More Energy, Weight Loss & Adrenal Function

Two significant factors that are simply “in your face” on a more consistent basis is fatigue and weight gain. What most are not thinking about is that these feed on each other and also have a common denominator, which is adrenal function. For your body to feel satisfied nutritionally, it truly needs to feel satisfied with its state of physical energy. While this of course ties into what you eat, it actually has a deeper tie into how you metabolize your food. We’ve all heard the old saying once, if not one thousand times, that “you are what you eat.” I may be the first to tell you, but this has been a lie since the first time you heard it. You are not what you eat, you ARE what you absorb, assimilate and metabolize. While of course you want to put the best food in your body for your Nutritional ID and avoid foods that you are sensitive to, but it is essential to achieve optimal utilization of the macro and micro nutrients from your food choices because your body is dependent on this for cellular energy production. I often see new clients that come into our clinic that actually eat very well, yet they can be malnourished similarly to an individual that eats very poorly. While this ties into your digestion as a whole, this also ties directly into your body’s ability to metabolize fats and proteins. Fatigue is such a significant problem in our culture and it is likely just sitting there, waiting at your fingertips for you. Ask yourself what you would do if you had significantly more energy every day. Would you enjoy the thought of having the energy to?

bound out of bed every morning ready to take on your day
achieve the long term weight loss goals that have eluded you
be able to enjoy your children or grandchildren with much more gusto
be more productive in your job or business and potentially increase your compensation
finally be able to commit to that physical training that has escaped you
finally be able to focus on your favorite hobby or sport that you have been ignoring for some time
be able to balance some of your health challenges
simply be able to enjoy your life on a whole other level

I would guess that you have some other life events beyond these that would shift if you had more energy, so please add to my list for yourself. So where does weight loss fit into this? This is an easy one. As mentioned above, your body is hungry to produce energy, not to fill your stomach. So if you are absorbing and assimilating your foods well and you are optimally metabolizing your fats and proteins, your body will utilize the highest levels of nutrients from the food you have consumed. Your trigger to stop eating will be initiated by your body’s recognition that you have consumed the best foods for you, bio-chemically speaking, along with proper digestive function to produce the energy needed by your body. Understanding that your trigger for hunger may subside with a very small amount of food, or it may continue until you have completely gorged yourself. This is specifically dependent on the factors we have discussed and more to follow. Let’s pick a popular food choice for our culture, that pretty much nutritionally dead, to use as an example of cravings tied into energy production and weight gain. This food is (hold your breath), pizza. Yes, I know, you may be thinking it has the four basic food groups of grains, vegetables, protein and fat but really now, I hope we don’t have to have a disagreement about the nutritional value of pizza. (A topic for another day perhaps.) But really, most pizza that you would purchase is typically cooked at a temperature of 400 degrees for about 20 minute or more. At that temperature, there is very little nutritional value left to your food. This is the reason why so many of us will actually gorge on pizza. While of course some of this ties into taste and emotional satisfaction, the main reason we gorge on pizza is because the body recognizes the nutritional void of pizza, thus the trigger for hunger continues until your stomach is physically stuffed. The problem after this is that since your body still has not produced the energy needed, you will then crave sugar. We have all had sugar enough in our life that your body recognizes that sugar is a “quick fix” for energy. So this may lead to a craving for sugar in the form of cookies, cakes, candies, ice cream, alcohol or more to satisfy your energy needs. I am sure many of you have seen this cycle many times in the past. So what’s left after this cycle? WEIGHT GAIN! Remember though, this can occur because of either nutritionally dead food choices or due to poor absorption and assimilation of your food or poor metabolism of your protein and fat. So don’t think that just because you eat well, you are free of this weight gain and energy depleting trap. There is one factor that ties into every factor here. Weight gain, fatigue, poor metabolism of fat and protein and digestive health are all tied into proper adrenal function. The function of your adrenal glands tie into all the areas listed below, but I will highlight those that are directly tied into today’s subject.

Thyroid (hypo or hyper thyroid)
Pancreas (type II diabetes)
Ovaries (PMS, menopause and infertility)
Mucosal lining (food sensitivity damage)
Metabolism of fat and protein (malabsorption)
Your ability to regulate body weight and fat (weight gain or unhealthy weight loss)
Every level of detoxification (detoxification and elimination)
Immune regulation (autoimmunity and over all immune function)
Pro/anti-inflammatory states (chronic inflammation and aches/pains)
Blood sugar balance (hypo or hyperglycemia)
Cellular energy (bodily energy at the core)
Bone turnover (osteopenia/osteoporosis)
Connective tissue turnover (chronic sprains/tendonitis)
Muscular integrity (muscle weakness and fatigue)
Quality of sleep (insomnia, waking through the night, poor energy upon waking)
Mood regulation (inability to regulate moods and deal with daily stress levels)
Mental clarity (inability to recall and remember)
Ability to learn (poor comprehension)
Neural connectivity (Alzheimer’s, dementia or other neural degenerative challenges)

Taking this a bit further, I would like to share some statistics as seen in our clinic. We have reviewed more than 4,600 adrenal saliva test kits over the years and have seen only 5 of these return with health function. Yes, that is 5 total and not 5%. In fairness, we work with health challenged individuals, so this tells us that if you have a health issue (weight gain and fatigue included) it is very likely that you are living with some level of adrenal insufficiency. Also note that this adrenal insufficiency is likely holding back your weight loss and energy goals. Get your complimentary adrenal stress profile assessment here. Don’t forget these key points achieve weight loss and increase energy.