Principles of Proper Eating with Adrenal Fatigue (2024)

The importance of proper blood sugar control.
Your adrenal gland produces cortisol – one of the “stress hormones.” Cortisol, among other functions, helps to maintain proper blood sugar levels. If you have adrenal fatigue, your cortisol levels drop lower than normal, making it difficult to keep your blood sugar up. Therefore, when you eat is as important as what you eat with adrenal fatigue.

Basic Dietary Guidelines with Adrenal Fatigue

• Eat every three hours or so. Long stretches between meals lowers blood sugar and taxes the adrenals.
• Get enough protein.
• Eat the proper types of fats. Essential fatty acids (your omega 3’s in fish, flaxseed and nuts) should be the focus. Saturated and trans fats put an added stress on the system.
• Limit stimulants, such as caffeine. Although it may give a short boost of energy, in the long run it taxes the adrenals, produces more adrenal fatigue, and subsequently lowers your energy level. The result is a tendency to reach for foods that will boost energy levels quickly by raising blood sugar and cortisol levels, (i.e., sugary, starchy snacks), and weight gain. Even a temporary increase in cortisol causes fat to be deposited around the middle.
• Avoid foods that you are allergic or sensitive to. Foods that you crave frequently are often addictive if you have a sensitivity to them. These will worsen adrenal fatigue.
• Eat before 10:00am, even if you are not hungry. Between 6-8:00am, cortisol levels naturally rise, which may temper hunger, but this meal is critical, so force yourself to have something. An aversion to food in the morning may indicate your liver is congested, which is common with adrenal fatigue.
• Have lunch early, between 11-11:30am. Breakfast is utilized very quickly so an early lunch is best.
• There is a dip in cortisol levels between 3-4:00pm where many people feel a decrease in energy levels. To counter that, have a small balanced snack between 2-3:00pm.
• Dinner should be about 3 hours later between 5-6:00pm.
• Before bed, a couple of bites of a good quality snack will keep your blood sugar, and therefore your adrenals, stable. If you have trouble sleeping at night, try this to help you sleep.

Salt Cravings

• You can almost tell your level of adrenal fatigue by the intensity of your salt cravings. Some of the symptoms of adrenal fatigue are due to sodium (salt) needs.
• Cortisol and aldosterone levels are low with adrenal fatigue. Aldosterone is involved with fluid balance. When it is low, sodium levels in the blood decrease, and you may have a tendency for low blood pressure. Potassium moves into the cell and sodium and fluid may be excreted from the cell, creating a stress to the system. Therefore, high potassium foods worsen adrenal fatigue.
• Eating or drinking something salty may temper the symptoms of adrenal fatigue. Sea salt is a good choice – it has more trace minerals than table salt (but no iodine). Kelp is a great nutrient rich source of salt – mix half and half sea salt and kelp – or try gomasio, a mixture of salt and sesame seeds. Try vegetable juice with salt.

Proteins

• Good quality protein is essential to adrenal recovery: meat, fish, fowl, eggs, dairy, and plant protein are acceptable.
• Avoid TVP (textured vegetable protein), processed meats and cheese. Because cooking permanently changes the structure of protein, raw or slightly cooked protein is technically easier for the body to assimilate. On the other hand, one must consider our system of food distribution and be aware of the risk of salmonella or other bacteria. Be sure to fully cook poultry and pork to avoid microbial danger. If you can be sure of the safety of the source, then sushi, sashimi, ceviche and steak tartare are excellent sources of protein. If you are not sure of the safety of your protein source, avoid raw versions. A case of food poisoning will surely stress the system more than assimilating a cooked protein would!
• Vegetable proteins can also be complete and do not put the same load on the kidneys as animal protein. These include legumes and beans with grains, seeds and nuts. Vegetarians do better with adrenal recovery by adding miso, a Japanese bean pasta, sea veggies and organic yogurt.
• Dairy sources, (milk, cheese, yogurt and kefir), if you don’t have an intolerance to them, are also good sources of protein. Remember that the casein in milk tends to be a common food trigger. Always use organic if you do use dairy sources. Try goat milk as a healthier alternative. Goat’s milk gets stronger in flavor the older it is, so use it within 3-4 days after purchasing it.

