Why Am I Always So Tired?: Discover How Correcting Your Body's Copper Imbalance Can * Keep Your Body From Giving Out Before Your Mind Does *Free You from Those Midday Slumps * Give You the Energy Breakthrough You've Been Looking For

by Ann Louise Gittleman

Overview

"This may well be a seminal book—a courageous eye-opener that could fundamentally alter our approach to the treatment of chronic fatigue."

— From the foreword by Michael Rosenbaum, M.D.

Answering the question on the minds of 75 percent of Americans, Why Am I Always So Tired?, leading nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman shows us how we canbe more alert and active by eliminating excess copper in our diets and increasing our zinc intake. The time-tested formula points out which culprits steal energyfrom us—namely trendy, low-fat diets—that make otherwise healthy people feel drained.

This revolutionary book offers Gittleman's insights into how we can modify our diets and lifestyles to increase our energy and prevail over the chronic fatigue thatplagues us with symptoms such as: anxiety, insomnia, skin problems, frequentcolds, and roller-coaster emotions. Using her research and breakthroughfindings, Gittleman helps us eliminate these problems and access the energywe didn't know we had.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062515940
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/22/1999
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Ann Louise Gittlemanis an award-winning author of thirty books and a highly respected health pioneer. She has appeared on 20/20, Dr. Phil, The View, Good Morning America, Extra!, Good Day New York, CNN, PBS, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CBN, FOX News, and the BBC. Her work has been featured in national publications including Time; Newsweek; Harper's Bazaar; O, The Oprah Magazine; Seventeen; Fitness; Cosmopolitan; Parade; USA Weekend; Woman's World; the New York Times; and the Los Angeles Times. Gittleman has been recognized as one of the top ten nutritionists in the country by Self magazine and has received the American Medical Writers Association award for excellence.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Uncovering the Copper Connection to Fatigue

More than a decade ago, I was beside myself with frustration in my nutrition counseling career. I couldn't get to the bottom of a mystery-the mystery of Why a significant number of my clients were always so tired. I was determined to help my clients feel better, so I offered them all types of cutting-edge nutrition advice that I believed would help their energy. No matter what I tried, though, many of my clients continued to experience fatigue. This perplexed me. Becoming increasingly frustrated, I searched high and low for answers.

Fatigue is a national epidemic. Eighty percent of Americans report feeling tired most of the time. Fatigue also is a major public health problem, when you consider how it impacts our lives. When we're tired, we find ourselves less productive at work and less able to accomplish what we want to accomplish. We bow out of things we love to do with the ones we love simply because we're too exhausted. We also become irritable and depressed and unpleasant to be around. As energy doctor Michael Rosenbaum, M.D., is fond of saying, "No one is dying of fatigue, but everyone is suffering from it."

I really wanted to help my clients so that they could enjoy more fulfilled and productive lives, so I approached the fatigue problem as any health practitioner would: I looked first to all the accepted causes. Fatigue can develop because of a wide variety of factors-both medical and nutritional in nature. These include medical conditions such as hypothyroidism (low thyroid function), anemia, and depression, as well as lifestyle factors such as inadequate sleep and lack of propernutrition. I found that some of the clients who consulted me did indeed have one or more of these underlying medical conditions, but even when such problems were medically or nutritionally treated, most of my clients still didn't find themselves regaining their vim and vigor. Disappointed and baffled, I kept asking myself why.

In numerous other cases, there was no apparent reason that my clients should be fatigued. In assessing these clients, I ruled out common medical causes and looked further to diet and lifestyle. (I usually can quickly identify unhealthy eating and lifestyle habits that undermine energy levels, because I've been a nutritionist for more than 20 years.) But I didn't see any of the obvious mistakes that many people make. The men and women who came to see me were intelligent and health-conscious; they were doing virtually everything right-eating nutritious, light meals frequently, taking broad-spectrum nutrient supplements, and trying to get enough sleep and rest. Some were meditating or practicing stress reduction on a daily basis. Yet in spite of all their efforts, they inexplicably felt sapped of energy. I wasn't quite sure what to tell them. I offered them a wide variety of up-to-date nutrition advice that I thought would help their energy level, but none of my suggestions worked. This confounded me, testing my ability as a nutritionist, so I kept searching for solutions.

After much investigation and analysis, I eventually discovered that the answer to my clients' fatigue didn't involve any of the wellaccepted causes: it was a case of simple nutritional imbalance. If I'd known where to look during those early years of frustrated searching, the nutritional imbalance that was behind so much of my clients' fatigue would have been relatively easy to detect and correct. (You'll learn how you can do that for yourself later in this book.) But I didn't look in the right places, at least not initially. Like many practitioners, I based my advice on my nutrition education, my medical knowledge and interpretation of standard medical tests, and my ability to stay on top of the results of the latest scientific research. These skills didn't help me uncover the answer, however. To crack the code of the missing link to fatigue, I had to follow my gut instincts, use an unconventional diagnostic tool, and analyze the clinical picture that presented itself among the clients in my practice. The following case studies will show you how that picture unfolded in three clients--a picture that spurred me on to find a common, unsuspected, and easily treatable cause of fatigue.

