One of the fastest ways we can reduce our uncomfortable symptoms of menopause during midlife is to support our adrenal health.
Our adrenal glands are two tiny glands sat on top of our kidneys that are responsible for producing cortisol as part of our stress response and also producing our juicy hormones estrogen, testosterone and progesterone.
During the hormonal change of peri-menopause, the baton for producing our sex hormones is passed from our ovaries to our adrenal glands, which are responsible for drip feeding us low levels of our juicy hormones to protect our health and well-being.
Problems arise in this process is women are experiencing chronic stress and our adrenal glands are already flat out producing cortisol.
Stress, is created in the body by our thoughts and feelings, poorly managed blood sugar, low-level infection, over-exercising, under-eating, toxic or inauthentic relationships, poor nutrition or nutritional deficiencies, caffeine and alcohol. AND let’s face it, the world is currently an unsafe, toxic and stressful place to live for women with empathy and a sense of justice.
Many of us feel our bodies fall off a hormonal cliff in our mid-forties as our adrenal glands do not have the capacity to pick up the baton from our ovaries. We feel exhausted but cannot sleep through the night, we are anxious all the time and mortified about weight gain around our middle, the classic symptom of excess cortisol in the body. We have brain fog, feel achy in our shoulders, feet and hips, wake up in the morning feeling drained and overwhelmed by our daily schedule and crave carbs and sugar or subsist on caffeine and alcohol. It really does feel like it is all downhill from here.
We need to address our chronic stress and pronto because excess cortisol in our bodies is damaging to our metabolic, brain, heart and bone health.
One of the tools we can use is dense nutrition that specifically nourishes our adrenal health.
Our adrenals love fat, salt and vitamin C to function. If you have been on a the low fat/no fat bandwagon for part of your life as a strategy to lose weight you have been starving your adrenal glands of nutrition.
These bars are designed to offer our adrenal health all the healthy fats they could wish for in a crunchy, salty and chocolaty treat.
Switch out bagels, cookies, doughnuts, ice-cream and muffins, to indulge in a snack that is going to leave you satiated and deeply nourished. Unpacking diet culture to deeply nourish our bodies in midlife is going to save our adrenal health and reduce our symptoms of menopause. Let’s get into the nutritional details!
The nuts and seeds in this bar are a rich source of minerals to support our thyroid health and shore up nutritional deficiencies.
Ground flax and chia seeds provide fibre and omega 3 fatty acids to the body.
Almond butter is packed with vitamin E for great skin and vaginal health and to support your cardiovascular system.
All of these ingredients are rich in our relaxation mineral magnesium in which 70% of the population is deficient if eating the modern American diet, drinking alcohol and coffee and taking medications as they deplete magnesium from the body.
The bars are sweetened with dates which are rich in iron, provide fibre and protect our nervous system with the B group of vitamins.
I topped these bars with dark chocolate to add more magnesium and iron and as chocolate has been shown in clinical trials to boost serotonin, our happy neurotransmitter, in the brain. Whats not to love about that!
Make batch of these bars and freeze to defrost and enjoy whenever you feel your energy flagging or your joy depleting.
Ingredients
11/2 cups pitted raw dates
1/2 cup crunchy almond butter
1/2 cup chopped raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup chopped raw walnuts
1/2 cup chopped Brazil nuts
2 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp ground flax
2 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp local raw runny honey
1 cup melted dark organic chocolate chips
Instructions
Add all the ingredients, apart from the chocolate into a food processor and blend until combined and formed into a sticky ball.
Line a 9”x9” pan with parchment paper.
Using hands dampened with water, press the date ball into the pan. The water on you hands stops them from sticking to the date bars.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water or gently in the microwave.
Spread the chocolate evenly over the date mix and place the the pan in the freezer for 30 minutes to set.
remove the bars from the freezer and cut into 12 squares.
Enjoy these salty, nutty and chocolaty bars with a cup of tea when you feel your energy flagging or eat them as desert after a meal. Know you are deeply nourishing your body with healthy fats, fibre and minerals to support your adrenal health.