HCL – Hydrochloric Acid

• Hydrochloric acid is necessary for proper digestion. Most people with adrenal fatigue also have low levels of HCl in the stomach, making it difficult to digest protein.
• Taking a digestive aid at mealtimes with HCl and digestive enzymes pepsin, trypsin and papain will help to stop the resulting gas, bloating and discomfort after eating protein.

Carbohydrates
If you have adrenal fatigue, you will probably do better by increasing your protein, and decreasing the starchy, sweet carbohydrates. As you get better, you should be able to handle a greater portion of carbohydrates in your diet.

Sweet/Sugary

• Increases blood sugar (BS) quickly.Drops BS within one hour.

Fruits/Sugary snacks

• Best choice is fruit or fruit juice with salt to balance the potassium.Use organically grown to avoid chemicals.

• Not good first thing in the morning. Balance with a protein. Exercise increases cortisol and aldosterone, so early morning exercisers may handle fruit ok in the morning.

Starchy-Refined vs. Unrefined

• Focus on unrefined, whole grains and root vegetables. If refined, choose pasta – pasta sustains blood sugar over 3 times longer than sugary white flour products.

Unrefined Carbohydrates/Whole Grains
Gluten-free

• brown rice, buckwheat, whole oats, quinoa, amaranth
• May not be good first thing in the morning with adrenal fatigue.
• Balance with a protein if you do. Wash and steam in a covered pot with a little salt and water (twice the grain amount)

Gluten-containing

• whole wheat, unpearled barley, unhulled millet
• May not be good first thing in the morning with adrenal fatigue.
• Balance with a protein if you do. Wash and steam in a covered pot with a little salt and water (twice the grain amount)

Non-Starchy

• Low carbohydrate; high in nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals; and high in fiber to help with BS control.

Vegetables

• Choose highly colored (green, red, orange, yellow, purple) vegetables. Seaweed, sprouts, and high sodium veggies are a good choice.
• Have 6-8 servings/day: 3 with both lunch and dinner. Vary cooking techniques. Some nutrients are destroyed by heat, and some are made more available when cooked.

Fats & Oils

• Your intake of fat should be at about 20-25% of your total daily calories.
• If you have adrenal fatigue, you may crave fats as they provide sustained energy. Although we think of fat as just high in calories (9 calories per gram of fat), the right type of fat is important to health. Focus on getting essential fatty acids that nourish your body since the body cannot produce them itself. There are 2 types, omega 6’s and the omega 3’s (ALA, EPA, DHA). Food sources of Omega 3’s are cold water fish (EPA/DHA’s), such as salmon, sardines, and halibut, and vegetable sources (ALA) such as flaxseed, soybeans, and walnuts.
• Omega 3’s provide a myriad of health benefits. Omega 6 sources come from more southern plants such as sesame, sunflower, safflower and corn, and although these are important, we get far too little Omega 3’s in our diet relative to Omega 6’s. The best ratio is 4:1 of Omega6:Omega3.
• You can make the correct vegetable oil by mixing 1T flax oil and 1T sunflower or safflower oil daily. Add a little soy sauce into them and use instead of butter or margarine.
• Fish oil, or EPA/DHA, is the best source of Omega 3’s. ALA – from plant sources – has to be converted in the body to EPA/DHA, and many people may have as low as a 10% conversion rate. All Omega 3’s are relatively unstable and whether in whole food, oils, or supplements, need to be purchased in small amounts and kept in the freezer to protect from oxidation.

Getting the EFAs You Need

• Seeds and nuts are a great source of essential fatty acids, if they are fresh and stored properly. You must make sure the nuts, seeds, fish and oils you buy are fresh. Rancid oils make adrenal fatigue worse and should be absolutely avoided. See pages 151-152 of James Wilson’s book, Adrenal Fatigue, for a list of nuts and seeds and how to identify if a nut is rancid.
• Purchase nuts raw and store in the freezer. If you roast them, do not use oil – roast them dry. Avoid commercially roasted and deep fried nuts and seeds – high heat and poor quality oil results in the tendency for rancidity.

