Exhausted? 3 Ways to Deal with Adrenal Fatigue

This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. Learn more in our disclosure.

3 Ways To Prevent And Treat Adrenal Fatigue

{So many of us are tired. Beyond tired. If you think you have adrenal fatigue and are wondering what adrenal fatigue treatment is, you have come to the right place.  Jedha of Good Food Eating is here with more on this troubling condition. I so hope this is helpful to all of you.}

We’ve been talking about adrenal health here for a bit now.

Here’s what we’re covering in this series:

We’ll be sharing a post every week and there’s PLENTY more to come so if you haven’t subscribed for updates already, click on that button below and we’ll send you email updates and info 🙂

Today we’re digging into adrenal fatigue treatment, things we can do to either recover or avoid adrenal health issues, which is equally as important.

As the old saying goes: “Prevention is better than cure” – and it’s certainly true because once we are in a hole with our health, it’s certainly a little harder to climb our way out.

BUT it is possible.

I know each person has different circumstances but I just want to say that despite where you are right now, I know you can feel better, more energetic, and healthier 🙂

Want to Save This Post?

Enter your email & I'll send it straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get healthy living updates too.

Save Recipe

Adrenal Fatigue Support

3 Steps to Recovery or Avoidance

So what are the 3 steps to recovery or avoidance?

  1. Diet (including supplements)
  2. Exercise
  3. Lifestyle

Sometimes things beyond this may be necessary but for every single person, these are the fundamentals.

Diet (Including Supplements)

Diet is the primary healing factor for adrenal health issues.

In fact diet is key to many things when it comes to out health. Sure it’s not always the be all and end all but our whole immune system depends on our diet. Our hormonal production depends partly on our diet. Our mental clarity, the level of inflammation in our body, the balance of nutrients and so forth, all depends on our diet.

And our diet happens to be one of the areas many of us are way out of balance. It’s not our fault of course. It’s our modern environment and the way that food has become (highly processed). But our diet is one area we can influence a lot because we do have a choice what goes in our mouths.

When it comes to our diet it really is simple: For a simple Adrenal Fatigue Diet, eat real, whole foods and stay away from man-made processed foods as much as possible.

I did say simple, though I know it’s not necessarily easy to do.

I could really write a whole book on a diet (and have written several) but let’s just list 5 key things to avoid:

  1. Sugar and sugar substitutes, including sodas and sugary drinks
  2. Gluten
  3. Refined carbohydrates (the white stuff), processed food and junk, trans fats
  4. Caffeine
  5. Alcohol

If you can at least eliminate those you’ll be well on your way to better energy, immune function, and hormonal control.

Supplements

When it comes to supplements, the strategy can vary depending on your individual symptoms but 2 things I can recommend for almost everyone is vitamin C and magnesium.

I’ve seen people with all of the ‘seeming’ symptoms of adrenal fatigue start taking magnesium and within days their symptoms dissipate. Magnesium is needed for more than 300 enzymatic functions in the body, magnesium deficiency is very common, and symptoms of mineral deficiency can be similar to adrenal fatigue issues.

As for vitamin C, the adrenals host a large proportion of the body’s vitamin C stores and under stress, we utilize much more of it. Vitamin C can help modulate cortisol (our key stress hormone), it is one of the best antioxidants, with the ability to fight free radicals by donating molecules to unstable cells. This is very important because too many free radicals lead to the development of symptoms, disease, and increased inflammation.

Are you exhausted? Adrenal Fatigue is epidemic. Find out about Natural Adrenal Fatigue Treatment so you can feel better!

Exercise

Exercise can be a difficult one when you’re already tired but exercise is regenerating, it reduces inflammation, and it enhances wellbeing and so much more. So therefore it is essential.

We’re not talking about crazy maniac exercise like crossfit or running a marathon but more about exercise that is nurturing, gentle, and restorative.

I know for me that’s things like outdoor walking and stretching, which I do on a regular basis. I also enjoy weight training, which happens to be excellent for adrenal health.

Lifestyle

I could go on and on about lifestyle too but here I will mention 2 things:

  1. Address the stress
  2. Look at the Whole You – a Holistic Picture

Address The Stress

Stress comes from many different angles and in many different shapes and forms.

  • Emotional stress – our relationships, depression, struggles, financial issues, pressure
  • Physical stress – diet, alcohol, lack of sleep, illness, pain, injury, exercise
  • Environmental stress – our workplace, toxins, pollutants, clutter, traffic, waiting, pesticides

Sometimes we have to do a life audit and plan strategies for change.

If you’re struggling, really sit down and evaluate where your stressors are coming from. Then work in your circle of influence and start chipping away at what you can DO to change them.

The Whole you – A Holistic Picture

I call this “moving from segmented to integrated”.

Our life has somehow become segmented into all these tiny little pieces but this segmentation does not help us cope in our daily lives. It only leaves us feeling run down, fatigued, lonely, isolated, and disconnected.

Instead, you MUST take a holistic view of your life and move to an integrated approach!

  • Every symptom is caused by something
  • Your job does affect your personal life
  • The things you eat every day do impact your thoughts, the state of your health, and how you cope with stress
  • Our life is a sum of all the pieces put together not all these segmented parts all over the place
  • We end up where we end up because of the things we do (or don’t do)

So ask yourself the questions:

  • Ask yourself what could be the cause of your symptoms?
  • Ask yourself what influence your job is really having on your life?
  • Examine how your diet really is and ask yourself how you can eat better?

