adrenals Archives -

August 30, 2018

How To Calm A Cytokine Storm And Get Rid Of Chronic Inflammation

Ever heard of a cytokine storm? It’s sort of a mysterious blanket term for periods of high inflammation that those with chronic illness sometimes experience. Below, Danielle breaks down the cytokine storm, explaining inflammatory cytokines and how they affect the body.

What are cytokines and how do they work?

A cytokine storm involves cytokines: tiny protein molecules that signal the cells around them. Examples of cytokines include:

Interleukins
Leukocytes
Lymphokines
Chemokines
Interferons
Tumor necrosis factors

Many cells in the body produce cytokines, even other cytokines!

Similar to cytokines, hormones signal other cells. However, hormones regulate overall body and organ functions, whereas cytokines are the messengers of the immune system.

Cytokine messengers are released from one cell and then received on receptors of nearby cells, creating a domino effect of help or harm.

Scientists discovered the first cytokines in 1957 and called them interferons because of their ability to “interfere” with viral replication. Since then, a number of cytokines have been found. For example:

Lymphokin- released from immune cells, lymphokines turn “on” or “off” other parts of the immune system. Essentially, sending smoke signals to other immune cells to mount an attack against an invader.
Interleukins- produced by leukocytes, interleukins regulate your immune response. In labs tests, interleukins matter. Low levels have been found in those with autoimmune disease and low immune illness.
Leukocytes- floating around in the blood and battling foreign invaders, leukocytes include macrophages, monocytes, lymphocytes, granulocytes. When your doctor suspects an infection, be on the lookout for high leukocyte numbers.

But, don’t get bogged down in all the “cytes.”

Cytokines are simply regulators that manage your body’s response to anything that shouldn’t be there: trauma, immune issues, inflammation, and infection.

Anti-inflammatory vs. inflammatory cytokines

Just like everything in the body, cytokines can be good or bad, anti-inflammatory or pro-inflammatory.

What’s more, all cytokines have the potential to express signals for health or disease, even if they traditionally belong in one camp.

This is because cytokines have the ability to stop or start inflammation, managing things like pain, fever, tissue repair and break down, and blood cell production.

And for better or worse, cells will keep replicating the messengers as they roam about.

What do pro-inflammatory cytokines do?

Interleukins (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor (it just sounds awful – TNF) are pro-inflammatory cytokines, meaning they signal your body to continue allowing and creating inflammation.

These cytokines cause fever, inflammation, tissue deconstruction, and even death.

You can trace many pathological pain diseases to overactive pro-inflammatory cytokines.

What is a cytokine storm?

Just like any storm, a cytokine storm builds if left unchecked. More pro-inflammatory cytokines lead to even more inflammation, causing a domino effect, or the perfect storm… of pain.

Cytokine overproduction may keep your body in a constant state of inflammation which leads to even more inflammation.

Cytokines have a large role to play in an overactive immune response. Overactive immune reactions to infectious and noninfectious diseases can cause high fever, swelling, nausea, and fatigue. These are called cytokine storm symptoms, or CSS.

Macrophages from the initial inflammation activate a cytokine storm. Things like inflammatory foods, a negative outlook, emotional abuse, or lack of sleep will all feed the cytokine storm and keep the body inflamed.

Let’s talk about what cytokines have to do with chronic and acute health conditions, pain, inflammation, trauma, and mental health.

Overactive inflammatory cytokines play a role in chronic pain conditions, including fibromyalgia, lupus, MS, and more.

Cytokines trigger disease to persist by releasing signals in the nervous system and a cytokine storm perpetuates inflammation. This can even happen in your brain, where depression and anxiety may be the result of active inflammatory cytokines.

If the body experiences an intense bout of harm but has reserves to heal itself, the cytokine reaction will only last for a short period of time. The body will have what it needs to heal and not allow cytokines to get out of control, causing constant inflammation.

However, if the body feels low on reserves and experiences intense pain – or experiences it for a long period of time – the body’s energy reserves cannot fight the inflammation cascade.

This explains why cytokine storms are seen in chronic illness and pain sufferers, and not often in those without inflammation.

Again, the domino effect of the cytokine’s synergistic communication spreads more inflammation.

How to quiet a cytokine reaction

If you find yourself in a cytokine storm, adjusting your diet and lifestyle may be enough to calm the symptoms. However, if you have severe CSS, you may be a candidate for CSS treatments which block the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

But it’s important to address the root cause before treating with cytokine blockers, as they could make the condition worse.

