Adrenal Burnout (And What A Holistic Nutritionist Does About It)

Wow Guys!

Welcome, adrenal burnout is a HUGE topic! And I think it’s SUCH an important topic this time of year, as we’re all running around with parties and to-do’s and likely trying to think up perfect gifts and… generally feeling a bit (a lot?) of extra pressure.

I really wanted to write this for you because helping my adrenals out were one of the single-biggest steps forward in my health. I used to drink SO many espresso’s per day JUST to feel alive, just to get off the couch, and I was always angry at myself for not being able to do MORE; for not being able to just complete tasks and to-do’s that, sometimes I would look at, and think, “but I SHOULD be able to do those!”.

Of course, if you haven’t met me before, you’ll be warmed to hear my next stunts after complete exhaustion and my health plan for myself once I became a Nutritionist, was having the energy (sans espresso) to run a full marathon, and bust my butt through two wild Tough Mudder events. So if you’re feeling burnt out, what I MOST want you to know is that YOU ARE CAPABLE OF COMING OUT THE OTHER SIDE STRONGER.

So first up, what is adrenal burnout?

If I could attach one, and only one word to adrenal burnout, it would be ‘tanked’. Your energy is zapped, you were likely feeling overwhelmed before, but now you’re just zapped, and couldn’t care less about the things falling ever-so-quickly out of your grasp. You’re probably craving a boat-load of salt or quick sugar snacks, you might get head rushes whenever you stand up and you’re probably feeling the need to sleep WAY more than what’s normal for you.

I think it’s also really important to note that this can happen at any age; I don’t believe for a second this is something that only affects adults.

What causes it?

Very simply? Over-doing it for too long. And ignoring your body and your need for caring about yourself, while constantly telling yourself other things are more important and that you don’t have time (yikes! You don’t have time to take care of that GLORIOUS person that you are?!).

Interesting to note; once you do burn yourself out, your body is LITERALLY doing what it can to GIVE YOU TIME, to go slow, to start to take better care of yourself, and we (silly humans) try instead to push through it and give ourselves more stress so that we finally start responding again, instead of allowing ourselves any time at all to just BE slow comfortably, and find our way back to energy through rest and slowness.

“But we have jobs and families and things we MUST do.”

I know, I get it, and I’ve done it, too. I can promise you that.

BUT if you could squeeze in SOME time to go slow each day or each week, to BE within yourself and to re-focus on what’s next in a calm state, rather than a spilled-off to-do list (the kind we just add to a million times so it seems way WORSE than what’s essential?), you’d be doing one of the best things for adrenal burnout: preventing it.

But once you’re in it, what can you do?

Here’s my Nathalie-plan; the super-feisty way of getting yourself back fast, BECAUSE you deserve it.

1. Set aside SOME time for you NOW.

How much can you give yourself? Do you have ten minutes in the morning? Can you drop the kids off with someone awesome for an hour or a few? Are you doing anything tonight? Can you order-in? How can you make your life easier TODAY so that you can GIVE YOURSELF time.

Now once you’ve set aside time for you, ACTUALLY take it slow. And don’t start with all the things you COULD be doing, just be okay for taking the however long you were able to take and BE in the moment.

Do you love warm baths? Do you love candles? Do you love guitar music or piano music (one of my favourite burnout playlists is right here)? Is there a book you’ve wanted to read (not one you HAVE to, one you ACTUALLY want to, JUST for fun)?

Note: TV does NOT help you relax or re-charge. So netflix-binging is going to have to wait. Put away your phone, turn off the TV, get away from your computer. That’s how you’ll start to re-charge.

Do tranquil things, restful things, things that conserve your energy, with the intention of re-setting yourself.

And remind yourself, whenever that stress-voice pops up (as it does) to say, ‘you should be doing….’ that you’ll be a HECK of a lot more able, faster and better at helping anyone else in your life, when you’re back at your best. You can only give what you’ve got. 😉

2. Pump in your supplements.

By far and away, if you want to start restoring your ability to deal with stress, supplements are the mega-fast way to do it. You could totally get the nutrients to re-build from your food (and I hope you do with some of the suggestions below!) but you would have to focus so hard on it, and, let’s be real, if you’re under stress, you’re already feeling some kind of time-shortage, and I’d fear that trying to get everything in every day as you’d need to would quickly turn into another task on your list that’s causing part of your stress.

These are two of my favourite adrenal supplements, because they contain nutrients AND herbs to help re-build and re-balance:

• AOR Ortho-Adapt Vegan
• CanPrev Adrenal-Pro Recharge

But they’re not right for everybody, so always read and follow the labels. When I create supplement plans, I back-check every supplement ingredient with any medications my clients are taking, alongside their past health information. So it’s always best to have a pro help you out.

I don’t opt for the adrenal supplements with animal adrenal glandular in them, because I do think the most stressful thing ever would be to know you’re about to be slaughtered, and adding any potential remnant of that wild-stress into your stressed body doesn’t seem like a great idea.

3. Eat at LEAST one meal with INCREDIBLY nourishing foods in it.

Hopefully this is every meal. Or at least 90% of them.

But at the very least, focus tonight on something made from whole foods. Something with a natural salt in it like Celtic Salt or Himalayan Salt (which fuels the adrenal glands), and lots of fresh, organic vegetables. Give your body some food-love.

Here’s a few of my best, most love-filled, adrenal-healing reco’s:

• This amazing Roasted Veggie Tart from The Living Kitchen (I double the crust recipe!)
• This fab Nacho Dip (yes, it IS a meal), from Oh She Glows
• This Superhero Soup from my friends over at The Naked Label

The roasted veggie tart is my go-to.

4. And lastly, once you’ve done the things above (and ONLY once!), see if you can cross one fairly easy task off of your list.

You’ll feel better if you start some kind of movement forward, and it’ll help set the precedent within you that you’ve taken one step further, even when you were burnt out. Keep up this momentum, and start to learn the early signals your body gives you when you DO need to take another YOU-night.

For me, it feels like I’m running a little too high, a little too fast, and I know if I don’t do something in that moment to take care of myself, and give myself even ten or twenty minutes to re-focus, then I start to spiral into stress and then exhaustion.

When I catch myself part-way through, it takes a HECK of a lot less time to bring myself back to optimal than if I’ve let myself slip totally into exhaustion. So if you want more time, while baths and candles are oh-so-nice, then you HAVE to start noticing your unique signals for stress sooner, and helping yourself out THEN.

Those are the first four things I’d do while IN a state of burnout. Because when you’re in it, it’ll feel like four is a thousand.

Don’t overwhelm yourself with everything you COULD do.

Just start, and do a few really nice, calm things for yourself, and make use of the awesome supplements we have available to help us out, if they’re right for you.

And if these were baby steps, then my new post on adrenal health might be a more perfect fit for you. 🙂

And PS – while I know you probably have some kind of WILD inner-drive, because you *likely* wouldn’t be in this burnout position if you weren’t *some kind* of feisty, know that the time it takes each person to recover from burnout will depend GREATLY on what you’re eating everyday, how much time you’re giving yourself to be calm, AND how much abuse you put your bod through before it hit burnout. Your body is TRYING to work FOR you. I promise. But it might need time.

So, what are you going to put into place to start getting YOU back? Let me know in the comments below or in my free Facebook Group The Glow Doer’s.