Available instantly

Audiobook
$0.99
with membership

Hardcover
$17.20

Paperback
$15.30

$12.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

Sold by Random House LLC. Price set by seller.

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Alan Christianson

Follow

The Adrenal Reset Diet: Strategically Cycle Carbs and Proteins to Lose Weight, Balance Hormones, and Move from Stressed to Thriving Kindle Edition

by Alan Christianson (Author), Sara Gottfried (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 1,150 ratings

See all formats and editions

Go from wired and tired to lean and thriving with The Adrenal Reset Diet

Why are people gaining weight faster than ever before? The idea that people simply eat too much is no longer supported by science. The emerging idea is that weight gain is a survival response: Our bodies are under attack from all directions—an overabundance of processed food, a polluted world, and the pressures of daily life all take their toll. These attacks hit a very important set of glands, the adrenals, particularly hard.

The adrenal glands maintain a normal cortisol rhythm (cortisol is a hormone associated with both stress and fat storage). When this rhythm is off, we can become overwhelmed more quickly, fatigued, gain weight, and eventually, develop even more severe health issues such as heart disease or diabetes.

In The Adrenal Reset Diet, Dr. Alan Christianson provides a pioneering plan for optimal function of these small but powerful organs. His patient-tested weight-loss program is the culmination of decades of clinical experience and over 75,000 patient-care visits. In a study at his clinic, participants on the Adrenal Reset Diet reset their cortisol levels by over 50% while losing an average of over 2 inches off their waists and 9 pounds of weight in 30 days. What can you expect?

• Learn whether your adrenals are Stressed, Wired and Tired, or Crashed and which adrenal tonics, exercises, and foods are best for you
• The clinically proven shakes, juices, and other delicious recipes, to use for your Reset
• New ways to turn off the triggers of weight gain with carbohydrate cycling, circadian repair, and simple breathing exercises
• An easy 7-day ARD eating plan to move your and your adrenals from Surviving to Thriving

From the Publisher

WARNING: California’s Proposition 65

Editorial Reviews

Review

“In The Adrenal Reset Diet, Dr. Alan Christianson clarifies the true cause of the obesity epidemic and provides a brilliant plan to shift from stressed and overweight to trim and thriving. If you are stressed and can’t lose weight, you must read this book.” –Steven Masley, MD, FAHA, FACN, FAAFP, CNS, best-selling author of The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up

“Adrenal burnout isn’t your fault in our fast-faster society, yet its ramifications can stall fat loss and create weight loss resistance. In The Adrenal Reset Diet, Dr. Alan Christianson provides practical, easy-to-implement strategies to reset your adrenals, lose fat fast, and restore optimal health.”
--JJ Virgin NYT Bestselling Author of The Virgin Diet

"Dr. Alan Christianson finally proves that weight gain is not your fault.  The key to getting lean is to reset your inner clock, not to struggle and starve.  His diet gives you the definitive formula to lose weight and thrive."
--Sara Gottfried MD, NYT Bestselling Author of The Hormone Cure

“In The Adrenal Reset Diet Dr. Alan Christianson sheds new light on weight loss by teaching you how you can use carbohydrate and protein cycling along with resistant starch to balance your hormone levels, and decrease your blood sugar and insulin levels. A must read for anyone who lives in our modern stressed out world. “
--Jayson & Mira Calton Authors of Naked Calories and Rich Food, Poor Food
CaltonNutrition.com

“As Dr. Christianson so eloquently explains, simple change in your diet and lifestyle can make a profound difference in your weight, energy and overall well-being. It's not just what you eat, but when you eat it.  The recipes are delicious, easy to prepare and the meals, never boring. His recommendations are easy to follow and implement, scientifically based, and yield rapid rewards. You owe it to your health to read this!”
--Hyla Cass MD, integrative physician, author of "8 Weeks to Vibrant Health,” www.cassmd.com

"The Adrenal Reset Diet" is a breakthrough book with real solutions to optimize adrenal function and increase your energy, lose weight and feel balanced.  Dr. Christianson is a wealth of knowledge and we are fortunate to have this book that shares his experience and wisdom. He lays it out with an easy to follow and results-driven approach.”
--Dr. Trevor Cates, Creator of the 21-Day Healthy Habits Challenge

“Whether you’re struggling with your weight, living a high-stress lifestyle, or just not feeling like yourself, you MUST read this book. Using the latest cutting-edge science, Dr. Christianson masterfully proves that obesity is not just a matter of poor diet, inactivity, or lack of “willpower”, but a survival response instigated by your own body. Find out exactly how to press the reset button and transform your body from stressed and fat to thriving and fit. Highly recommended!”
--Sean Croxton, Underground Wellness

"The Adrenal Reset Diet gives us a badly needed brand new perspective on why people gain weight.  These ideas are timely and will help thousands understand how to safely use carbs and manage their lives to heal their adrenals.  “
--Kevin Gianni, health author, activist and blogger RenegadeHealth.com

"The secret to health isn't found in a crash diet, ab-sculpting gizmo, magical fat loss pill. It's our lifestyle that is out of sync with the ancient intelligence of our biology and we're suffering as a result. Dr. Alan's dietary hacks, adrenal tonics, breathing exercises, and relaxation techniques show you how you can retune your body to truly thrive. Do yourself a favor and read this book."
--Abel James, author of The Wild Diet and host of Fat-Burning Man

About the Author

An award-winning audio engineer for over forty years, Tom Perkins has expanded his skills to narrating and has more than sixty titles to his credit. He learned by working with the world's best voice talent during his career, and he continues to engineer a variety of projects.

