059: How To Heal From Adrenal Fatigue The Holistic Way With Sahara Rose

Namaste, it's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest evolvement. I have waited a while to record this podcast episode, and it's something I've been hinting to for the past few months. And you guys know that I've been dealing with this issue, and that issue is adrenal fatigue. And I've gotten tons and tons of messages from you guys asking, how can I cure this? Because I think I have adrenal fatigue, too, and I didn't want to record a podcast episode about it until I was sure that I actually healed it. Well, I haven't totally healed it yet, but I'm on the path, and I have noticed huge recovery from when I was first diagnosed with it at the end of November 2017. So in this episode, we're going to talk about what adrenal fatigue is. How do you know you have it? What does it look like, feel like? What can you do about it? And then at the end, I'm going to share with you a product that I discovered back in December and started taking, and I have been taking for three months now, consistently daily, and has really helped. And we'll also be offering a special discount for that product. And they'll actually, actually be sponsoring the Highest Self podcast and ended up being a beautiful partnership that adrenal fatigue just brought us together. So let's talk about it. So adrenal fatigue is a relatively new term, and that's why you'll find kind of a lot of older doctors and stuff really skeptical of it. I mean, if you look up online. Adrenal fatigue myth. Does adrenal fatigue exist? A lot of people will say, no, it doesn't. So it's a newer term. It actually was proposed in 1998 by a doctor named Dr. James Wilson, who is a naturopath and chiropractor. And he found that with an overstimulation of the adrenal glands, which are called adrenals, through chronic stress over time, that it can lead to an inconsistent level of cortisol, the stress hormone in the bloodstream, which can cause different issues. Sometimes the cortisol goes too high, sometimes too low. And he also noticed that with the overload or improper cortisol levels, people with the adrenal fatigue don't produce enough dhea, which is the parent hormone responsible for creating all sorts of other hormones. So your hormones go off balance when you have adrenal fatigue. However, unlike other hormonal imbalances it's not something that you can necessarily see in just your hormone levels. It's something that most of the time you use saliva test. And the saliva test tests a hormone called cortisol, which is different, you know, your estrogen and testosterone, et cetera. But the thing with cortisol is it's changing all the time. So really the only way to test for adrenal fatigue is to use this spit test. And you spit in this vial four times in one day and it tests to see where your cortisol is throughout the day. So regularly in normal healthy people, you wake up and your cortisol is at the highest, it's at its peak because, because you know, you wake up and you're supposed to have a lot of energy to take on the stress of the day. So your body naturally supposed to be at the peak of its cortisol in the morning and then throughout the day it slowly plummets down. It's kind of this like curved graph if you look at how cortisol is supposed to look. And it plummets down until nighttime when it's at its lowest peak. And that's so you are able to sleep soundly and not be up all night. Now for people with adrenal fatigue, you might notice that at night you get a lot of energy, you get a second wind. It's really hard for you to fall asleep. In fact, you might kind of feel tired throughout the day. And then nighttime comes and suddenly you got your juju. That was 100% me. So I actually did the saliva test and I saw that my cortisol in the morning was not as high as it was supposed to be, which is why I just have never considered myself a morning person. I've probably had adrenal fatigue since I was in high school from pulling all nighters and studying and all of that stress that comes with high school life. And also, why does high school start at 7:30 in the morning? That just doesn't make any sense. So over time, over time with all of the stress, your cortisol, you know, cortisol is a stress hormone and when it's constantly increased, it actually over time begins to plummet because it can't stop stay high all the time. So my cortisol in the morning was not as high as it was supposed to be. It would kind of be like even to the normal person's like during the day and in the afternoon. But then at nighttime, 10pm it was increasing, it was going up. It was like a C shaped, you know, at the end it was starting to curve up. And that's why I, you know, starting at 8pm My energy was back. And I mean, even the Idiot's Guide to Ayurveda, I wrote that thing to like 33, 4 in the morning many times because, well, first of all, I had a two month deadline to write a 400 