or substance, it is best to have only a small amount (one or two mouthfuls). Do not eat or drink anything but water for approximately one hour before and two hours after you consume your test item. Take your pulse sitting quietly before eating the food and every 15 minutes after, for an hour. Record any emotional swings, mood changes, or alterations in mental clarity. Note if your energy level goes up or down. One of the most common reactions found in food allergies/sensitivities is to feel especially good, almost giddy, for 30-45 minutes after you ingest the test item, and then to fall into a real low.

If you still do not notice any detectable difference in your pulse, energy level mental clarity, mood or in any other way physically, mentally or emotionally, you are probably not sensitive to that food or perhaps your are only sensitive to it under certain conditions. If you do notice such changes, you are probably sensitive to that food substance. Eliminate this item completely from your diet.

ELISA IgE Test

Getting an ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay) IgE food allergy test is the best place to start with laboratory tests. The basic panel covers 90-100 foods, and the more comprehensive panels cover about 175 foods including spices, herbs, condiments and uncommon foods. Despite the usefulness of the ELISA tests, there are certain kinds of food reactions that they do not pick up. For these, the Cellular Immune Food Reaction Tests may be more useful.

Cellular Immune Food Reaction Tests

Also known as delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction tests (DTH) or activated cell tests (ACT), these are less common blood tests that can be valuable in detecting subtle or delayed allergies not caught by the ELISA. These tests look at the part of the immune system’s response to food that can be delayed up to three days after eating the food. Such food allergies are seldom discovered by observations and are not picked up by the usual food panels.

Food Allergies, Sensitivities and Adrenal Fatigue

It is hard to say which is more important when you have adrenal fatigue – what to eat or what not to eat! Eating the wrong foods or combination of foods can throw you off for hours and even days, so do not event try to sneak something by; it is just not worth the price you have to pay. Make regaining your health a major priority and do not sacrifice it for the cheap gratification of a favorite, but unhealthy, food or drink. Pick the foods that are recommended for adrenal fatigue and stick with them. The further you deviate from them, the more problems you are likely to have and the more difficult it will be to balance your body chemistry. In order to heal and maintain your health, you need to stack as many things in your favor as possible.

Eliminate All Foods to Which You Are Allergic, Sensitive or Addicted

If you think that a particular food substance interferes in any way with achieving your optimum health, eliminate it immediately. If you suspect, but do not know which foods or beverages you are allergic, sensitive or addicted to, then it is important to find out. The adrenals are extremely important in all allergies, including food allergies and sensitivities. As your adrenal function improves, you will be less prone to allergies and will be able to eat more things. However, for the first three months, do not push the envelope. Completely eliminate all the foods you are sensitive to or suspect you are sensitive or allergic to. The idea is not to see how far you can test the limits; the idea is to get yourself well.

Role of Allergies in Adrenal Function

Most allergies involve the release of histamine and other pro-inflammatory substances (substances that produce inflammation). The adrenal hormone, cortisol, is a strong anti-inflammatory (a substance that reduces inflammation). Your circulating level of cortisol is the key factor in controlling the level of inflammatory reactions in your body. For this reason, your adrenal glands play an important role in mediating the histamine release and inflammatory reactions that produce the symptoms experienced with allergies. It is therefore not surprising that people with food and environmental allergies commonly have weak adrenal function.

• The more histamine that is released, the more cortisol it takes to control the inflammatory response and the harder the adrenals have to work to produce more cortisol.

• The harder the adrenals have to work, the more fatigued they become and the less cortisol they produce, allowing histamine to inflame the tissues more.

• This vicious circle can lead to progressively deeper adrenal fatigue as well as to larger allergic reactions.

• Anything you can do to break this cycle will help your adrenal glands and reduce the effects of allergies.

• Eliminating foods that you are allergic or sensitive to from your diet is one of the best and easiest ways to decrease the demands on your struggling adrenals.

Most symptoms of allergies or food sensitivities are first felt between thirty minutes and three hours after the meal, but some may be delayed as long as two to three days.

Because of the abundance of histamine receptors in your brain, an allergen will often cause a greater reaction in your nervous system than it does anywhere else. Ranging from subtle to profound, these cerebral allergy reactions can include such symptoms as a cloudy head, confusion, sudden awkwardness, loss of consciousness, coma and occasionally death.

