AF doesn't exist, symptoms are from starvation

Let's get this straight once and for all so people don't needlessly suffer anymore and waste their money.

So-called "Adrenal Fatigue" does not exist.

It's a fad diagnosis by alternative medicine, one that the Endocrine Society calls an "internet disease" because it's not scientifically proven and, therefore, not recognized as a legitimate diagnosis by the mainstream medical community who are bound by actual science.

What's causing all those symptoms that are mistakenly blamed on "Adrenal Fatigue" is starvation from prolonged calorie-restriction. People are simply not getting enough calories to meet their physical and psychological needs and have become malnourished.

Whether someone is too busy in life to find the time to eat enough, has gone on a low-calorie diet from the advice of some weight-loss "expert", has been over-exercising (another form of calorie-restriction), has been suppressing their appetite from the use of diet pills, stimulants or drugs, has a loss of appetite from suffering from an emotional trauma, or suffers from an eating disorder, such as anorexia or bulimia, not getting enough calories to meet your daily needs will, over time, cause great harm to your physical and psychological health. (See the Minnesota Starvation Experiment.)


The evidence that "AF" is really starvation is clear and decisive:

- Every single one of the ton of symptoms blamed on "AF" are the exact same symptoms of starvation.

- Under-eating causes high-cortisol, one of the indicators alternative practitioners use for their diagnosis of so-called "AF".

- Under-eating causes hypothyroid, which everyone who's being diagnosed with "AF" seems to have and, not surprising, the rates of hypothyroid in women are parallel with that of eating disorders, about 10x more likely in women than men.

- Even AF snake oil supplement sales guru, Dr. Lam, has mentioned that many more women develop these so-called "AF" symptoms than men.

- All the people here who got sick on a vegan diet were under-eating at the time.

- Nutritional Balancing guru, Dr. L. Wilson, believes he developed "Adrenal Burnout Syndrome" from being on a raw vegan diet, so the evidence suggests he most likely was under-eating too on that diet and that's what really caused him to get sick.

- Even Dr. J. Wilson (the Naturopath who first came up with the theory and coined the term "Adrenal Fatigue") mentions a form of under-eating as a "predisposing factor" in causing all the symptoms he thinks is caused by fatigued adrenals.

- And almost everyone in the AF support section has some kind of history of calorie-restriction.



To sum it up, nothing is wrong with your adrenal glands*. If there was, your adrenals wouldn't be able to produce higher than normal levels of cortisol at certain times of the day, so stop wasting your money trying to "rebuild" glands that don't need rebuilding.

What's wrong is that you've been under-eating and that's why you have no energy and you feel like crap. No supplement is going to fix that.

From this point on, "Adrenal Fatigue" should be called what it really is; Starvation Fatigue. The abbreviation "AF" should stand for Anorexic Fatigue.

To deny the evidence at this point is exactly that; denial, which unfortunately, is a big part of eating disorders.



TIPS ON HEALING STARVATION FATIGUE:

- The first and obvious: EAT MORE!!!

Find out how many calories you need per day:
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/wecan/healthy-weight-basics/balance.htm

Use any of these websites to help calculate up your diet:
http://cronometer.com
http://fitday.com
http://www.myfitnesspal.com

- Along with eating enough, eat the right kinds of foods.

I personally recommend a high-carb/low-fat diet of mostly fruits & starches with no more than 10-15% calories coming from fat, which is a macro ratio of about 80-10-10. The reason I recommend a low-fat diet can be found here. (If you've been under-eating for a long time and carbs seem to give you problems, you may be suffering from Refeeding Syndrome and have to gradually re-introduce carbs.)

- Get plenty of sleep (between 8-12 hrs). Remember, under-eating can cause insomnia and the lack of sleep will just compound your health problems.

- Don't over-exercise (only do light exercise until your energy starts coming back).

- Stay well hydrated (your urine should always be clear).

- Avoid all stimulants (coffee, energy drinks, certain drugs, etc).

- Find ways to reduce your stress.

- Throw away your scale (the fear of getting fat got most of you in this mess to begin with).

- And finally, avoid most alternative practitioners (ie Naturopaths, holistic chiropractors) unless you want to be diagnosed with diseases that don't exist (such as "Adrenal Fatigue"), diagnosed with diseases that have been totally exaggerated (such as "Chronic Candida"), or given the scary and creepy diagnosis that the reason you have so many symptoms is because you've been infested with parasites that are eating up all the food in your gut before your body can absorb any nutrients! Your pocket book will also thank me for not getting taken from all the unnecessary office visits and all the quack supplements, cleanses, and books they will try to sell you for conditions you don't even have.


(*unless you have the legitimate disease of Adrenal Insufficiency).
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