Alan Christianson, NMD, is a naturopathic medical doctor who specializes in natural endocrinology with a focus on thyroid disorders. He has been named a Top Doctor in Phoenix Magazine. He has been featured numerous times in national media. Alan lives in Scottsdale with his wife and their two children.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1

why are we gaining weight?

One of my favorite possessions is a copy of Time magazine from July 1969. The cover story is about the historic Apollo 11 moon launch. The main picture in the story shows hundreds of people standing in an observation field, looking to the sky as the rocket lifts off. Recently, I looked again at the photo with a vague sense that there was something odd about it. After looking several times, I suddenly realized what it was: everyone in the crowd was unusually thin. The observers were mostly men, and they looked to be mostly in their early 40s.

In the 1960s, the average American male between the ages of 40 and 45 weighed 169 pounds. By the year 2000, that average weight was 196 pounds, nearly 30 pounds heavier.1 A similar crowd today would look quite different yet again.

a global obesity crisis—the stats

By 2010, rates of obesity had increased yet more; over 69 percent of American adults had become overweight or obese. And the same changes had happened worldwide; the number of overweight and obese adults around the world began creeping up in the 1970s, and then it doubled between 1980 and 2008. It is estimated that there are now over 1.4 billion adults in the world who are overweight. For the first time in human history, deaths from obesity-related illnesses have surpassed deaths from all other causes, including malnutrition and infectious disease.

If these deaths were not bad enough, the costs of managing future decades of chronic diseases are projected to cripple the global economy. It is estimated that in the next twenty years, obesity-related diseases will cost the global economy in excess of $30 trillion. To put this into perspective, the 9/11 attacks on the United States, combined with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are estimated to have cost roughly $5 trillion.2

There is no doubt that people are gaining weight faster than ever before, but why is this happening? Cutting-edge medical research has some good answers, but unfortunately most of the public and the majority of policymakers base their beliefs about obesity on theories we now know are not true. The popular view blames obesity on too many calories, too little willpower, and bad genes. It’s not that simple.

the calorie theory: no longer in

Let’s start with the calorie model for weight gain. It certainly is appealing in its simplicity: people gain weight because they eat more calories than they burn. Although the calorie model does reflect what happens to healthy people in controlled settings, it does not explain what happens when bodies are stressed and move into survival mode. During most of our past, stress came from immediate danger, such as predators trying to eat us or us having too little of our own food. Our genes adapted to stress by causing us to store food as fat rather than to burn it as fuel.

Even if it were true that heavier people just ate more than others do, this does not explain why, in the last few decades, people are suddenly seeming to eat more than ever. At best, the calorie model describes the situation; it does not explain the root cause. It’s just like saying “People in the Third World earn less” describes the situation, but does not explain world poverty.

babies do not need willpower

Traci Mann, UCLA associate professor of psychology, evaluated thirty-one long-term studies to see how effective calorie-based weight-loss programs were over the long haul. She reported that even for the minority of people who did lose weight, four years later, 83 percent of them were heavier than before they had started the program. In fact, more than half of them gained 11 pounds or more over the weight they had lost.3 If the problem was simply one of discipline, why did those who had enough discipline to lose weight then regain so much weight?

When presented with failures in dieting, many if not most people assume that those who did not succeed simply lacked willpower and did not try hard enough. They have no problem assuming that an adult’s weight is a result of his or her conscious choices, yet few would hold this same idea if it were applied to infants or animals. When a baby cries for a bottle, is she acting out of hunger or because she is being indulgent? How about wild animals—does willpower govern their body weight? Yet the rate of obesity, and morbid obesity, in infants has multiplied several times over the last decade, and it continues to increase rapidly. For the first time ever, 6-month-old babies are becoming morbidly obese. This is happening despite there being no related changes to the types or amounts of food they are given.4

And this widespread obesity issue isn’t affecting just the human population. In 2010, David Allison and colleagues evaluated weight changes spanning the last several decades in 20,000 animals from eight different species, including macaques, chimpanzees, vervets, marmosets, lab rats and mice, feral rats, and domestic dogs and cats. Some of the animals gaining weight lived in the wild, some were pets, and some were even on carefully measured diets. Shockingly, mid-life obesity had increased in 100 percent of the species studied. One of our closest living relatives saw especially shocking changes. Despite living in zoos and having their diets and activity levels controlled, the weight of male and female chimpanzees had gone up by 33.2 and 37.2 percent per decade, respectively.5 After evidence like this, the claim that obesity is a disease of willpower is completely unsupportable.

genes vs. jeans

Another popular belief about obesity is that it is caused by faulty genes. Many scientists say that the human body has had little major change in 200,000 years. Historically, we’ve seen populations suffer from weight loss due to malnutrition and famine, but global weight gain across many species has never happened before. Even if in the distant past there had been individual cases of weight gain, it was often limited to royalty. So how valid could be this idea about the role of genes in weight gain?

