So as thrilled and excited as I am about starting this blog (I've been wanting to for a while), most of the posts for now will be geared toward the food part. To be honest, fitness is a luxury for me right now and actually does more negatively than it does positively. Its frustrating, but I feel the need to vent a bit and explain. And there will be a recipe at the end!
I'm sure most people have, on and off, bouts of tiredness (not enough sleep, too much activity), dizziness (getting up to quickly, suffering an injury), brain fog (not enough coffee, again not enough sleep). But when those symptoms last for days that turn into weeks and then months, obviously that's no good. Adrenal fatigue is something that most people develop multiple times throughout their life. When things become to stressful, the adrenal glands secrete a cortisol response which helps your body adapt to that stress. When your body suffers from constant unrelieved stress, it can cause your adrenals to stop functioning properly. Most people experience level 1 adrenal fatigue without even noticing it, and then when the stressor is relieved, their adrenals continue to function properly again. However, if the stressor is not relieved for a significant amount of time you can deepen into more significant levels of adrenal fatigue.
I got myself into level 3 adrenal fatigue. With all the challenges I set forth for myself last year, it apparently caught up to me. Between the 3 figure competitions, moving a few hundred miles, having to start several new jobs, I don't think my body had time to unwind from all of the stimulating events. But the more I thought about it the more I think this is something that has been building up for a while, maybe even well over a year. I moved 5 times in the last 6 years, left and started many jobs, and did lots of long/intense bouts of exercise. I noticed that I was feeling better for most of the time that I was dieting, but that is because with adrenal fatigue your body responds better to a specific diet, not that I knew that when I was following the program.
When was my 'aha' moment? I would be at work (gym) trying to do a workout and I would literally crash on the mat. I would lose all capability in using my legs, I would get severely dizzy, and not able to concentrate. I'd say to myself 'just deal with it and get up to finish your workout' but literally nothing would happen. I couldn't get my willpower to power up. At first I thought I was just losing motivation, but I was actually losing physical and mental ability. I would have random dizziness, and definite vertigo. I would be afraid to drive at times because I would forget how to drive, what to do at traffic signals, when to stop at stop signs. I'd have a difficult time sometimes trying to understand conversations people were having with me. I'd have to sit down most of the time I was training clients, unable to move because the fatigue was so strong. My sleep was so disturbed, getting up around 1 a.m. and just laying there for a bit not able to go back to sleep. Having wicked anxiety after drinking alcohol or having a bit too much sugar. I gave myself a week off from exercise and then when I went to do a 20 minute plyometric workout, it left me debilitated for days. That's when I realized this wasn't just me being lazy, something was up.
I started doing some research and remembered hearing that adrenal fatigue was something a lot of bodybuilding competitors develop. When I noticed all of the symptoms matched up with what I had been dealing with, everything clicked. I decided to visit a naturopath who would have a bit more experience diagnosing such a disorder. We did blood work and a saliva test. The blood work was to test all my vitamin levels, iron level, electrolyte, blood count, and all other basic stuff. The saliva test was to see the cortisol levels measured throughout the day. When the blood work came in, my doctor had me come into her office. Everything was perfect on the blood work. So many people had told me that it was probably just low iron, or low B-12 and then to hear that all of those were in the healthy range just made me more convinced that it was my adrenals. The saliva test took a bit longer to get the results back, and made a whole lot more sense when they did come in with cortisol levels unregulated. With a bit more blood work, it was discovered that my hormone levels were significantly depleted which was another sign of adrenal fatigue.
Here's the most frustrating part to me: 'Its all in your head, if you don't say you are going to get sick from (certain foods) or working out, then you will be fine'. I feel like I hear that often, whether it be in peoples tone of voice or the conversations I have. Well if that was the case, then I wouldn't of noticed how awful I felt all the times I ate sugar or workouts too hard those few months ago. I feel that because people have never hear of such a problem, they are obviously unaware of its severity. That's why I wanted to share this with everyone who reads it, and to see if anyone else has had any experience with adrenal fatigue.
So how to recover. Its pretty basic. Sleep and rest as much as the body feels the need, don't over do exercise. I stick to low intensity cardio and yoga, with a light weight lifting workout whenever I feel up to it. Stick to a whole foods clean diet. Eliminating caffeine, sugar, alcohol and processed foods. Eat frequent, small, lower carbohydrate meals. I take a supplements that has several components that are geared towards strengthening the adrenals; ginseng, licorice root, bovine adrenal cortex, eurethro, vitamin c and ashwaganda. I also take a significant amount of magnesium. As long as I stick to the plan, my days tend to be getting better. I absolutely notice as soon as I have a bit to much sugar or if I workout to intense, it hits me for a few days and its like I'm doing a dance. The dance of two steps forward one step back. But its still moving forward. And I'm ready to get into a peaceful place with my health.
More literature:
http://www.drlam.com/conditioncareguide/adrenalhealth.asp?tab=5&condition=adrenalhealth
http://adrenalfatiguesolution.com/adrenal-fatigue-diet/
http://www.patient.co.uk/forums/discuss/adrenal-fatigue--259115
http://empoweredsustenance.com/adrenal-fatigue-recovery/
As promised, here is a recipe:
These are my favorite protein bars, they are granola-y and great with a bit of peanut butter on top.
Mix all ingredients together, spread into a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes
2 cup oats
2 scoops vanilla protein powder
1/4 cup hemp protein powder
1/4 cup maca powder
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
2 eggs
1/2 cup liquid egg whites
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup sugar free maple syrup
Makes 12 bars that have approximately 250 calories each with a buttload of nutritional value and protein!!!
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