Stressed? Pretty typical these days, so why not support the adrenal glands? Instead of reaching for another cup of coffee, educate yourself on how to feel better naturally, the way the body intended. There are several formulations out there, I can help you find the right herb/vitamin combination that stimulates your glands to help control cortisol levels. Here are a few of my favorites….
Doubling probiotics such as L. Acidophilus is highly recommended. At least 20 billion CFU’s. 50-100Billion CFU’s would be more beneficial and HIGHLY recommended.
Acidity levels are too high in the body when the pH is disrupted there is fermentation of vaginal glycogen to lactic acid. Alkalinity is Key, must add more Green into the diet. ORGANIC EATING is SO Very IMPORTANT!!!
Eliminating of dairy, yeast, and soy products are recommended to rebalance pH. Limiting grains, sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, and refined carbohydrates.
At least 64 oz water a day. Decaffeinated tea counts as water. Eliminate food allergens. Allergy Blood work is your best Road map to gut and immune support and healing. Blood Tests are available and easy!
Recommended foods:
Use healthy cooking oil such as olive oil (don’t heat olive oil) or coconut oil.
Eat Less red meats and more lean meats such as fish, but no soy.
High fiber foods include beans root vegetables such as yams or sweet potatoes and psyllium husk.
Antioxidant rich foods including vegetables like bell peppers and squash.
**Fruit in the morning including cranberries, blueberries,and cherries. If you’re going to drink juice make sure that it is unsweetened. Please eat your fruit, better for you unless you are juicing. Best for digestion if fruit is first thing in the morning and by itself or for your first snack, eaten alone.**
Recommended Vitamins:
Probiotics and digestive enzymes ALWAYS!! Double if taking antibiotics!
Multi Vitamin
Vit D: 2000-4000 IU
Fish oils 1000mg and or Flax seed, 3x a day. Could go up to 6000mg
Super Greens
Amino Acids
Vit C: 1000mg a day
Grape seed oil 100-300mg
Magnesium 200-300mg 3x a day
Zinc: 30mg a day
Recommended Botanicals:
Cranberry
Aloe Vera: up to 32oz per day
Gotu Kola is great extract tea to help balance pH. 60-120mg
Uva Ursi ( upland cranberry or bearberry) is a powerful antiseptic herb.
Dried leaves or tea: 1.5-4.0 (1-2 tsp)
Goldenseal herb has antimicrobial agents. Dried root or tea: 1-2g
Other herbs that are recommended: green tea, cats claw, milk thistle, and reishi mushroom.
Herb Vs. Spices
The difference between the two is where they are obtained from a plant.
Herbs come from the leafy and green part of the plant.
Spices are parts of the plant other than the leafy bit such as the root, stem, bulb, bark or seeds.
We often hear the term “herbs and spices”. As any amateur chef knows, herbs and spices are vital ingredients in many dishes. They add flavor, aroma, color, texture and even nutrients.
Both spices and herbs are parts of plants (fresh or dried) that are used to enhance the flavor of foods. They’ve also been known to preserve foods, cure illness and enhance cosmetics.
Herbs are usually grown in more temperate areas than spices and have great medicinal value and are also used in the preparation of cosmetic products.
Spices are usually dried before being used to season foods. Unlike herbs, they are grown in more tropical countries. They’ve also been known to preserve foods and some have medicinal value, such as turmeric with its anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal properties.
Despite the above clarification, according to the American Spice Trade Association, spices are defined as “any dried plant product used primarily for seasoning purposes”. This really broadens the definition of spices, allowing it to include herbs, dehydrated veggies, spice blends and spice seeds.
Here are a few example of herbs and spices, along with their reported nutritional/health benefits.