Responses to particular foods and drinks vary from person to person but there are some food substances that tend to produce allergies more frequently. The most common food allergens are the proteins in cow's milk, eggs, peanuts, wheat, soy, fish, shellfish, and tree nuts. Sugar is not a common allergen, but it can greatly increase an allergic reaction. If you find yourself feeling odd or experiencing more of the signs and symptoms of adrenal fatigue after eating, think of allergies or food sensitivities.

Allergic reactions also vary in magnitude, even within the same individual. At one a time an allergen may produce only a small response, and at other times be incapacitating. It is important to track down and eliminate these food sensitivities and allergies in order to help you adrenal glands recover. 

Sleep & Adrenal Fatigue

People are becoming more aware of the ravages of stress and how it leaks into every corner of their lives. Of course, increased stress means increased sleep disturbances for many. Less sleep means they experience more stress the day after. This pattern continues in a vicious cycle, making stress and sleep loss in terms of hours and quality intimately interconnected.

If stress has somewhat depleted the adrenal glands, which is often the case, people under stress do not wake feeling rested. Cortisol, an adrenal hormone, is needed to allow that person to wake feeling refreshed and bouncing out of bed in the morning. It is also important to induce an alpha wave, a requirement for the first phase of sleep. If cortisol is low, falling asleep is difficult. Cortisol is also necessary to maintain good blood sugar levels throughout the day and night. If cortisol is low during the day people wake feeling tired and often need coffee, cola and other caffeinated beverages to get going and to keep going during the day. This over consumption of caffeine not only causes blood sugar to rapidly rise and then precipitously fall an hour and a half later, but also tends to interfere with sleep that night. The resulting lack restful sleep creates more stress the next morning and perpetuates the cycle of low cortisol and difficulty sleeping. This low adrenal function is a frequent occurrence in both sleep disturbance and inadequate response to stress. During adrenal fatigue, a condition where the adrenal glands are not able to keep up with the demands placed on them, people often have problems managing their stress and sleeping well.

There can be several reasons for sleeplessness with adrenal fatigue. If you are waking between 1:00 and 3:00 AM, your liver may be lacking the glycogen reserves needed for conversion by the adrenals to keep the blood glucose levels high enough during the night. Blood sugar is normally low during the early morning hours but, if you are experiencing adrenal fatigue, your blood glucose levels may sometimes fall so low that hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) symptoms wake you during the night. This is often the case if you have panic or anxiety attacks, nightmares, or sleep fitfully between 1:00 and 4:00 AM. To help counteract this, have one or two bites of a snack that contains protein, unrefined carbohydrate, and high quality fat before going to bed, such as half a slice of whole grain toast with peanut butter or a slice of cheese on a whole grain cracker.

Both too high and too low nighttime cortisol levels can cause sleep disturbances. To determine if this is a problem for you, simply do a saliva cortisol test at night and compare your night sample levels with your own daytime levels and with the test standards for those times. To do the night test, take a saliva sample at bedtime, another if you wake up during the night and a third when you wake up in the morning. Write the time each sample was taken on the vial and in your notebook on a separate sheet of paper. If cortisol is the culprit, your cortisol levels will be significantly higher or lower than normal for those times. If your nighttime cortisol levels are too low, you may sleep better when you exercise in the evening, before going to bed because exercise tends to raise cortisol levels. If your nighttime cortisol levels are too high, try doing one of the relaxation or meditation exercises to calm you down before going to bed. The specific yoga posture called the alternate leg-pull can be quite helpful in getting to sleep or returning to sleep. This is a basic yoga posture that almost any yoga book or video will describe but an instructor is preferable because there is some subtlety to doing this posture.

Here is a list of some additional things you can do to improve your sleep:

• Above all, go to bed before 10:30 PM and stay in bed until 9:00AM as often as possible, even if it is just on the weekends. It is amazing how restorative sleeping until 9:00 AM is for the adrenals.
• Be sure to get enough physical exercise during the day. Try varying the kinds of exercise you do, their intensity or when you exercise. Many people have told me swimming at night helps them sleep.
• Certain postures in yoga, ta'I chi and qi gong can also be helpful. Check with a teacher of these disciplines to find out which postures or exercises would specifically help you.
• Avoid coffee, caffeine containing beverages and chocolate because they act as stimulants. These can interrupt sleep patterns and increase morning lows. Even if they are consumed early in the day, they can disrupt sleep and make the next morning harder to negotiate.
• Some people are photosensitive and watching television or looking at at computer screen keeps their melatonin from rising and inducing sleep. If you are having difficulty going to sleep and usually are staring at a TV or computer screen late at night, try having an 8:00 PM limit on these visual stimuli.
• If your cortisol levels are low late at night, try exercising in the evening, as exercise raises cortisol levels and may afford you a sound night's sleep.
  