Genes can influence why one person may gain more weight than another, but familial genes alone cannot explain why weight gain has occurred all around the globe and to so many different living things. But epigenetics, a science that shows how our environment and genes interact, may hold some answers. Research in this area suggests that genes themselves may not be the culprits; instead, there may be ways the modern world has been changing our genes that is behind this global problem. What’s most exciting is that there are steps in The Adrenal Reset Diet that can fight these negative modern influences and help you change your genes back.

surprising causes of weight gain

If the global weight explosion is not caused by too many calories, lack of personal responsibility, or bad genes, then what is the cause? To answer that question we need to think about what else has changed during this same time period. Many researchers have wrestled with these questions, and some common answers have emerged. To begin, within the last few decades our world has gotten more toxic, a lot noisier, and much faster paced. Our food has more sugar, less fiber, and many more chemicals. We spend less time in sunlight and we sleep less. We take more medications, feel less certain of our financial futures, and have fewer friends.

Although experts debate which of these culprits is the most important, they strongly agree that global weight gain is brought about by some combination of these changes. Because any one of these causes has such strong evidence linking it to obesity, researchers have become individually fixated on one cause or another.

When I dug into this problem, in my work as a doctor, I realized that the answer to the obesity epidemic would have to encompass all of the possible triggers. (To simplify, these triggers can be thought of as processed foods, pollutants, and the pressures of life.) There had to be one thing they all had in common. I also realized that, even though there may not be a single cause, there still could be a single way by which different causes trigger weight gain.

a unifying theory of obesity

What was the single thread running through all these factors? It started to become clear one day when I was studying how obesity is tied to adrenal hormones. It turns out that adrenal hormones control a switch that sends calories to your belly fat or to your muscles. In layperson’s terms, when the switch is set to “fat,” calories go to your fat cells, making them larger. This is not good. When the switch is set to “energy,” calories go to your muscles, where they make energy. This is good. But why would our adrenal glands signal to our bodies to make our bellies fat?

They do it to protect us. When we are in danger, our muscles need to be able to burn large amounts of energy quickly, so we can run away or fight. Our muscles are unable to burn energy when they are storing energy, so your calories are sent away from them. Since these calories have to go somewhere, and since in our past “danger” often meant food shortages, our visceral fat (what we call belly fat, but is actually fat deposition around our organs) takes in these calories and stores them. This is survival mode, and it causes weight gain because our calories are taken from our muscles and placed in our fat cells.

In survival mode, most of us prefer foods that are higher in sugar, salt, and fat. In addition to causing us to gain weight regardless of what we eat, survival mode can cause us to want to eat more and to prefer foods that cause weight gain to happen even faster.

You can imagine that there is a switch in your body like the switch you use to turn on your lights. I think of it as the “fat switch”; and in survival mode, it is turned on. The Adrenal Reset Diet teaches you how to use everyday foods to reset your adrenal glands and turn that fat switch off for good. But to learn how to do this, it is important you have a better understanding of the survival mode.

survival mode is more than “stress”

Though we’ve come to think of stress as something we feel when we’re under emotional pressure—a response to feeling too busy, overwhelmed with duties and the rush of modern life—the earliest definition of the word stress included anything that would trigger survival mode in an animal. This trigger, thus, includes physical and environmental stress, dietary stress, and mental stress. To understand how many different factors can add up and push our bodies to create fat, therefore, it is important to think of stress in this broader way.

All animals can maintain their body weights within a certain range, even when food intake goes up or down. This is regulated primarily by our adrenal glands. In response to stress, the adrenal glands release cortisol into the bloodstream. Whether we are surviving or thriving determines how the cortisol will act in our brain, liver, and belly fat. In survival mode, the cortisol causes us to slow down and store fat. When we are thriving, we eat for hunger and our bodies are able to adjust the metabolism to keep our weight healthy, even with minor amounts of stress. But when we get pushed into survival mode, this all changes and we become more apt to gain weight. Stress does not create weight gain until there is a disruption in this adrenal rhythm.

Why would being in survival mode lead to weight gain? The lesson our genes learned during the last 200,000 years was that bad things do not happen during times of plenty. Stress usually meant danger, famine, or both. Our ancestors who stored fat during times of crisis survived better than those who did not. This means they were able to live and have babies, and share their gene pool with their descendants, us.

When we are under a constant state of adrenal stress, our bodies prepare for famine by burning fewer calories and storing fat around our organs—that visceral fat that was mention a little earlier in this chapter. Think of visceral fat as cash under the mattress. It is the quickest, most accessible fuel resource your body can have for a crisis. The fat on the hips, thighs, and under the skin is subcutaneous fat. It’s more like savings bonds: a safe source of fuel, but we can’t get to it very easily.

When a person is in survival mode, he or she will gain more visceral fat than an unstressed person eating the same number of calories. However, stress does not cause us to store more of the harmless subcutaneous fat below our skin, just the dangerous visceral fat around our organs. This is because our bodies rely on visceral fat as fuel during times of crisis. Not only that, the extra stress hormones prevent the body’s organs from effectively using energy in the muscles or brain, leading to fatigue and depression.6

What about those people who lose their appetite when stressed? It is true that not everyone gains pounds when under major stress, but those who do not gain scale weight still typically experience a loss of muscle mass and an increase in body fat.