For example, in the case of sepsis, cytokine blockers may support the spread of infection. But on the flip side, cytokine blockers also effectively manage IBS and rheumatoid arthritis. Cytokine blockers might also help with chemotherapy side effects, as many use anti-histamines (a type of cytokine blocker) to combat side effects.

There are also natural cytokine blocking supplements like this one that may help.

The biggest concern when using cytokine blockers is that they will interfere with the immune system’s ability to fight the foreign invader. For that reason, you may want to consider treating chronic pain with lifestyle changes, rather than conventional CSS treatments.

Lifestyle changes to calm a cytokine storm

Anti-inflammatory foods help calm a cytokine storm. This includes foods like wild blueberries, turmeric, green tea, celery, beets, and green leafy vegetables. Other foods slow the inflammatory messengers, such as organic fruits and vegetables, grass-fed meats, and bone broth.

If you have an advanced cytokine storm, inflammation, or autoimmune disease, you may want to go beyond single foods and transform your whole diet. Consider the GAPS diet or an autoimmune paleo (AIP), keto, or paleo diet.

Fortunately, with lifestyle changes, even the worst cytokine storm can be quelled.

Your lifestyle plays a huge role in cytokine expression. These steps can help tame the storm:

Exercise regularly. Exercising at least two to three days per week can calm pro-inflammatory cytokines and greatly lessen pain. This includes walking, pilates, weight lifting, or whatever you enjoy.
Cut out inflammatory foods. Such as gluten, dairy, conventional meats, nightshades, oxalates, and legumes. If you experience serious pain, consider the GAPS diet to lower inflammation.
Be sure to drink at least 8 glasses of filtered water daily. In the middle of a detox? Drink more!
Get at least 8 hours of sleep each night. (Read about how to improve your sleep here.)
Stimulate your vagus nerve and laugh, meditate, pray, or sing daily!
Get rid of negative thoughts. Instead, focus on positive affirmations or Bible verses daily.

Have you experienced a cytokine storm? How did you handle it?

June 6, 2018

Managing Your Stress Response

Is your stress response chronically elevated? It could be adrenal fatigue. We’ll tell you more about how to quiet your stress response and heal your adrenals below.

What is the most common response to stress?

I don’t know a mom that wouldn’t rate her stress level as “high.” In our fast, be-it-all, do-it-all world, we are left with limitless decisions and tasks despite our limited resources. Families are overburdened and overwhelmed in epidemic numbers.

Is this how we were meant to live? Why are we so stressed? Is there something we can do about it?

What are the stages of stress response?

Most of us notice we have stress but don’t know the stages of stress which are actually quite distinct. If you understand the stages any stressor follows, you can learn how to control and manage your stress responses to lower your overall stress.

Stage 1: Recognizing a potential stressor event.

Any outside occurrence can be perceived as a potential stressor. This comes in many forms and happens thousands of times in the course of one day. We get the mail, drive, cook, work, clean, and go throughout our daily lives. Any out of the ordinary happening or unexpected event triggers our consciousness to consider if this is a threat or stressor.

This is where habits can be helpful. Good habits help you make fewer decisions and free up your time and mental resources to make decisions on more important tasks. For some, this means making a weekly schedule of your tasks can decrease your overall stress levels.

Stage 2: Evaluating the potential stressor event.

Once a potential stressor is recognized, we begin to evaluate if it’s truly a stressor to our personal resources. What is a stressor to one person, is not to another. Our subconscious asks these two questions: is this a threat to me, and do I have the resources to meet this demand?

If we feel that the event could be a threat, or that we do not have the resources to handle it, we begin the physical and mental stress process. This event is labeled as a stressor, and even if it’s not significantly draining, we will treat it as such. This is why some individuals can handle a significantly stressful event and others are upset over an unexpected $4.50 bill.

Stage 3: The body prepares for the stress response.

If an event is labeled a potential stressor, the body begins to respond by firing up the nervous response to meet the stressor’s demands. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS), also called the fight-or-flight response, prepares the body for extra physical demands and possibly a battle or quick escape.

The SNS signals the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA axis, to create and use more energy (ATP) because of the incoming event. This system communicates to the adrenals (small organs located above the kidney) to produce more cortisol, the hormone responsible for generating energy in our body.

While energy moves to our limbs and brain to physically and mentally prepare, it is moved away from our internal organs such as our digestive and immune systems, emotions, and sexual behavior.