• There are particular nutritional supplements that can be beneficial. Often melatonin (0.3-1.3 mg) taken 30 minutes before bedtime helps establish normal sleep patterns. Calcium citrate (500mg) taken with 50 mg of 5-hydroxytriptophan (5HTP) at night before retiring is also relaxing and helps many people sleep throughout the night. Trace mineral tablets taken at the evening meal also help relax the body. Adrenal extracts taken ½ hour before bedtime often help those with adrenal fatigue fall asleep and remain asleep. If your adrenal fatigue is moderate or severe, try this one first.
• The hypothalamus is very important in regulating sleep. Although accurately testing hypothalamic function is complicated, a simple test you can do yourself is to try takig one to four tablets of hypothalamus extract and 10-40mg of manganese before bedtime and see if your sleep improves. Sometimes the hypothalamus tablets need to be combined with the adrenal extracts to normalize sleep.
  
• There are also several herbs commonly used to promote better sleep such as hops (whole plant), catnip (leaves), valerian (root) and licorice (root). Although not known as a sedative, the herb ashwagandha can help indirectly through its ability to normalize cortisol and sex hormones, both of which can produce sleep disturbances.

If none of these help and your life is being deleteriously affected by lack of or interrupted sleep, check your local area for the location of the nearest sleep center. Several cities around the country have these centers that specialize in helping individuals determine the cause of their sleep disturbances.

Take Short Horizontal Rests During the Day

During the day, you will probably notice that you have particular times when you feel more lethargic, cloudy headed, tired or have other symptoms of adrenal fatigue. Try to schedule your breaks so that when these occur, you can physically lie down for 15-30 minutes. Lying down is much more restorative than sitting for the person with adrenal fatigue.

How & Why I Use Saliva Hormone Tests for Adrenal Fatigue

I use the saliva hormone test to confirm the other signs and symptoms of adrenal fatigue. I start with a saliva cortisol screening test that measures cortisol levels at four different times during the day: between 6-8AM (within one hour after waking) when cortisol levels are highest; between 11AM-12PM; between 4-6PM; and between 10-12PM. This shows how your cortisol levels vary during the day – something you cannot easily do with blood or urine tests.

Another way I like to use the saliva test, when possible, is to compare samples taken when a patient is experiencing an energy high or low with samples taken during a regular day when the patient is feeling relatively normal (baseline samples). After we have a baseline, these patients carry around some spare vials to take saliva samples at times when they are feeling especially good or especially bad. Again, they record the symptoms(s) they were experiencing, as well as the date and time. They also record the date and time on each vial and send them off to the lab. This is an excellent way to determine whether the lows and highs you experience correspond to relatively low and high cortisol levels.

I also usually measure DHEA-S levels with the saliva test, as well, because the adrenals are the primary source of DHEA-S (but not necessarily of DHEA). Adrenal fatigue syndrome often involves decreased DHEA-S. The DHEA-S level is a direct indicator of the functioning of the area within the adrenal glands that produces sex hormones (the zona reticularis). Saliva tests for testosterone, the estrogens, progesterone and other hormones can also be done, if needed, and may be of value in working with adrenal fatigue. Testosterone and DHEA-S levels are two of the most reliable indicators of biological age. Testosterone and DHEA-S levels below the reference range for the person’s age may be indicators of increased aging. If the cortisol levels are also decreased, the three tests together further indicate chronically decreased adrenal function.

If a doctor does not use the saliva hormone tests, piecing together a correct diagnosis of adrenal fatigue from other laboratory tests is more difficult. Most laboratory tests are designed to look for “disease” states in the human body and adrenal fatigue is not a disease. In addition, there has never been a reliable urine or blood test that checks for, and can definitively diagnose, mild forms of hypoadrenia.

The main reason I prefer the saliva test is that it gives clearer and more direct indications of hormone levels at the actual site where they are utilized – inside the cell. None of the blood or urine tests typically give you as much useful information about your adrenal function as you will get from the combined use of the adrenal fatigue questionnaire from page 61 in the my book, Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome, clinical self-tests, and saliva hormone tests.

