Banish your stress belly: Modern life pumps our bodies with the health-ruining hormone cortisol. Now a leading expert reveals the diet that can help in weeks - including recipes, meal plans and what REALLY works
Share:
Feeling wired but tired? Often irritable or on the edge of burnout? Struggling to control your weight?. These are classic signs of 'cortisol overload', when our bodies react to the stresses of everyday life by pumping out too much of what's known as the 'red alert' hormone.
![[Researchers have found that people who overproduce cortisol in response to stress are more likely to snack when faced with microaggressions, writes Angela Dowden]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/12/17/94012203-14276089-image-a-8_1736701363659.jpg)
In correct amounts, cortisol plays a valuable role – suppressing inflammation, regulating blood pressure, helping us sleep – but too much, and all of those benefits are reversed. Luckily, we can lower our cortisol levels through diet. And the even better news is, unlike conventional weight-loss diets, there's nothing self-denying about this at all.
![[Her recipe book The Cortisol Fix is published by Hamlyn and costs £18.99]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/12/17/94012207-14276089-image-a-9_1736701366825.jpg)
I'm going to walk you through the foods and dietary patterns that can help you shed weight, reduce excess cortisol, improve sleep, regulate mood and boost brain function. And all in just a few short weeks. Produced by the adrenal glands, cortisol is one of the main hormones involved in the fight-or-flight response. By flooding the body with energy-boosting glucose, it prepares us to either fight what's scaring us (a bear or a tiger, in prehistoric times) or run away from it. Our heart rate increases, too, which forces blood to pump harder and faster.
![[Spinach is a great source of minerals, such as bone-building calcium and fatigue-fighting magnesium and iron]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/12/17/94012225-14276089-image-m-3_1736701306666.jpg)
The trouble is, we don't have fast, survive-or-get-eaten encounters with bears these days, but much longer-lasting chronic stressors instead, such as constant demands from our boss or money worries. The low-level stress that 'scares' us today isn't quickly resolved, but carries on and on, meaning our bodies rarely revert to a fully relaxed state.
![[The nuts in this granola are a good source of magnesium for lowering cortisol and improving nerve and muscle health]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/12/20/94013023-14276089-The_nuts_in_this_granola_are_a_good_source_of_magnesium_for_lowe-a-2_1736715513931.jpg)