Stage 4: The body acts on the stress response.

In this final stage of stress, the body prepares for the attack or flee. Pupils dilate, the heart rate increases, perspiration and breathing increases, blood clotting factors are sent to the appendages, and the blood moves from the internal organs to the limbs and brain.

Stage 5: The body perceives the threat as over, and scales back.

After the stressor’s demands are perceived as met, our parasympathetic system begins to take back over and lessen the effects of the sympathetic system. The parasympathetic system sends out messages to lower stress hormones, move the energy back to the digestive system and internal organs, rest, and to regenerate new energy for storage. It focuses on the long term, versus the short term of the SNS, survival.

Run or eat? Your “fight-or-flight” and “rest-and-digest” instincts

Why is the body’s response to stress called the fight or flight response? Because back in our non-modern days, we needed this type of reaction to stressors. Most of our serious threats were environmental and physical, and we needed to be able to act quickly to fight or run away from our enemy.

Today, not so much. The enemy is our busy schedule, rude boss, unruly toddlers, financial struggles, and on and on. Our stressors are more long term rather than short-term, and our SNS is activated for way too long. This wreaks havoc on our digestion, immune system, emotions, sexual health, and energy levels.

The vagus nerve and your stress response

When the parasympathetic system is employed, the vagus nerve is stimulated to send signals of relaxation, peace, and calmness to your body. When your vagus nerve is impaired, those messages aren’t sending.

Luckily, you can stimulate the nerve yourself to encourage the body to lessen your stress levels. Though there are a number of herbs which can help, simple relaxation techniques like mediation, prayer, laughter, and music or silence can make a huge difference in our vagal health.

How to improve your stress response

First, begin with managing your beginning stages of response. You don’t need to perceive every event as a threat. Mantras such as “I have all I need,” “God is my strength,” & “This too shall pass,” will create a baseline of peace and strength in your world, eventually reminding even your subconscious that it doesn’t need to jump on every possible stressor.

Work on developing a solid foundation of a good schedule, concrete community and help, financial stability, and self-awareness (via journaling, meditation, etc).

Then, implement these steps to lessen your stress response.

Mindfulness – simply being aware of yourself, your response to events, and being present in the moment elevates your mindfulness. Being aware of the Four Agreements, as penned by Don Miguel Ruiz, can also help in your relations to yourself and others: Be impeccable with your word. Don’t take anything personally. Don’t make assumptions. Always do your best.
Deep and slow breathing – slowing your breathing can slow down your stress response and activate your parasympathetic system. Try 5 or 10 long breaths that fill your lungs all the way to your belly, clearing your mind and focusing on one object in front of you.
Sole water – imbalanced minerals play a huge role in adrenal health. If you have consistently been stressed, you may be depleted. Sipping sole water can rejuvenate your mineral levels and increase your energy, creating a more positive stress response. Learn how to make sole water here.
Adaptogenic herbs – in addition to a balanced, whole foods diet, adaptogenic herbs such as maca, ashwaganda, ginseng, holy basil, rosemary, milk thistle, and some mushrooms and can help your body cope with stress. Learn how to make your own adaptogenic herbal remedy here.
Give back and connect – volunteering at a friend’s home, local shelter, or charity will broaden your perspective on your life’s stressors and teach you how to cope with new situations. Realizing there’s a world apart from our struggles can send huge ripples of change through our view of our own stress.

The Adrenals 101

If you have been undergoing chronic stress, your adrenals may actually have sustained some damage. Your adrenal system may be overactive, or underactive after years of stressful burdens. If you are consistently short-tempered, have a very low sex drive, don’t enjoy social engagements, do not sleep well, have a consistently high heart rate or high blood pressure, it may be time to give your adrenals some additional support.

Supporting your adrenals

Cortisol is the primary hormone that helps us adapt and handle stress in our day to day lives. Yes, it’s that important. And unfortunately, it can become low producing or get thrown off its daily rhythm leading to major issues for your mental, emotional, and physical health.

Test your adrenals via a four-point (four different times of the day, see below) saliva test and consider supplementing for the lows (adrenal cortex extract) and highs (zinc and/or holy basil). We like this supplement and this supplement of adrenal cortex. Of course, if you know your farmer, you can also ask for the adrenal glands and desiccate them yourself.

