Re: Adrenal Fatigue and Stomach

 You'll never get enough C and B-5 from food sources to get your adrenal reserve up and going.

This is another persistent myth.  As I have said in the past we do not need massive amounts of nutrients to keep healthy.  Most of this misinformation comes from the use of unstable or poorly absorbed compounds.  For example we commonly hear that the body needs 1200mg calcium daily.  But this is all based on the studies using the poorly absorbed calcium carbonate.  Because the carbonate is so poorly absorbed they just increased the amount under the assumption that the body would absorb more with a higher dose.  Synthetic vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is so unstable that higher doses are needed so there is more actual ascorbic acid still left in the dose.  Another factor is synergy.  Natural vitamin C sources contain bioflavonoids that work synergistically with the vitamin C.  This means it gives the vitamin C a greater effect without having to increase the amount.  As an example the vitamin C found in amla berry was found to be 12 times stronger than synthetic vitamin C.  Therefore 100mg of vitamin C from amla is the equivalent of 1,200mg of synthetic vitamin C.  Therefore, even though plants may contain lower levels of vitamin C than a synthetic supplement the activity of the natural vitamin C is generally a lot higher so less of the vitamin C is required for the same effect.

What I find most amusing is the people that think you have to overdose on vitamin C to get a benefit. The body can only utilize a little over 500mg in a single dose.  Taking anything over that is just going to put a lot of stress on the body as the body has to deal with the toxic metabolite of vitamin C called oxalic acid.  Oxalic acid has also been shown to put the kidneys at risk for calcium oxalate kidney stones in those with kidney disorders.  The idea of healing should be to allow the body the nutrients and other compounds it requires to heal, not overload the body with more toxins that it has to work overtime to eliminate.  I really believe this is why I read so many people spending YEARS trying to heal their adrenal dysfunction.  They are taking the shotgun approach putting even more stress on their systems instead of doing the smaller and more steady approach to allow their systems to heal quicker.