Could this be the reason you can't get up in the morning?

Lots of us wake up in the morning feeling as tired as when we went to bed the night before.  Modern life, at least as we know it, can be very stressful.  Holding down a full time job in the current economic crisis is not easy, family obligations - especially if you have small children, and the need to have fun with friends and family in the little spare time you have can take it's toll.  Or, the stress of being unemployed and trying hard to find a job or family problems all stress us far more than many would believe.  All or any one of these modern problems can lead to high stress levels and a feeling of being burnt out.

This feeling of being burnt out can be due to an illness called Adrenal Fatigue.  It is estimated that up to 80% of adults experience adrenal fatigue at some time during their lives, however it is still one of the most under-diagnosed illnesses in the United States.  Stress is the main factor in adrenal fatigue, if the stress is not treated and controlled it can, overtime, tax your adrenal glands to the point of causing other health problems such as:

• Fatigue
• Depression
• Sleep disorders
• Weight gain

So, if you are experiencing any of the above symptoms you need to read on...

Dr. Daniel Kalish has designed The Kalish Method which integrates scientific testing with natural health solutions to heal your adrenals and restore them so that they function normally again.

The Kalish Method is divided into 3 stages:

Stage 1:

Your cortisol levels are very high and you're under a lot of stress.  However, you are usually on a "high" enjoying yourself and not really aware of the toll.  Your body needs that excitement, but the key is to absorb that stress, enjoy it, reap the benefits and then dissipate it.  If you do not get enough rest to recharge your batteries, as it were, then the adrenal glands become over taxed, causing your cortisol levels to descend, which is when most people begin to notice there's a problem.

Stage 2:

This second stage means that the cortisol levels are starting to fail, which is when people begin to gain weight, stop sleeping properly and their sex drive starts to falter.  If you don't change your lifestyle, don't correct your bad eating habits, stop exercising and lack of beneficial rest you enter stage 3.

Stage 3:

Adrenal burn out and your cortisol levels are low all the time, the result is you feel chronically fatigued and are unable to recoup your energy despite resting.

Dr. Kalish illustrates the way cortisol works using units.  When you wake up in the morning you should have 20 units of energy, at the end of the day you should have around 2 units.  This would be normal, and would create the normal feeling of a day ending normally followed by restful sleep.  However many people are waking up in the morning with reduced cortisol levels, which brings on the feeling of exhaustion despite having just woken up.  Also the reverse happens, many people go to bed at night with elevated cortisol levels which makes sleep difficult as you can't shut your brain off.

The four main causes of adrenal dysfunction are:

1. Emotional stress, usually related to grief or loss
2. Poor diet, eating too many refined carbs can alter cortisol levels.
3. Chronic inflammation in the body.
4. Hypothyroidism.

Before trying any remedies on your own, if you have reason to believe that you are suffering from adrenal fatigue, you should be tested appropriately         by a specialist.

As far as dietary changes are concerned, it would be advisable to make sure you are getting the following:

• Protein, high quality animal protein is advisable, preferably lightly cooked or raw whenever possible such as: sushi, ceviche, steak tartare, eggs, legumes combined with whole grains, seeds or nuts.
• Healthy fats.  Coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernal oil, cocoa butter, butter, almond oil and olive oil.  Fats are essential especially because some fats such as butter, contain cholesterol which the adrenal glands need to produce hormones.  However, fat should not exceed  20 - 25% of total daily calories.
• Complex carbohydrates.  The body metabolizes unrefined, complex carbs in whole foods more slowly than the refined carbs in white bread, pasta or pastries - this means your energy levels last longer and the sugar crashes from refined carbs don't happen.  The best complex carbohydrates are: Spinach, chard, red peppers, yellow and butternut squash, beets, carrots, millet, brown rice, quinoa, papaya, mango, plums, pears, kiwi, apples and cherries.
• Up your intake of fermented foods to improve healthy gut bacteria.

Stay away from:

• Coffee and black tea (even decaf)
• Juice
• Sugar
• Alcohol
• Deep-fried foods
• Rancid oils, seed and nuts
• Soda - even diet soda
• Precessed meats and cheeses
• Textured vegetable protein
• Chocolate
• White flour in breads, pies, cakes, cookies and pasta
• Cow's milk
• Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame
• Fast food
• White rice

The hidden health risk

Under normal circumstances, inflammation is part of a healthy immune response, a biological automatic response to an injury sees cells and chemicals being sent to heal an infection or injury.  Which is what happens when you are, for example, bitten by a mosquito, the area around the bite becomes inflamed, red, itchy and often painful.  This swelling is actually to stop the poison from the mosquito bite circulating freely in the blood while other cells and histamines repair the area and eliminate the poison.