Iron
To build up your thyroid and adrenal health, you need a solid supply of iron. It’s important to get your iron tested before working on healing your adrenals (see test below in Additional Resources). To improve iron levels, work on healing your gut, detoxing your liver, and getting enough natural iron. Consider taking desiccated liver capsules.

Selenium
Selenium is an important cofactor to thyroid hormone production. Selenium must be optimal for your thyroid and adrenals to function properly, as selenium prevents iodine from attacking the thyroid cells. You can consider a supplement like this one, or eating Brazil nuts, which contain high levels of selenium.

Iodine
As of the 1990’s, salt and other processed foods are no longer required to contain iodine. It was replaced by its not-so-healthy friend bromine, which works against iodine in the body and actually makes other toxins, like fluoride, stick in the body.

Originally derived from the sea, iodine is also found in cranberries, strawberries, kale, and seaweed. Kelp is one of the best natural sources, though most of us need more than kelp to supplement our low iodine levels.

In fact, the RDA is about .003% of the amount most iodine researchers say we need today. Iodine (with selenium) is needed to produce enough thyroid hormones, which in turn generate good ol’ ATP (energy) in your body.

Iodine deficiency looks like lack of energy, thinning hair and eyebrows, brain fog, fatigue, low immunity, and breast tenderness and cysts.

See testing, supplementation, and dosing suggestions in the Additional Resources section below, and be sure to read our full post on iodine supplementation here.

There is hope! You may not need therapy or medication to manage chronic low or even high levels of stress. You can change your stress response with a little of self-awareness and some help from a few natural supplements.

How do you handle daily stress in your life?

Additional Resources

Stop the Thyroid Madness Website

Stop the Thyroid Madness Book

BLT Thyroid Test

ZRT At Home Cortisol Saliva Test

Iron Test

Lugols Iodine

Natural Seagreens Iodine

Iodine Dosing

March 29, 2018

Seed Cycling to Sync Your Hormones

Hormones are pretty important; that’s why we talk about them a lot around here. Below, contributor Danielle tells us how to naturally balance hormones using seed cycling.

What is seed cycling?

Seed cycling, also called seeding, is using specific seeds to help balance a woman’s menstrual cycle and hormones. The seeds promote hormones which should be produced during the respective parts of a cycle and thus help to create hormones when the body may be lacking or off-balance.

Women’s cycles historically revolved around the lunar cycle– the path the moon takes each month from the new to the full moon. (source) Women’s cycles are designed to begin on the new moon, leaving them ovulating on the full moon. However, modern lighting and lifestyle have swayed our rhythms to an unnatural cycle.

How does seed cycling work?

During the two main phases of the month, you can consume healthy seeds to promote the proper hormones during that time of the cycle.

Follicular phase

This phase starts when your period begins and ends when you ovulate. This will be days 1-14/15 of your cycle.

Luteal phase

This phase begins when you start ovulating and ends when you start your period again. This includes days 15/16-28/30 of your cycle.

Everyone’s cycle is a little different, so the days will be specific to your cycle. The average menstrual cycle is 28 days long (the time between the start of one period and the start of the next).

Seeds to incorporate into your seed cycling routine:

Flax seeds (eat during the follicular phase, menses to ovulation, or new to full moon)
Flax seeds promote estrogen production, which is the hormone that is dominant in the follicular phase.
Pumpkin seeds (eat during the follicular phase, menses to ovulation, or new to full moon)
Pumpkin seeds also promote estrogen production.
The natural estrogen-promoting substances in flax and pumpkin seeds help prepare the uterine lining for implantation, bringing the estrogen levels into balance (and fertility up!).
Sesame seeds (eat during the luteal phase, ovulation to menses, or full to new moon)
Sesame seeds promote progesterone production, the dominant hormone of the luteal phase.
Sunflower seeds (eat during the luteal phase, ovulation to menses, or full to new moon)
Sunflower seeds also promote progesterone production.
Both sesame and sunflower seeds are high in zinc and vitamin E, important precursors for progesterone production. (source)

Learn more details on the science behind seed cycling.

Be sure to get raw, organic seeds, and grind them well before consuming, either in a mortar and pestle, blender, or by chewing well. Adding your seeds into your daily consumption may be hard to remember at first, but will become second nature.

Here are some ideas to incorporate seeds into daily meals:

Smoothies
On top of salads
Make an avocado and olive oil dressing with your ground seeds
Garnish on top of soups
Add to stir fry

Seed cycling: how to

Days 1-15 – Follicular Phase – New to Full Moon

Take 1-2 tablespoons of flax and pumpkin seeds daily.

