Adrenal Exhaustion and Fatigue: Symptoms and Strategies

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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Are Your Adrenal Glands Over Worked and Under paid?

Lately I’ve been writing a lot about belly fat and brain fog. Adrenal stress and exhaustion is a very common cause.   Watch this video and learn what causes adrenal fatigue, how you can tell if you have it, what you can do to prevent it and strategies for restoring yourself to vibrant, energetic and happy.

Adrenal exhaustion is a common cause of many health issues experienced in our modern day world.

Comment below and let me know how you if you know or think you’re suffering from adrenal fatigue and what 1 step you can take to start to heal.

 

Love, health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: adrenal exhaustion, brain fog, cortisol, DrRitamarie, fatigue symptoms, health issues, ritamarie loscalzo, stress, Stress management
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Articles, Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Stress

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7 Strategies to Reduce Belly Fat and Brain Fog

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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Brain fog and belly fat are complaints I hear often in my practice.  In fact, I think they are almost epidemic.

In my experience, the most common cause of both is stress.  When you experience stressful situations, your adrenal glands take action to protect you and ready you to fight or get away.  After all, in the olden days, the biggest stress you might encounter was being chased by a hungry tiger.  Your adrenal glands secrete adrenaline, a neurotransmitter that creates a high level of stimulation to your system and causes your nervous system to operate from what’s known as a sympathetic dominant state.  It also secretes a hormone called cortisol.

Adrenaline is short lived.  As soon as the perceived stress dissipates, it decreases.  Cortisol lasts a lot longer.  Some of the effects of cortisol create the phenomenon of excess belly fat and brain fog.  Cortisol causes fat to be released from storage and turned into sugar…which is a very good thing if you’re running away from a tiger.  It also causes you to become more efficient at burning fat for energy – you’re not going to be able to refuel while in pursuit by a hungry animal.

However, most modern day stressors don’t require physical exertion.  Getting stuck in traffic, financial concerns, an over demanding boss, juggling children’s activities and needs and all of our modern day stressors are all non physical.  Thus when your fat stores are released and turned into sugar, the lack of physical exertion creates an increase in your blood sugar levels, which causes extra insulin to be released.  The extra sugar then gets converted back into fat.

The interesting thing is that while the fat may have been evenly removed from storage, under the influence of cortisol and insulin, most of it gets stored back around your belly.  This is a protective mechanism, to insulate your vital organs during times of threat.

YIKES!!!  Stress causes you to store more fat AND redistribute the fat you already have to right where you least want it…your belly! Stress is the ultimate weight gain drug!  Because cortisol stimulates fat it inhibits weight loss even if you’re doing everything else right.

Another action of cortisol is to shift off the function of your prefrontal cortex, the “wizard brain” that’s responsible for high level thinking and turn on your primitive brain, your limbic system, also known as your “lizard brain”.  The lizard brain is really good at survival and not so good at being “on” mentally -  thus the brain fog that comes from being stressed all the time.

Cortisol contributes to brain fog in yet another way.  There’s a part of your brain called the hippocampus that controls your short term memory.  Cortisol actually damages this part of your brain.  Did you ever walk into a room to get something only to forget why you were there?  That’s good old cortisol wrecking havoc on your hippocampus.

Excess cortisol isn’t the only cause of brain of and belly fat.  Other culprits include immune system dysregulation, food allergies, gluten intolerance, insufficient or poor quality sleep, hormone imbalance, sluggish thyroid, insufficient exercise and overburdened detoxification pathways.

Here are 7 of my favorite strategies for reducing brain fog and melting away your excess belly fat.

1. Get a handle on stress.
2. Balance Your Blood Sugar Levels
3. Burst exercise
4. Eat a Nutrient dense diet rich in whole, raw plant foods and test nutrient levels and function regularly
5. Balance  Your Immune system, avoid allergens and eat a Gluten Free Diet
6. Get sufficient high quality  Sleep
7. Incorporate regular Cleansing and Detoxification, like a 7 day green cleanse every quarter.

The next article in this series is Reduce Belly Fat  and Brain Fog: Adrenal Gland and Stress Connection

Watch for a series of blog posts over the next few days that go into detail about each of these strategies.

