“Those who do not find a little time each day for their health will have to sacrifice a lot of time one day for their illness.”
Sébastian Kneipp.
Hello, young Padawan
A tired body is not to be taken lightly because it is not normal to be tired if your lifestyle is correct. By correct, I mean that you are not perfect, but that you are in the basics, namely that you eat fruits and vegetables every day and several times a day, that you take it easy on sugar and fat, that you waddle a minimum (the famous 5000 steps a day, ed), that you try to sleep as much as possible, given your job and the age of your children for example, and that you avoid screens from 8 p.m. Yes, I’m a screen ayatollah, lol, but try to stick to chats, music, and books from the moment you get home from work, and you will be amazed at how much your sleep will have improved, if only in a week’s trial.
Despite this, do you remain tired, stressed, gloomy, overworked, and have trouble getting up in the morning? You may have exhausted your adrenals, these glands that rest on your kidneys and are the hormonal conductor (along with, among others, your thyroid, ed) of your mood and vitality. Indeed, the adrenal glands synthesize and release hormones into the blood, such as adrenaline and cortisol. Yes, the famous cortisol, a stress hormone that is found in too large quantities in most Westerners, and which is also, by the way, hyperglycemic (for more information, you can click on this article here for the role of cortisol, and here about its role in blood sugar levels, ed).
Adrenal fatigue is quite widespread in our Western world, since between stress, crazy lives with abnormal rhythms, screens, the most gloomy ambient societal mood, personal worries, etc., I even want to tell you that it wouldn’t be normal to be otherwise, but fortunately, there are simple solutions to give yourself a helping hand.
You know it if you’re a regular on the blog, but remineralization is one of the essentials for our hormonal and especially adrenal health. Today, we are going to talk about a simple ingredient to use since it is good on everything and with everything, excellent for health and easily found, free if you are a little resourceful, as long as you have a garden, a forest not far away (be careful of exhaust pipes and animal urine, collect them in non-polluted places, ed) or at worst, cheap in an organic store or an herbalist near you: this is the nettle seed.
Thanks to the nettle seeds, your endive salad tastes slightly nutty.
Nettle seeds
With a slight botanical taste when green and a nutty taste when dry and turning brown, nettle seeds are a natural ally for your health in general and for the health of your adrenals in particular.
Rich in vitamins A, C, and E, they are excellent antioxidants, but not only.
Very rich in minerals, proteins, and unsaturated essential fatty acids, this superfood is recommended in cases of fatigue, overwork, and stress because it restores the kidneys and the adrenal glands, in particular. Yes, you read that right.
According to Ovid, a Latin poet who lived at the time of the birth of the Roman Empire, combined with pepper, they would be aphrodisiacs. I’ll let you do the test, and keep us informed.
And it’s great with a little vegetable or sheep’s yogurt, too!
How to use them?
One tablespoon a day for several months, depending on your level of exhaustion. Three months is enough time to see if you notice a difference. You can then take a break and start again in the fall or when you feel tired again.
You can sprinkle them in salads, on fish, soups, aperitif toasts, and yogurts, and in energizing pearls (I have three snack recipes here, here, and there on the blog without nettle seeds in the list of ingredients, but you just need to add a little to the recipe. A tablespoon will not change the final result, ed).
The main thing is to use them raw, ground or not; it depends on whether you are a chewer or a gobbler. If you chew less than ten times before swallowing, buy a mortar and pestle and make nettle seed powder.
There you go; I hope this little article on nettle seeds will bear fruit (easy pun!). Nettle is a true superfood that is free and accessible to all, and its seeds are a pure treasure for adrenal health. If you have nettles in your garden, you can also add them to your vegetable juices using a juice extractor to help with your body’s remineralization. Everything is good in the nettle.
I wish you an Olympic mood—it’s coming soon—a great weekend, and see you next Friday!
XO 🌱
Sources :
Guide de la phytothérapie, Dr Jörg Grünwald et Christof Jancke, ed Marabout.
Guérir par l’alimentation, selon Hildegarde de Bingen, Wighard Strehlow, Marthe Mensa, ed du Rocher.
Ma bible des aliments qui soignent, Alix Relief-Delcourt, ed Leduc.
EPSN, naturopathy school in Lausanne, Switzerland.