page book from scratch with no editors or help. But also because at nighttime I just felt this Bolst of energy. So I was like, okay, I mean, I'm just gonna go with it because I'm getting good work done. So over and over and over again, in high school and college, after college, writing this book, I was just doing all of my hardest work at night. So that was kind of fulfilling a prophecy of my body needing cortisol at night because I was throwing all of these stressful tasks at it. So my cortisol levels were increasing at night instead of decreasing. And that was essentially creating this adrenal fatigue. So what does adrenal fatigue look like? So it looks a little bit different for each person, but one really good indicator of it is that you're gaining weight, especially in your midsection. So if you notice that you are the kind of person that the moment you gain weight, it's in your stomach. That was always the case for me. Like I wouldn't gain any weight in my legs, in my arms, anywhere else, kind of my face, but my stomach was the place. Like literally it would be like a tire around my waist. And another interesting thing I noticed was I was working out a lot, especially right before my book launch because I was like, oh, I want to look amazing for all of my book launch events and stuff. So I was doing intense workouts. I don't know if you guys remember on Instagram story, but I was going boxing every day. I was going spinning. I was going to just these intense hit workout places, boot camps, like really doing intense exercise. And I enjoyed the feeling. It definitely increased my pitta. But I was gaining weight and it didn't make sense to me because I would leave a spinning class and look really bloated and I would be more bloated and just like puffy on the days that I worked out. And it was interesting because the more I noticed that I was kind of like looking puffier and almost like retaining a lot of water, I would work out even harder and you know, do all the things that would make me sweat more, but then I was retaining more water. So this is a quintessential symptom of adrenal fatigue, because your adrenals, basically they're the stress hormones. So cortisol sticks on your stomach. That's why it's called the adrenal body shape. People who are apple shaped, who gain weight in their stomach area have adrenal bodies types. So that means that your body naturally already has like a higher stress response. So for me, doing all of these stressful activities, boxing, spinning, hiit, class, whatever, even if mentally I enjoyed it and I was like telling myself, this is really good for me and I can do it, it was stressful. That kind of exercise is stressful for the body. It's not like you're lying down doing pilates or doing yoga where you're breathing and stopping and stretching and drinking water. It's like you're go, go, go. And that creates a stress response in the body because your body just reacts to its stimuli. So when you throw a lot of stimuli at it, it thinks that you are in danger. Because our bodies evolutionary were meant were designed for survival. So when you wake up and first thing in the morning, you're just sprinting or you're punching something, or you're lifting something up above your head, your body thinks, oh shit, this girl's getting chased by a lion. Let's get her out of here. Let's throw all of the cortisol we can at. Because she's in a really stressful situation, we need to make sure she has the energy she needs to get out of the situation. And that's what we do. First thing in the morning, we go to that intense hit, whatever Barry's boot camp workout class, where we're being like yelled at by a drill sergeant and we're pushing our bodies to the limits and then wondering why we are gaining weight, especially in our midsection. Well, it's because of the adrenal response. So I had heard about this. I knew about this. But to be honest, I didn't really believe it. I was like, you know, if I stop working out, I'm going to gain even more weight. So I'm just going to kind of like try to beat this hump and like work out enough that maybe like it will beat past the weight gain. You know, I actually thought I could just out exercise this. And this was not even long ago, guys. This was like last summer. But, you know, it's like just living, especially living in Los Angeles, it's such a workout culture that, you know, you're surrounded by all of these, like, orange theory and this and that, that if you're Just not doing that. You feel like you're not working out hard enough. So it got to me too, guys. So I was doing it and gaining weight and feeling puffy. Another thing is feeling tired. So I would work out, feel really high and really just energetic and like, just buzzy, like very, very like vata and like woo hoo hoo. And then I would get tired like 6pm and be like, oh my God, I wanted to sleep now. And then 8, 9pm, 10pm, I'm awake again. So kind of my body was off, the