Spice Nutrition
Cinnamon
Lowers blood sugar levels, LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides especially in people with type 2 diabetes
Ginger
Can stop nausea and may also relieve heartburn
Cloves
Have antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and antiseptic properties; they are known for relieving flatulence and can actually help promote good digestion as well as metabolism
Chili
Contains capsaicin which puts the heat in chilies, may lower the risk of skin and colon cancers, shown to suppress appetite and boost metabolism
Mustard seeds
Contain phytonutrient compounds that protect against cancers of the gastrointestinal tract; believed to reduce the severity of asthma
Herb Nutrition
Basil
Rich in Vitamin A and K. Assists with combatting bowel inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis
Oregano
Assists with inflammation
Mint
Helps with digestion and asthma
Parsley
Protects against rheumatoid arthritis, antioxidant-rich, fights cancer, high in vitamin C and iron.
Thyme
Contains the oil, thymol, especially helpful for chest and respiratory problems, also acts as an antiseptic and disinfectant.
OrthoFlora Yeast Support
Protocol for Life Balance
90 Capsules $22.00
With Pau D’Arco, Oregano Oil, Black Walnut & Caprylic Acid
-Supports Healthy Balance of Intestinal Flora*
-A Dietary Supplement
-Vegetarian / Vegan
OrthoFlora Yeast Support™ is a unique formula with nutritional and traditional herbal ingredients that may help to support a healthy balance of intestinal flora.* Candida albicans is a naturally occurring yeast that typically resides in the gut as part of the normal gut flora. It is well known that a proper composition of intestinal organisms is critical to healthy digestive and immune system function, as well as for the support of proper detoxification processes.* Although OrthoFlora Yeast Support™ is not meant to clear Candida albicans from the gut, it can help to support a healthy balance of intestinal flora, a healthy immune system, proper detoxification, and overall digestive well-being.
Servings Per Container: 45
As a dietary supplement, take 2 capsules twice daily with food or as directed by your healthcare practitioner.
Serving Size: 2 Veg Capsules
Amount Per Serving
Calories … 10
Calories from Fat … 5
Total Fat … 0.5g
Saturated Fat … 0.5g
Trans Fat … 0g
Total Carbohydrate … 1g
Biotin … 2mg (2, 000 mcg)
Magnesium … 45mg
(from Magnesium Caprylate)
Caprylic Acid … 500mg
(from Magnesium Caprylate)
Pau D … 300mg
Black Walnut … 300mg
(Juglans nigra L.)(Hull)
Oregano Oil Powder … 200mg
(Origanum vulgare)(min. 1.75% Volatiles)
Other Ingredients: Cellulose (capsule), Garlic (bulb), Olive Leaf, Cat’s Claw Root, Wormwood Herb, Silica, Magnesium Stearate (vegetable source) and Cellulose Powder.
Contains tree nut (walnut hulls).
Not manufactured with wheat, gluten, soy, milk, egg, fish or shellfish ingredients.
Produced in a GMP facility that processes other ingredients containing these allergens.
CAUTIONS AND INTERACTIONS: Ingredients in this product may interact with hormonal medications such as insulin. If you are taking medications or if you are pregnant/nursing, consult your healthcare practitioner prior to use. May cause mild transient gastrointestinal discomfort.
Herbs for Anxiety
Not looking to use Conventional Drugs to help ease Anxiety? Try some of these herbs.
Licorice Root contains a natural hormone alternative to cortisone, which can help the body handle stressful situations, and can help to normalize blood sugar levels as well as your adrenal glands, providing you with the energy necessary to deal with the stressful situation at hand. Some claim licorice stimulates cranial and cerebrospinal fluid, thereby calming the mind.As a soothing tonic, drink it warm as in a tea.
Kava Kava, an herb from the South Pacific, is a powerful muscle relaxer and analgesic. Kava Kava is also effective at treating depression and anxiety associated with menopause. http://www.care2.
Some herbal supplements reduce anxiety without making you sleepy (such as L-theanine), while others are sedatives. Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is squarely in the second category. It is a sleep aid, for insomnia. It contains sedative compounds; the German government has approved it as a treatment for sleep problems.
Valerian smells kind of nasty, so most people take it as a capsule or tincture, rather than a tea. If you want to try it, take it in the evening—not before you go to work! Valerian is often combined with other sedative herbs such as hops, chamomile, and lemon balm.
