Fatigue, Adrenal Glands, and Cravings

FATIGUE, ADRENAL GLANDS, AND FOOD CRAVINGS

To locate the Adrenal Glands: sit up straight, put your hands on your rib cage so that the pinky rests on the bottom rib and the thumb is resting on your back, and push in with your thumbs.

The Adrenal Glands produce hormones that are responsible for water balance and the fight or flight response.  When you hear the kids racing down the hallway Christmas morning and jump out of bed that is a healthy Adrenal Gland producing a get up and go hormone called Cortisol.

The Adrenals are about the size of a golf ball. If there is a slight amount of discomfort when pushing in with your thumbs, that is because the Adrenal Glands are swollen.  They will swell to about the size of a tangerine when under stress. If they are swollen they can be quite painful and mimic back pain in that area.  You will notice this the most in the morning when you get out of bed.

The Adrenal Glands will hold four times the blood volume of Vitamin C.  This means they need a lot of Vitamin C to manage our busy modern world.  If they do not get enough Vitamin C they will swell and trigger your brain to crave it.

The molecular shape of sugar is similar to Vitamin C.   If there is not enough vitamin C available you will start craving sugar in an attempt to substitute.

The Adrenal Glands use a lot of salt to make their hormones.  Hot peppers have a fairly high vitamin C content.

Men crave salty spicy food.  Women crave sugar.

 If we keep going without enough rest we can exhaust the Adrenal Glands and this leads to constant fatigue, dreamless sleep, and uncontrolled eating.

Try this experiment the next time you crave hot peppers, salt, or sugar.   Before you eat take a large amount of Vitamin C.  Wait 20 minutes for the Vitamin C to get into your blood stream and then eat whatever you want.  What we have found is that after several days of high Vitamin C the cravings will go away.

If you find yourself with back pain that feels like a pinch when you put your thumbs on the adrenal gland area and you are rummaging through the kitchen after dinner, think about how you manage stress.

In our stressful modern world, we wear ourselves out and it takes time to get healthy again.

A place to start is oranges and grapefruit for breakfast.  Take time to rest and say a prayer or two.  If you have cravings realize you are not meeting your Vitamin C demands. Smile, relax, and when the festivities begin open the spiced wine ahead of time.

Best Wishes,

Dr. McGuckin