Exhausted and Burned Out? What to Eat When You’re Feeling Beat

5/27/10 Posted in Diet Health & Fitness News  |  0 Comments

Today’s society is in constant demand for our time and energy, and many Americans suffer from poor nutrition and weak diets, which only further leads to daily fatigue. The number of people suffering from daily fatigue is incredible and the numbers seem increase every year.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel for those who suffer from that everyday burnt-out feeling.

Fatigue at its earliest onset is frequently the result of many small imbalances in multiple systems in the body.  As a result, ChicagoHealers.com Practitioner Dr. Tom Bayne, DC recommends that it is best to start with the following checklist and make these positive changes in your lifestyle to battle feeling beat.

• Dehydration- The number one symptom associated with dehydration is not thirst, it’s fatigue!  Drink your water!  One qt. of water for every 50lbs of body weight is an excellent measuring stick.
• Balance Blood Sugar- Eliminate processed foods and simple carbohydrates like breads, pastas, and cereals.  Eat only fruits, vegetables, raw nuts, fish and lean meats.  Eat some protein every 2 hours of your waking day to prevent an afternoon crash that has you looking for coffee, sugar, or a nap.
• Increase Your Greens- Increase your consumption of fresh green vegetables to at least 8 servings per day.  For those having difficulties consuming that much, supplement with green drinks and “superfoods” like chlorella.  Stay away from frozen and canned vegetables as they frequently contain preservatives and have usually lost their nutritional value with all the processing.
• Skip the Latte- Using caffeine to jump start your day or as a way of keeping you going through the day is a dangerous path to take.  The highly acidic nature of coffee causes your body to dump its mineral reserves, which is part of the cause of the fatigue in the first place.  The stimulation also causes the inevitable crash once the caffeine wears off.  Choose green tea, which has small amounts of caffeine (about 1/3 of a cup of coffee), but it is high in antioxidants that are important for healing. Also, the alkaline nature of green tea builds your mineral reserves.
• Take Your Vitamins First of all it’s important that there are no vitamin or mineral deficiencies as these can impact on performance and cause fatigue. For example, even marginal deficiencies in potassium, calcium, magnesium and zinc can cause fatigue, as can deficiencies of various vitamins including the B vitamins, folate, vitamins A, C and E.
• Exercise- Research performed at the University of Georgia, and printed in the February 2008 issue of the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, showed that patients with profound fatigue, in the absence of disease states like cancer, improved greatly with low-intensity exercise.  65% of the patients studied had positive improvement in their fatigue symptoms with exercise.  Get off the couch and take a walk around your neighborhood!

If you are following these guidelines and still suffer from fatigue, and your physician has ruled out all disease processes, then you suffer from one of two forms of fatigue:

• Stress Fatigue- Your life has become too much for your body to handle!  Lack of sleep due to child rearing, injuries such as car accidents or falls, and emotional stress such as poor relationships, ill family members, or just the day to day grind can push your body over the edge.  First, you need to adhere firmly to the 6 rules above.  Next you must get to bed before 10pm, and if possible sleep for 30 minutes during the day.  Sleep is when the body heals and if you are experiencing stress fatigue, you have a lot of healing to do.  Additionally, adaptogenic herbs work great in these situations (Ginseng, Maca, and Rhodiola).
• Toxic Fatigue-Your lifestyle has become too much for you to manage. All of the alcohol, prescription meds, environmental toxins, household toxins, and whatever else in your life that you come in contact with has intoxicated your liver, and you have lost the ability to detoxify your body. In addition to following the 6 rules above and getting to bed earlier, these types of people need to clean up their lives, literally. Try to use natural cleaning and gardening supplies.  Remove all chemicals from your home and begin to support your liver.  Cruciferous vegetables should be eaten in large amounts and liver cleansing products are of great benefit.

Remember, you are not alone!  If fatigue has taken you hostage, then break free and get your life back on the track to feeling energetic and alert.

Please contact me if you would like an interview with ChicagoHealers.com Practitioner Dr. Tom Bayne, DC. For more information go to www.ChicagoHealers.com.