Holiday Adrenal Thrive Guide

Adrenal Thrive Guide

For some, the holidays can be the most wonderful time of the year; but for others, they can be the most stressful. One thing is true for everyone – the holidays are a challenging time to stick with the diet and lifestyle choices that help keep you healthy and happy all year round. Whether it’s rushing around doing holiday shopping, late night parties full of the wrong food and drink, or the stress caused (for some) by spending a lot of time with family, it’s no wonder why so many people fall off the proverbial wagon. Overeating (or just eating the wrong foods) combined with lack of exercise and sleep often leads to weight gain, fatigue and other unpleasant symptoms. A little weight gain over the holidays wouldn’t be so bad if the weight is lost after we get back into our new year routine, but studies show that too often this isn’t the case: the weight we gain over the holidays tends to stick around and can really add up over the years.

In this article, I aim to educate you on the role of the adrenals, how they relate to the stress of the holidays, and give you some helpful tips and strategies to help you stay healthy and on track during this festive time of year.

Let’s begin! First, a brief physiology lesson: the adrenal glands are a set of walnut-sized glands that sit atop the kidneys. They control a variety of actions in the body including the stress response (they secrete cortisol), body weight, blood sugar, blood pressure and the immune system. Essentially the adrenals are our survival glands, they control our “fight or flight” response and can go into overdrive if the body is under too much stress. Over the long term the adrenals become fatigued, resulting in adrenal exhaustion. If I had to ponder a guess, I would say that 80% of us are suffering from some sort of adrenal dysregulation.

Some signs of adrenal dysregulation include (but are not limited to):

• feeling “tired but wired” – you can’t fall asleep even when you’re tired
• waking feeling un-rested
• cravings for sugar or carbohydrates, fat and salt
• mid afternoon energy dips
• weight gain, particularly around the midsection
• anxious feelings or depression
• frequent sickness
• low libido
• poor memory or lack of focus
• digestive symptoms

Ring any bells? If so, fear not – with the tips below and other naturopathic modalities, your adrenals can be salvaged. If not – amazing and good for you! Keep these tips in mind to prevent holiday stress and adrenal fatigue. We NDs are all about prevention!

Diet

Let’s start by making it known that it’s okay to steer a little off course from your normal healthy diet. I’m a strong believer in the 80/20 rule, whereby you eat really well 80% of the time and the other 20% you enjoy! I think the French would agree. There’s no sense in completely avoiding the foods you love – it’s just not worth the stress, and let’s face it, we are all human. We all need to give in to cravings sometimes. It’s better to indulge in your favourite dessert and feel good about it, rather than not eat it and feel deprived and depressed. So go ahead and enjoy some of your grandmas apple pie, that gorgeous looking chocolate cake or whatever tickles your fancy in moderation, without feeling guilty.

 

That said, be smart about your food choices – avoid the foods that aggravate your system. Eating the wrong foods can add unnecessary stress on the body by causing inflammation, digestive symptoms (like bloating, gas, acid reflux, diarrhea, constipation), mood disturbances, and a weakened immune system. If you’re severely gluten intolerant – don’t eat gluten! If there are foods you know make you really ill or send you running for the washroom, continue to avoid these foods. Not sure which foods are causing you trouble, book an appointment so we can do some testing and get you sorted out.

 

Follow these simple tips to keep you on the straight and narrow diet-wise this season.

If you’re going out for dinner where you have no control over the menu options, spoil your appetite a little before you leave. Choose a small meal or snack with protein, so that you feel satiated for a longer period of time and you don’t overindulge and sky-rocket your blood sugar at the first sight of bread and sip of wine. When eaten alone bread, especially white bread, and alcohol, both increase blood sugar dramatically and tax the adrenals. Fat and protein help to blunt blood sugar spikes, so that handful of nuts you ate before you left for the evening are really coming in handy now!

 

Speaking of wine, if you’re partaking in alcohol, remember our 80/20 rule – this is part of the 20! To avoid unnecessary weight gain, blood sugar spikes and a bad hangover, choose red or white wine, champagne or low calorie spirits like gin, vodka, tequila or whisky combined with club soda or tonic water. Avoid high calorie drinks like egg-nog, cider and beer, and have a glass of water in between each alcoholic beverage to stay hydrated and slow down your consumption.

 

Eat mindfully, especially when you’re indulging in something sweet or in your 20%. Mindful eating is an amazing tool to avoid overdoing it, making better food choices and can really make a difference for digestive troubles. Use all of your senses – smell your food, chew it well, savour it and be grateful for it. Stop eating when you’re 80% full. I’ll elaborate more on mindfulness below.

