What to Eat to Really Lower Cortisol
If cortisol were a person, it’d be that overworked assistant trying to hold your whole life together…while quietly burning out. And yet, cortisol still gets blamed for everything from stubborn belly fat to sleepless nights.
But cortisol is not the enemy. Without it, you wouldn’t even be able to get out of bed in the morning, literally. It’s your body’s built-in alarm system. It wakes you up, and helps you move, think, talk and power through the demands of daily life. It also helps you survive real emergencies (and not just the metaphorical ones involving emails and traffic).
Cortisol’s job was never meant to be a full-time gig. It was not built for back-to-back deadlines, late-night doomscrolling, skipped breakfasts or HIIT workouts on five hours of sleep.
In a perfect world, cortisol rises in the morning to get you going, then gently tapers off so you can wind down at night. But for most of us, it either stays cranked up all day or tanks completely—leaving you wired, tired, foggy, anxious, craving sugar and wondering why you feel like a shell of your former self.
This is exactly where “The Cortisol Diet” comes in.
It’s a buzzy phrase right now, especially in the wellness world. But what does it actually mean? Can what you eat really lower cortisol? And is this just another overhyped fad or something worth paying attention to?
Let’s break it down.
What Even Is The Cortisol Diet?
To be clear, the Cortisol Diet isn’t a formal, one-size-fits-all meal plan. It’s more of a nutritional philosophy rooted in functional medicine. The goal is to help regulate cortisol naturally by stabilizing blood sugar, reducing inflammation and supporting the body’s stress response system (AKA your HPA axis).
Here’s what that typically looks like:
- Eating regular meals (no skipping breakfast and surviving on caffeine)
- Combining protein, healthy fats and fibre to prevent blood sugar crashes
- Swapping out refined carbs and sugary snacks for slow-digesting whole foods
- Focusing on nutrient-dense ingredients that support adrenal health, like leafy greens, wild-caught salmon, avocado, pumpkin seeds, berries and good quality sea salt (yes really, salt can be medicinal)
- Managing your meal timing: eating within an hour of waking, avoiding heavy meals right before bed
- What’s often missed by Cortisol Diet influencers is the importance of hydration. Even mild dehydration can raise cortisol levels, which means starting your day with coffee and nothing else might be stressing your system more than you realize.
The Cortisol Diet works because it’s built around habits you can control. You might not be able to quit your job or escape the school drop-off chaos, but you can eat something nourishing before noon. You can carry a water bottle. And you can stop fasting, which, by the way, isn’t discipline—it’s a cortisol spike waiting to happen.
Why Blood Sugar Is a Big Deal
Cortisol works closely with your blood sugar. When your blood sugar drops too low, your body panics. Cortisol kicks in to bring your blood sugar back up, because your brain needs glucose to function. If this happens all the time, your cortisol gets stuck in a loop of overdrive.
That’s why stabilizing blood sugar with real food is one of the fastest ways to calm the cortisol chaos. It also explains why eating more often, not less, can actually help with stubborn weight, energy crashes and cravings.
But keep in mind that low-carb diets can backfire, especially for women. When you’re not eating enough carbohydrates to fuel your brain, your body also sees that as a stressor and it raises cortisol to compensate. Over time it can leave you more anxious, more fatigued and more hormonally out of whack than before.
If you’re dealing with burnout, sleep issues or hormonal shifts (hi, perimenopause), going low carb can make things worse.
Can Food Alone Fix It?
Now, as much as I love the power of nutrition, I’m not going to pretend that a smoothie will save you from a cortisol spiral if your sleep is a disaster and your boundaries are non-existent.
Food is foundational, but it’s only one piece.
If you’re serious about balancing cortisol, you also need to look at your lifestyle:
- Are you sleeping enough and sleeping well?
- Are you over-exercising in the name of “wellness” but feeling worse?
- Are you constantly in go-mode, without giving your nervous system a chance to come down?
- And let’s not forget the invisible stressors: emotional overwhelm, toxic work culture, that constant pressure to do it all. No amount of chia seeds is going to regulate your cortisol if your life feels like a treadmill you can’t get off of.
So… Is the Cortisol Diet Legit?
Short answer: yes…with a caveat. It’s not a quick fix, and it’s not the answer to every health issue under the sun. But it’s a good starting point. You’re choosing to feed your body in a way that says, “You’re safe. You’re supported. You don’t have to fight or flee right now.”
When you eat in a way that keeps your blood sugar stable, nourishes your adrenals and honours your body’s natural rhythms, cortisol starts to do what it’s meant to do: help you wake up in the morning, respond to life’s challenges with resilience and rest deeply at night.
So yes, what you eat absolutely affects your cortisol. But how you live matters even more.
Want to Start Somewhere Simple? Try this:
- Eat a real breakfast with protein and fibre within 60 minutes of waking.
- Sit down for your meals.
- Swap the second coffee for a calming herbal tea (or green tea if you really need the caffeine).
- Say no to one thing this week that you don’t actually want to do.
- Take three deep belly breaths before bed.
Don’t call it a diet, call it a recalibration—a signal to your body that you’re safe, supported and ready to feel like yourself again.
Lisa Kilgour, rhn After years of being frustrated with her own health issues, she began looking at her health like a puzzle, searching for the missing pieces that would help her heal. Today, as a Registered Holistic Nutritionist (RHN), Lisa helps others piece together all the ways they care for themselves—emotions, gut flora, sleep, stress and food—to inspire health and healing.
Learn more: lisakilgour.com
