The adrenal fatigue cocktail: 3 recipes & benefits

Long before it was a wellness trend, I was making an adrenal cocktail to help nourish my adrenals and heal my hormones. If you’re new here, my husband is a functional medicine doctor so when I learned that I was deep in the trenches of stage 4 adrenal fatigue, I went all in with natural remedies—especially food.

I began focusing on balancing my blood sugar and prioritizing nutrient-dense foods. To help boost energy and replenish mineral stores (SO necessary for healing adrenal fatigue) I sipped on a yummy mid-day mocktail. Enter the infamous adrenal cocktail. In this article, I’m going to share 3 adrenal fatigue cocktail recipes and the benefits, plus the adrenal mocktail I’m drinking most these days (hint: it has nothing to do with OJ).

Top Tips for Eating/Consuming for Adrenal Fatigue

1. Electrolyte balance and proper hydration: when you have adrenal fatigue, the hormone aldosterone (produced by the adrenals) is lagging. Aldosterone is responsible for balancing electrolytes and keeping the body properly hydrated. That means we need to replenish the adrenals with electrolytes and deep hydration so that we
2. Mineral replenishment: creating adrenal hormones requires a ton of minerals and nutrients. Unfortunately, many of us are deficient in essential minerals.
3. Balanced meals: balanced meals that contain protein, healthy fat, fiber, and complex carbohydrates are essential for healthy blood sugar levels and hormone regulation—which is necessary for optimally functioning adrenals.

What is the Adrenal Cocktail?

Spoiler: the adrenal cocktail isn’t actually a cocktail—but rather an elixir of three key nutrients: potassium, vitamin C, and sodium. These are essential in maintaining and improving adrenal health, hormone balance, and proper electrolyte balance.

While some adrenal cocktail recipes vary (we’ll be discussing 3), most of them have some combination of orange juice, coconut water, and sea salt.

Some recipes will add cream of tartar for more potassium or collagen for protein and joint health—while others will add magnesium for stress and regularity and canned coconut cream for blood sugar balance (a personal fav).

It’s a simple yet super effective way to lessen the symptoms of adrenal fatigue and help support adrenal glands, adrenal hormones (like cortisol levels), and overall adrenal health.

If you are suffering with chronic stress and chronic fatigue, I encourage you to try it! When made correctly, you can bring electrolyte, hormone levels, and minerals back to optimal levels and balance.

Let’s take a deeper look into the ingredients of the adrenal fatigue cocktail, and why they work.

Fresh Citrus Juice

Orange juice (or grapefruit/lemon juice) is loaded with vitamin C and it’s a refreshing and energizing source of simple carbohydrates.

When you are stressed (root cause of adrenal fatigue) your adrenal glands use up a ton of vitamin C—the vitamin in charge of regulating cortisol production.

Vitamin C also has potent antioxidant properties that help protect against oxidative stress and inflammation and boost immunity.

When struggling with adrenal fatigue, inflammation is up and immunity is down. That’s why two of the top supplements I recommend when healing from adrenal fatigue is an immune support supplement and stress support.

Coconut Water

Coconut water is ridiculously hydrating. It’s loaded with minerals and nutrients that most of us aren’t getting nearly enough of like potassium and manganese as well as smaller amounts of magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, and copper. Your adrenal glands go coo-coo for coconut water.

Coconut Cream

Coconut cream is a rich source of B vitamins (amazing for adrenal health!!), vitamin C (also amazing as we’ve learned), vitamin E, and minerals like iron, selenium, sodium, calcium, phosphorous, and magnesium.

The bonus to coconut cream is that has a relatively high fiber content and is and amazing healthy fat source. Both fiber and fat are essential for blood sugar regulation and hormone balance. As you’ll learn, I personally am a fan of adding coconut cream to my adrenal cocktail for a more well-balanced drink. Plus, it makes your cocktail taste like a creamsicle! Childhood memories activated.

Salt

Adding a large pinch of high quality salt like Celtic or himalayan salt (my favorite is Redmond real salt), you’re adding a ton of essential minerals and electrolytes that are vital for blood pressure, energy production, and adrenal function.

Cream of Tartar

Some people like to add cream of tartar for an extra addition of potassium. A large pinch of this will do. I personally don’t add cream of tartar, but do whatever feels right for you.

Collagen/Protein Powder

This was a game changer for me. Not only did adding collagen add protein for super-balanced mid-day pick-me-up, it also elevated the taste and started healing adrenal fatigue at the root: gut issues.

Collagen is a great way to rebuild gut lining integrity. Oftentimes, people with adrenal fatigue also struggle with digestive issues, IBS, leaky gut, and food allergies. Adding in collagen will help fight these issues at the root.

I created our Beauty Collagen Complex to go beyond that though. Our collagen contains clinically-proven collagen peptides as well as adaptogens to fight stress and foster a more resilient stress response. Yup, it’s your adrenal glands dream.

Plus—it’s a delicious vanilla honey flavors (sans sugar) so that it uplevels the adrenal cocktail taste to 11.

What is the best time to drink the Adrenal Cocktail?

Most of my clients drink their adrenal cocktail mid-morning or in the afternoon between 2-4. This is because when you suffer from adrenal fatigue you have major energy dips mid-morning and the all-too-common afternoon slump.

The goal here is to replace your mid-day caffeine or stimulant with this caffeine free, adrenal fatigue treatment alternative.

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s get into the fun stuff: adrenal cocktail recipe for adrenal burnout.

Adrenal Fatigue Cocktail Recipes

The Classic

Ingredients

2 cups of coconut water

2 oranges, peeled and squeezed

1/4 teaspoon of himalayan salt or redmonds real salt

Directions

1. Place all ingredients into a cup and mix well

Blended and Balanced Creamsicle

Ingredients

1 cup of orange juice (preferably fresh-squeezed)

1 cup of coconut water

2-3 tablespoons of coconut cream from the

Optional: 1 scoop of Beauty Collagen Complex

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Option to serve over ice or add ice to blender!

Sparkling Pick Me Up

Ingredients 

1/2 cup of coconut water or coconut milk

1/2 cup of orange juice

1/2 cup of sparkling water

squeeze of lemon

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Directions

1. Place all ingredients except sparkling water in a glas and stir to combine

2. Top with sparkling water and serve over ice

This is a fun recipe for when you are feeling a little fancy and like you need an extra pick me up. Bonus if you serve it in a cocktail class.

The New & Improved Adrenal Fatigue Cocktail:

Whether you hate orange juice or just hate mixing and crafting in the kitchen (no shame) I have great news for you. Sometimes it’s hard to feel motivated, this is especially true with adrenal fatigue! So getting all the classic cocktail ingredients can be a burden. I know it was for me when I was healing. That’s why I came up with something even more delicious, nutrient dense, and energizing.

Our Hydration Superfood Energy powder is loaded with B vitamins, electrolytes, potassium, minerals, and antioxidants, for gentle cleansing, deep hydration, and all-natural energy. One scoop in water and you’re set for a delicious day of energy and underground healing.I hope this article has helped you understand why the adrenal fatigue cocktail is such a wellness trend right now, and why it may be staying around.

When dealing with adrenal fatigue it’s so important to deeply nourish yourself for healthy adrenal gland function. Let me know which recipe you are most excited to try. To get the Superfood Supplements I talked about today like Beauty Collagen Complex and Hydration Superfood Energy, go here.