Adrenal Cocktail, the Best Way to Start Your Day With Multiple Recipes!
Many people that I have coached need a pick-me-up in the morning, which is why coffee addiction is a real issue in our modern world. In most cities there is a Starbucks on every corner. Americans need their coffee more than ever to get through the day. If you have adrenal fatigue, caffeine might cause further issues over time. Is there any beverage to help support your adrenals in the morning? Consuming an adrenal cocktail in the morning properly regulates cortisol and aldosterone production, sustaining energy and adrenal function.
Why Is The Adrenal Cocktail Important for Health?
The adrenal cocktail is a popular morning drink that was developed by, Susan Blackard, NP, ND, Ph.D., at the Rejuvenation Health Center (Springfield, MO) and popularized by Morley Robbins. The original adrenal cocktail recipe included orange juice, potassium hydrogen tartrate, and salt. Orange juice was used in the recipe to provide vitamin C, which can blunt an elevated cortisol release (some people with adrenal fatigue have too much cortisol in the morning). The largest release of cortisol per human circadian rhythm begins around five to six in the morning and increases to a peak thirty minutes after waking. Cortisol in the morning is used by our body to restore consciousness, alertness, change other hormones, and balance the immune system (lower Th1 and increase Th2). Potassium and sodium are imbalanced for most people with adrenal fatigue and supplementation of both in the morning might ensure proper production of the adrenal hormone aldosterone. Aldosterone modulates our sodium/potassium plasma balance. Aldosterone increases excretion of potassium and retention of sodium, increasing blood pressure. Many people with adrenal issues have an improper aldosterone balance and electrolyte dysregulation. Aldosterone is also at its highest levels per circadian rhythm in the early morning to increase blood pressure, so that when you stand up, you do not pass out (your blood pressure, volume, heart rate, and cardiac output are lowered while you sleep). Finally, many people are unaware that proper potassium levels can improve MMC (migrating motor complex) function, relieving constipation.1 2 3 4
The adrenal cocktail should be ingested when you first wake up in the morning. Some people might need a second adrenal cocktail between breakfast and lunch to see if it improves further their adrenal function.
Adrenal Cocktail Recipes
Fresh pressed juice is always best for the cocktail, but I will recommend different bottled juices as well for people in a rush. If you are allergic to oranges, freshly squeezed organic lemon juice mixed in a few ounces of filtered water can be substituted. Masticating juicers are the best, they provide more juice and less of it is oxidized, preserving it longer. The two masticating juicers I recommend are, SKG BPA-free masticating juicer (contains some plastic parts, I own one, and it has worked well for me) and the Rolls Royce of juicers, the Super Angel Pro stainless steel masticating juicer.
If you are suffering from histamine intolerance, you can replace the organic orange juice with organic apple, blueberry (do not use if you have salicylate sensitivity), cranberry (do not use if you have salicylate sensitivity), tart cherry (do not use if you have salicylate sensitivity), pomegranate (do not use if you have salicylate sensitivity), or mango (do not use if you have a latex allergy) juice. In addition, I would suggest adding one of the following: 500 or 1,000 mg of sodium ascorbate, one teaspoon camu camu powder, one teaspoon of amla berry powder, or one scoop of acerola cherry powder (do not use if you are allergic to latex) powder to the cocktail for vitamin C if you suffer from histamine intolerance. If you are suffering from severe histamine intolerance you may not be able to tolerate any of the above-listed juices or natural vitamin C powders and if so just mix the sodium ascorbate, potassium, and salt in six to eight ounces of filtered water (warning, it is going to taste bad more than likely, but we sacrifice health sometimes for taste). Finally, supplement with less vitamin C (even natural) if you have very low cortisol because it may reduce it further.5 6 7 8
Classic
- Pour four to six ounces of orange juice in a glass.
- ¼ teaspoon of potassium bicarbonate
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon of Real Salt
Mix well:
Let sit for a few minutes and then consume slowly over a period of fifteen minutes.
Maggie
- Pour four to six ounces of orange juice in a glass.
- ¼ teaspoon of potassium bicarbonate
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon of Real Salt
- 1/2 scoop of Seeking Health magnesium malate
Mix well:
Let sit for a few minutes and then consume slowly over a period of fifteen minutes.
Constipation
- Pour four to six ounces of orange juice in a glass.
- ¼ teaspoon of potassium bicarbonate
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon of Real Salt
- One scoop of Seeking Health magnesium malate
- Two teaspoons of Heather’s Tummy Fiber
Mix well:
Let sit for a few minutes and then consume slowly over a period of fifteen minutes.
Anti-Fungal9 and Improve Testosterone Production in Men
- Pour four to six ounces of orange juice in a glass.
- ¼ teaspoon of potassium bicarbonate
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon of Real Salt
- 1/2 scoop of Seeking Health magnesium malate
- One teaspoon of Prescribed for Life sodium borate
Mix well:
Let sit for a few minutes and then consume slowly over a period of fifteen minutes.
Anti-Parasitical and Improve Nail Health(Use with Caution If You Intestinal Bleeding or Inflammation)
- Pour four to six ounces of orange juice in a glass.
- ¼ teaspoon of potassium bicarbonate
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon of Real Salt
- One half teaspoon food grade diatomaceous Earth
Mix well:
Let sit for a few minutes and then consume slowly over a period of fifteen minutes.
For People Suffering from Silent Reflux
- Pour four to six ounces of filtered water in a glass.
- 1,000 mg of sodium ascorbate
- ¼ teaspoon of potassium bicarbonate
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon of Real Salt
Mix well:
Let sit for a few minutes and then consume slowly over a period of fifteen minutes.
Improve Low Ceruloplasmin / Fully Loaded
- Pour four to six ounces of orange juice in a glass.