*Taking omega 3 supplements, such as extra virgin cod liver oil during this time, and an estrogen-promoting tincture during this phase may also help.

Days 16-30 – Luteal Phase – Full to New Moon

Take 1-2 tablespoons of sesame and sunflower seeds daily.

*Taking evening primrose oil, and a progesterone-promoting tincture during this phase may also help.

But what if you have an irregular cycle?

If you don’t have a regular cycle and have no idea when your cycle should start, don’t worry, there’s a built-in start mechanism- the moon.

Start your seeding cycle as “Day 1” on the next new moon, and change to the next seeding cycle as “Day 15” on the full moon. Seeding is beneficial for those without a period (amenorrhea), and those going through perimenopause, menopause, and even postmenopause.

It may take a few cycles for your periods to become regular and for you to see changes. I would encourage the use of a cycling journal to track your symptoms and continue to cycle for at least four cycles before determining it isn’t right for you.

Signs your hormones may be imbalanced

Thanks to loads of hormones in our food supply, a busy lifestyle, hormone disruptors in our beauty and home products, and nutrient-lacking food, many women suffer from hormonal issues.

Hormones are produced in the liver and manage the majority of the body’s systems. They are responsible for sending information from one part of the body to another, such as to tell you when you’re hungry and full, cold or hot, sexually interested or… not.

Here are just a few of the most common signs that your hormones may be imbalanced:

Weight gain and abnormal body fat
Thinning hair and brittle nails
Headaches and migraines
Heart palpitations
Bloating
Fatigue
Irritability
Mood swings
Blood sugar highs and lows
Attention issues
Infertility
Tender breasts
Sugar or carbohydrate cravings
Hot flashes
PMS
Joint pain, inflammation, and stiffness
Tender breasts
Heavy menstruation
Decreased energy
Low libido

Hormone tests are available at most obstetrician and physician’s offices (and would be covered by insurance), although I would suggest taking a more natural and comprehensive approach. A newer test has recently emerged called a DUTCH hormone panel, and is offered by more naturally-minded care providers like naturopaths and functional medicine doctors.

Food and lifestyle changes to balance hormones

Many gynecologists and physicians will prescribe birth control to correct menstrual issues and irregular cycles, but birth control contains synthetic hormones that are potentially damaging to your health.

Opt for natural foods and lifestyle changes to alleviate your symptoms and correct your hormonal imbalances:

Reduce stress. I know this can be hard to do, but it’s pivotal. Cancel commitments, look for a biofeedback doctor in your area, rearrange your schedule, and book exercise, reading, and rejuvenation time for yourself.
Look into homeopathics (find a homeopath in your area that understands homepathics by lunar cycling).
Sip on teas that promote a healthy cycle, such as this one with raspberry leaf and nettle.
Use herbal tinctures that are also cycling, such as phytoprogest and phytoest.
Consider supplementing organic sources of progesterone, such as wild yam
Eat a whole foods diet, focusing on grass-fed meats such as beef liver and wild-caught fish, and organic raw vegetables and fruits.
Limit non-organic dairy and meats as they may contain added hormones.
Try Maya abdominal massage.
Tone up your liver by sipping on dandelion tea or doing a gentle liver cleanse.
Take a high quality probiotic, like Smidge, to heal your gut.
Revamp your sleep lighting: remove all artificial lights from your bedroom, and stay away from computer and phone screens for at least an hour before bed. Sleep in total darkness most days, and sleep with a light (from the moon or in your room) for three days around ovulation, mimicking the moon’s patterns.

It’s estimated that 50 million women in America are dealing with hormonal imbalance, greatly reducing their quality of life. Seed cycling is a natural way to balance your hormone levels without synthetic hormones that can wreak havoc on your health. For more information, check out the links, books, and testimonials below. Happy seeding cycling!

More seed cycling resources

Testimonial

Carrot ‘n Cake’s Testimonial

Books
Taking Charge of Your Fertility

February 8, 2017

What Are Hormones and How Do They Function? Hormones 101

If you’ve ever wondered “what are hormones?”, you’re not alone. We know they’re flowing through our bodies, but what do they actually do? I’m teaming up with Krista Goncalves, BSc, CHN, RNC, to bring you a series on hormones, the first of which you’ll find below. -Jaclyn

What are hormones?

