While not considered an official medical diagnosis, it’s still real. According to researcher Dr. Michael Lam, nearly 80 percent of Americans suffer from a health challenge called “adrenal fatigue” at some point in their lives. Classic signs of adrenal fatigue include anxiety, salt cravings, thin brittle nails, sleep issues and frequent colds and flues. Almost always elements of type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes and hypothyroidism are involved. Mid-day energy crashes are also common.
If it’s 3 p.m. and you think you need a Snickers bar or some other high sugar snack to keep you going, there’s a good chance you’re dealing with adrenal fatigue. Unfortunately, while it may seem obvious that ingesting glucose or fructose might give you some energy (which is true), the input of concentrated fast burning sugar can also throw off hepatic detoxification chemistry, creating undue burden on the liver and wreaking havoc on the digestive and immune systems.
Using green tea, licorice root or ginseng, instead of sweets, can help you feel energetic, without whacking out the liver the way sugar can. In fact, using these botanical supplemental strategies can actually help boost immune activity. Licorice root contains phytochemicals that can support adrenal health and adrenal hormone secretion. Other ways to help your adrenals include relaxation strategies. After all, the adrenals are your stress glands, going ketogenic and using nutritional supplements, particularly vitamin C, zinc, magnesium and the B complex, especially vitamin B5.
