Alkaline Recipe #212: De-Wire Calm Down Adrenal-Healing Juice

Adrenal Juice

De-Wire Calm Down Adrenal Healing Juice…the name says it all (and wins the record for longest recipe name ever).

When you’re wired, you’re tired.

You’re mentally exhausted. You might get those intense concentrated headaches. You fly from pumped up (usually on caffeine) to shattered and brain fog. The days get long and the stress, it builds.

It’s a vicious cycle too. You’re wired and tired. The fatigue makes you want to stimulate with caffeine to keep pushing through…which only makes the problem worse.

If you ever feel like this, OR if you feel any level of fatigue, brain fog, loss of concentration, inability to access simple short term memory, easily stressed and overall…just…run…down…

If this sounds familiar there is a very strong probability your adrenals are fatigued and running on empty.

You need to give them a break, nourish them, help them to re-heal and re-balance.

And this juice is a FANTASTIC start.

Adrenal fatigue affects SO many people, and it’s rarely diagnosed or recognised. People think they just need to get a bit more sleep and work a few less hours. But it runs much deeper than that. And the fastest way out is through nutrition.

Try this juice, daily, for seven days – or even better a month – and let me know the results.

Alkaline Juice Recipe: De-Wire Calm Down Adrenal-Healing Juice

Serves 2
Ingredients

Handful of basil leaves
2 carrots
1 handful of watercress (or other leafy green)
1 large cucumber
1 handful of spinach
2 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 bell pepper (capsicum)
Optional: 200ml coconut water

Directions
1) Wash and juice all of the ingredients except the chia seeds
2) After juicing all of the veggies, stir in the chia seeds and allow to sit for 8-10 minutes for the chia to swell. Stir again and enjoy!

Why it Works: the Adrenals & the Alkaline Diet

Ross with the adrenal juiceThe adrenal glands are a part of your endocrine system, the system of glands and organs that regulates all of your hormones. It includes your adrenals, thyroid, pituitary, hypothalamus, pancreas, testes/uterus and more.

There are many factors that can affect the performance of the adrenals including stress, poor sleep, inflammation – and of course diet.

A diet high in sugar, gluten, caffeine, alcohol, processed foods, additives, preservatives and so on will most definitely stress the adrenals – very quickly.

Acidity, Alkalinity & the Adrenals

An acid-forming diet has been proven to lead to chronically elevated cortisol – the ‘stress’ hormone produced by the adrenals (1, 2, 3). When we constantly bombard our body with acid-forming foods (such as those above), the body has to constantly go to work to neutralize the excess acidity and keep the pH of your blood and other fluids (and several organs) at 7.365.

It is the stress of constantly regulating this pH that leads to the body breaking down and suffering (and then the onset of health conditions) and one of the most common consequences of this is the knock-on to your adrenals via a constantly elevated level of cortisol production.

If we remove the volume of acid-forming foods and replace them with more alkaline-forming foods (such as vegetables and low-sugar fruits, healthy fats, nuts, seeds and so on) then we remove the requirement for the body to keep on balancing this pH level and the excess cortisol production disappears.

[Note: remember, we’re not aiming to INCREASE our body pH, we’re just aiming to give the body the tools it needs to effortlessly maintain it’s pH balance – read more on this here]

Other Ways to Support the Adrenals

The best way to support the adrenals is to try to support the whole endocrine system – as it’s so inter-linked…but these few steps can help really pinpoint the adrenals to get some immediate results:

1. Avoid Caffeine

Caffeine, while fine in moderation once your body and diet is in balance, is particularly stressing to the adrenals. Caffeine stimulates neuron activity in the brain. Each time you drink a cup of coffee, your brain sends messages to your pituitary gland which in turn alerts your adrenals to pump out adrenaline and cortisol – two things we need less of while we’re healing the adrenals.

See Also: How to Treat Adrenal Fatigue Naturally and 12 Ways to Balance Your Hormones

2. Go Green

As diet-induced acidosis is a direct cause of excess cortisol production, we need to reduce the acid load in the body and provide the body with a consistent flow of alkaline-forming foods. Green leafy foods are THE most alkaline foods on earth and not only provide this pH boost (and break from acid-buffering) but also are the most overall nourishing foods – rich in an abundance of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and more that will support the whole endocrine system and help the body get back into balance. Here’s a guide to getting a few extra serves of greens a day, and some interesting research on WHY greens are the most important foods to include

3. Minimize the Impact of Stress

We can’t ‘avoid’ stressful situations, that’s out of our control and trying to manage things outside of our control only creates more stress. What we CAN do is help our body to be able to better handle stressful situations that come along and to help it to repair from the damage stress has caused to the body.

To help manage your body’s response to stress, I strongly recommend the Headspace app (I have no affiliation with them, I just think it’s amazing).