Yes, it’s in beer, but you won’t get the tranquilizing benefits of the bitter herb hops (Humulus lupulus)from a brew. The sedative compound in hops is a volatile oil, so you get it in extracts and tinctures—and as aromatherapy in hops pillows.
“It’s very bitter, so you don’t see it in tea much, unless combined with chamomile or mint,” says Blumenthal. Hops is often used as a sedative, to promote sleep, often with another herb, valerian. Note: Don’t take sedative herbs if you are taking a prescription tranquilizer or sedative, and let your doctor know any supplements you are taking.
If you have a jittery moment, a cuppa chamomile tea might help calm you down. Some compounds in chamomile (Matricaria recutita) bind to the same brain receptors as drugs like Valium.
You can also take it as a supplement, typically standardized to contain 1.2% apigenin (an active ingredient), along with dried chamomile flowers. In one study at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, in Philadelphia, patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) who took chamomile supplements for eight weeks had a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms compared to patients taking placebo.
The University of Maryland Medical Center states that passionflower has shown in a few studies to work as well as some of the benzodiazepine medications that are usually prescribed for treating anxiety.
A four-week double-blind study, for example, compared passionflower with oxazepam. Results showed oxazepam worked more quickly, but by the end of the study period, both treatments were shown to be equally effective. Bonus—side effects like daytime drowsiness were fewer with passionflower.
A second study also showed that passionflower helped ease symptoms like anxiety, irritability, agitation, and depression in participants going through withdrawal from an opiate drug addiction.
Dosage: Try one cup of passionflower tea three times daily, 45 drops of liquid extract daily, or about 90 mg/day.
A 2010 multi-center, a double-blind randomized study of lavender oil compared to anti-anxiety medication lorazepam found that both were effective against generalized and persistent anxiety. Bonus — lavender had no sedative side effects.
“Since lavender oil showed no sedative effects,” researchers stated, it could be an effective and “well-tolerated alternative to benzodiazepines” to treat generalized anxiety. An earlier 2000 study found similar results.
Dosage: Try about 80 mg/day of the supplement, or use the oil as an aromatherapy solution.
Though usually found in combination with other herbs, lemon balm also has anti-anxiety powers on its own.
Research published in 2004, for instance, gave participants a single dose of lemon balm extract (300 mg or 600 mg) or a placebo, then measured their mood after one hour. The higher dose resulted in reduced stress and improved calmness and alertness. Even the lower dose helped participants do math problems more quickly.
Dosage: Use in aromatherapy, try 300-500 mg of dried lemon balm three times daily, 60 drops daily, or 1/4 to 1 teaspoon of dried lemon balm herb in hot water for a tea four times daily.
A 2012 double-blind, placebo-controlled study gave participants either placebo or a capsule containing 300 mg of high-concentration full-spectrum ashwagandha extract, twice a day. The study lasted for 60 days. Those taking the ashwagandha showed significant improvements. Even the levels of the stress hormone cortisol were substantially reduced in those taking the extract. And there were no serious side effects.
In an earlier 2000 study, ashwagandha had anxiety-relieving effects similar to those of lorazepam.
Dosage: Typical dosage is 300 mg standardized to at least one to five percent withanolides, once or twice a day.
This one isn’t really a herb — it’s a water-soluble amino acid, but it’s gotten such good research behind it, we had to include it here. It’s found mainly in green tea and black tea and is also available as a supplement.
Studies have found that it acts directly on the brain, helping to reduce stress and anxiety—without causing drowsiness.
Research from 2008, for example, found that those participants taking 50 mg of L-theanine a day had a greater increase in alpha (relaxed brain waves) activity than those who took a placebo.
An earlier 1998 study found that 200 mg a day leads to increased alpha brain waves and a relaxed, yet alert, a state of mind.
A later 2011 study found that it was also associated with reduced anxiety, and was well tolerated and safe for participants.
Dosage: A typical cup of black tea contains only about 25 mg of l-theanine and green tea only about 8 mg. While a cup of tea may be calming, if you want more potent effects, try a supplement, about 200 mg a day.