Hormones…what don’t we blame them for?

At some point you’ve probably heard a pregnant woman utter the phrase…“Don’t mind me, it’s just my hormones.” Or how about a parent complaining about their teenager needing an attitude adjustment, only to justify it with “it must just be their hormones.”

While it’s certainly convenient to point the finger at hormones for steering us away from a good mood, clear skin and feeling mentally sharp, we have to remember that they’re really just doing their jobs.

Let’s chat more about what hormones really are and why they govern, or at least have a hand in nearly every process in our bodies.

Let’s get acquainted – what are hormones?

They are basically the chemical messengers of the body. They coordinate and control complex processes like fertility and reproduction, growth and metabolism. They also have a strong influence in other areas such as the functioning of the immune system as well as in our mood, emotions and behavior.

Produced in our endocrine cells and glands, there are about 50 different hormones categorized into 3 major types.

The structure of a hormone determines how it works in the body.

The 3 major classes of hormones

Protein & polypeptide hormones- made of chains of amino acids, these hormones are water soluble and have a hard time getting through the cell membrane, so their receptors are found on the surface of the cell. This type makes up the majority of our hormones. E.g. Insulin – the “fat storage hormone”.
Steroid hormones- made of lipids (mostly cholesterol), steroid hormones are able to easily pass through the cell membrane, so their receptors are located inside the cell. E.g. Cortisol – the “stress hormone”.
Tyrosine-derivatives- these hormones are made up of just one amino acid: Tyrosine. E.g. T4 & T3 (thyroid hormones) – this is the reason why this particular amino acid is critical to thyroid function, and in keeping your metabolism revved up.

By the way, Endocrine means that it functions internally so the products of endocrine glands (hormones) are deposited directly into the bloodstream.

According to EndocrineWeb.com,

Like the nervous system, the endocrine system is one of your body’s main communicators. But instead of using nerves to transmit information, it uses blood vessels to deliver hormones to cells.

This is the opposite to exocrine glands, like our sweat and salivary glands, functioning externally in our bodies whereby their products are shuttled through ducts that open into the epithelium (skin) and not into the bloodstream.

Let’s get functional – how do hormones work?

First, let’s follow along the path of any given hormone:

Start: Endocrine cells/gland (hypothalamus, pineal, pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenals, thymus, ovaries, testes, pancreas)
→ Hormone produced (e.g. TSH – thyroid stimulating hormone, produced in the pituitary)
→ Enter bloodstream
→ Acts on target cells (e.g. binds to receptors on Thyroid)
→ Action taken (e.g. controls production of important thyroid hormones T4 & T3, essential for maintaining and regulating metabolism, heart & digestive functions, brain development, etc.)
→ Hormone Produced (e.g. T4 & T3)
→ Bloodstream….and so it goes.

Additionally, while all cells are exposed to hormones circulating in the bloodstream, not all cells react. Only a hormone’s “target” cells, which have receptors for that specific hormone, will respond to its signal – like a moth going innately to a flame!

When the hormone finally binds to its receptor, it causes a biological response within that target cell. Signaling ends when the circulating hormones are broken down and excreted by the body. (source)

Some examples of hormones & their functions:

Melatonin – created by the pineal gland, melatonin is what dictates your body’s natural circadian rhythm or “body clock”. More melatonin is produced at night when it’s dark.

Seratonin – controls mood, appetite and sleep cycles, and goes hand in hand with melatonin.

Cortisol – produced by the adrenal glands, cortisol is considered the hormone of stress, governing our fight or flight response and is also critical in dozens of other bodily functions.

Testosterone – this sex steroid hormone is important in the development of sex organs, responsible for sex drive, and influences mood & even our motivation levels. It’s not just important in men either – women rely on healthy levels of testosterone too!

Estrogen (estradiol) – this sex steroid hormone is important in regulating the menstrual cycle as well as in maintaining sex drive in men. It also has an effect on recovery of muscle tissue and in brain health.

Progesterone – this sex steroid hormone is a major contributor in supporting and maintaining a healthy pregnancy, and prepares the endometrium (uterine lining) for the possibility of pregnancy.

Growth hormone (GH) – helps to stimulate growth & reproduction of cells. As you can imagine, bodybuilders would be inclined to increase their levels of GH.

Leptin – responsible for satiation, the leptin hormone tells you to stop eating, i.e. decreases appetite while increasing metabolism.

