Are you feeling stressed? There is a lot to be concerned about in our world. Stress can accumulate without you noticing the negative impact. It can take months or even years!
Stress is a silent killer. The damage accumulates in your nervous system and body and really creates serious problems like inflammation, rapid aging, and diseases.
Did you realize that simple everyday stressors like traffic and the demands of work and family can deplete your nutrient stores – leaving you running on empty?
Yup. Stress depletes the “feel-good” nutrients you need to repair tissue, combat inflammation, and run all of the systems in your body properly (immune system, endocrine system etc).
Even low-level, chronic stress depletes your body of vital nutrients like Vitamin E, C, and the Bs.
It makes sense. These are all the nutrients your body uses to fight stress-induced free radicals and inflammation.
If you’re feeling weak and tired or like you’re getting sick often, inflamed, or have trouble recovering from exercise or stressful events – it’s likely due to lower levels of the critical nutrients. And stress definitely affects your hypothalamus (in your brain), pituitary and adrenal glands too. It’s called the HPA axis.
Vitamin C and Your Adrenals
Your adrenals are tiny almond-shaped glands located on the top of your kidneys that are in charge of producing various important hormones, one being a stress hormone called cortisol.
So what’s the vitamin C-adrenal connection that is going to have the biggest impact on your health?
You have likely heard from me before that Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant. This means that it counters oxidative stress and free radical damage.
Why is that important? Well, it means anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, and better tissue repair. And that means Vibrant Health! But that’s not all it’s good for.
Your adrenal glands require Vitamin C to function properly.
However, spikes in cortisol can suppress Vitamin C absorption from adrenal cells. These spikes are caused by stress, unstable blood sugar, certain foods/stimulants, and lack of deep sleep.
That means the more stressed you are, the more you need to replenish your Vitamin C levels.
This could be one of the main reasons I feel so darn great after taking Vitamin C regularly – even on the most stressful days.
Are you getting enough vitamin C? Oranges won’t cut it.
Most other mammals can synthesize their own Vitamin C in response to stress.
That means when one of my cats gets chased by a critter in the jungle around my house, their hormonal cascade triggers the production of more free-radical-fighting Vitamin C.
Very cool for my cats and most other mammals, but humans are not so lucky.
Instead, we have to make sure we’re getting plenty of vitamin C from food. But what kinds, and just how much, are really important to know.
How much Vitamin C do you need?
Vitamin C dosing can range from the RDI (Recommended Daily Intake) all the way to megadosing. The RDI is pretty outdated and likely isn’t meeting the needs of our bodies. Life is much more stressful than it was when the RDIs were established.
Megadosing usually involves taking large amounts intravenously to support things like cancer treatment. It can also mean ingesting large doses, but this can lead to tummy upset and diarrhea.
For most people, anywhere from 400-2,000 mg per day will help restore your levels and keep your adrenal glands running optimally. If you’re sick, you may need more, but only of the Correct kind!
But the real secret is in the KIND of vitamin C you take. I have a few secret favorites I’d like to share with you.
See, vitamin C is better when taken as a complex, not as the isolated, singular molecule ascorbic acid. This can actually do more harm than good and it’s synthetic!
When you take vitamin C in its natural, whole-food form, you not only get the full spectrum of this micronutrient, you get the natural co-factors that come with it and these make it work better.
Liposomal Vitamin C is my next favorite. The nutrient is delivered directly into the cell wall, it’s the next best thing to an IV. Not all liposomes are created equally. They must be small enough to actually pass into the cell wall. This means you need to work with a trained healthcare provider, who has done their homework on companies that sell Liposomal Vit C.
If you’d like my favorites drop shipped to you, then email me at clientcare@kristingraycemcgary.com
Some natural high vitamin C foods are:
-Camu camu
-Acerola cherry
-Amla berry
-Rose hips
Don’t let stressful times diminish your health and vitality. To battle stress naturally, take care of your adrenals with plenty of vitamin C – from organic, whole-food sources or Liposomal. You’ll be shocked at how amazing you feel. I know I was.