Digestive Enzymes for Fighting Fatigue
Many women with fatigue have poor digestive
function. Taking digestive enzymes with each meal helps you digest
protein and can improve your energy levels. Recommended enzymes
include: Pancreatin, one or two 300-500 mg tablets four times daily,
apart from meals. Bromelain, 500 mg with meals (Note that if you’re
taking bromelain to fight inflammation, you should take it apart
from meals. Don’t exceed 4,000 mg daily.) Papain, 100 mg with meals
Amino Acids for
Fighting Fatigue
Tyrosine
This
versatile amino acid supports the health of female hormones, the
thyroid, and the brain. In the thyroid, it combines with iodine
to form the hormone thyroxine, which control the rate at which your
body converts and burns fuel. When combined with B vitamins, L-tyrosine
helps fuel the conversion of energizing neurotransmitters (norepinephrine
and dopamine) in the brain. An abundant supply of these key neurotransmitters
helps you cope with stress, keeps you mentally alert, restores your
libido, and gives you physical stamina. Tyrosine deficiency has
been associated with digestive problems in using or absorbing protein.
Recommended daily intake: 500-1,500
mg in the form of L-tyrosine, taken with a meal high in carbohydrates.
Phenylalanine
Tyrosine
is actually manufactured from another amino acid called phenylalanine.
Recommended daily intake: 500-2,000
mg. Start at the low end and increase gradually.
L-carnitine
This amino acid helps transport the fatty acids your body uses as
fuel into the mitochondria of your cells, where they are burned
to generate energy. Your body does not produce adequate levels of
L-carnitine—you have to get it from your diet. If you’re like many
women, you probably don’t have enough of this key nutrient because
your dietary intake is insufficient (it’s found in the muscle tissue
of animals), or you’re producing fewer digestive enzymes and aren’t
absorbing and assimilating it from your food fully.
Recommended daily intake: 1,500-2,000
mg
Coenzyme Q10
This bioflavonoid is produced in your body, providing the biochemical
“spark” that converts fatty acids into energy inside the mitochondria.
Your ability to produce coenzyme Q10 diminishes over time. In fact,
by the time you reach age 50, your blood level of coenzyme Q10 is
about half what it was when you were 21
Recommended daily
intake: 50-150 mg
Adequate levels of essential fatty acids
in your diet are very important in preventing such energy-sapping
conditions as PMS, menopause, emotional upsets, allergies, and lowered
resistance.
Herbs
Many herbs can help relieve the
symptoms and treat the causes of fatigue. Some provide an additional
source of essential nutrients that help relax tension and ease anxiety.
Others have mild anti-infective and hormonal properties in addition
to their nutritional content, helping combat fatigue-causing viruses
and fungi.
Fatigue and depression. Try St. John’s
wort, oat straw, ginger, ginkgo, licorice root, dandelion root,
and Siberian ginseng.
Anxiety, irritability and insomnia.
Women suffering from anxiety, irritability, and insomnia often find
their fatigue getting worse because of emotional stress and sleep
deprivation. The following herbs can help: kava, passion flower,
valerian root, chamomile, peppermint
Fatigue syndrome, Candida infections,
and allergies. Women with fatigue symptoms caused by severe
immune dysfunction may initially have difficulty using any herbs
at all because their bodies are too weak. In this event, start with
aloe vera and peppermint. Once you’re stronger, you may use other
herbs that help boost energy, vitality and strengthen your immune
system. These include: garlic, echinacea, and goldenseal.
Menopause, PMS, hypothyroidism. Many
plants are good sources of estrogen, the hormone that helps control
hot flashes in menopausal women. They include: dong quai,
black cohosh, blue cohosh, unicorn root, false unicorn root, fennel,
anise, sarsaparilla, and wild yam root. Women with PMS may benefit
from herbs that relieve mood swings and anxiety, such as valerian
root or passionflower, and those that directly reduce fatigue and
depression, such as ginger root, ginkgo, and dandelion. Read more
about menopause and PMS.
Anemia and heavy, irregular menstrual
bleeding. Plants that contain bioflavonoids help strengthen
capillaries and prevent heavy, irregular menstrual bleeding. These
include: red clover and hawthorn. Read more about anemia,
and irregular menstrual bleeding.
Banishing Fatigue
Through Nutrition
Vitamins for
Fighting Fatigue