Ghrelin – think of your stomach grrr-owling – this is your hunger hormone. You can imagine what happens when both leptin and ghrelin become dysregulated!

Insulin – this hormone is triggered in response to glucose (sugar) in the bloodstream and is responsible for breaking it down. Due to the propensity toward high-sugar diets, insulin resistance is a major problem these days causing widespread inflammation throughout the body.

Vitamin D3 – why is this on the list? Vitamin D is actually considered a “prohormone” – a pre-cursor to the production of other hormones and why it’s considered a major player in overall hormonal health. Be sure to get adequate Vitamin D, especially in the darker winter months!

Obviously there are many more hormones than just those, and their processes can be quite complicated, and some are not yet clearly understood.

Chemicals that interfere with the function of hormones are known as endocrine disruptors, and we’re going to talk more about these in our Hormone article series.

If you’re interested, and a bit of a physiology nerd like we are, here’s a more comprehensive list of hormones and their actions.

Let’s Communicate – hormones “talk” to each other

Biological crosstalk is when a component of a signal pathway affects the communication of another pathway.

Dr. Sara Gottfried, MD & Author of The Hormone Cure offers the following example of this crosstalk as it relates to hormonal pathways, specifically with Cortisol, Estrogen & Thyroid in women (adapted from interview):

For women, the way that I think about this is that cortisol is really the boss. It has a way of shutting down your other hormones. The idea here is that with the way you perceive stress, you are “texting” your thyroid and probably your ovaries to dial down, to hibernate, that there’s something dangerous going on, and you need to slow things down.
These three different hormones (cortisol, estrogen & thyroid) definitely have crosstalk, and cortisol is what you’re going to make as a top priority. You need cortisol. It raises your blood pressure. It raises your blood sugar. It modulates your immune system. You need cortisol no matter what, and your body is designed to make that a top priority even if it’s at the expense of these other hormones.

In a nutshell, all of our responses to the world around us are signaled by our hormones. How cool is that?

So as you can see, hormones are responsible for much more than just causing moodiness in pregnant women and angry teenagers with acne and cracking voices!

Now that you have a better idea of what hormones are and how they function, the unfortunate reality is that hormone imbalances and endocrine disorders are becoming all-too-common.

Next in the series, we’ll be talking about what can happen in the female system when hormones don’t play nice!

Can you answer the question “What are hormones?”
Share this post using one of our links for friends who’d love to know more.

January 20, 2017

How to Have More Energy: Five Ways to Start Your Day Better

Do you struggle with fatigue? If you’re like most of us hanging around here, you want to know how to have more energy. You’ll be glad to know I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve and I’ll share them below!

Why so tired?

We all struggle with fatigue for various reasons, but I’m a firm believer that being a mom doesn’t have to be one of them. I can attest that even after becoming a mom to four busy boys, my energy levels are better than they were when I was a teenager!

It is not normal to always be tired, even if the demands of motherhood are high.

Fatigue can be caused by a number of factors, including:

autoimmune disease
chronic infections
vitamin and mineral deficiencies
poor sleep habits
poor diet
high stress levels

For most of us, the above factors tend to overlap and feeling energized feels like an uphill battle. Let’s lay out a few things you can start doing right now so you can learn how to have more energy.

How to have more energy and start your day off better: five tips

These are things I personally have prioritized in my own life and have had great results in improving my energy levels.

1. How to have more energy: go to bed earlier

This seems like a no-brainer, but how many of us don’t make it a priority to go to bed earlier? It’s too easy to stay up once the kids have gone to bed to catch up on housework, spend time with your hubby, or just mindlessly zone out on Netflix (I’m guilty of all of the above!).

I have been able to go from going to bed between midnight and 1 am every night to going to bed between 10 & 11 most nights, and often before 10. Here’s how I did it:

I got the kids on a better bedtime routine. Instead of letting them sit around and watch TV because I’m tired and need a break, I try to focus on quiet games and books and avoid TV in the evenings. I started putting them to bed earlier, and, surprisingly, it doesn’t take long for kids to adjust to an earlier bedtime.
I make myself get in bed. Even if I didn’t get the kitchen spotless. Even if I think of things I need to do. I honor my body’s need for rest above other things.
I take a hot epsom salt bath and rub down with magnesium lotion, as magnesium helps induce relaxation.
I put my phone away. Even though I want to watch one more episode of Gilmore Girls. Even when Lorelai’s love life has me on the edge of my seat.
I take herbs or practice counting methods to get to sleep quicker if I need to. You can read about the herbs I use to help me sleep better here.