Saliva Hormone Testing for Adrenal Fatigue

Saliva hormone testing measures the amounts of various hormones in your saliva instead of in your blood or urine. It is the best singe lab test available for detecting adrenal fatigue and has several advantages over other lab tests in determining adrenal hormone levels. Saliva hormone levels are more indicative of the amount of hormone inside the cells where hormone reactions take place. Blood, on the other hand, measures hormones circulating outside the cells, and urine measures the spillover of hormones out of the blood and into the urine. Although blood and urine hormone tests have their uses, neither of them correlates with the hormone levels inside the cells. The level of a hormone circulating in the blood or excreted in the urine does not necessarily reveal how much of that hormone is getting into the cells. However, saliva testing for hormone levels is simple, accurate and reliable, and many studies have confirmed its accuracy as an indicator of the hormone levels within cells.

Besides providing this nice little peek at hormone levels inside the cells, saliva tests are easy to perform. All you have to do is spit into a small vial. The tests are non-invasive (no needles) and you do not even have to go to a laboratory to complete them. This means that they are an extremely useful way to monitor your degree of adrenal fatigue and your progress over time because they can be repeated as often as needed. Saliva tests are also less expensive than blood tests for adrenal function. They can be done by many health practitioners other than medical doctors, such as chiropractors and naturopaths, who may not have laboratory privileges in your state, but who perhaps know much more about adrenal fatigue than your family doctor or specialist. Some labs will run this test for you without a physician’s signature, so it is possible to order the kit and do the test yourself. You can even obtain a saliva kit by mail and then send it back to the lab from anywhere in the United States. However, unless you know how to interpret a hormone test, it is far better to have a health practitioner familiar with saliva tests and adrenal fatigue do the interpretation for you. The health practitioner’s experience and understanding of how particular test results relate to your whole health pattern is something that is difficult to provide yourself. In this case it is important to find a practitioner who has experience with adrenal hormone testing and its subtle interpretations, which is unfortunately not widely known to mainstream doctors -- even many endocrinologists.

The best way to determine your particular adrenal hormone (cortisol) status is to use the saliva test that measures your cortisol levels several times per day. Typically, laboratories testing hormonal content of saliva have test kits that take samples four or more times per day. You merely carry around a few small tubes and, at designated times of the day, you spit into one of the tubes and recap it. The samples usually do not need to be refrigerated and can be sent by mail to the laboratory. For a list of laboratories that do accurate and reliable saliva testing, as well as a list of doctors familiar with this test, see our website at http://adrenalfatigue.org. By measuring your saliva hormone levels at least four times per day, you will be able to see for yourself where your cortisol levels are compared to the norms. After you receive your report, you can see whether low cortisol levels may be responsible for the feelings of fatigue that you experience during particular times of day. Because saliva hormone levels correlate well with the amount of hormone inside the cells (tissue levels) and samples can be taken as needed without inconvenience or adverse side effects, saliva testing is often more useful than blood or urine testing of hormone levels.

Dr. Wilson’s Guidelines for Overcoming Adrenal Fatigue

Here are some general guidelines to follow and things to avoid to help you recover from adrenal fatigue. Use this list as a reference guide and adapt it to your particular situation.

• Make your lifestyle a healing one
• Do something pleasurable every day
• Be in bed before 10PM
• Sleep in until 9AM whenever possible
• Look for things that make you laugh
• Eliminate the energy robbers (things in your life that drain your energy)
• Take action on one of the "three things you can do" whenever you are not enjoying your life - first locate the energy robbers and then 1) change the situation, 2) change yourself to adapt to the situation, or 3) leave the situation. Notice at least one small, everyday thing that you are grateful for each day
• Take your dietary supplements, regularly
• Move your body and breathe deeply
• Believe in your ability to recover
• Use your mind as a powerful healing tool
• Keep a journal - jot down your experiences each day
• Eat the foods your body needs
• Learn which foods make you feel bad (keep a list of them)
• Read/Re-Read Part 3 of "Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome"
• If you do not have high blood pressure, try having a glass of water in the morning containing ½ to 1 teaspoon of salt stirred in until dissolved. If this makes you feel better, continue doing it. Note: On mornings when you exercise fully, you may not want as much salt. Be mindful of your cravings for salt and potassium containing foods (e.g. bananas, melon, potatoes, tomatoes, beans) during the day. These desires may serve as rough indicators of adrenal function during the day.
• When you eat fruit, have something with salt before or after the fruit and chew very well
• Combine starchy carbohydrates, protein and fats at every meal, including breakfast
• Always eat breakfast - it is very important for people experiencing adrenal fatigue
• Eat an abundance of whole foods - those foods which are eaten like nature grows them
• Eat lots of colored vegetables
• Chew your food well
• Take the power and responsibility of your health into your own hands
• Make whatever lifestyle changes you need to make to regain your health
• Laugh several times every day
• Enjoy your recovery
• Take 1,000 mg of Vitamin C complex with 200mg magnesium and pantothenic acid at approximately 2PM every day along with a small snack containing protein, complex carbohydrate and fat in order to help avoid the 3-4PM low
• Follow my Program for Adrenal Fatigue and Stress
  