However, just like in many other areas of life, there is a dark side to this normally healing process.  Chronic "hidden" inflammation, that you can't necessarily feel or see can occur throughout the body when something kick-starts the immune system and turns off the shut-off button.  What sets off the alarm and kick-starts the immune systems differs in each person: repeated or prolonged infections, smoking, gum disease, obesity, etc all of which have the same end result: an endless trickle of immune cells that interferes with the body's healthy tissues, which set off genetic mutations that can lead to cancer, diabetes, depression, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's, and a long list of etc..

However, on the whole a person will not know they suffer from chronic inflammation until something more serious happens.  There isn't even a reliable medical test for it.  There is a test for an inflammatory marker called C-reactive protein (CRP), which is recommended for people at risk of heart disease, as high levels of CRP are associated with future heart attacks and strokes, but it is not used on a general level as researchers still don't fully understand the role CRP plays and whether it really is a sign of incremented risk of disease.  However, what has been clearly established is that people with poor health habits tend to have higher levels of inflammation.

"In recent years, we've come to accept that inflammation plays a role in many chronic diseases, but it's about an imbalance - too many pro-inflammatory chemicals and not enough anti-inflammatory ones," says Moise Desvarieux, an inflammation researcher at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

In a normal situation, hours after the alarm is set off kick-starting the immune system to fight and injury or infection, the body then sends out anti-inflammatory substances to restore equilibrium.  So in order to stay healthy, both systems have to be in good working order.

Lots of medications, such as Aspirin, can reduce inflammation.  However, there are healthier options to reduces inflammation other than popping pills, here are some tips:

While being overweight raises your risk of inflammation, what is more important is where your fat deposits are.  "It's where your body puts the fat, on your waist as opposed to your hips and thighs, that indicates a pro-inflammatory state," says Carol Shively, Professor of Pathology at Wake Forrest University School of Medicine who has studied fat distribution.  Fat stored around internal organs is far more dangerous than subcutaneous fat on the hips and thighs.  The fat surrounding internal organs leads to stress and the stress hormone cortisol, "appears to bind receptors on these fat cells, setting off a process that promotes the storage of fat and increases the number of fat cells," says Prof. Shively.  "These extra cells then produce more chemicals that increase inflammation."

Now this, as you are probably aware, takes us back to the apple or pear body shapes.  Having a large waist measurement (80cm or more in women and 94cm or more in men) means you are likely to have excess inflammation.  Other indicators are:

• high blood pressure (130/85 or above)
• raised glucose levels (100mg/dl after fasting)
• high triglyceride levels (150mg/dl)

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), these all point to an inflammatory condition called metabolic syndrome, a common precursor of diabetes and heart disease.

So what is the best way to reduce belly fat?

Now the good news is that belly fat is a lot easier to get rid of than the subcutaneous kind on hips and thighs.  So basically all you really need to do is to eat less and move more.  Adopting a mediterranean diet which is rich in fruit, vegetables, fish, nuts, seeds and olive oil has been proven to protect the heart, probably because it lowers the level of pro-inflammatory chemicals.  Another benefit of this type of diet is that it may protect against depression by raising levels of Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants used by the body to manufacture anti-inflammatory chemicals that increase blood flow to the brain.

Don't over do the exercise to start off with.  Exercise has been proven to produce less inflammation as it protects against metabolic syndrome.  1 hour, 5 times a week is enough.  Just walking at a fast pace which makes conversation difficult is adequate.  If you want to run but never have, start slowly little by little.  Intersperse fast walking with bits of jogging and build up gradually.  There is a brilliant podcast called From Couch to 5K - free on the NHS website (Couch to 5K), is a great way to learn to run if you never have.

Surprising recent data shows that flossing and brushing your teeth twice a day reduces the risk of heart disease.  There is a well established link between gum disease and heart disease, researchers believe that the same bacteria that cause inflammation and swelling in the gums appear to be a source of inflammation and thickening of the arteries.

The top 10 ANTI-INFLAMMATORY foods you should include in your diet:

1. Wild Salmon
2. Kelp
3. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4. Cruciferous Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and brussel sprouts
5. Blueberries
6. Turmeric
7. Ginger
8. Garlic
9. Green tea
10. Sweet potato

The top 5 INFLAMMATORY foods to avoid:

1. Sugars: sodas, fruit drinks, sweets, etc..
2. Common cooking oils: grape seed, cottonseed, sunflower, corn and safflower oils
3. Trans fats: deep fried foods, fast foods, commercially baked products, margarine, etc..
4. Dairy produce.
5. Factory farm animals.  Stick to grass fed animal produce.

So the key is to:

• Eat less
• Get Active
• Floss and brush twice a day.

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com