There are these two little glands in your lower back. It turns out that they are important and impact every-single-person reading this. Yes, most people will struggle with adrenal fatigue in their lifetime. These powerful little glands are adrenal glands and they pump out hormones to regulate your body and help you adapt to stress.
Adrenal Fatigue is a major issue and silent battle. Most of us have zero clue that “our issues” are actually because of our taxed adrenals.
If left untreated or ignored it can lead to weight gain, exhaustion, depression, sugar and carb cravings, sickness, thyroid problems, Candida issues, auto immune problems, poor digestion and gut health, strained and stressed relationships, poor sleep and bad eating habits.
Look at the state of our world right now… listening to 5 minutes of the news or scrolling through social media triggers stress hormones. I have a hunch that adrenal fatigue among people has increased along with the past year or so. Add onto that, working full time, children, family stress and travel. Then tired, exhausted days where we burn the candle at both ends, deal with exes, coparenting, mean bosses, finances, sports for our kids, school, business…
When we are so stressed that it becomes our ‘normal’ we unconsciously seek more of it. We may find it how to sit down and relax.
There are both physical and emotional reasons for this. First, our hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline raise blood sugar and activate muscles in our body.
The stress that many of us are under, triggers those hormones and then activates our flight or fight response. This keeps us going, going and going. Our inner energizer bunny comes out and we feel invincible and like we can juggle it all.
We try to manage and control everything and still put great meals on the table, run a thriving business, raise happy kids and travel the world while changing lives.
Until we cannot. Everything eventually stops.
We begin to break down.
Our immune system weakens. Now we are getting sick every season. Our digestion is poor and we are craving sugar like a crazy person and it it feels out of control! Our sleep is all off and we are putting on some weight. Exhaustion after workouts happens or we avoid them altogether. We cannot do what we used to. We wonder what the heck is happening to us. It’s depressing.
You see, these stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) are being used way to much and they are are turned up to high. You are high on life at this point and you might need lots of extra coffee and sugar to keep it going. You might know on some level that without your beloved coffee and sweet sugar you would crash into a deep sleep. You also know that you don’t have time for that because there is too much going on.
Yet, too much of this process for too long of a time is very dangerous for your body.
The constant go-go and high stress state eventually starts to flatten out our cortisol. This causes adrenal fatigue. With it come issues with our endocrine system, hormones and thyroid. Then the weight gain, health issues, high blood sugar, depression, exhaustion at 3pm, cravings at 3:05 and changes in your hormones and more fights with those you love.
How do I know so much about this?
Well beyond my holistic nutrition education, I have been my own best case study.
I started learning about my own adrenal fatigue in my 20’s when I pulled all-nighters in college as an art student. I followed those up with lots of sugar, soda and processed food. I added to that unhealthy, stressful relationships and workaholism. Years later, I had a baby (which taxes a woman’s adrenal glands). Then when both parents are up all night feeding sweet baby it taxes adrenal glands further. During this time I also went back to school and started a business during a couple year span and followed that up with a divorce a few years later.
Combined with poor food choices, stressful life situations put extra stress on your adrenals. My adrenal glands were screaming at me and I was falling asleep in the middle of phone conversations.
My entrepreneurial friends and I now joke casually about our adrenal fatigue, but it’s not funny.
It’s not a badge of honor to be proud of.
I have no regrets building this great life I get to live and my adrenal glands have been a great teacher to remind me of slowing down! I read once that, “slowing down to slay” is the way to go.
My truth is that I still spend too many late nights writing my book or working on my business. And yet, now more than ever, I know something that has taken me over 17 years to grasp.
My self care is not some luxury item for rare occasions, it is my most important necessity. And it’s your most important necessity too.
“I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival.”
– Audre Lorde
Even though we can grasp this idea mentally, we must choose to put it into practice.
And it takes practice.
So how do you support and heal your adrenals and put this into practice?
I’ll explain the key ways in a moment. Before I do, I want you to know that this was the motivation I had when I created the cleanse I built back in 2010, it’s called The 18 Day Love Yourself Naked Cleanse Challenge.
I knew I needed something to help me and my clients rebuild our health. It became a retreat for our body temple in the comfort of our own homes.
We need to lay the ground work for healing the root cause of our issues. So many people like the Free 7 Day Sugar Challenge that I offer but if someone has adrenal fatigue and they don’t do the healing at the root cause to rebuild those little and powerful glands, they will keep going back to sugar over and over again. Trust me, I’m living proof of that philosophy.
The 18 Day Love Yourself Naked Cleanse Challenge helps kick start and support the 6 ways you need to focus on to rebuild your adrenal glands. They are:
1. Improve your digestion. Your diet is one of the most important factors in healing your adrenal glands. Supporting your digestion helps you to absorb essential minerals you need to heal.
2. Cleanse out toxins. A whole foods cleanse can support our lymphatic system and liver and bring our whole body back into balance.
3. Build your immunity. Science has shown that our high cortisol and adrenaline can actually contribute to making bad bacteria grow in our body. A good cleanse will show you how to improve your immunity and protect your body from infection.
4. Self care is the highest form of love you can give. Many cleanses forget this piece… they are aggressive diets that might support your stress state. The Love Yourself Naked Challenge guides you to manage your energy, stress, mental and emotional state while you cleanse.
5. Rebuild your gut health. We use probiotics, fermented foods and many other tricks to improve your whole body health. I recommend supplements and vitamins that can support you on your path.
6. Add in the good bacteria. We all have good and bad bacteria. This is a long term process and you begin doing it during the cleanse. This is how we heal our adrenals moving forward after building about powerful cleansing practices. Without health digestion and a good balance of healthy bacteria, you will not be able to absorb the nutrients from all that healthy food you are eating and create the energy you need to show up for life.
Consider The 18 Day Love Yourself Naked Cleanse Challenge and treat yourself well. I even give you a bonus mindful meditation that most people describe as a life changer.
Love,
Renee