circadian rhythm was off. I wasn't aligned with the sun. And in Ayurveda, it's all about how our bodies are naturally supposed to be related to the circadian rhythms because that's working with nature. So, you know, in the Ayurveda times of day, I talk a lot about this in the Idiot's Guide to Ayurveda. And Dr. Kashir Sagar, who is on episode 51, who wrote a book called Change youe Schedule, Change youe Life, has a lot of clinical research about this. But you know, then the Ayurveda times a day, the morning time, 6 to 10am, it's Kapha time. So it's a time that you're supposed to slowly wake yourself up. They do recommend doing some sort of movement, but in Ayurveda, you know, it's never anything intense that pushes you because Ayurveda, it's like, it's a very soft energy. It's a grandmother like energy. John Immel, who's going to be on the podcast soon, he called Ayurveda, like the grandmother. What would the grandmother say? Would the grandmother tell you to wake up first thing in the morning and go to a drill sergeant's, like boot camp? No. She'll tell you, oh, sleep in, wake up slowly, be calm, eat a good breakfast. And that's what Ayurveda will tell you because Ayurveda has this very ancient wisdom. So 6 to 10 in the morning for exercise, you should do yoga, pilates, walking outside, things that are not going to stress you out. Now, if you have a kapha imbalance, you are overweight. And I'm not talking about you have five to ten pounds to lose and it's all in your midsection. I'm not talking about those people. That's like how I felt. And we are not supposed to be over exercising. A kapha person actually gains weight in their lower bodies. So I don't have a kapha body type. Really. Kapha body Types tend to be more pear shaped, they tend to have bigger hips and thighs. I think of a Kim Kardashian body, a Jennifer Lopez body, a Beyonce body, this really curvaceous and feminine figure, that's what a kapha body type looks like. So people who have that, they have smaller waist, bigger hips and thighs, they can do more intense exercise because their bodies need it. They don't have such a high cortisol and stress response as people with the apple shaped body type. So people like me who gain weight on their stomach immediately, we are not supposed to do that type of intense exercise. And there is a lot of, you know, studies about body shapes and things like that. So Ayurveda is the first system that really noticed the body shapes and the differences needed in movement. So if you are a kapha body type, you have a Kapha imbalance, you're gaining weight in your hips and thighs, you can like, you know, occasionally, I wouldn't do it every single day, but go to an intense exercise, go to a boxing class, go to a spin class, like that might actually be good for you. But if you have adrenal fatigue, you're feeling tired, you're gaining weight on your midsection, then that's actually going to make all of your problems worse and make you gain more weight. Now why gain weight? How can we gain weight from exercise? Well, what happens is, as I mentioned, our body thinks we're in danger. So when our body thinks we're in danger, it wants us to survive. So what happens is we start to accumulate fat cells because fat cells allow for survival. You know, the person who survives longest in a famine is going to be the one who has the most fat on their body because that's going to nourish them. Whereas if you're super lean and thin, you don't have enough fat to keep you alive. So if your body constantly thinks you're in danger, it thinks, oh wow, she's running, she's climbing, she's like screaming, people are yelling at her and she's moving so fast, her heart's moving so fast, there might be an ice age. So if there's an ice age, that means it's not going to be food for a while. There's going to be a famine. So let's make sure she holds on to all the fat she can her body so she can live this one out. Because your body has your back, your body doesn't want you to die, but your body does not care. If you can fit into a crop top that's not your body's priority, it's survival. And you're going to survive most if you're running away from something, if you have extra fat to hold onto to feed you. That's just how the brain's biochemistry works. So that's why you gain weight. If you have adrenal fatigue versus someone who has more of the pear shaped body or doesn't have adrenal fatigue and they feel really good after exercising and it's fine, they can do that exercise and they're not going to experience those issues. So weight gain, feeling tired, sleep disturbances. If you can't sleep at night, you're waking up throughout the night. Adrenal fatigue is a very vata imbalance. You know, vata is in charge of the nervous system and the body body, it's the dosha that's in charge of all sorts of movement processes. So the nervous system is really what, you know, creates our, our adrenal response, our brain hormonal