Do you think you could be suffering from adrenal fatigue?Here are 7 foods to add to your adrenal fatigue diet plan to support your body and get you on the road towards healing.
More energy, better sleep, better moods–what are you waiting for? Let’s dig in!
I recently wrote a post here at Whole New Mom about the signs and symptoms of adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal fatigue is thought to be a stress condition that may inflict many of us from time to time.
Adrenal fatigue is not officially recognized by the mainstream medical community, so there is debate about whether or not it’s a real condition, but one thing is for sure–we are tired and we need support.
One of the best ways we can tackle fatigue is through eating more of the healing foods that promote stronger adrenal health.
Want to Save This Post?
Enter your email & I'll send it straight to your inbox.Plus, you'll get healthy living updates too.
Helps for Adrenal Support
There are of course, so many things to consider when dealing with adrenal fatigue….things like:
- Emotional Stress & Anxiety
- Exercise
- Rest & Sleep
- Supplements
- Environmental Stressors like Toxins and Heavy Metals
- Improving Gut Health through probiotics, removing food allergies and sensitivities and sugar
There are other things you can do to help with adrenal fatigue too like using thisDIY Adrenal Fatigue Essential Oils Blend.
But diet is a bit of a factor as well.
Eating more naturally is a great way to help your body function more healthfully, but adding in foods to support your adrenals is key as well. Here are some ways that you can do that.
This post contains affiliate links from which I may earn commissions.
7 Healing Foods for Your Adrenal Fatigue Diet Plan
While most practitioners who advocate following an adrenal fatigue diet plan would say that mostly eating whole foods is the way to go, there are some foods in particular that one might find helpful to add to their diet in order to support overall adrenal health.
1. Lemon
If you are looking to support your adrenals, starting the day with a glass of warm water, the juice of half a lemon and a pinch of Celtic salt, is one way to go.
Lemon juice is full of vitamin C and other phytonutrients, and has a lot of natural health benefits. By adding lemon juice to your diet and boosting your overall health, you are reducing stressors on your adrenal glands.
This Sugar-free Lemonade would be a great way to get more lemon into your diet.
You can either buy fresh lemons and squeeze them, or get a quality organic lemon juice for convenience.
2. QualitySalt
Salt is a tricky thing. Too much of it can be a problem, but too little can be a problem too.
Our bodies need salt for proper functioning, so you do want to make sure you are getting enough of it so that your body isn’t under excess stress. One thing to keep in mind is that you might want to use a pure salt instead of regular table salt (since regular table salt is bleached and has additives like flowing and anti-caking agents and even sugar!) but some good quality Celtic Salt or Himalayan Salt is a more natural way to go. (source)
3. Protein
Eat good quality protein sources to help build energy into the body, so they are crucial for adding to your adrenal fatigue diet. The B vitamins found in protein are important for energy production, building all the cells in the body, helping with fat metabolism, the synthesis of neurotransmitters, and maintaining nerve cells. (source)
Whole protein sources include:
meats
liver
eggs
nuts
fish
poultry
shellfish
chicken
and so forth.
4. Eat your fat
Many people (especially women) tend to avoid fat in their diets. However, there are many health benefits of fat.
We need fat for manufacturing hormones; this includes the many hormones that the adrenal glands produce. Use organic olive oil, organic flax seed oil, organic walnut oil, organic coconut oil, properly sourced lard, and butter.
Omega 3 oils have the additional benefit of reducing inflammation in the body and with adrenal fatigue we can be prone to increased inflammation. (source)
5. Peppers
As mentioned about, vitamin C is crucial for adrenal health.
When we are under stress we utilize vitamin C at a much faster rate so it’s important to get more of it in order to support adrenal health and reduce cortisol levels too. (source)
Peppers are full of vitamin C and Vitamin C is one of the main vitamins hosted by the adrenals.
Cortisol is our key stress hormone so anything we can do to lower cortisol is a good thing.
How Much Vitamin C is in one pepper?
- Yellow bell pepper –341mg
- Red bell pepper –230mg
- Green bell pepper –119mg
6. Seaweed
Seaweed such as nori, kelp and wakame are loaded with many vitamins and minerals and one of those happens to be magnesium.
In one cup of seaweed there is a whopping 218mg of magnesium.
Magnesium is needed for over 300 enzymatic functions in the body and has a relaxing capacity on the muscles, mind, and whole body. (source)
Adrienne loves having these organic seaweed snacks around the house all the time!
7. Mackerel and Herring
Mackerel and herring contain an ingredient known as phosphatidylserine.
Phosphatidylserine helps to bring down cortisol levels in the body via the hypothalamus – adrenal chain, known as the HPA (hyper thalamic pituitary axis). (source)
The hypothalamus is the part of the brain that controls the balance of adrenal and hormone function. Because it is a natural component of the brain phosphatidylserine also helps to improve brain function, sharpen mental focus, and improve memory.
In a 100g (3.5oz) serve Mackerel contains 480mg of phosphatidyl serine;
Herring contains 360mg.
If you’re struggling with adrenal fatigue, try including more of these healing foods into your diet every day 🙂
More Adrenal Help
One other thing worth mentioning is this Adrenal co*cktail, which is a remake of a popular drink that has many of the above-mentioned ingredients in it:
lemon
salt
protein
fat
All blended up with some extra health-boosting spices to help you feel your best. This would be a great addition to your adrenal health plan.
Beyond the Adrenal Fatigue Diet
For more help besides the diet, you might wish to check out this:
Tired or Something More? Take This Quick Test
Do you have adrenal fatigue?
Have you tried diet changes to help with your condition?
Jedha Dening is the Nutritionist and Health Coach behind Good Food Eating. She’s also a Mom, passionate writer, and lover of good food that’s also good for your waistline. With over 10 years of experience in health and wellness, Jedha is passionate about taking care of people’s nutrition and health so they can feel fantastic everyday. When she’s not cooking, researching or writing about nutrition, she can usually be found in the great outdoors gardening, bushwalking, or kayaking.