If being in survival mode leads to weight gain, what triggers this reaction and what can you do about it? The known triggers come in three main categories: dietary, mental, and physical. Table 1.1 shows the three factors that lead to weight gain.

trigger #1: processed food

Processed foods in the modern diet can increase inflammation and disrupt blood sugar levels. This inflammation causes the body to make more cortisol to reduce that inflammation and control the blood sugar level in the same way as when the body makes more cortisol when it senses fright.

The main culprits of inflammation include fructose and toxic proteins. Fructose is a type of sugar that directly turns our fat switch to storage mode. It does this by activating liver enzymes with exotic names like c-JNK and 11-HSD, which make us store fat. Toxic proteins are proteins in our foods that are hard to break down all the way in normal digestion, and their unbroken parts are then attacked by the body’s immune system. These proteins are found in dairy foods, eggs, and wheat, and they often can trigger inflammation. You know how you feel when you have the flu? That sick feeling is not from the virus but, rather, the inflammation caused by your immune system attacking that virus. That same inflammation is created when your immune system attacks the undigested parts of protein.

fructose

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00LKJHUAI
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harmony (December 30, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 30, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3.2 MB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 290 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #165,955 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #109 in Alternative Medicine Healing
- #177 in Exercise Injuries & Rehabilitation
- #195 in Weight Maintenance Diets

Customer Reviews:
4.3 1,150 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Alan Christianson

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Alan Christianson is a Naturopathic Medical Doctor (NMD) who specializes in natural endocrinology with a focus on thyroid disorders. He is the author of The Metabolism Reset Diet and the New York Times bestselling book The Adrenal Reset Diet.

He founded Integrative Health, a physician group dedicated to helping people with thyroid disease and weight-loss resistance regain their health.

He has been named a Top Doctor in Phoenix magazine, and has appeared on national TV shows and in numerous print media.

Dr. Christianson resides in Phoenix with his wife Kirin, and their two children.

Visit DrChristianson.com to take a thyroid health quiz. You'll find free resources to help you discover your top health concerns and how to overcome them.

Customer reviews

1,150 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Review this product

Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find the book informative and easy to understand. They appreciate the clear explanations and practical steps provided to assist in implementation. The book helps them increase their energy levels, improve sleep quality, and lose weight.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

Information quality Readability Ease of understanding Energy level Sleep quality Weight loss Recipes Value for money

150 customers mention "Information quality"147 positive3 negative

Customers find the book informative and easy to follow. They say it covers everything from explaining how your body functions to how diet, sleep, and exercise impact health. The holistic approach includes skills to improve mindfulness, relaxation, and sleep. Readers mention that the book has the potential to change their life with its inclusion of tips on meditation and improving confidence. The book also shows solid science research and gets them back on track after a stressful holiday season.

"I enjoyed this book. It is like talking to a Dietician and pep talk. Very helpful and what a person needs to hear...." Read more

"...I already knew these answers, BUT this book gave me critical research-based information that not only helps me understand this topic more thoroughly..." Read more

"...I found the concept of carbohydrate-cycling to be quite intriguing and wish the book had a section explaining the biochemistry of it...." Read more

"...Easy-peasy. My mind is clearing and my focus is improving. My energy is returning. My aches and pains are disappearing...." Read more

77 customers mention "Readability"77 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and thorough. They say it's worth reading and a must-read if you feel constantly tired and stressed.

"...Very helpful and what a person needs to hear. I enjoyed the book very much...excellent advise. It is like a private person talking to you...." Read more

"...I highly recommend this great read for anyone interested in this topic." Read more

"...You can’t please everyone.....I love the book, however, portion control is going to be a challenge, but what you eat will sustain you if you follow..." Read more

"This is a great book for folks looking to improve their lives! By eating real food in a way Dr Christianson recommends, you can improve..." Read more

69 customers mention "Ease of understanding"63 positive6 negative

Customers find the book easy to understand and implement. They say it's well-written and provides logical, science-based advice for using.

"...It was not a "textbook" read, but an easy to understand read that I appreciated...." Read more

"...Easy-peasy. My mind is clearing and my focus is improving. My energy is returning...." Read more

"...The concepts are cutting edge, simple to implement, and extremely powerful...." Read more

"...Diet: Simple - eat the best, most natural, organic food you can buy. Eat 3 meals a day, balanced small to moderate proportions..." Read more

48 customers mention "Energy level"45 positive3 negative

Customers find the book helpful for improving their energy levels and restoring adrenal health. They say it helps them recover from physical activity better, and it's a great source to start the quest for health.

"...This book is a great foundational read on the topic of liver detoxification & will be shelved will all my other important reference materials...." Read more

"...Easy-peasy. My mind is clearing and my focus is improving. My energy is returning. My aches and pains are disappearing...." Read more

"...is perhaps the most highly regarded expert when it comes to restoring adrenal health with completely natural remedies, specifically simple diet..." Read more

"...your sleep, increase your energy and (probably) lose weight. The ideas are not complex. The results can be significant. It is basically..." Read more

37 customers mention "Sleep quality"35 positive2 negative

Customers find the book helpful for improving their sleep quality. They mention it helped them deal with insomnia, hormones, lose weight, and feel their best. The carb cycling helps them regain energy and eliminate aches and pains.