response and things like that. So insomnia is a really great example of a vata imbalance. It's like the textbook one. So if you have insomnia, trouble sleeping, that could be related to adrenal fatigue. Now muscle and bone loss, which is another vata imbalance. So when you have adrenal fatigue, again, you're low in that dhea and that's going to trigger your body to basically give up muscle and bone creation because that's not really necessary. You know, it's going to cut off anything that's not necessary for your immediate survival. So you can live without being muscular, you can live without having very strong bones. These are additions and same with your hormones. Lack of period is a great example. Not great, but like a quintessential example of a vata imbalance and one that's caused from adrenal fatigue. Because again, when your body thinks it's in danger, it's not necessary for you to have a baby. In fact, it might be a really bad idea for you to have a baby. So your brain is going to trigger something called hypothalamic ammonorrhea, which is something that I suffered from for almost two years now. Looking back on it, it was totally adrenal related, but it just says, oh wow, she is really stressed out and she's not in a safe place to take care of a baby. So let's make sure that that's not even an option so she can work on whatever it is that she needs to get through right now. So if you're not getting your period at all. That is very likely to be related to adrenal fatigue and stress. Brain fog is another one. So when you have adrenal fatigue, your brain is not getting the nutrients that it needs, it's not being fed the fatty acids. And again, you're low in dhea, which is the number one thing for your health, for your brain health. So again, brain fog, feeling cloudy mindedness, feeling forgetful, feeling spacey, airy, all vata again. So really when you think of adrenal fatigue, think of vata. Imbalance does not mean your prakriti, your natural born constitution, is vata. We can all get adrenal fatigue, but it's caused from living this really flighty lifestyle which is very common in today's society where you're moving too fast and doing too many things and jumping from one thing to another and you're not sitting down, you're not taking time for yourself, you're not rested, you're not connecting to earth. All of these things will create that vata, that wind in balance and you'll lose connection with your own ojas, which is your health, your vigor, your life force. So along with brain fog, depression and anxiety, that's also related to adrenal fatigue because again, it's brain chemistry. When your brain is not getting the dhea, your brain is going to miss out on the nutrients it needs to have a normal balanced mood. So irritability, anxiety, demonstration, depression, moodiness in general is all related to adrenal fatigue. You, you fix the adrenal fatigue and these issues that, you know, doctors just throw Prozac and whatever medications at actually most of the time are lifestyle related. And in Ayurveda they say, you know, food is only one fifth of your overall health, but really lifestyle is the other four fifths. So when your lifestyle is out of balance and you're, you're doing too many things and you're over exercising, you're overworking and you're understating, sleeping. And then you're wondering, why am I depressed? Why am I anxious? Why am I sad? Take a look at your lifestyle. Are you giving yourself that space that, that moment, that, that breath that you need to feel really balanced and in your body. And you know, I ca, this is like the biggest life lesson for me that I'm learning every day. It's like how to slow down. Because those of us who are naturally really vata, it's hard for us because energetically we want to do a lot of things, we want to Keep moving. That's also what makes us feel really alive and excited. But it's not what our body needs to be in balance. Our body needs more grounding, more space, more Earth energy connecting back in with that kapha. That kapha is what's going to help bring that adrenal fatigue back into balance. You're no longer fatigued, you're rested. And the subtle energy related to kapha is ojas. So at first, when I heard about all of the different herbs and supplements that I needed, I went crazy. I started ordering all of them. And I don't know if you guys ever saw on my Instagram story, but I was literally putting together this, like, old person's, like, box of supplements that's like morning, like afternoon, like midday dinner. And like, like, it had like 24 little slots in it. And every week I was like, putting together all of these supplements and it took so much time. And then I would, like, if I didn't put them in this box, I would not be able to take them all because there were so many different ones. And it was just getting really confusing. And just opening up all of the bottles every time was taking so long, which is why