The Whole View, Episode 446: Nutrient Deficiencies Caused by Stress
Welcome back to episode 446! (0:28)

This show is a direct follow-up to last week, where Stacy and Sarah talked about supplementing while on AIP and the philosophies that couple different strategies together.

In that episode, Sarah mentioned certain nutrients, such as Magnesium and Vitamin C, which depleted during times of chronic stress.

Paleovalley also has a great Central C Complex, a great source of Vitamin C, and they agreed to sponsor this show!

Stacy shares that she uses many products from Paleovalley and highly recommends this brand because they make their products from Whole Foods.

Studies have shown that supplementing with Vitamin C can support a healthy stress response, which in turn can help improve sleep, regulate appetite, improve immune function, lower cardiovascular disease risk, improve depressive and anxiety symptoms, and even reduce migraine headaches! 

Nearly half of Americans aren't getting enough daily! Plus, infection, inflammation, and stress all increase our vitamin C needs.

Why PaleoValley?
Sarah and Stacy both love and regularly use Paleovalley products. (7:35) 

Paleovalley's complex uses three food-based vitamin C sources: unripe acerola cherry, camu camu berry, and amla berry. This means you get the full spectrum of nutrients, minerals, and bioflavonoids from Whole Foods. 

Food-based vitamin C has concurrent phytonutrients that make this type of vitamin C up to 2.5X more bioavailable.

Even though it's bioidentical to non-synthetic Vitamin C, many people with sensitivities to corn aren't able to take synthetic vitamin C. 

Paleovalley uses no synthetic (GMO corn-derived) vitamin C in their complex! Plus, there are no wonky fillers, and it uses a simple gelatin capsule.

Review of the Stress Response
Stacy expresses how excited she is for Sarah to get into what exactly she's been putting her body through all these years! (8:04)

Sarah and Stacy did a deep dive into how chronic stress impacts health in TPV Podcast Episode 351: Stress on Health.

A stressor is a chemical or biological agent, environmental condition, external stimulus, or event that activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) and releases stress hormones.

Stressors:

Physical (e.g., injury, a vigorous workout, sitting for prolonged periods, not getting enough sleep, extreme environmental temperatures)

Sensory (e.g., loud noises, too-bright lights, overcrowding)

Chemical (e.g., tobacco, alcohol, drugs, allergens)

Psychological (e.g., deadlines, traffic, bills, societal and family demands)


This is responsible for our fight-or-flight response caused by complex communication between three organs:

The hypothalamus: The part of the brain located just above the brain stem. It's responsible for the autonomic nervous sys­tem, such as regulating body temperature, hunger, thirst, fatigue, sleep, and circadian rhythms.

The pituitary gland: A pea-shaped gland located below the hypothalamus. It secretes hormones, such as thyroid-stimulating hormone, human growth hormone, and adreno­corticotropic hormone.

The adrenal glands: Small, conical organs on top of the kidneys. It secretes hormones, such as cortisol, epinephrine (also known as adren­aline), norepinephrine, and androgens.


This response helped our early ancestors pay closer attention, run away faster, or jumpstart healing in times of crisis.

It also reduces the effectiveness of bodily functions the body aren't crucial to survival in that moment, such as our digestive or reproduction systems.

Nutrient Deficiencies Caused by Stress in the Modern Era 
Sarah explains that the body doesn't differentiate between types of stress.

So when we experience acute stress over long periods, such as at our jobs or physical stress, our body is constantly shutting down those "non-necessary" functions because it's in chronic survival mode.

In modern life, when we never have a break from stress where our bod