 

Exercise

The holidays can be a difficult time to keep up with your exercise routine – cold weather, busy schedules and budget constraints can really throw a wrench in your plans if you don’t make it a priority. Research shows that exercise, even low to moderate exercise, can dramatically improve your ability to practice self control when life gets hectic and healthy habits become more difficult to maintain. Yoga, tai chi and qi gong are low impact forms of exercise that might come in handy for stressful periods.

 

To avoid weight gain from overeating, on days that you have a party that evening, do some weight training or cardiovascular interval training that morning, like swimming lengths at your local pool, or running stairs or hills at the park. Check out the 7-minute workout app that walks you through simple, at-home (no equipment required) workouts that can easily fit into your schedule. As always, try to move your body more on a daily basis – do a lap of the office every 30 mins; walk (halfway) to work; park further from the entrance; take the stairs whenever possible.

 

Sleep

The holidays can be a time of erratic sleep patterns, but in order to avoid weight gain and adrenal fatigue, sleep is our ally. When we sleep, our musculoskeletal system recovers, the immune system is most active and the adrenal glands recuperate from the day’s events. Our bodies thrive on a steady circadian rhythm and can really get thrown off when we’re out of our regular sleep routine. Our circadian rhythm is regulated by our exposure to light and dark – as it gets darker outside melatonin is supposed to rise, and cortisol declines; the opposite happens as the sun comes up in the morning. Because of modern technology and indoor lights, our circadian rhythm gets confused. In the few hours before bed, turn down lights in your home, avoid looking at screens (if you must use them, install the f.luxx app that decreases blue light, or orange glasses), and sleep in the pitch dark (cover light-emitting electronic devices and use blackout blinds, or an eye mask).

 

To avoid going into sleep deficit, if you’re planning a late night, try to sleep in that morning or have a nap during the day. Aim for a regular bedtime on non-party nights and commit to getting at least 8 hours of sleep each night.

 

Finally, stimulants (like coffee or tea) and alcohol can greatly decrease sleep quality. Caffeine is metabolized more slowly by some people (like myself) and a coffee anytime after 12 noon makes for a poor night’s sleep. While alcohol may help with falling asleep, it actually decreases the overall sleep quality. If you suffer from insomnia, it’s best to avoid both alcohol and caffeine completely. If you have no sleep troubles, use them in moderation if you must, and avoid both during the few hours before bed (remember, 80/20).

 

Stress

Finally, the simplest, most overlooked, but most important aspect of thriving with your adrenals intact this holiday season is stress management. Whether stress arises from the financial strain of buying gifts, dealing with difficult family members or party preparation, the holidays are an important time to have a solid stress management plan in place to help you cope. Stress, even low level long-term stress, causes your adrenals to release cortisol as if you’re under attack, and mobilize blood sugar (glucose) to fuel your muscles so that you can escape that threat. When the perceived attack isn’t actually there, the body deposits that mobilized glucose into the midsection, and ultimately exhausts the adrenal glands.

 

As mentioned in relation to diet, mindfulness is a great tool for practicing self-control and making better food choices, but it can also come in quite handy when dealing with stressful situations and everyday life. Mindfulness is simply defined as living in the present moment. Psychology today defines mindfulness as “a state of active, open attention on the present. When you’re mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience.”

 

Being mindful can provide a buffer between yourself and your emotions and give you the space to reflect before you react in challenging situations. Deep breathing exercises are a simple way to calm down the stress response, and your ability to employ these techniques in the moment becomes better with practice. I recommend at least 10 minutes each day of intentional mindfulness practice, which can come in the form of a gratitude journal, meditation or mindful exercise like yoga, tai chi and qi gong. Here are some great online resources for cultivating your mindfulness practice:

 

• com – 2, 5, 10, 15 and 20-minute meditation soundtracks
• com – series of 10 10-minute introductory meditation lessons, great for beginners
• Dr Paul Lam’s tai chi for beginners lessons –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIOHGrYCEJ4
• “My Meditation Station” podcast – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/my-meditation-station/id123885923?mt=2

 

And there you have it – your Holiday Adrenal Thrive Guide to get you and your precious adrenals through the holidays intact! If you’re really struggling to cope, individualized treatment plans are always an option by booking an appointment in the clinic. Naturopathic doctors are well equipped to deal with stress management, adrenal dysregulation, and weight management concerns using a variety of modalities including botanicals, acupuncture, nutraceuticals and homeopathy. I hope you learned something here, and whether you use some or all of the suggestions above, I wish you and your family a wonderful and healthy holiday season.