"...Mild not hard exercise/good water/sunlight/love/pets/friends to talk with/ear acupuncture (top ear patch for acupuncture)/Zyto scan/electrodermal..." Read more

"...My energy is returning. My aches and pains are disappearing. My carb cravings at night are disappearing. Dr. Christianson is The Man!!..." Read more

"...In just a week, I'm feeling more energetic, sleeping better, and have lost 1.5 pounds in just 8 days. I should note that I'm not severely overweight...." Read more

"...The bulk of the book is about self care and relaxation...." Read more

26 customers mention "Weight loss"26 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's weight loss program helpful. They say it makes the diet more manageable, provides sound advice for lifelong weight loss, and curbs appetite. Many report losing several pounds and reducing their waistline.

"...But the best part so far is the weight loss and the knowledge that the changes I’ve made in the way I eat are very good ones...." Read more

"...Oh, and it does cause you to lose weight. But that secondary to me. I wanted my health back!..." Read more

"...eat will sustain you if you follow his advise, so you will not become hungry between meals, also, I’m done skipping breakfast.....See you in my next..." Read more

"...I'm feeling more energetic, sleeping better, and have lost 1.5 pounds in just 8 days. I should note that I'm not severely overweight...." Read more

18 customers mention "Recipes"15 positive3 negative

Customers find the recipes in the book good and keeping them fuller longer. They mention that the meal plans and recipes are included, and they can download the recipe book that goes along with the diet. The recipes are healthy, using ingredients that are easy to find, and organic.

"...exercise, organic food, good water..not tap water, cooking by scratch pure food..... no..." Read more

"...Although I don’t like cooked kale, it’s great as a salad base if you put it in a food processor (no stems!) and chop it fine...." Read more

"...Diet: Simple - eat the best, most natural, organic food you can buy. Eat 3 meals a day, balanced small to moderate proportions..." Read more

"...He also includes some recipes - though I wish he has a full cookbook. :) If you have Adrenal Fatigue, this book is a "must have"!!!" Read more

18 customers mention "Value for money"7 positive11 negative

Customers have different views on the book's value for money. Some find it a worthwhile investment, saying it makes sense and is right on the money. Others say it's not worth their time, a waste of money, and lacks substance.

"...One warning: This book is not perfect. Some parts seem too complicated and much information is presented that does not add that much..." Read more

"...It’s not an inexpensive way to eat, since you’re supposed to use organic ingredients to reduce your intake of toxins...." Read more

"...There are alot of words in this book but ultimately nothing of true value that one can apply to seriously address adrenal disfunction issues...." Read more

"...So I purchased the adrenal supplements and the shake. Pricey, but I thought I would give it a try. Well - it has now been a couple weeks...." Read more

Reviews with images

See all photos

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.

Shasha
Adrenal Reset Diet by Alan Christianson NMD
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2016
Verified Purchase

I enjoyed this book. It is like talking to a Dietician and pep talk. Very helpful and what a person needs to hear. I enjoyed the book very much...excellent advise. It is like a private person talking to you. Explaining more about Celiac may be good for a revision of the book.

Own ideas:
Gluten may hurt all glands...thyroid/adrenals. Stage 1 herb supplements are different than stage 3 supplement. I can't use many adrenal supplements...some lower cortisol and I am already too low in cortisol. Prevention is easier than cure. I need no gluten/dairy/soy/sugar/GMO...take vitamins/good oils/minerals...probiotic...LDN..detox.

I can't use flax/coconut oil/oats which are gluten.

Baby carrots may have Cl in them..not good. Eat organic full carrots.