I needed to have this whole kit. But it was a pain. So I kind of just started searching for everything I could related to, to adrenal support. So I know I wanted something that had herbs in it, but also the vitamins that I mentioned because it's related to both. We can't treat adrenal fatigue with just the herbs if we have nutritional deficiencies, because that's a lot of that is what causes it also. So I found this company that's an ayurvedic company called Uvada Y O U vaida all about you. And it's Vedic. So, first of all, I loved the name, but what I loved is they had this formula called Mood, and it literally is a stress support blend. So in it, they have this blend of Ashwagandha, bacopa, centella, convololus, and rhodiola. So these are all herbs that are really good for your brain and really good for adrenal function. Then they have another ayurvedic herb called Shilajit. So Shilajit has like over 85 ionic minerals. It helps maintain a healthy immune system. Again, immune is directly related to adrenal health and it helps increase the blend's absorption. So more of the Ashwagandha, bacopa, centella, Rhodiola, convolvulus, which you can never pronounce actually gets into your body when it's paired with shilajit. So with Ayurveda, the guy who formulated his dad is a very famous Ayurvedic herbalist who's been working in the industry for like over 50 years. So they put these blends together to make sure there's a lot of synergy between the herbs. Because a lot of people, they hear, oh, ashwagandha is great, this is great, that's great. So they take it singularly or they're not taking the right combinations. Like they're doing the turmeric without the black pepper. Whereas turmeric is 50% more absorbable when paired with black pepper and even more so with fat, even more so if it's warm. So, you know, we hear about things that are not good for us, but it's. It's such a, like, American thing to like, extract that one compound and just want that. Whereas with herbs, it's like nature. It's like our bodies. It's all about the synergy. So they did a really good job with that. But then they also blended in with like some modern, like medicinal, I mean, medicinal and vitamins. So they blended in with this amino acid called L thionine. So that's also found in green tea. And what it does is it promotes, promotes restful sleep and it enhances your mood. And they also have a group of herbs that help with your neurotransmitter support. Those are saffron, which is very, very common in Persian and Indian cuisine, which, you know, in Persian culture, they would say, if someone's sad, give them saffron tea because they'll start laughing. Now if someone's laughing a lot, they're like, did you just eat saffron? Like, it's a very common saying because saffron is known for making people happy. So it has saffron in there, it has mucuna and it has something else called magnolia bark. So these all help with happiness, help calm the mind, and help reduce feelings of stress. Then it also has fish oil. So the fish oil that they have is made out of the actual fish gelatin, whereas a lot of other ones are made with like bovine or porcine. So it's the lower qualities. And it has 12, 50 milligrams and it has a lot of omega 3 fatty acid. 750 milligrams rich. So in the blend they also have fish oil, which you can opt not to take if you're plant based. It's a little packet that comes with different things. So they also have a fish oil in there. And fish oil again, it's really good for that dhea. And their fish oil is a really high quality one. It's made out of the actual fish gelatin. Whereas a lot of fish oils you get on the market are actually like bovine or porcine. So they're not high quality. And the fish oil they have has 750 milligrams of omega 3 fatty acids, 500 milligrams of EPA and 250 milligrams of DHA. So it's the recommended ratio of EPA to DHA of 2 to 1. And that's the best for your brain support. And then lastly in the packet it actually has a multivitamin. So you don't need to also take your multivitamin on top of that. And it's a really good multivitamin plant based one. And it has Amla which is an ayurvedic fruit. It's a small bitter fruit. I actually loved it. It's very, very bitter. But when I was in India I would get them and just eat them because they're so high in vitamin C. I think they are probably the richest vitamin C food that exists. So Amla is really good. It's also good for weight loss. It's. It's very detoxifying and it's also really good for your hair. Actually in India when you have hair loss, they put Amla oil in your hair. So Amla is just such an amazing fruit and I love how their vitamins have that for that's the source of vitamin C that they use. Then it has sea buckthorn which again, such a buzzy superfood right now. But it's a natural source of protein building amino acids. So that's a really good one. It has the vitamins, vitamin B, B1, B2, vitamin K, C, A, E, folic acid. It