Cooking with Oils

• Heat can cause oils to oxidize and become rancid and more toxic.
• EFAs are unstable in heat and should be put on food after it is cooked.
• Use saturated fats for cooking and only use a minimal amount.
• Monounsaturated fats (like canola and olive oil), are ok for fast or low heat cooking, not long or high heat cooking. A rapid stir fry would be ok. Add water to the pan first so the oil doesn’t get too hot, then add onion, garlic and scallions to temper the rancidity. Adding vegetables to the pan before the oil will also help keep the oil from getting too hot.
• Heating oils above a certain temperature produces free radicals and the oil becomes rancid and toxic.
• Oils least damaged by heat/cooking (in order of least amount of damage): Coconut, palm, palm kernel, cocoa butter, butter, refined peanut, refined avocado, high oleic sunflower, high oleic safflower, sesame oil, olive oil.
• Use organically grown cold-pressed oil. Avoid hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats). These disrupt normal fatty acid metabolism and interrupt the use of “good” fats in making quality cell membranes and nerve tissue. Eating foods with these seriously interferes with your ability to heal.

Water and Beverages

• The best water you can drink is purified water that filters for chemicals (chlorine, toxic industrial chemicals, toxic metals, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, microorganisms, rust and particulate matter), but that leaves the minerals in the water. Check for pH. Too high a pH means the water is too hard and probably has too much particulate matter in it.
• To test for microorganisms, get some colloidal silver. Drop a capful in a glass and if the water gets cloudy, there are microorganisms in it.
• Specific issues for people with adrenal fatigue and water include the tendency to be dehydrated. Yet drinking too much water will dilute the blood’s circulating electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium and chlorine). As mentioned earlier, the balance between sodium and potassium greatly affects the symptoms of adrenal fatigue. To avoid this problem, try adding ¼ to ½ tsp. salt to every glass of drinking water. If you have an aversion to salted water, then you probably don’t need the extra salt.
• If you feel fatigued, add more salt to your water. Drinking salted water just after you wake up in the morning can help you function better in the early morning.
• Another glass around 2:00pm can help temper the typical low between 3-4:00pm.
• Fruit juices, because of the potassium and sugar, may increase symptoms. Try salting the juice and/or diluting it for better tolerance. Avoid it in the morning.
• Vegetable juices are high in nutrients and a better choice. Still, large amounts may cause a crash 30 minutes to 1.5 hours later. Add salt to it and have with food to keep the blood sugar more stable. Add a celery stick or slice of lemon to it for a refreshing drink.
• Avoid chocolate, caffeine, and alcohol which all overstimulate the adrenals and drive hypoglycemia. For chocolate use carob instead, which stabilizes blood sugar and contains several nutrients. A note about chocolate – chocolate also contains magnesium, critical for producing progesterone. If you crave magnesium, consider the possibility that you have a deficiency in magnesium. Low magnesium levels result in low progesterone levels and increased PMS.
• Avoid coffee, black tea, and chocolate which all contain caffeine and theobromine which further interferes with adrenal function, (meaning even decaffeinated coffee and tea are not recommended for people with adrenal fatigue). Oils in coffee become rancid exposing you to oxidation, and coffee itself is a pro-oxidant, greatly increasing oxidation in the cells.
• Alcohol is an extremely refined carbohydrate that sets off a rollercoaster effect on your blood sugar levels. Large amounts of your body’s nutrients are used up in the liver while it works to detoxify the alcohol. If you are still going to have alcohol, have it on a full stomach or with a meal high in fats and oil, and only have a small amount.
• Colas and diet or regular soft drinks contain too much sugar, caffeine, and/or artificial sweeteners/ingredients.
• Learn to drink more steam distilled water with your added salt if necessary. Drinking too much plain water may dilute the electrolytes in the bloodstream, worsening adrenal fatigue.
• Other beneficial beverages to include would be: green tea, twig tea or Kukicha tea (Asian), Bancha tea (Asian), and herbal teas. These can be drunk hot or cold, and mixed with nut milks if desired.

Information from James Wilson’s

, and other sources.