- ¼ teaspoon of potassium bicarbonate
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon of Real Salt
- 1/2 scoop of Seeking Health magnesium malate
- One half teaspoon food grade diatomaceous Earth
- One teaspoon of Prescribed for Life sodium borate
Mix well:
Let sit for a few minutes and then consume slowly over a period of fifteen minutes.
Each ounce of orange juice will give you 62 milligrams (mg) of potassium. ¼ teaspoon of potassium bicarbonate will provide 390 mg of potassium. ¼ teaspoon of salt contains 575 mg of sodium and ½ teaspoon equals 1,250 mg. ½ scoop of Seeking health provides 250 mg of elemental magnesium, and one scoop provides 500 mg. One teaspoon of Prescribed for Life sodium borate contains three grams of boron.
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4437603/#b8-ndt-11-1181 ↩
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18854200 ↩
- https://www.selfhacked.com/blog/need-know-aldosterone-health-effects/ ↩
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3645767/ ↩
- http://latexallergyresources.org/cross-reactive-food ↩
- https://melanieavalon.com/food-sensitivities/ ↩
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200304/vitamin-c-stress-buster ↩
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11590482 ↩
- https://www.selfhacked.com/blog/treat-cure-candida/ ↩
Thanks for these recipes. How about coconut water with lemon and sea salt. Would that work?
Not enough vitamin C.
Hi John, thanks for this recipe it actually does seem to help the carb and sugar cravings in the morning.
Do you think adrenal fatigue is fully reversible? If so how long do you think it should take? There are so many different camps on this.
What do you do if you have low cortisol in the morning? My Saliva tests always show that mine is lower than it should be in the morning. It does rise a bit eventually and fall when it should but at a slightly lower level than normal.
If your cortisol is elevated at night it might be a good idea to take it after dinner to help with sleep.
The Classic recipe, coupled with magnesium glycinate, boron and cod liver oil gave me and my wife near-total insomnia and my wife alone a major depressive episode (the first and only of her life.) We were taking the cocktail twice, morning and early afternoon away from meals. After around 10 days of such use we started getting increasingly “wired” at night, until (in exponential, not linear progression) sleep became impossible and fatigue and debilitation took over daytime. Daytime sleeping was equally impossible, however. Upon discontinuing everything for a week the symptoms improved to 4-5 hours per night of sleep for both of us. At this point we took a 1/4 dose of the classic cocktail alone, upon which the symptoms flared up, with immediate reduction in sleep hours to 1-2 that night, implicating the cocktail further as a component of such disruption.
Since the adrenal cocktail seems to be enjoying widespread popularity these days i thought it necessary to share this experience. Both of us have dysbiosis and probably a degree of malabsorption.
Thank you for sharing your story Arbert. If a person has very low cortisol the adrenal cocktail may worsen their symptoms because it can lower it further. In addition boron can combat yeast dysbiosis to a degree so some of the symptoms might have been yeast die off as well.
Hi John, first of all, thanks for all information you’ve given and for your efforts. I live in Turkey, so, unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to buy the recommended supplements (brands in particular).
I would love to drink the Maggie recipe however, there is no magnesium malate supplement in turkey.
And I could find only one Food Grade Potassium Bicarbonate which is the main reason why I’m writing this comment. I am not sure about the heavy metal content of it.
Iron : max 20ppm
Arsenic: 3.0 ppm
Lead: max 5.0 ppm
Sodium : 0.5 %
Mercury: max 1.0 ppm
this is the label do you see any problem?. Or should I just drink orange juice and salt only?.
Thanks in advance.
For now I would just ingest fresh orange juice and salt. You should get a good amount of potassium from the orange juice. What about using potassium bitrate?
I believe that is even harder to find :D
Guess I’ll just stick to orange juice and salt.
I am athlete and I’ve been trying my a** off to make my adrenals happy but sometimes it gets frustrating. Do you have any particular extra advice on that? (Btw i’ve read your all posts about adrenal fatigue and watched your videos)
Thanks!
Sorry, Did you mean potassium bitartrate aka cream of tartar?
That is abundantly available, especially in stores that sells baking goods.
Potassium bitartrate seemed much more safer as everyone ingest it LOL :)
However, i couldn’t find any information on heavy metal content. Am I just being too anxious about it?
Do same measurements apply on bitartrate ? (1/4 tsp)
Yes, I did, my phone autocorrect it. I would not be worried about the heavy metal content of something that is food grade. Everything we ingest for the most part has some sort of heavy metal or toxin. Yes, same measurement.
Hello John me again, Bought bicarbonate and started doing the cocktail (it is so fuzzy lol :) ).
I realized that if i ingest protein upon waking i feel better. ( I do whey isolate atm). So do you think i should include whey protein in this cocktail? Or drink it after solely? Thanks!
You can mix it in as long as you are not using any acidic juice. If you are mixing with acidic juice it might make the protein powder unpalatable.
You can, it might not taste as well and the low pH of the orange juice might curdle it.
Hey John! Heard you on Grimerica and truly enjoy it. Lots of new info and lots that I am thrilled to hear you sharing with others. Thanks!
Question: Do you think that Anti-Fungal Cocktail would help with coccidioidomycosis (valley fever)?
Maybe, but you would have to go with systemic antifungals like oil of oregano, lactoferrin (colostrum), niacinamide, clove oil. You should also cross reference any of these antifungals and see if they have been tested against Coccidioides. Remember to run everything by a healthcare professional Valley Fever can be serious.
Hi John,
Would this be the correct dosing using the following ingredients?
1 cup mango juice (60mg Vit C, 277mg Potassium)
1 cup coconut water (475mg potassium)
500mg real salt
Thank you!