Fatigue, Exhaustion and Adrenal Burnout: Cause for Alarm or A call to Action?

Feeling tired a lot of the time? Wishing you had the energy to make it past the have-to's on your list and get to do the want-to's?

You're not alone. Some sources report that up to 50% of all visits to the doctor are for symptoms of fatigue, exhaustion and mental sluggishness. In all my years of practice, I've found that just about everyone I see wishes that they had more energy and less fatigue related symptoms.

I'll be writing a lot about fatigue and exhaustion, including adrenal fatigue symptoms and "brain fog", in the coming weeks. I'll be reviewing the causes, symptoms and treatment approaches.

Tip of the Day: Avoid Energy Zapping Foods: Unfortunatley, most of the foods in the standard American Diet, sometimes known as the SAD diet, are energy zappers. Here are a few that you'd be best served to avoid.

1- Refined sugar disrupts the mitochondria, the cellular energy powerhouses, by robbing them of the B-vitamins and minerals they need to convert sugar to energy. While you might feel a temporary high from sugar containing foods, you’ll notice that you quickly experience post sugar fatigue symptoms, and you reach for more.

2- Refined flour , whether it's wheat or gluten free white rice, refined flour has been stripped of its B- vitamins and has a similar effect to that of refined sugar.

3- Caffeine whips your cells into action, without actually providing any nourishment. The result is a post caffeine fatigue, followed by the urge to consume more to get your energy back up, albeit artificially and temporarily.

4- Alcohol disrupts the mitochondria, stresses the liver and damages brain cells. Does this sound like a prescription for improving your energy and mental clarity?

5- Trans fats, also known as hydrogenated fats and oxidized fats are probably the most damaging of all. They create free radical damage to blood vessels, disrupt the DNA, create cell membranes that are more rigid and thus less able to transport nutrients into the cells and wastes out. This leaves your cells sluggish and toxic. Oxidized fats also disrupt your immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to infection. I'm sure you know from experience how exhausted you get from infectious illnesses.

ACTION PLAN: for more energy and less adrenal fatigue symptoms, pick one energy zapping food that you 've been eating and ZAP it out of your diet. Make your way through the list one at a time, making suitable, energy enhancing substitutions (more in a later post) . You'll probably notice an energy boost almost immediately.

Comment below and let me know which one you're choosing first. Then write back in a few days and let me know how it's going.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

Creator of the 90 days to Vibrant Energy Program

"Creating Vibrant Health, One Bite at a Time"

www.FreshnFunLiving.com

Austin, Texas 78730

© 2008 Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo. MS, DC, CCN, DACBN All Rights Reserved.