Tags: adrenal glands, blood sugar levels, brain fog, burst exercise, cortisol, insulin, insulin resistance, neurotransmitter, reduce belly fat, stress
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Brain Fog, Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Stress, Cleansing Programs, Reduce Belly Fat

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Adrenal Fatigue: 3 Tips to Make Your Weekend Count

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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Adrenal fatigue is estimated to affect 80% of women at some point in their lives.  That’s 4 out of 5 women who’ll experience exhaustion of a key gland pair – the adrenals.

You’re not alone if you feel frazzled and exhausted by the end of the work week.  While our fast paced age of technology has done wonders for keeping us connected like never before, it comes with a price.

Used to be you only got your adrenals fired up when tigers and lions were chasing you.  As soon as the threat was handled, your adrenals would settle down and you’d return to a calmer and more steady pace.

When you’re at work, managing the tigers of deadlines, unhappy customers, unruly students and the abundance of stressors that frequent your day to day life, your nervous system operates from a state called sympathetic dominance. When you meditate, rest, do yoga and take time to “smell the roses”  you operate from parasympathetic dominance.

Who cares?

You need to if you desire to be focused instead of foggy, energetic instead of exhausted and  fit instead of fat.

You see, in sympathetic dominant mode, your digestion slows down, the valves between the various parts of your digestive tract tighten (leading to constipation and abdominal discomfort), and the high level thinking part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, is inhibited, your hippocampus, gate keeper of your short term memory,  gets damaged and DHEA, sometimes called the anti-aging hormone, decreases.  The end result is you feel bloated, foggy headed and worn down.

In parasympethic dominant mode, the opposite happens.  Your digestion becomes more efficient,  your prefrontal cortex is enhanced, your hippocampus repairs and DHEA increases. As a result you feel calm, clear headed and focused and young.

By you may be wondering how to lengthen your stay in parasympathetic dominance.

Start by using my 3 tips to make your weekend count.  They will put you into parasympathetic dominance and enable you to rejuvenate before starting the hectic pace all over again on Monday.

Make the weekend count by using it to regroup and give yourself the gift of self care.

1- Set aside 30 minutes for you! Go ahead and look at your calendar and schedule it in.  And KEEP the appointment with yourself.  Do something you love to do.  Take a bath, lay in the sun, read a book…just do something that’s strictly for you.  You’ll feel rejuvenated as a result.

2- Take time several times a day to express appreciation to someone, to yourself or to the universe for the blessings in your life.  Studies have shown that 30 seconds of appreciation is the most effective means of restoring balance to your system.  The Institute of Heartmath has performed dozens of studies on the benefits of appreciation.

3- Take some extra time to sweat. Yes, sweat.  When researchers analyzed the sweat of participants after exercise,  they found it loaded with toxins.  Exerting to the point of a good sweat has many benefits with regards to cardiovascular health, hormone balance and detoxification.  And surprisingly they found that the sweat after running for 30 minutes was more full of toxins than the sweat produced in a sauna. If you use your weekend to sweat away toxins, you’ll feel more focused and peaceful when you start the week again.

If you find yourself thinking, “I already know that”  in response to the simplicity of these tips, ask yourself this:  “Am I taking action?”

Many of the people I work with in group programs and individually are looking for the more glamorous solutions to their health challenges and fail to handle the underlying sympathetic dominance.

Sympathetic dominance is a real problem. No matter what herbs, supplements and foods you eat to support your tired adrenals, if you just keep forcing them to work hard, you won’t be able to restore them.  And burned out adrenals can lead to thyroid issues, hormone imbalances, insulin resistance –which contributes to excess belly fat— and chronic fatigue.

I urge you to slow down and use the weekend to restore balance.  Once you get that piece wired, we can talk about how to increase your parasympathetic dominance during the week.

To find out the impact of sympathetic dominance on your health, you can answer a set of questions, check physical signs, look at a few markers in routine blood work and even order specialized hormone tests.

In my new course, Assess Your Own Body Chemistry I teach how to evaluate for signs of nutritional deficiency and hormonal imbalance.

Love, Health and Gratitude,

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, appreciation, chronic fatigue, detox, detoxification, digestion, digestive tract, Dr. Ritamarie, DrRitamarie, health challenges, heart math, HeartMath, hormonal imbalance, nutrition, self care, supplements, thyroid, tired
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Stress, Detox Program, Exhaustion, Fatigue Treatment

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Stress Management for Adrenal Fatigue and Hormone Imbalance

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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Do you have techniques in place for management of chronic stress, or does your stress manage you?

Are you like I used to be…a stress bunny…always feeling overwhelmed and worrying about this or that?

