Adrenal Fatigue

By: Sydney Shorb, RN-BSN, Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor

Adrenal Fatigue

Humans, like all living things, must respond and adapt to a wide range of challenges, many of which pose threats to their health or life. Therefore, the body is equipped with a complex repertoire of metabolic functions specifically designed to detect these threats and prevent them from doing physiological harm; or at least to survive the immediate crisis with a chance to regain our health in the near future. This process is known as homeostasis, a physiologic state of balance that is susceptible to a range of stressors, both intrinsic and extrinsic (real or perceived). 

From a biological perspective, stress or a “state of being threatened” triggers our stress response. Excessive or prolonged exposure to various stressors, or inadequate regulation of the stress response systems, will invariably cause individuals to suffer adverse health consequences. In fact, there is a postulated association between chronic stress (and/or dysfunction within the stress response system) and nearly every category of chronic disease. 

The stress response contains both a surveillance function (to assess internal and external threats) and an effector function (to manage metabolic resources to counter the threat). The stress response system is designed to protect physiological resilience within all systems while the organism is under stress, but it does so by drawing upon the organism’s metabolic reserves. 

Adrenal fatigue is one of the complex dysfunctions related to the stress response as a consequence of maladaptation to stress. Adrenal fatigue is a collection of signs and symptoms that result when the adrenal glands function below the necessary level due to the body being in a constant “fight or flight” mode. It’s often associated with intense or prolonged stress. Other causes include, but are not limited to, chronic lack of sleep, consuming too much coffee/caffeine, food allergies or sensitivities, eating low amounts of nutrients, chronic pain/inflammation, and autoimmune conditions.The most common symptom is fatigue that is not relieved by sleep. People experiencing adrenal fatigue often have to use caffeine and/or sugar to get going in the morning and to avoid crashing later in the day. 

Stress-reduction therapies, lifestyle modifications and adrenal and nervous system support are important to implement to help the body achieve homeostasis.

Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue: 

• unexplained fatigue 

• changes in circadian rhythm 

• trouble waking up in the morning

• feel more awake and energetic after 6pm 

• feeling rundown, overwhelmed, or irritable

• difficulty bouncing back from stress or illness 

• changes in metabolism

• crave salty or sweet foods 

• glucose intolerance

• weight gain, especially around the middle

• increased thirst and/or urination 

 Food Treatment for Adrenal Fatigue:

• keep blood sugar stable with fat/fiber/protein at each meal and snack

• eat breakfast within one hour of waking 

• have small snacks to avoid blood sugar dips 

• eat foods high in vitamin C 

• avoid caffeine, sugar and alcohol 

 Supplemental Treatments to Consider for Adrenal Fatigue:

• Adaptogenic herbs ( e.g. ashwagandha, astragalus, ginseng, etc.) 

• Adrenal Complex (glandular with herbs for nourishing gland and supporting proper function)

• B-complex (major adrenal food)

• Magnesium (necessary nutrient for adrenals) 

• Adr (adrenal herbal tonic and enzymes) 

• Vitamin C (adrenals are the largest store of vit C in the body)

Sydney Shorb, RN-BSN, CFNC

Sydney aims to look through a preventive lens and is passionate that people proactively prevent issues from arising instead of only tending to their health when they have a symptom or diagnosis.

Why Food Enzymes are Important

by Howard F. Loomis Jr., D.C.

Plant enzymes are important because they are capable of digesting food before the body’s own digestive process begins. In other words, plant enzymes can enhance the digestion of food and the delivery of nutrients to the blood even if you have a compromised digestive system. The same cannot be said of animal enzymes such as pancreatin.

Everyone agrees that proper nutrition is crucial to the maintenance of a healthy body. However, most healthcare practitioners overlook the true cause of many nutritional disorders. It is assumed, quite mistakenly, that digestion occurs automatically and the correction of a nutritional disorder simply requires matching the right nutritional supplement to the condition. For example, vitamin C for colds, vitamin A for viruses and herbal laxatives for constipation. While this treatment may relieve patient symptoms, the relief is only temporary because the underlying problem of faulty digestion is ignored. Healthcare practitioners who want to effectively manage health problems that are related to nutritional imbalances must consider each person’s ability to digest food. Unfortunately, most clinicians give little or no thought to the role of enzymes in digestion, despite overwhelming evidence of their importance.

Enzymes are present in all living animal and plant cells. They are the primary motivators of all natural biochemical processes. Life cannot exist without enzymes because they are essential components of every chemical reaction in the body. For example, they are the only substance that can digest food and make it small enough to pass through the gastrointestinal mucosa into the bloodstream. Three very broad classifications of enzymes are:

1. Food enzymes - occur in raw food and, when present in the diet, begin the process of digestion

2. Digestive enzymes - produced by the body to break food into particles small enough to be carried across the gut wall

3. Metabolic enzymes - produced by the body to perform various complex biochemical reactions

In the 1930s, Edward Howell, MD, the food enzyme pioneer, found that there is a difference between plant enzymes and those that are produced by the body. He was convinced that plant enzymes in food and supplements have a different function in human digestion than that of the body’s own digestive enzymes. With this theory, he began isolating and concentrating plant enzymes from their sources. He found the difference is that food enzymes begin digesting food in the stomach and will work for at least one hour before the body’s digestive system begins to work. For this reason, enzymes should be considered essential nutrients. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and food manufacturers are removing them from food to gain shelf-life.

Dr. Howell was particularly impressed by the way the ingestion of raw food slowed the progress of chronic degenerative diseases and spent his professional life postulating and then validating his theories.

The original article can be found at the Food Enzyme Institute.