2. How to have more energy: take adaptogens

I’ve written pretty extensively about how adaptogens have improved my health because they support the adrenal glands. I went from having insomnia, being constantly exhausted and cranky, and losing handfuls of hair, to reversing all of those symptoms.

I fall asleep easily and sleep through the night (if my kids are nice enough to let me, that is); I have more energy and am more even-tempered and patient; my hair grew back and I now have awkward baby hairs to show for it.

Adaptogenic herbs have been one of the main reasons for all of these improvements, and they are uniquely capable of increasing energy when mama needs it, while simultaneously inducing calm when mama’s stressed out. They adapt to your needs.

My favorite adaptogenic herbs include:

Rhodiola- Reputed to be more powerful than other adaptogens, rhodiola supports mental and emotional health by improving the ability to deal with stress, as well as increasing blood flow to the brain. It also combats the effects of excess adrenaline.
Astragalus- Another effective adaptogen, astragalus is helps to support the nervous system and negate the effects of stress. It is quite nutritive, as it contains protein, calcium, magnesium, silica, iron, and vitamins, all of which help to strengthen the body as a whole and impart energy.
Ashwaghanda- Also helpful for calming the nervous system and promoting restful sleep, ashwagandha boosts strength and vitality. It modifies the harmful effects of stress on the body and promotes calmness.
Eleuthero- Known as “Siberian Ginseng,” eleuthero increases vitality, improves mental and physical performance, and protects against stress. It lowers blood-pressure and has powerful anti-fatigue effects.

Make your own powerful adrenal support extract using these easy instructions. I take a dose of adaptogens first thing in the morning and again in the afternoon if I start to feel fatigued.

3. How to have more energy: eat liver

Yup. Unless you are in the baby boomer crowd, you likely didn’t grow up eating liver, and therefore, probably consider it yucky. However, liver is packed full of nutrients that will have you feeling more energized in no time!

Liver is

an excellent source of high-quality protein
nature’s most concentrated source of vitamin A, all the B vitamins in abundance, particularly vitamin B12
one of our best sources of folic acid and a highly usable form of iron
a good source of trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium (liver is our best source of copper); an unidentified anti-fatigue factor; and CoQ10, a nutrient that is especially important for cardio-vascular function
a good source of purines, nitrogen-containing compounds that serve as precursors for DNA and RNA

Don’t like eating liver? No problem. You can easily take it in capsule form.

When I’m really on the ball, I make my own liver capsules using this tutorial, but more frequently, I stock up on pre-made liver capsules. These are what I’m taking right now, and I take four capsules every morning before breakfast. (Use code FAMILYHEALS10 for 10% off!)

4. How to have more energy: wake up with magnesium

While some types of magnesium, like Epsom salts and transdermal oils and lotions, can bring calming and relaxation, other types of magnesium provide energy.

I’ve recently been using an awesome type of magnesium that contains not one, not two, but three types of superior magnesium, along with the important cofactor boron for better absorbability. It’s called Wake Up Maggie and it does just that- wakes you up.

Wake Up Maggie is better than coffee to start your day off right. The unique combination of magnesium malate, taurinate and orotate is designed to pep you up and keep you alert for the day ahead.

One scoop of Wake Up Maggie provides 200mg of highly-absorbable magnesium as:

• Magnesium malate
• Magnesium taurinate
• Magnesium orotate
• PLUS 1.5mg of Boron

Get Wake Up Maggie here.

5. How to have more energy: cut sugar

Finally, if you want to start your day off more energized, ditch the sugar.

While it’s best to eliminate sugar altogether from your diet (read about the best natural replacements for sugar here), if you are concerned about starting your day off with more energy, cut out the pastries, breads, and cereals for breakfast and replace them with a high-protein breakfast with good fats and carbs.

For me, the perfect breakfast combo includes pastured eggs, clean bacon or sausage, and a sweet potato.

Find what works for you and fuel your body rather than fatigue it by kicking the refined carbs and sugar to the curb.

And if you want to sleep better, keep the sugar away late in the day as well, as it will prevent you from getting proper rest.

Small changes= big results!

Want to have more energy? Prioritize your sleep, support your energy levels with herbs, eat liver, take the right kind of magnesium, and keep the sugar away.

You’ll see big improvements in energy by making these small changes.