Natural Nutrition

Stress has become so commonplace that most of us don’t even think about it on a day-to-day basis. Our society encourages more and more stress for greater and greater success but the ravages of prolonged excess stress can change the body chemistry in many ways such as over-producing a hormone called cortisol. Excess cortisol causes many complications in the body over time, one of which is excessive weight gain. Cortisol and weight gain as well as difficulties with weight loss are directly related to excess stress. Stress management can be accomplished in many ways. Meditation, prayer, and other forms of relaxation are often helpful in stress management. The effects of excess stress on the body can be wide ranging. Most existing health challenges are made worse by excess stress. Nutrition can also come to the rescue in helping to physically manage stress. Stress management with nutrition would include the B complex vitamins, especially pantothenic acid. Pantothenic acid directly supports the adrenal glands, helping to prevent their exhaustion. Herbal extracts are also helpful and should be including in any stress supplement formula. Here at The Institute, we have developed a stress supplement that has proven to be of great help to many thousands of people. This formula helps control cortisol levels, aiding in weight loss, this formula has also helped many people reduce or eliminate their dependency on various drugs. The effects of stress can be greatly reduced through the use of our multi-faceted stress supplement. The role of nutrition and stress is a strong one and nutrition should always be considered as part of an overall stress management program. When we experience a stressful moment, our bodies go into what is often called the ‘fight or flight’ syndrome. This is a cycle of biochemical reactions that are designed to prepare the body and brain to either fight or defend itself or to run for safety. In either case, the body needs to be able to perform at its peak if a positive outcome to be expected. The problem is that when the human body first developed these physiological reactions to a stressful or dangerous situation, these dangers were frequent and all too real. Today, in our society, most of the physical dangers have been eliminated. The stressors of today are emotional or mental as opposed to physical. In spite of these differences, the reaction to these stressful situations produces the same results and over time can lead to anxiety, panic attacks and depression. The link between stress and depression is clear and our goal should be to learn to manage stress emotionally as well as bio-chemically through nutrition, before it reaches dangerous levels. Stress can come from many sources such as job stress, student stress, financial or economic stress, lack of sleep or rest and therefore stress reduction through proven stress management techniques becomes essential. Since much of the stress in our lives today doesn’t really produce a need for physical response, the stress response cycle often fires at the ‘false alarm’. Since we don’t react physically, in most cases to stressors, the powerful chemicals secreted by the adrenal glands exercise a dramatic effect on the entire body. When these chemicals are not used as in physical action, they can have detrimental effects on the body, over time exhausting the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands produce a variety of hormones, the most common of which are the stress hormones. Over time, the adrenal glands can become exhausted and lose their ability to properly regulate hormone production. The result of excess stress and adrenal exhaustion is anxiety, depression and especially panic attacks. As the adrenal glands continue to be over-worked, they increase the production of many hormones. One of those hormones is cortisol. Others are the adrenalin group, which is responsible for the anxiety and eventual depression associated with prolonged stress. The best way to deal with adrenal exhaustion is with specific dietary supplements that provide both support and nourishment to these over-worked glands. Nutrients such as the B complex, glandular extracts, vitamin C and key trace minerals are very helpful when provided in the right ratios to each other. In combination, they can support both the central nervous system and the adrenal glands. Once this has been accomplished, the adrenal glands stop over-producing powerful stress hormones and the anxiety and depression associated with un-manageable stress subsides. The formula we use with our clients at our Centers is called Stress-Eze. Our stress supplement is available from Phoenix Nutritionals. 1-800-440-2390

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