Adrenal Fatigue: Diet and Lifestyle Changes for Adrenal Health

Adrenal fatigue can profoundly interfere with quality of life, contributing to chronic exhaustion, mood swings, and difficulty managing stress. 

By following an adrenal fatigue diet and making beneficial lifestyle changes, those affected can support adrenal function, restore energy levels, and improve overall well-being.

Learn to recognize the signs of adrenal fatigue and find out how to implement an adrenal-friendly diet to restore hormonal balance and regain vitality. 

What is the adrenal fatigue diet?

The adrenal fatigue diet is designed to minimize foods that stimulate the release of adrenal stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. 

By limiting hormonal overactivation, this diet helps alleviate stress on the adrenal glands, preventing further strain and supporting adrenal healing.  

A core principle of this dietary approach is maintaining stable blood sugar levels, as glucose fluctuations caused by a diet high in refined grains, sugars, and processed foods can place unnecessary stress on the adrenal glands. 

Limiting carbohydrate intake minimizes the need for cortisol to stabilize fluctuating blood sugar levels, which helps promote hormonal balance and a healthy adrenal system.

This approach is based on ketogenic diet principles, which aim to shift the body into a state of ketosis, where fat becomes the primary fuel source instead of glucose.

Research published in Endocrinology highlights the profound benefits of a ketogenic diet on the endocrine system, including improved adrenal responsiveness to stressors. 

This means the adrenal glands can better regulate hormone release without becoming overburdened, promoting adrenal hormone balance and enhancing resilience to physical and emotional stressors.

In addition, the adrenal fatigue diet emphasizes nutrient-dense foods to restore essential vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids often depleted in individuals with adrenal fatigue. This focus on replenishing key adrenal nutrients helps support adrenal gland function and recovery.

Watch the video below to discover the best dietary approach for healing adrenal fatigue. 

What is adrenal fatigue?

The adrenal glands produce critical hormones, including cortisol, adrenaline, norepinephrine, and aldosterone. These hormones determine the body’s response to stress, regulate blood pressure, facilitate metabolic processes, and support immune functions.

Adrenal fatigue refers to a condition in which the adrenal glands become overworked and unable to function optimally. This can lead to adrenal hormone imbalances, particularly in cortisol levels, which may fluctuate between being too high or too low. 

Both elevated and insufficient cortisol levels can disrupt the body’s stress response, energy regulation, and overall hormonal balance, leading to a wide range of detrimental health effects.

While adrenal fatigue isn’t formally recognized as a medical condition, if left unaddressed, it can potentially develop into adrenal insufficiency. This advanced-stage adrenal impairment is characterized by persistent fatigue, poor metabolic functions, and circulatory problems, all of which can severely affect overall health and well-being.

Symptoms of adrenal fatigue 

Because adrenal hormones play a crucial role in various physiological functions, adrenal fatigue can manifest in a wide range of signs and symptoms.

Here are common adrenal fatigue symptoms: 

• Unexplained fatigue
• Poor stress tolerance
• Muscle weakness
• Dizziness
• Brain fog
• Mood swings
• Insomnia
• Frequent infections
• Facial changes 
• Cravings for salty foods 

In addition, those with adrenal fatigue tend to develop an adrenal body type characterized by stubborn belly fat and difficulty losing weight. 

If you are concerned about your adrenal health or show signs of adrenal fatigue, it’s vital to consult a healthcare provider for a thorough evaluation of your symptoms and overall health status.

Potential causes of adrenal fatigue

Chronic stress is the most common cause of adrenal fatigue, as it triggers the persistent release of cortisol, which can eventually exhaust adrenal function. 

In addition to a stressful lifestyle, many other factors can stimulate persistent cortisol production. 

Blood sugar fluctuations, typically linked to a high-carb diet, majorly contribute to adrenal fatigue. When blood glucose spikes and crashes, the body requires more cortisol to regulate blood sugar levels, further straining the adrenal glands. 

This has been confirmed by research published in Life Science, stating that individuals with elevated blood sugar levels were more likely to exhibit abnormal cortisol patterns. 

The authors summarized, “Raised cortisol concentrations have been associated with raised plasma glucose levels and insulin resistance.” 

Chronic inflammation, whether from a poor diet, undiagnosed food sensitivities, infections, or environmental toxins, can also overstimulate the adrenal glands as they attempt to mitigate inflammatory responses. 

In addition, inadequate sleep, excessive alcohol consumption, and overuse of caffeine can significantly strain adrenal functions. 

Nutritional deficiencies in essential nutrients, such as vitamins C and B1, as well as zinc and potassium, can also compromise the adrenal glands’ ability to cope with stress. 

