Is Adrenal Fatigue Causing Your Food Cravings?

Disclaimer: Results are not guaranteed*** and may vary from person to person***.

Do you find that you suffer from food cravings? Does this happen even when you eat a balanced diet? Well, you may be one of many people who get food cravings because of adrenal fatigue.

Your adrenals are glands that are responsible for the production of stress-related hormones. When you are under a great deal of stress or aren’t getting enough sleep, no doubt you’ll notice that you feel exhausted most of the time. This exhaustion can lead to adrenal fatigue, which, just like low blood sugar, signals to your body that it needs a pick- me-up. You then find yourself reaching for sugar or carbohydrate snacks, which will put you into a cycle of food cravings.

So what can you do? Well, here’s the good news: there is a number of strategies you can use to get things balanced out.

When you exhaust your adrenals, you’re going to crave stimulants. Salt, sugar, alcohol and coffee all fall into this category. Try to find out what your body really needs. Maybe there is something stressful in your life that needs to be resolved. You might need more sleep, or it could be time to take a vacation. Meditation might help to relax a body and mind that is always on the go. A massage might prove to be helpful as well. Whatever has contributed to your exhaustion needs to be addressed. Once you ease the burden on your adrenals, the rest of your system can start to rebalance itself, and that includes food cravings, too!

This is not to say that you should give up on being active altogether. You don’t want to exhaust yourself, of course, but you do need to get some exercise every day to get those cravings under control. How much? About 30 minutes each day should do it. Physical exercise can have a big influence on your mood and, as you probably know, your mood can influence your eating habits.

Exercise can significantly improve your mood by releasing chemicals called “endorphins” into your bloodstream. These chemicals should help you to control your urge to eat when you do not really need the food. If your cravings happen at specific times of the day or month, try to exercise to coincide with these times.