What I do for my adrenals: Ashwagandha lowers cortisol...not good for stage 3-4 adrenal fatigue. Many adrenals supplements are for Stage 1 not stage 3-4 adrenal crashes. Dr. Lam book has more information about the stages etc. Gluten may hurt the thyroid/adrenals and all glands. I need no gluten/dairy/soy/sugar/GMO...take vitamins/good oils/minerals..probiotic...LDN..detoxing. I like Orthomolecular- Adren-all. Liposomal Vit C and liposomal glutathione may help...tiny bit only...is very strong. Mg citrate/Zinc/fish oil 2000mg/Vit D3 5000IU/sunlight/strong probiotic/HCl and enyzmes with meals/Nature's plus-Source of life multiple/Vit B12 methylcobalamin with intrinsic factor/MTHF or shot may help stress/sleep. 5000mcg of biotin may help. Evening primrose oil/lecithin (defat the liver and help memory)/krill oil/phosphatidylserine/DMAE and more may help. may help. Oregon grape root/alpha lipoic acid/Cr/Mg/Ceylon cinnamon may lower blood sugar. Progesterone may help lower blood sugar and make cortisol. I need estriol/progesterone/testosterone. At menopause progesterone stops. I do EDTA/DMPS IV chelations to detox. Far Infrared Sauna may help detox. Hidden gluten may hurt. LDN/gluten enyzmes may help block hidden gluten. Nuts not sold in the shell/meat basting/some spices/air/certified gluten free/food with a label etc may have hidden gluten. Eating often helps adrenals, but low sugar/low fructose. Mild not hard exercise/good water/sunlight/love/pets/friends to talk with/ear acupuncture (top ear patch for acupuncture)/Zyto scan/electrodermal testing/hair tests for good minerals and heavy metals/ozone treatments for infections..... Asian/Celiac diet, I do dance which is slow mild exercise, music, laugh, avoid stressful relationships, some people are with narcissists that may burn out adrenals, codependents may burn themselves out helping people /perfectionists may not be able to be perfect any more/ TV etc may upset people. Death/divorce/break ups/jobs/over helping may hurt. Live a simple life/ask God to help/guide in how to help self/ go to bed before 10 pm/protein/good fats and more may help the adrenals. The hospital burned out my adrenals by taking away my supplements/thyroid medicine I had for 30 years and Vit B12 shot and bioidentical hormones. Antibiotics may hurt more than help. Antibiotics may hurt the gut lining/hurt mitochondria/lower the immune system/lower Mg and wipe out good bacteria in the large intestines. I got Lyme which hurt my adrenals/raised my blood sugar. The hospital hurt me even more, but I survived due to God allowing me to stay on this earth. Prevention is easier than cure. Drugs may hurt and not help. Natural help only may help. I can't take resveratol/flax/coconut oil/turmeric/olive oil/saturated/monounsaturate fat that clogs my blood vessels. Amour thyroid with Synthroid..not just Synthroid may help. Zinc/Se/enough iron/probiotic may help T4 convert to T3.

No gluten/dairy/soy/sugar/GMO/food with a label etc. and vitamins/good oils/ LDN and detoxing help me. Vit D3 5000IU, zinc 50mg if detoxing, 2000mg fish oil, 2000mg evening primrose oil. 2000 mg lecithin, Phosphatidylserine/DMAE, krill oil, CLA, Coenzyme Q10, Rhodiola, Mg citrate 400mg, Vit C, 5000mcg of biotin, Nature's Plus- Source of life multiple, HCl and Now brand- Super enzymes with meals, dairy free probiotic, Vit B12 methylcobalamin shot/spray/under the tongue kind/intrinsic factor kind, MTHF folate, coenyzme Q10, rhodiola, may help brain/body/thyroid/depression/immune system and more. Gluten is wheat/barley/rye/corn...oats has gluten with avenin...and there is a small amount of gluten in rice. GMO corn/soy/canola oil may hurt. Amour thyroid maybe needed since gluten may made antibodies to the thyroid. Coenzymated B vitamins far from synthetic kind make make me calm.

Sunlight (helps the immune system and helps to heal the gut lining),exercise, organic food, good water..not tap water, cooking by scratch pure food..... no food in a box/bag/premade/label/restaurant which may help avoid hidden gluten. Certified gluten free food may have 20ppm of gluten...too much. Nuts not sold in the shell/meat basting/some spices may have hidden gluten/food with a label and lotion/make up etc. One restaurant cooks special for me...rice/veg/tea/extra mushrooms (no meat since the woks may have MSG/gluten in them).

EDTA/DMPS IV chelations from an Alternative doctor, 600mg of cilantro, organic sulfur, Now brand- Detox support, Far Infrared Sauna and more may help detox. Hair tests show good minerals and heavy metals. Heavy metals can block thyroid and other chemical reactions in the body/brain.

LDN may help block hidden gluten/heal the gut lining and help the immune system, but the Celiac diet is still needed. 100% no gluten..no hidden or microscopic gluten may help. Cutting back on gluten or cheating by eating gluten hurts the immune system. It may take 1 1/2 months to heal the gut lining after getting hidden gluten. HCl and enzymes with meals and gluten enzymes help me. There are now gluten enzymes also a person may use that may help, but LDN helps block gluten in the air/on the skin and all day long.

Amour thyroid has some T3 and Calcitonin. Synthroid is only T4..may not convert to T3. Zn/Se/enough iron/strong probiotic may help convert T4 to T3 for thyroid.

Alternative doctors/chiropractors/acupuncturists and more may help with health/vitamins etc.
Books: No grain No Pain, Wheat Belly, Grain Brain, Dangerous Grains and The Autoimmune Fix and more explain Celiac.

Longer version:
[...]

Read more

38 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report
thatsbrilliant
Excellent read
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2024
Verified Purchase
As a holisitic nutrition practitioner I am always looking for new things to learn & deep dive into that can help my clients. This book checked all the boxes for me.

Liver detoxification is a new arena & focus for me in my work with my clients- I have had many clients asking me how to go about it, why it's important, & what it's benefits are. On a very simplified level I already knew these answers, BUT this book gave me critical research-based information that not only helps me understand this topic more thoroughly but also how to explain this more completely to my clients. It was not a "textbook" read, but an easy to understand read that I appreciated. This book is a great foundational read on the topic of liver detoxification & will be shelved will all my other important reference materials. I'll be referring to this text often as I prep workshops & classes & prepare for client appointments.