I have an active mind and I’m always juggling many projects along with my own health rituals.  I learned over 2 decades ago how food adds to the stress burden and I healed myself from chronic fatigue, digestive disorders, chronic sinusitis and debilitating headaches by conquering my stress demons.  My personal demons were related to food and attitude.  Do you know what yours are?

Adopting a plant based mostly raw high green diet, regular detoxification and learning the the attitude of gratitude allowed me to escape the grip of my stress demons and become the healthy, vibrant, energetic and happy person I am today.

Just last week, I was interviewed for the telesummit, “20 Fun, Easy & Effective Ways to Reduce & Manage Stress” and I shared my strategies for transforming stress using cleansing, detoxification and the art of appreciation.  It will be aired on Sunday July 25,  I’m sharing the stage with 19 other top self help professionals, including Dr. Bernie Siegel, best selling author of “Love, Medicine and Miracles”.

I’m really excited about it because all of the life changing talks are at NO COST to you.  Take a look at the lineup and I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s worth the time investment.  You can pick and choose the events you’d like to hear.  Each day between today and next Monday, there will be 3 talks aired and you’ll have 24 hours to listen for free.

There are 3 fabulous meditation digital audios  given away as free bonuses when you signup for the free Stress Reduction Summit. You can play these  in the background while you work to reduce stress.  It’s a great way to reduce adrenal fatigue.

http://www.drritamarie.com/go/StressSummit

It’s amazzing how quickly you can restore your energy by addressing your own stress demons.  I am so excited to be part of the Premier Stress Summit and the gifted authors and healers who are donating their time to sharing their strategies.My interview was filled with valuable tips and I know the others will be too. Conquering the stress demons is a critical part of getting your hormones and neurotransmitters balanced so you can live your life joyfully, youthfully and full of energy.

Love, Health and Joy to you,

Dr. Ritamarie
http://www.drritamarie.com/go/StressSummit

Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, chronic fatigue, dr Bernie siegel, Dr. Ritamarie, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, fatigue, fatigue symptoms, love medicine and miracles, premier stress summit, relaxation cds, Vibrant Health
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Chronic Stress, Hormone Imbalance

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30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge: The Importance of Managing Your Stress

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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Sleep is important.  Fun is important.  Diet is important.  What’s as or  more important than all of these in creating vibrant health?  Giving your adrenals a rest!

Adrenal exhaustion has become an epidemic and it contributes to so many chronic health challenges.

There are lots of techniques for transforming stress and rebuilding your adrenals.  Nothing is as profound as the power of appreciation.  One of my favorites is to start and end each day by thinking about 3 things that I appreciate.  Try it.  Another favorite is to take a few deep breaths before each meal and tune into what I appreciate about the food I am about to consume.

My friend and Book Doula, Dr. Liz Alexander, wrote a fascinating article about walking meditation using labyrinths as a method of transforming stress and supporting your adrenals.

Tune into where you feel stress in your body, and learn to notice early warning signs.  Support yourself, nurture yourself, have fun and eat green.  You’ll soon find yourself with more energy than you know what to do with.

My report card for Monday:

1- bed by midnight.  Yikes – I really Blew it Sunday night…better Monday.  I had a lot of catch up to do and I took time for fun and exercise, so I made the choice to stay up later than I should have ( 3AM /12:30 AM ) .  I could feel the difference Monday morning, although my energy came back pretty quickly

2- finish writing a few projects that are close to completion – Success here!

3- fun time with kids, who are off school for spring break – Spend some time with my 11 year old

4- running in the sun – yeah.  It was warm again today! I love running when it’s warm.

My commitments for Tuesday:

1- bed by midnight.

2- running in the sun

3- 15 minute fun break

4- 2 quarts green smoothie

Commitment for at least one day this week:  Get to bed by 10 PM and see if it is really as good as it’s cracked up to be!

What about you?  What are you committed to?

Post below in the comments section.

This week we’re having a contest.  I’m offering a prize to whoever posts the most this week…genuine commitments and report cards.  The prize for the winner is an e-book and audio recording.

Wishing you lots of Love, Health and Joy (and sleep, too)

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, appreciation, Book Doula, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, Exercise, Exhaustion, fatigue symptoms, livingfoods, Liz alexander, Raw Foods, stress
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Articles, Chronic Stress, Exercise, Gluten Free Diet, Gluten Free recipes, Sleep for Vibrant Health, Vibrant Health

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