Adrenal Fatigue is in fact considered a stress syndrome. I never thought I was stressed. I did feel stressed some times, but not really all that much. How is it that one can become so sick from stress when they don't really feel stressed? Well it's actually simple. The body responds to all things we put it through in different ways. From the food we eat, the drinks we drink, the lack of sleep we get, the strenuous exercise we make the body endure, to situations we put ourselves in, the list goes on and on. So the fact that we may enjoy the food, drink, exercise, and situations, doesn't always mean that our bodies can handle it well.
Ways that I am trying to learn to De-stress my life, remember that I didn't feel stressed, are by changing some of my habits one at a time and seeing which change gives me the best results. My symptoms had become so great that they were disrupting my life in such a way that I could not function day to day. It took me getting to this point of desperation to decide I needed a change. The first change I decided to make was one in which I have to say "NO" to all of the extra things I was doing. I now have to evaluate each thing and see if it had to be done right away, does it have to be done by me, and is it going to put a strain on me and push me for time in other aspects of life. That has been a huge weight lifted of my shoulders that I didn't even know I was carrying. So many times when you are a stay at home mom, people assume you do nothing and that you are always available to help them out. This couldn't be further from the truth actually.
The next thing I am trying to do is really make sure I keep my blood sugar stable through out the day. Most people with A.F. are hypoglycemic, so eating well balanced meals often is key. I am a snacker, so I always thought I was eating the right foods, but the problem was I was not pairing the right things together and eating them at the right times. This is a process and one I am still learning. Mainly, eat within 30 min. of waking and consume a balance of protein, whole grain carbs, and a healthy fat!
On the exercise topic, I felt like I was doing great. I was doing a version of Crossfit with a partner in our gym, and really pushing myself to the limits. For some reason though, I felt awful, and still I kept gaining this excess fat around my middle and upper thighs. That's so frustrating! Well, I have now learned that with A.F. you cannot do a lot of long periods of cardio. Strength training is good because it encourages your hormones to fire and start working. The long periods of cardio actually fatigue the adrenals more and make your body think that it needs to hold on to all fat for reserve. So eating some carbs for fuel around exercise time is key also. This helps the body start burning for fuel and then it will go into the fat reserves for more fuel. So eating just a little bit of carbs to jump start that process helps. Too many carbs would not help.
I know I have mentioned several times that Yoga is something I practice regularly. Truth is that I fell in love with it in the Spring/Summer 2012, and practiced very regularly. Then school started and I felt guilty for doing something for myself when I should be homeschooling my daughter. After I began feeling so bad, I quit doing anything that involved exercise at all. Then after the first of the year, I decided to give myself permission to get back into my practice full time again. My plan now is to do yoga 4-5 times a week and strength training with weights 2 times a week. If you are in or around the Dickson area like me, I recommend Yoga of Dickson. This is a fabulous studio to practice with some wonderful people. If you are not in the area, look for a studio near you and try a class. If you cannot afford to spend the money on classes, www.yogaofdickson.com has a free podcast you can download and experience the relaxation yoga can offer. If you are not familiar with the poses, you may want to familiarize yourself with those first before trying the pod cast.
I welcome any comments on other ways that you may have found to De-stress your life. Somethings cannot be avoided or changed, such as kids and the demands of family. Those things we will just have to learn to deal with, breathe deep and "don't sweat the small stuff".
No comments:
Post a Comment