has the fatty acids with over 60 antioxidants, 20 minerals, all sorts of like flavonoids and things like that. And then again the shilajit also in the multivitamin because shilajit just helps with mineral absorption. And it also has an ayurvedic blend called trikatu which is a combination of black pepper, long pepper and ginger. And this combination is also added to herbs because it increases our mineral and phytonutrient absorption because the spices help just bring up that digestibility component. So I love how they've kind of blended in this ancient and modern which I'm all about and created this Ayurvedic herbal blend that specifically treats adrenal fatigue and boosts the mood. So I partnered up with them and they are going to be offering discounts for all highest self podcast listeners. So you can try the formula yourself on uveda.com and with the code Sahara in all lowercase letters you're gonna get 35 off your first month. So it comes in this really cute box with little daily packets so you don't have to actually put together all of your supplements every week like I used to have to do, which is so annoying. But instead it gives you a little really cute supplement that just says Mood on there. They also have other ones for immunity and for joints, but if you have adrenal fatigue, definitely get the mood one and you just take them every day. So it's a 30 day pack and you can get it for 35% off. So I really recommend giving it a try. And it also comes with this really cool uvada app. And the app has a lot of educational information on there. It's like an entire knowledge database with videos and all information about different Ayurvedic herbs and starting your Ayurvedic journey and little Ayurveda made easy clips and all about nostril breathing and you know a lot of really just like good stuff when you're starting your journey. So it's really great companion to have along with the herbs because it's going to just help teach you more. So I absolutely love that they're doing this. They are going to be highest self podcast sponsors from now on. So I really love how they are supporting us in our community and making high self podcast now a possibility too. And I also love what they're doing. So it really was meant to be that the adrenal fatigue brought us together. And now that you're listening they will now come to you. So it's a really fun opportunity. And now I'm fortunate enough to share this blend that healed me so much with you for such an amazing and generous discount of 35 off. So again you can go on uveda.com Y-O-U-V-E-A.com just go on their shop shop. You can learn all about their blends and check out the mood one. And then again when you check out use Sahara, all lowercase and you will get 35% off. So I would love to know if you've ever had adrenal fatigue. What was that like and what helped you? Please share that in the Mind body balancers Facebook group so we can support each other and help each other make these lifestyle changes. Because because it's really, really hard having adrenal fatigue because you're kind of going against everything that the health community is telling you to do, which is like exercise more, eat less, whereas with adrenal fatigue, you're kind of trying to slow down and eat really nourishing and grounding foods. So share in the Mind Body Balancers Facebook group. It's an amazing community and if you liked this episode, I would love to offer you my unreleased book, Eat Right for your Mind Body Type as a free gift for leaving a review. All you have to do is go to the itunes store. You can even do it from your phone and click on reviews, click Add a review and write a beautiful review. For the highest self podcast, I read every single one of them and take a screenshot before you hit send and email it over to me. My email is Sahara S A H A R A @ Eat Feel Fresh. You can find that in the show notes as well. So send me your screenshot and I will send you back the first half of my unreleased book, Eat Right for your Mind Body Type, which infuses ancient Ayurvedic wisdom with modern nutritional science. This is my unreleased book. This is not the book Eat Feel Fresh that's coming out in October. This is actually the first book I ever wrote about Ayurveda and I don't know if it will ever be out. So really the only way you can read this is if you just write me a review and then I'll send you the first half and then maybe eventually I'll send the second half too. So thank you again so much for being here. I hope wherever you are on your adrenal fatigue journey that you know that this is reversible. It's not something you have to deal with. It's not something that's a life sentence. With the proper nutrition, proper herbs, proper lifestyle, proper sleep, you can definitely heal this. So you can have a healthy mood, healthy hormones, lots of oh, just look like just a bright beautiful baby and just feel like your highest self. Thanks so much. Namaste Jam.