I highly recommend this great read for anyone interested in this topic.

Read more

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report
MCM
Mixed results but I'm not giving up yet!
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2015
Verified Purchase
I bought this book because I’ve been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue but am not currently under the care of a doctor who is knowledgeable about this condition so I have been trying to educate myself. I also have low thryoid function. I found the concept of carbohydrate-cycling to be quite intriguing and wish the book had a section explaining the biochemistry of it.

According to the book’s quiz I’m in the “crashed” phase of adrenal fatigue although quizzes tend to be one-size-fits-all and I’m not sure how accurate this is. I’m probably between “tire & wired” and “crashed”. I had a severe knee injury 2 years ago followed by surgery 3 months later and I think the physical stress was very challenging. I practise martial arts and do a lot of walking and go to the gym but am still not where I want to be in my knee rehab which is also stressful. The way I feel most days is not so much tired the way you feel when you haven’t slept long enough, but rather, sluggish. Yet I am always on the go. So I was keen to start on this eating plan.

I’ve been following the diet for 3 weeks now. I lost weight right away. I’m 5’6” and was above the weight where I’m comfortable – not really heavy at almost 126 but I had belly fat that I really wanted to get rid of. This has been going on for years, since I had children. I would put on weight and when I reached 126 I would start dieting – primarily by avoiding sugar and snack food. It usually took me 4-6 weeks to drop the weight. After 3 weeks on the adrenal re-set diet I’m down to 118 and could probably lose a few more pounds to get rid of the remaining belly fat. I have not yet achieved the “abundant energy” to which Dr. Christianson refers, but am hopeful that will change.

This is a great way to eat. I really needed help cutting down on sugar consumption. I had sworn off cookies and cake about 4 years ago but there are plenty of other vehicles for sugar including ice cream and candy. So, this diet has been a drastic change in that there is no added sugar in it. I love that I’m finally getting plenty of vegetables.

The one difficulty I’m having is with the morning meal. As others have summarized, the meal plan is “modular”: each meal has a serving of protein (about 25-30 grams, or about the size of the palm of your hand), and a serving of fat, and unlimited amounts of vegetables from a long list of possibilities. Breakfast has ¼ cup of healthy carbohydrates, lunch has ½ cup and dinner has ¾ cup (it is not addressed whether this is the same whether you’re male or female, tall or short, &c). This carbohydrate cycling is designed to match the needs of the body for different amounts of cortisol at different times of day (higher in the morning and lower in the evening). When insufficient carbs are available your body makes more cortisol and stores fuel as visceral fat rather than providing you with energy, so you feel tired. The book suggests that the easiest way to get your protein in the morning is as a “milk” shake, using protein powder made from animal or vegetable sources but not whey or soy. It’s suggested that a non-dairy base be used such as almond milk or flax seed milk. I don’t like protein powder or dairy substitutes like these. My usual breakfast for years has been a smoothie made with plain homemade yogurt, blueberries, frozen mango and bananas, fruit juice, as well as psyllium husk, cinnamon, ginger and a probiotic. I have a hard time swallowing pills so this has been a convenient way for me to take the few supplements that I take. On this diet I have continued my smoothie but have left the banana out because of its high glycemic index, and the mango as well, and the fruit juice, but I still use the yogurt. I add hemp protein powder but if I put the full serving in, it’s rather unpalatable. I also used to have a slice of gluten-free toast with almond butter, and now I leave out the toast and just have the almond butter. It’s filling, just kind of a slog to get through it.

Lunch and dinner are a different story. It’s very easy to eat according to the plan. Although I don’t like cooked kale, it’s great as a salad base if you put it in a food processor (no stems!) and chop it fine. I chop up a bunch of kale this way and put it in the fridge for several days of salads. I also peel and cut up a kabocha squash and chop it fine in the food processor and then stir fry it for about 8 minutes and store that to use for my healthy carb servings along with quinoa or brown rice. A salad of chopped chicken, kale, carrots, chopped cooked beets, nuts, and a bit of quinoa is something I really look forward to. A dinner stir-fry is easy too. Apart from my difficulty with breakfast, the diet isn’t as restrictive as it seems at first. If you’re used to cheesey casseroles it is a big change, but meat and vegetables and starch is a pretty traditional meal. Take a look at Mastering the Art of French Cooking and you’ll find a lot of wonderful recipes that fit the plan just fine. It can take a while to figure out how to make this eating plan work for you, especially if you have children with different eating habits. But planning ahead gets a lot easier as you get more used to what kinds of foods you can cook ahead and combine to make good meals. The first week I was hungry a lot because I was still figuring out what amounts I was supposed to eat and didn’t always get it right.

It’s not an inexpensive way to eat, since you’re supposed to use organic ingredients to reduce your intake of toxins. Major supermarkets tend to have a line of organic foods or natural/no antibiotics/no hormones foods and I’ve gotten a lot of such meat on sale. Also, it is noted in the book that it’s better to eat non-organic healthy types of food than not eat any. If you’re a vegetarian you’re pretty much the poor cousin here because the only suggestions in the recipes are to substitute protein powder, tempeh or beans (which is going to change the carbohydrate ratios so I don’t know what to make of that) for the meat.