Avoid These Things

• Getting overtired
• Caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and white flour products
• Coffee, even decaf
• Staying up past 11PM
• Pushing yourself
• Energy robbers
• Being harsh or negative with yourself
• Feeling sorry for yourself
• Foods you are addicted to
• Foods you suspect an allergy or sensitivity to
• Foods that make you feel worse, cloud your thinking or pull you down in any way
• Skipping breakfast
• Avoid fruit in the morning
• Never eat starchy carbohydrates (breads, pastas) by themselves
• Do not eat foods that adversely affect you in any way, no matter how good they taste or how much you crave them

Stress - Separating the Good from the Bad and the Ugly

It is important to be able to distinguish which things in your life are contributing to your health and which things are detracting from it. So the first step in helping yourself obtain a lifestyle you love is to make a complete and thorough list of all the things that are beneficial to you life and health, and all the detrimental things in your life.

To help you get clear on this, I use the following, very simple but informative exercise. Take a piece of paper, date it and draw a vertical line down the center. At the top of the left column write "Good For Me," and at the top of the right column, write "Bad For Me." These can be physical or leisure activities, eating patterns, exercises, relationships, work, family, emotional patterns, attitudes, beliefs, dietary supplements, and any other things that make you feel good and contribute to your sense of well-being.

In the "good" column, list all things that bring you pleasure and add to your life, even if you haven't done them for a while. Reach into your heart and health and find what makes you feel good and what you love in life.

In the "bad" column, list everything that seems detrimental to your health and well-being. Again, they can be physical, emotional, or attitudinal; they may be work or family related situations, relationships, eating and drinking patterns, or anything you are doing or are involved with that is not good for you.

If some aspects of a situation are good and some bad, separate them out. For example, you may have a job that you love, but the grueling hours and the fast pace are exhausting. In this case, put your job in the "good" column and the excess hours and high pressure demands in the "bad" column.

This is not a test. There is no maximum or minimum number of items to include. There is no pass or fail, no right or wrong answers. The more forthcoming you can be with information, the more you can help yourself.

Locating the Energy Robbers

Finding out what drains you and tires you out will help uncover the external factors using up your adrenal resources. In most cases of adrenal fatigue, there are life situations that are draining, such as being around a certain person or group, in a particular building or environment, at work or at home or in some other specific situation that leaves you feeling excessively tired or stressed.

These external factors are what I call the energy robbers. Energy robbers are like holes in the barrel preventing you from being full of energy. It is detrimental to keep demanding more and more energy from your body instead of just plugging as many of the holes as possible. Every time you eliminate or minimize one of these energy robbers in your life, it is like plugging one of the holes in the barrel, allowing your energy reserves to begin to rebuild. As you become aware of what is robbing you of your energy and make the necessary changes, you will see significant differences in your energy levels. Freeing yourself from the energy robbers in your life is much easier once you have identified them.

On a fresh sheet of paper, make a heading "Energy Robbers" and list everything and everyone in your daily life that takes away your energy. Many of these will be the same as the items you listed in the "bad" column earlier, but in this one, look at your life in terms of what makes you feel more tired or worn out. What or whom do you feel drained around? It can be anything from a food to a perfume, an activity, a nagging memory, a co-worker or a spouse. It may be a building, a room or a situation. There may be many heads to this dragon but it is worth the effort to see them clearly.

Three Things You Can Do

Now that you are more aware of what and who is taking your energy, we can talk about some ways to deal with them. The most valuable thing I learned in Psychology 101 is that there are three things that you can do when you are in a difficult situation:

1. You can change the situation
2. You can change yourself to fit (adapt to) the situation
3. You can leave the situation

Remember, stresses are additive and cumulative. Removing or neutralizing your largest source of stress will make a very significant difference to your adrenal glands and to you health and well-being. Most of the time, if you take care of the big ones, the smaller ones will take care of themselves. Your body has a natural ability to handle stress and remain healthy. It is only when the stresses are overwhelming in quantity, duration or intensity that the systems in your body start to break down.