Rhodiola Rosea

Full name: Rhodiola Rosea

2014-05-30 I have a problem with too much cortisol. Whenever it gets high, I get anxiety, anger, no peace, I gather fat around my mid section, I have the buffalo hump (fat in the neck). Rhodiola is supposed to help with that.

You can either take an extract or the whole root. I prefer the whole root, because I think that way you also get the cofactors (the other things in the root). But for a lot of people the extracts work fine.

I just ordered some to try. But I have to wait while it’s being shipped to me, so in the mean time I bought capsules, because it’s really bad right now. I started taking them yesterday and they seemed to calm me down right away. We’ll see.

I take progesterone to combat my estrogen dominance. In times of stress though (link now), my body all too easily turns this into cortisol (= pregnenolone steal). Rhodiola hopefully helps prevent this from happening. 


Received the root this morning. Ground it to a powder. Took 1/2 tsp at 10:15.

From: http://draxe.com/7-adaptogen-herbs-to-lower-cortisol/

Rhodiola contains a phytochemical known as salisdroside. This component helps combat anxiety and aging. Rhodiola suppresses the production of cortisol and increases levels of stress-resistant proteins. Studies have found that it restores normal patterns of eating and sleeping after stress, combats mental and physical fatigue, protects against oxidative stress, heat stress, radiation and exposure to toxic chemicals. Rhodiola protects the heart and liver, increases use of oxygen, improves memory and may extend longevity. Also, new research proves it is also effective in weight loss.


How much to take

From what I’m reading, it depends very much on the person. It also depend on the concentration of your product of course. The general advise is to start slow. With an extract: open the capsule and only take a bit and build up over a week or so to the dose mentioned on the container.

For whole root, I’ve read people taking anywhere from 1/64 th teaspoon (= 100 mg root powder) to a whole teaspoon a day.

Some people take some in the morning and some at lunch to prevent being unable to fall asleep at night. Some people take it at night because it makes the sleep better!

So it depends very much on your nutritional status as well as hormonal status how you are going to react to Rhodiola.

From what I’m reading you’re not supposed to take it every day. If you take it for a week, then stop taking it for one day of that week.


You can buy this all over the net, here are a few ones (whole root, prices in euro per kilo without shipping):

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