Hello August!  I certainly can’t believe it’s August already!  But a new month means a fresh new topic!  Hope you all enjoyed last month’s topics around fertility.  If you missed it, or know someone that might benefit, please SHARE them!

This month we will be diving into the all important Adrenal Glands.  We will start this week with what are they and what is their job, and will continue the rest of the month talking about what depletes them:  Brain inflammation (clenching, cranial tension, spine and nervous system), nutritional deficiencies and imbalances ( including infections, hormones, toxins, heavy metals, genetics and more), Chronic STRESS and EMF or electro magnetic frequencies.

WHAT ARE THE ADRENALS???

I’m SO glad you asked:)

The adrenal glands are little but powerful glands that sit on top of your kidneys.

(not my image)

These glands produce hormones which are in a class called “steroid hormones”.

Steroid hormones are a family of hormones made directly from Cholesterol!

The specific steroid hormones that are produced from the adrenal glands are cortisol and aldosterone.

WE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT THESE HORMONES! In fact, cortisol is so important we’d die without it in a matter of three days!
These hormones govern stress handling systems, growth, mood and metabolism and impact almost every cell and every organ in the body!  

But …. It all STARTS with….. CHOLESTEROL!!
This important FAT is manufactured in the liver AND intestines.
It is produced based on need. 
The benefits of cholesterol have been misunderstood for so many years, but as we know now with the ketogenic craze, that fats are so amazing for us and needed for adequate hormone production.

These are all the things Cholesterol does:

It’s kind of a SUPERHERO, if you ask me.. and HEALTHY levels are crucial.  The normal range is 180-220.  This is a functional healthy range. Probably not the range your doctor gave you. Levels below this range are associated with an increase in :
-cerebrovascular accidents
-liver cancer
-lung disease
-depression and suicide (its essential in the production of serotonin)
-addictive behavior.

The best sources to get this in your diet are in animal tissues:

Although I do work with vegetarians, I do find it’s extremely hard to balance hormones when animal tissues are not consumed.  They usually don’t get enough from plant sources and will always be chasing hormone problems. Flax seed, olive oil and coconut oil have the highest levels of saturated fats to consume.

HERE is the ADRENAL HORMONE PATHWAY.

You see how cholesterol is at the top???

Now as we go down the chart you will see one route that leads to cortisol.
Cortisol controls our Stress Response.  That is: Fight or Flight Response.  This is vital so that when a threat is upon us we can react quickly!   However, the problem remains when chronic stress continues.
When chronic stress (we will go over what chronic stress is caused by the rest of this month) continues, cortisol is constantly being pumped out.  This causes something called the Pregnenalone Steal.

This means sex hormones won’t be made efficiently because we constantly need cortisol production for the chronic stress.
Here are the effects of chronic and prolonged stress:

And, here are consequences of stress ( we will go over this more in the weeks to come):

So, as you can see… Just cortisol function is super important for many functions.

What about the second hormone the adrenals produce?  This is aldosterone.

Aldosterone’s main role is to regulate salt and water on the body, having a huge influence on blood pressure.
So, when the adrenal glands aren’t functioning properly blood pressure dys-regulation and electrolyte imbalance can also come into play.

I can tell you, almost every patient I see needs some form or another of adrenal support.  The reason because we are being attacked literally every day from every angle.  We didn’t used to have to use so many products or methods even 15-20 years ago.  This being because now more toxins are everywhere, infections, EMF’s, chemical products, foods, vaccines, crazy work schedules.  It’s often hard for our bodies and adrenal glands to keep up. The key is not to just continually keep supplementing the adrenal glands with specific nutritional supplements, but to find the culprits, which may be one or all combined.

A lot of MD doctors will also tell you adrenal fatigue doesn’t exist.  But it does!  Don’t be discouraged.  There are answers.

Next week we will go over nervous system and brain function and it’s role in Stress out and Helping this gland.

Stay tuned!