WHEN TREATING HYPOTHYROIDISM DIDN'T BOOST ENERGY

Jennifer

Jennifer, a 31-year-old advertising copywriter, told me when she came into my office that she was exhausted-and she looked it. "I think there's some reason why I'm so tired, but I've seen five different doctors and been tested for everything from anemia to the Epstein-Barr virus. All of the tests have showed up negative," she said, her voice cracking. "Some of the doctors I've seen have insinuated that I might be a hypochondriac. I don't think I am, but I'm starting to wonder."

I could see the desperation in her face and hear it in her voice as she talked slowly and methodically. I asked her to tell me more about her fatigue and the other symptoms she was experiencing. "Well, I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, " she said ' "and I need several cups of coffee to feel even somewhat alive. It seems as if my body is always cold and my skin is dry, no matter how much moisturizer I put on it. I've also been steadily gaining weight over the last several years, and I'm frequently constipated. I'm also often depressed, but I think my depression stems from feeling so tired and lousy."

After hearing Jennifer's story, I deduced that one of her problems might be low thyroid function, which is a common cause of fatigue. She told me she'd had standard thyroid profile tests run many times, and they'd all come out normal.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	Foreword	xi
	Preface	xiii
Part I	Searching for Answers To Fatigue
1	Uncovering the Copper Connection to Fatigue	3
	When Treating Hypothyroidism Didn't Boost Energy: Jennifer	5
	When Treating Anemia Didn't Boost Energy: Ellen	7
	When No Medical Cause for Fatigue Could Be Found: Joyce	8
	Seeing the Consistent Pattern	9
	Trying to Make Sense of the Pattern	10
2	Basics of Copper and Copper Overload	13
	The Importance of Copper-Zinc Balance	15
	The Many Ways Copper-Zinc Imbalance Can Cause Fatigue	15
	Copper Overload: The Traditional View	17
	Copper Overload: The Enlightened View	17
	Similarities Between Copper and Iron	18
3	Unsuspected Dietary Factors Behind Fatigue	21
	Anna, the Low-Fat, High-Carbohydrate Advocate	21
	The Trouble with Low-Fat, High-Carbohydrate Diets	22
	Celeste, the Natural-Food Enthusiast	23
	The Trouble with Many Natural-Food Diets	24
	Penny, the Lacto-Vegetarian	26
	The Trouble with Lacto-Vegetarian Diets	27
	Dee, the Vegan	28
	The Trouble with Vegan Diets	29
	Jan, the Overdieter	30
	The Trouble with Overdieting	31
	The Growing Problem of Zinc Deficiency	32
	Food for Thought about "Light" Diets	34
4	Copper Culprits and Environmental Factors That Can Contribute to Fatigue	37
	A Survey of Environmental Copper	37
	Commonly Used Drugs as Copper Culprits	39
	Heredity as a Factor in Copper Overload	40
	When Our Copper Load Is Too Great	41
	Jane	41
5	Stress, Burnout, and Blood Sugar Imbalance	43
	The Stress Connection to High Copper and Low Zinc	43
	The Adrenal Connection to Copper Imbalance	44
	The Misunderstood Condition of Adrenal Burnout	45
	The Blood Sugar Blues	47
	Linda	49
6	More Than Fatigue: The Copper Connection to Various Health Problems	53
	My Story	53
	Anxiety, Racing Mind, Panic Attacks, and Insomnia	55
	Roller-Coaster Emotions	56
	Skin Problems	57
	Yeast Overgrowth	58
	Premenstrual Syndrome	58
	Immune System Disorders	59
	Melissa's Story	60
Part II	Treating Your Fatigue at the Source: Reversing Copper Overload
7	Testing for the Copper Connection to Your Fatigue	65
	Blood Tests	66
	Urinalysis	67
	Tissue Mineral Analysis	67
	Hidden Copper Overload	69
	The Importance of Assessing Symptoms and Indicators	70
	Copper Overload Questionnaire	71
	Understanding the Indicators	72
	Trusting Your Intuition	76
8	Basics of the Energy-Revitalizing Diet	77
	Protein	77
	Carbohydrates	81
	Fats	87
	Seasonings	90
	Cookware	90
	Flavored Beverages	90
	Water	91
9	Following the Energy-Revitalizing Diet	93
	Brief List of Foods to Avoid and Emphasize	93
	One-Week Sample Menu Plan	94
	Zinc-Rich Recipes	97
	Tips for Following the Energy-Revitalizing Diet at Home	99
	Tips for Following the Energy-Revitalizing Diet When Eating Out	101
	Personalizing the Energy-Revitalizing Diet	103
10	The Complete Program for Conquering Copper Overload and Rebuilding Energy	109
	The Four-Part Approach to Reversing Copper Overload	109
	Putting Your Supplement Program Together	116
	Copper Dumps: Potholes on the Road to Recovery	119
	A Final Word on Getting Well	121
11	Maintaining High Energy and Preventing Future Copper Overload	123
	Fine-Tuning Your Savvy	124
	Monitoring Your Status with Periodic Checkups	126
	Maintaining Good Reserves of Nutrients	128
	Developing a Flexible Wellness Program	128
	Afterword	131
Appendix A	Examples of Copper Levels on Tissue Mineral Analysis Charts	133
Appendix B	Testing Your Water with a Home Water-Testing Kit	139
Appendix C	Recommended Amounts of Nutrients in a Copper-Free Multiple	141
Appendix D	Recommended Daily Allowances for Copper and Zinc	143
Appendix E	Amounts of Copper and Zinc in Various Common Foods	145
	Resources	155
	Selected References	159