For people with adrenal fatigue, stress reduction and rest are vital to prevent overworking the adrenal glands even more. Good nutrition is just as critical as minimizing stress. It is extremely essential that you eat a healthy diet in order to ensure that your body has enough fuel to nourish the adrenal glands and help you function.

However, knowing exactly what to eat might be difficult especially if you suffer from adrenal fatigue. A good adrenal fatigue diet is full of various nutrient-dense foods that help maintain optimal adrenal function and stable blood sugar levels.

The Adrenal Fatigue Diet

Your diet is one of the main defenses against developing adrenal fatigue syndrome in the first place. You’ll have numerous health benefits and ensure a speedier healing time by simply following a healthy adrenal fatigue diet.

Diet is a major factor in all cases of adrenal recovery. There are numerous foods that help replenish adrenal energy and support adrenal function so your adrenal glands can bounce back to optimal function and full health. But first, it’s very important to start by removing any toxins, chemicals and hard-to-digest foods in your diet.

Dietary goals for Adrenal Fatigue

Most people follow an unhealthy eating pattern. They skip breakfast, have snacks for lunch, and a big meal before retiring to bed. However, if you are suffering from adrenal fatigue, you must avoid poor eating habits.

Your diet becomes even more vital for your health especially during the acute stage of adrenal fatigue. Therefore, if you really want a speedy recovery from adrenal fatigue, you must follow the adrenal fatigue diet.

Recovering from this illness means getting lots of healthy and dense nutrition in your diet and this basically means eating local or organic foods whenever possible. You must also incorporate the right anti-inflammatory ingredients in your diet. Foods such as eggs, seaweed, vegetables, sprouts, seeds and organic fruits are great nutrient-packed foods that keep energy levels high.

Moreover, you must eat meals at the right times in order to reduce adrenal fatigue especially when you’re having trouble sleeping and when you’re feeling fatigued.

Timing is extremely important!

• Breakfast

If you have adrenal fatigue, it is critical that you eat breakfast before 10:00 AM. Always have breakfast within 30 to 45 minutes of waking up and be sure to eat something every 3 hours in order to keep your blood sugar levels stable.

This helps replenish glycogen (stored blood sugar supply) especially after the night’s energy needs. At breakfast, it’s recommended that you eat a high-quality and healthy source of protein and a few high-quality carbs. Two poached eggs combined with blueberries, a vegetable omelet, or a healthy smoothie packed with healthy fats would be great examples.

• Lunch

It’s recommended that people with adrenal fatigue should have an early lunch (preferably before noon) because their bodies tend to use up morning nutrition quickly and are usually ready for more even before the usual 2^nd cortisol spike which naturally occurs between 12 noon and 2:00 PM. The best time for lunch for people with adrenal fatigue is between 11:00 and 11:30 AM.

• Snacks

Eat a nutritious snack at 2:30 PM to sustain the body during the cortisol dip that occurs between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM. Snacking properly speeds up your metabolism, increases energy, reduces cravings for unhealthy foods and helps you avoid overeating even at meals. Healthy snacks include hummus with carrots, fruit salad, avocado slices, or celery and cucumber sticks.

• Dinner

You should eat your evening meal between 5:30 PM and 6:30 PM and then have a light snack at least 30 minutes before bedtime. A great dinner meal would be well-prepared crockpot stew. Be sure to include more vegetables than meat.

Note: vegetable should make up at least 30% of your adrenal fatigue diet and half of these vegetables should be raw.

Top 5 Must Haves for the Adrenal Fatigue Diet

1. Vegetables

Include at least 6 servings of different vegetables in your diet, especially vegetables that are highly colored (yellow, light green, purple, red and orange). Vegetables are a great source of essential vitamins, antioxidants, fiber and minerals.

2. Nuts and seeds

Although roasted seeds and nuts taste better, raw versions are healthier. You can freeze your raw nuts to keep them fresh the longest. The best nuts are almonds, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, and walnuts. Healthy seeds to include in your adrenal fatigue diet include pumpkin and sunflower seeds as well as flax and chia seeds.

3. Fruit

If you are dealing with blood sugar problems and adrenal fatigue you should go easy on fresh fruit in the morning. Remember, fresh fruit contain a high amount of fructose and potassium which can be detrimental for people with adrenal fatigue. Berries and apples are great but you should avoid acidic fruits such as citrus fruits.

4. Protein

You should get enough protein in order to keep your energy levels high and keep your blood sugar level within the normal range. Quality protein choices include fish, beef, free-range chicken, eggs, and whey concentrate protein powder.

5. Superfoods

Superfoods are nutrient-dense foods that have healing qualities and are also easy to digest. They help overcome adrenal fatigue because they are low in sugar, are nutrient-dense and have healthy fiber and fat. The best superfoods are:

• Cruciferous vegetables such as brussel sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower
• Avocado
• AWS green and red superfoods
• Coconut
• Seaweed
• Kelp
• Himalayan or Celtic sea salt
• Seeds (chia, flax and pumpkin)
• Wild salmon, turkey and chicken

You can add salt to your food in moderation unless you are suffering from both high blood pressure and adrenal fatigue. Celtic salt or sea salt is preferred mainly because they contain valuable nutrients that prevent dizziness and weakness.

Stay well hydrated

Stay well hydrated by drinking at least 1.5 liters of water daily.  You can add a little lemon or salt to your glass of water.

Adrenal Support Supplement We Recommend!

Total Balance is a dietary supplement containing ‘Adaptogens’ which are herbs commonly used to treat sufferers of Adrenal fatigue as they help the body to adapt to Physical and Mental stress.

Adrenal Fatigue Diet – Which Foods should you Avoid?

If you have adrenal fatigue, you’ll recover faster if you combine complex carbohydrates, protein and fat in each meal and snack. This combination will provide energy throughout the day. Foods that are converted to water quickly will let you ‘crash’ quickly and harm your adrenals. The foods you should avoid include:

1. Caffeine

Although caffeinated beverages tend to make you feel good for a short time, it’s vital to understand that they add stress to your endocrine system and adrenal glands.  Giving up your morning cup of tea, coffee or caffeinated soda might seem hard, but it’s a very important part of the recovery process. You might experience some short-term caffeine withdrawal symptoms but they will disappear in about a week. Headaches can be avoided by reducing coffee consumption by ½ cup per 3 days.

After quitting caffeine you’ll notice more consistent energy levels without crashing. This also applies to energy drinks. However, a small piece of dark chocolate won’t hurt.

2. Sugar and sweeteners

Eat less sugar and avoid cereals, artificial sweeteners, sugary foods, sweets and high-fructose corn syrup. Excess sugar might overwork your impaired adrenal glands and the sugar crashes that follow a blood sugar spike lead to more cravings for sugar. You can use pure stevia to make your food taste sweeter.

3. Hydrogenated oils

Use good oils such as olive oil, coconut oil, ghee, or organic butter. Avoid vegetable oils like canola oil, corn oil, and soybean oil because they are highly inflammatory.

Adhering to this adrenal fatigue diet speeds up your recovery. However, you’ll not get better without following the right diet and treatment regimen.

More information on dealing with adrenal fatigue 🙂

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More rest and Less Stress!