Primal Body, Primal Mind by Nora T. Gedgaudas Cns Cnt

Author:Nora T. Gedgaudas Cns Cnt
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Health/Nutrition
ISBN: 9781594774133
Publisher: Healing Arts Press
Published: 2011-06-07T10:00:00+00:00

feeling constantly stressed out

trouble falling asleep

irritability and anxiety

high blood sugar levels

tending toward weight gain under stress

excess perspiration or perspiring, even while inactive (in normal temperatures)

waking up tired, seemingly no matter what

Adrenaline is the hormone secreted by the adrenal medulla, and it is associated with acute states of the fight-or-flight mode. Once released, it mobilizes blood sugar to fuel the emergency, dilates pupils, shuts down digestion and other nonessential or nonsurvival-oriented bodily functions, constricts blood vessels and raises the blood pressure, and increases the heart rate. Cortisol, secreted by the adrenal cortex, is produced in response to more-chronic states of stress and as a blood sugar– management hormone. Individuals with chronic stress or dysglycemia may exhaust the adrenal cortex’s ability to produce adequate amounts of cortisol (see Adrenal Stress Index example 1, figure 19.1), which results in what can be termed adrenal exhaustion.

Because leptin rules the endocrine roost, as it were, and insulin stands firmly second in command, the adrenal hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, are next in the line of authority over your moods, energy, and well-being. The health of your thyroid depends upon the health of your adrenals. In fact, no thyroid issue can ever fully resolve or significantly improve without the restoration of adrenal health.

Women must depend on healthy adrenals to ease the transition of menopause. Exhausted adrenals are unable to take the “baton” from the ovaries, as they are supposed to at this time, to continue producing needed hormones. If your adrenals are shot, that transition called menopause can be pure hell. Women with healthy adrenals at menopause barely even notice anything has happened, which is how it is supposed to be. Hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms are not remotely normal simply because they are commonplace.

Your adrenals are often the first obvious casualty of blood sugar dysregulation. Stymied adrenal function can lead to chronic feelings of stress or being overwhelmed, fatigue, weight gain, insomnia, mood disorders or instability, headaches or migraines, and eventually thyroid problems. (Down the road, problems with sex hormones can develop, too, via an endocrine metabolic phenomenon known as the pregnenolone steal). You will never correct a problem with your thyroid or sex hormones without first correcting adrenal imbalance. And in order to correct that, of course, you must determine and address your main adrenal stressors and address issues around insulin and leptin.

Common adrenal stressors can include blood sugar dysregulation (the big one), chronic use of stimulants, chronic high levels of EMF exposure, chronic infections, food-sensitivity issues, prolonged life stress or chronic trauma, chronic lack of adequate sleep, and excessive exercise.

Apart from excess dietary carbohydrates and lifestyle issues, the next most common cause of adrenal problems is easily food sensitivities. (See chapter 28, “What about Food Allergies and Sensitivities?”) Consuming food substances to which you are sensitive will automatically generate a stress response in the body that involves both cortisol and insulin. Even if your diet is low carb or low cal, it is possible to gain undesirable weight and generate systemic inflammation if you are chronically eating foods to which you are sensitive.

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