When we can start looking at things in an integrated way we can see that all the separate parts combine and integrate to create a harmonious integrated whole (perhaps not so integrated at this point), but the goal is to get there.

So a big part of recovery or avoidance is trying to bring all those segmented parts of your life into harmony with each other so that you find more balance overall.

Our diet, regular exercise, and our lifestyle are the 3 key fundamental areas for treatment, recovery, or avoidance of adrenal health issues.

Your health is your wealth,

~ Jedha

One of my favorite quotes: “Life is a journey not a destination”
Seeking better health and a more balanced life is a journey, but one well worth embracing 🙂

Please note – While all the information shared in the adrenal health series is evidence-based, neither Jedha nor Adrienne are doctors. Please consult with your physician before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or supplement regimen.

Which area do you think YOU need to address the most right now?

Jedha - writer for Whole New Mom

Jedha Dening is the Nutritionist and Health Coach behind Good Food Eating. She’s also a mom, passionate writer, and lover of good food that’s also good for your waistline. With over 10 years experience in health and wellness, Jedha is passionate about taking care of people’s nutrition and health so they can feel fantastic everyday. When she’s not cooking, researching or writing about nutrition, she can usually be found in the great outdoors gardening, bushwalking, or kayaking.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

14 Comments

  1. Hi Jedha, Thank you for this article. My labs showed that I was low in Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, and Selenium. It seems like I’ve been having a digestive issue. So I’m taking some digestive enzymes to help with that. But in regards to zinc, is it better to try and just get it from food? I tried taking a supplement, at first I was feeling great, but then I think it just made me sooo tired. Secondly, Vitamin C, those are pretty high doses? Wouldn;t just one with adrenal fatigue just urinate most of the vitamin C out? Dr.Lam, a physician who also deals with adrenal fatigue had me on vit. C and interestingly enough my energy levels where rising. But I was told but someone else, that I would just urinate it out…..etc any overall advice and Vitamin C, Zinc, Mg, Iron and digestive health?

    Thank
    WB

  2. Never say weight lifting is good for adrenal health as that’s not at all true. Weight lifting is actually the cause of adrenal fatigue in many cases. I got mine from overexertion. Also, many people with severe severe fatigue like myself are no longer able to exercise as we are basically bed-ridden.

    1. Hi Kelly. I am deferring to Jedha, but I did run weight lifting by my practitioner and she was fine w/ a moderate amount of it. How much were you doing?

  3. Should the magnesium really be 5,000 mg or should it read 500 mg? Right now I take 470-705 mg of just magnesium along with 100 mg in my mulitvitamin. I thought I had read that it was 5 mg per pound of body weight which puts me at 600 mg. Just wondering.

    1. Yes katie, you are quite right it is 500 mg on average.

      I apologise, don’t know how I overlooked that image. I remember when I was updated the supplements guide recently to include dosages I noticed that typo on the final edit but somehow I must have had the original (wrong) snapshot in my folder and I didn’t notice it when I put this post up last week. I doubled checked the supplements guide itself, and yes I did alter it to 500 mg (thank goodness).

      Thanks for pointing that out, I appreciate it 🙂

    1. I am sure Jedha will have good answers but I personally use Mg Glycinate b/c it doesn’t cause intestinal distress.

    2. One of the common types of magnesium that you may find on most pharmacy sheves comes in the form of magnesium oxide. You want to steer clear of this one. Although it has the highest percentage of magnesium, this magnesium is not available for absorbtion to the body. The better absorbed forms of magnesium include magnesium amino acid chelate, magnesium phosphate, magnesium glycinate, magnesium orotate, and magnesium citrate. Some supplements combine a couple of different forms of magnesium.

      Try to get a vitamin C with bioflavonoids as this increases absorption. I prefer powders and mix my vitamin C and magnesium powder together. You can even put it in your water bottle and drink it over the day.

  4. Love read your articles. I take 750 mg magnesium so according to this recommendation I’m way off. I’m just coming out of AF and found diet was key. As soon as I slip off and eat bad food, energy levels drop. Will up my magnesium as whilst I sleep.at night now it’s not restful.

    1. Glad you’re enjoying the series Collette. Yes diet definitely is key and I’m so glad to hear you’re coming out of it and finding your energy again 🙂

      Try taking a dose of magnesium about 30 minutes before bed. With higher dosages, split it up in 2-3 times during the day.

  5. I knew someone would ask a question about weight training because it does seem counter intuitive. But we’re not talking about heavy weight lifting, cross fit, kettle bells, or body building here.

    We’re talking about body weight training, light weights, or a resistance band with repetitions, this is an excellent form of exercise. It’s anaerobic, meaning it does not need a lot of oxygen and energy from the body. Resistance training reduces oxidative stress and builds or maintains lean muscle mass, which is particularly important because high cortisol can ‘eat away’ your lean muscle (so to speak).

    Hope that answers your question Rebecca 🙂

  6. Can you cite the reasoning behind where you say that weight lifting is great for adrenal health? Every ND that I have spoken to, and every other “expert” on adrenal fatigue says to especially stay away from weight lifting.