And to help your body to repair and heal from the effects of stress, I highly recommend getting a green juice or smoothie daily. These are alkaline, nourishing and packed full of goodness. Starting with this juice recipe on this very page!

4. Lots of Healthy Fats and Oils

Healthy fats are critical to helping your body to heal from the effects of elevated cortisol.

Aim to get approximately 3 tablespoons of omega 3 daily, from supplements, nuts, seeds, green vegetables (again), chia, healthy oils such as flax, homemade salad dressings and so on. PLUS aim to get around 1 tablespoon of coconut oil per day – it’s AMAZING for your pH balance, endocrine system, digestive system and more. (if you still think saturated fats like this are bad for you – think again and read this guide)

5. Get Alkaline Minerals

Your adrenal health NEED the right balance of electrolytes/minerals – which just to happen to all be alkaline: calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, phosphate and chloride. Alongside cortisol, another hormone called aldosterone is greatly affected by adrenal fatigue.

Aldosterone is responsible for the regulation of fluid retention, fluid release, regulation sodium and potassium levels in the body and many other tasks. But the most important here is the regulation of sodium and potassium. If this gets out of whack it not only deeply affects the adrenals but also has a huge impact on your blood pressure. Providing your body with an adequate amount of these alkaline minerals such as sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium and so on removes this risk of imbalance or chronically low mineral levels and assists the body in repairing and rebalancing. You can supplement with a product such as Tri-Salts (again, no affiliation), OR, look to include more…you guessed it, leafy greens in your diet.

6. Start Having this Juice!

The PERFECT place to start if you have (or suspect you have) adrenal fatigue is THIS JUICE! The ingredients are alkaline, mineral rich, antioxidant rich and support the full recovery and repair of not only your adrenals but your entire endocrine system.

ENJOY!
Ross



References

1] Karim Z, Attmane-Elakeb A, Bichara M. Renal handling of NH4+ in relation to the control of acid-base balance by the kidney. J Nephrol. 2002 Mar-Apr;15 Suppl 5:S128-34. (link)

2] Welbourne TC. Acidosis activation of the pituitary-adrenal-renal glutaminase I axis. Endocrinology. 1976 Oct;99(4):1071-9. (link)

3] Robey IF. Examining the relationship between diet-induced acidosis and cancer. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2012; 9: 72. (link)


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Ask Me a Question or Leave a Comment Here - I'd Love to Hear from You

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  1. Juliet Case Reply

    I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and since the alkaline diet includes some night shade foods like pepper that I should avoid how would I use this diet effectively

  2. Sonja Gosteli Reply

    Hey! Lovin’ the articles and recipes.

    Quick Q: Why do the Chia Seeds have to soak before eating (drinking)? Can the not just be blending into the smoothie?

    PS, I love my VitaMix.

    Sending much love,
    ~ Sonja

    • ross Reply

      Def don’t HAVE to, it just helps with them breaking down a little more and giving a little extra benefit to digestion. But in this case, done is better than perfect 🙂

  3. Cathy Reply

    Is making a smoothie with the same ingredients just as good as juicing?

  4. Annie Freeman Reply

    Hi Ross,
    A few months ago you recommended PHour Salts which I took and noticed that I felt a lot brighter but keep forgetting to re-order. (could do with a memory supplement !)
    Are these TRI-Salts similar and if so, could you point out the difference between them please.

    Thank you for all your encouragement and enthusiasm which has always ‘re-started’ me when I have veered off course.
    Warm regards,
    Annie x

  5. Michael Hewitt Reply

    Hi Ross
    Thank you so much for all your wonderful information, it has been very useful to find out just how things and foods can affect the body so much and also stressful situation in life.
    Take care the Hewitt family in England

  6. Maricia Reply

    Im really allergic to raw carrots…(carotene?) so I dont even look at juices that need carrots. Am loving some of your recipes …going slowly, but wonder if there is an alternative to juices where you use carrots as the largest component. Thanks

  7. Rakhbeer singh Reply

    I would like to thank you for all your hard work to produce delicious recipes from evidence bases we just get to enjoy good recipes and health

    • ross Reply

      Thanks Rakhbeer 🙂

  8. Barbara mara Reply

    Hi Ross you mention coconut oil , where I live England I use a coconut solid called GROOVY and it certainly is ,I use for everything can’t get enough of it , my vegetables have never tasted as good and my skin is sooo soft , I will never go back to butter or margarine it tastes yucky , so anyone reading
    This give it a go ,babs

  9. Yola Reply

    And of course i love it…
    Btw for everyone concerned and wondering about their adrenals I advise to look in the mirror at your skin right under the eyes if u see dull brownish color means your adrenals screem for cleansing and healing…

  10. Yola Reply

    Hi Ross
    Instead of juicing is smoothie good too?

  11. John ebere Reply

    The problem is I don’t really know where to get some of the greens you mentioned, that’s my problem

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