Over time, these factors contribute to a persistent stress response that gradually depletes the body’s adrenal reserves, leading to exhaustion and hormonal imbalances.

How to do the adrenal fatigue diet 

An adrenal-supportive diet focuses on delivering essential nutrients to nourish the adrenal glands, stabilizing blood sugar levels, and reducing inflammation. Eliminating alcohol, excessive caffeine, and junk food are equally important aspects of an effective adrenal fatigue diet. 

In addition, intermittent fasting is crucial to support the body’s hormonal balance and stimulate regenerative processes.

Here’s how to approach an adrenal fatigue diet.

1. Follow a Healthy Keto^® diet

The Healthy Keto^® diet is an advanced version of the ketogenic diet that focuses on limiting carbohydrates to no more than 50 grams of net carbs daily while obtaining around 70 percent of daily caloric needs from healthy fats. 

Reducing carbohydrate intake is essential for stabilizing blood sugar levels. This allows the adrenals to rest and recover by removing the constant strain caused by blood sugar fluctuations.

Healthy Keto also emphasizes nutrient-rich foods, including organic produce, plenty of leafy greens and non-starchy vegetables, grass-fed meats, game meat, wild-caught fish, and organic full-fat dairy.

Start by reducing your carbohydrate intake to allow your body to transition into ketosis, a metabolic state during which the body burns fat for energy instead of glucose. 

In addition, incorporate high-quality fats such as avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, and grass-fed butter to meet your daily fat requirements. Ensure moderate protein intake, around 3 to 6 ounces (85 to 170 grams) per meal, from high-quality sources to maintain muscle mass and metabolic processes.

Focus on consuming a variety of vegetables, including spinach, kale, broccoli, and zucchini, to provide plenty of essential vitamins and minerals crucial for adrenal function. 

When starting keto, staying hydrated and replenishing electrolytes is crucial to minimize the risk of keto flu, which is a transient set of symptoms that some people experience as their body adapts to ketosis.

2. Practice intermittent fasting 

Intermittent fasting is a mealtime schedule that alternates between periods of eating and fasting, with fasting intervals typically ranging from a few hours to an entire day. 

Periods of caloric restriction help improve metabolic flexibility and stabilize blood sugar levels, thereby reducing the need for cortisol and lowering the burden on the adrenal glands. 

Furthermore, intermittent fasting triggers autophagy, a cellular cleaning mechanism that removes damaged cells and promotes regeneration. This process enhances overall cellular efficiency and resilience, supporting the body’s ability to manage stress and recover from adrenal fatigue.

Start by gradually extending your fasting window by pushing your first meal of the day to later in the morning or early afternoon until you can comfortably fast for 16 to 18 hours. 

Combining Healthy Keto with intermittent fasting can help improve adrenal function within a few weeks. However, more severe cases of adrenal fatigue may not respond to this fasting and meal plan. 

In these instances, consuming more protein, around 7 to 9 ounces (200 to 255 grams) per meal, may be beneficial to provide adequate amino acids needed to prevent and restore muscle loss, often associated with adrenal fatigue. 

Increasing protein intake and maintaining adequate amounts of healthy fats can help the body recover more effectively from adrenal fatigue and support better long-term adrenal health.

More tips for supporting healthy adrenals 

In addition to restricting carbohydrate intake and practicing intermittent fasting, it’s vital to avoid alcohol and limit caffeine intake to reduce stress on the adrenal glands. 

Stress reduction plays an equally important role in adrenal health. Incorporating stress management practices, such as gentle stretching, deep breathing exercises, and regular physical activity, can help lower cortisol levels and allow the adrenal glands to recover.

In addition, prioritizing adequate sleep and increasing the intake of nutrients that promote optimal adrenal health can further support adrenal function and overall well-being.

Vitamin C is an especially important nutrient, as the adrenal glands utilize it to produce adrenal hormones. While vitamin C supplementation may seem convenient, most supplements are made with synthetic vitamin C, which isn’t very effective and may cause side effects.

“Vitamin C is best obtained from fresh whole food sources such as lemons, limes, bell peppers, broccoli, and leafy green vegetables including spinach and kale,” explains Dr. Berg. “Alternatively, look for vitamin C supplements made from natural food sources.”

Vitamin B1 and zinc are also crucial for supporting adrenal health. Vitamin B1, also known as thiamine, helps regulate the nervous system, which is essential for effective stress responses. 

Zinc plays a key role in the production of adrenal hormones and supports immune function, making it particularly important during periods of high stress.

Both vitamin B1 and zinc can be obtained from seafood, pork, eggs, spinach, sunflower seeds, and a variety of nuts.  

FAQ

Sources

1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5761593/ 
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10201642/