A few omissions that are disappointing: dairy and eggs are referred to as “toxic proteins” meaning they are not completely digested. It isn’t clear to me whether these foods are incompletely digested by everyone or just some people. This isn’t well discussed. Also peanuts are not even mentioned in the book and I would like to know why. Perhaps because they are vulnerable to the growth of moulds that produce aflotoxins. Some years ago I was tested for a bunch of food sensitivities. Eggs came up as a mild sensitivity and peanuts as a moderate sensitivity. I’ve never noticed a difficulty with peanuts – I adore peanut butter and have consumed mountains of it over the years (the natural kind, no hydrogenation or sugar). I’ve substituted almond butter of late but can’t see not eating it ever again. I also can’t see never eating chocolate – dark chocolate is supposed to be good for you. Where was I? Oh yeah, toxic proteins. I do not have a dairy sensitivity and although I’ve cut a lot of out I still eat my homemade yogurt. I feel there are a number of babies thrown out with the bathwater in this eating plan.

As I say I have not yet overcome my fatigue (who knows, it could be due to some other health issue). The one thing I have noticed: I have to spend a fair amount of time in an animal care facility as part of my job and my forearms would always break out in a rash. This hasn’t happened since I started this diet. Maybe it’s unrelated, but since the diet is designed to reduce inflammation-inducing foods it shouldn’t be surprising. And if it is related, it’s kind of cool. I also noticed that whereas I slept pretty well before, my sleep has not been so good on this diet. I tried increasing my carbohydrate intake by just a bit in the evening and then slept a lot better. So perhaps you should be open to tweaking things here and there to find what works best for you. But the best part so far is the weight loss and the knowledge that the changes I’ve made in the way I eat are very good ones. I would like to continue to eat this way and after a few months hope to see more positive changes. And at that point I fully intend to eat some of the things I like that are not part of the diet, but just occasionally.

Finally I should mention that I have yet to set my mind seriously to the other important part of the adrenal reset, namely to shift my sleeping habits so that I’m going to bed earlier and getting sufficient rest. The book has a lot of good suggestions about meditation and mindfulness, and about one’s attitude about the stressors in one’s life (I would recommend another book related to this subject: Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman). This is a hugely important component of Christianson’s book, which I’ve given short shrift since I haven’t really approached it yet.

Read more

303 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Ingrid
Muy interesante
Reviewed in Spain on January 4, 2024
Verified Purchase

Muy interesante aunque hace algunas afirmaciones algo peligrosas si no se tiene mucho conocimiento de nutrición o de salud.

Read more
Report
Translate review to English
Vanshika Slathia
Worth it
Reviewed in India on August 17, 2023
Verified Purchase
Love it

Read more
Report
Ln Drbc
Difficult to evaluate
Reviewed in France on November 4, 2020
Verified Purchase
After following this diet for about 2 weeks I didn't notice any changes and quit. May be my adrenals weren't so bad after all.

Read more
Report
danipr85
Bel libro! Good book!
Reviewed in Italy on September 1, 2019
Verified Purchase
Un libro chiaro e dettagliato! Utile da avere nella propria biblioteca! Forse poche ricette soprattutto se si preferisce una colazione con alimenti e non con shaker!

Good and clear book! It's useful for your own library!
Peraphs few recipes for breakfast expecial if you don't want shake!

Read more
Report
Translate review to English
Chris
Must have book for understanding your adrenals
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2019
Verified Purchase
This book has been so enlightening! The author does a great job in explaining our body's natural adrenal 'rhythm' and exactly what to do in terms of diet, exercise and sleep to get you back on track quickly. For me, there's a little over-emphasis on how the reset diet assists with weight loss and not enough attention paid to adrenal disfunction as they affect slim people like me. I product too much cortisol and suffer in the mornings for it, mainly due to stress reasons.
This causes considerable blood sugar disturbances and this well explained. Now I know that I should be eating low carbs in the morning but higher carbs with my evening meal. In fact, the advice goes for anyone regardless of the fact of having adrenal issues or not. Probably the best book I've read on the subject and I keep coming back to it to remind myself. Recommended.

Read more
Report

Follow the author

The Adrenal Reset Diet: Strategically Cycle Carbs and Proteins to Lose Weight, Balance Hormones, and Move from Stressed to Thriving Kindle Edition

Customers who bought this item also bought

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Product details

Videos

About the author

Alan Christianson

Customer reviews

Review this product

Customers say

Select to learn more

Images in this review

Reviews with images

Book not printed correctly

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.

5.0 out of 5 stars Adrenal Reset Diet by Alan Christianson NMD

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read

4.0 out of 5 stars Mixed results but I'm not giving up yet!

Top reviews from other countries

4.0 out of 5 stars Muy interesante

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth it

3.0 out of 5 stars Difficult to evaluate

5.0 out of 5 stars Bel libro! Good book!

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have book for understanding your adrenals

Report an issue

Adrenal Reset Diet by Alan Christianson NMD

Excellent read

Mixed results but I'm not giving up yet!

Muy interesante

Worth it

Difficult to evaluate

Bel libro! Good book!

Must have book for understanding your adrenals