Digesting meals: Many people with burnout (or adrenal fatigue) have lowered levels
of the hydrochloric acid (HCL) necessary to properly break down protein foods in
the stomach. (The indigestion symptoms of low and high acid levels are the same,
so most people think they have too much and take ant-acids, which makes things
worse.) If you have this problem you may experience gas, bloating and heaviness
in your stomach after eating a meal containing protein foods.
Because of these unpleasant after effects, people with low hydrochloric acid
often choose to eat less protein and more carbohydrate foods. This only
compounds the problem, by aggravating adrenal fatigue (or burnout) with too much carbohydrate
and too little protein consumption. The solution is to take a digestive aid with
meals that provides supplementary HCL along with other factors such as pepsin,
trypsin, papain and/or digestive enzymes that help your body to properly break
down protein.
Chocolate and Caffeine are dangerous: If you crave chocolate, chances are
very high that your body seeks Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs - especially the
Omega 3 EFAs that can be found in flaxseed oil and fish oil from deep water
fish) and magnesium. Unfortunately, chocolate provides a synthetic "fix" that
further damages the body’s already-scarce supplies of these nutrients. Try carob
instead.
Carob can be used as a chocolate substitute and (while not ideal) is
preferable to chocolate in its physiological activity in the body. For example,
whereas chocolate aggravates hypoglycemia (blood sugar) and over stimulates the adrenals,
carob normalizes hypoglycemia and does not contain stimulants. Carob comes in
the form of powder, bars, or chips that can be used in baking instead of cocoa
powder or chocolate chips. You can make a delicious hot or cold beverage with
the powder.
To make a carob drink mix one heaping teaspoon of carob with one teaspoon of
honey diluted in one teaspoon of warm water, then stir this syrup into six to
eight ounces of hot or cold goat, nut or rice milk. You can find carob in all
health food stores and in the specialty section of some supermarkets. Carob is
great for people who are allergic to chocolate, because carob tastes a lot like
chocolate, but does not produce the allergic reactions like chocolate. Because
it stabilizes blood sugar and contains several nutrients, carob is a healthy
alternative to chocolate and as a stand-alone favorite beverage.
Chocolate - Hot cocoa, and other chocolate beverages are too likely to drive
your adrenals with the combination of caffeine and sugar that they contain. Play
it safe and avoid them.
Coffee - Coffee, black tea and chocolate all contain various quantities of
caffeine and also a substance similar to caffeine called theobromine that
further interferes with adrenal function. Therefore even decaffeinated coffee
and tea are not recommended for people with adrenal fatigue. Another reason to
avoid coffee is that coffee is roasted and then ground; the oils in coffee
become rancid much more quickly after roasting or grinding and these rancid oils
have detrimental effects of their own. A certain percentage of people are
sensitive to the rancid oils contained in foods and beverages, often without
realizing it. If you still need another incentive to leave that coffee on the
shelf, let me tell you that coffee is also a strong pro-oxidant, greatly
increasing oxidation within the cells. Simply put, this causes you to age
faster.
Because coffee contains all these undesirables that affect your adrenals and
your overall metabolism, it makes sense to eliminate coffee completely. However,
knowing that industrialized nations drink tons and tons of coffee per day, it is
likely that some of you, even though you know that coffee is not good for you,
will occasionally have a cup of coffee. If you embark on this dangerous route,
here are some pointers.
(1) Understand that what you are doing is not good for your body; it only
makes you more tired in the long run and there are other ways to feel better.
(2) Never have coffee by itself; always have it with some good quality food. (3)
Get the freshest and highest quality coffee possible. (4) Drink coffee with
cream as the oils in the cream slightly mitigate the negative effects of the
caffeine. (5) Do not drink coffee late in the afternoon because it interferes
with the formation of the alpha rhythm in the brain necessary for sound sleep.
(6) Take extra magnesium, calcium, B complex, vitamin C and antioxidants when
drinking coffee, to help detoxify the pathways that coffee impairs. (7) Instead
of consuming a full cup of coffee, only have one to two sips and leave the rest
of the cup. (8) Take several doses of homeopathic chamomile (12x potency) to
help counter the negative effects of coffee. 9). Remember that even when you do
all these things, and even though you may feel better initially after a cup of
coffee, the upside of coffee is always followed by a down side. The downside is
usually felt in the morning and lasts much longer than the upside.
These symptoms indicate defective adaptation of your adrenal glands to the
stresses you are experiencing. If you are experiencing more than three of these
symptoms, chances high that you have adrenal fatigue - or burnout. They are
warnings that something needs to change if you want to feel well again.
Alcohol and soft drinks: I’m going to say hardly anything about alcohol
and soft drinks because it is so simple: they are all poisons for the adrenals
and must be completely avoided if you have burnout or adrenal fatigue. Don’t gloss over this last sentence; it’s very
important. Learn to drink (and enjoy drinking) plain, clean water. For most
people, this means bottled water – try Volvic.
Recognising the impact of health on performance, Dianna holds
qualifications in nutritional and health fields that enable her to
identify and resolve health issues affecting business and personal
goals.
