Cortisol: A Dietitian’s Guide to Managing Stress

Cortisol is your body’s stress hormone and too much can negatively impact your mental and physical health.

Do you find yourself constantly stressed out? 

Are other areas of your health starting to decline as well?

This may be a sign that your cortisol levels are imbalanced! An imbalance in cortisol, especially for long periods of time, can start to show consequences in multiple areas of your health.

In today’s article, I will be going over what cortisol is and a dietitian’s guide to managing stress levels. So let’s get started! 

What is Cortisol?

As I mentioned, cortisol is your body’s main stress hormone and is often referred to as “nature’s built-in alarm system”. This is because when you are in a high-stress situation, cortisol is released and tells your body whether to fight or flight. It does this by impacting your mood, motivation, and fear. 

Cortisol is made by the adrenal glands and is involved in a number of bodily processes including:

• Controlling your sleep/wake cycle

• Decreasing inflammation

• Regulating blood pressure

• Increases blood sugar

• Managing how you metabolize macronutrients

  • Carbs, protein, & fats

  Having too high or too little cortisol can cause adverse reactions inside your body. Just like with most things, you want to have a balance. 

How it Impacts Hormones & Gut Health

Your body is an interconnected system. So when your cortisol levels are high, it can impact your other hormones as well as your gut health. Inside your gut lives your gut microbiome, which is the colony of millions of tiny organisms that colonize your GI tract. Having an increase in stress hormones can influence your gut microbiome. It can alter the composition of bacteria and cause an increase in inflammation.

If left untreated, this can start to manifest into other, more serious conditions.

Tips to Help Manage Stress

As a registered dietitian nutritionist, I know the importance of managing your stress levels for your overall health. Good thing for you, there are plenty of ways to help keep your cortisol in check. Here are a few of my recommendations below!

• Nutrition:

  • Eat a variety of whole foods

  • Incorporate pre & probiotics to support gut health

  • Manage food sensitivities

  • Increase your fiber intake 

  • Address any underlying nutrient deficiencies 

• Supplements:

  • L-Theanine: a non-protein amino acid that can reduce stress-related symptoms

  • Ashwagandha: an adaptogenic herb shown to calm anxiety & reduce serum cortisol levels

  • B-vitamins: a family of vitamins that can aid in stress relief, especially in populations with nutrient deficiencies 

  • Cortisol Manager: uses a stress-reducing and cortisol-reducing proprietary blend

  • Probiotics: live bacteria that can be taken in capsule or liquid form. Bifidobacteria species are recommended!

• Lifestyle:

  • Meditation: if you struggle with meditation, start with guided mediation using an app like Headspace

  • Deep breathing/diaphragmatic breathing: start with 3-5 minutes, x3 per day or as needed

  • Quality sleep: focus on your sleep hygiene and getting 7-9 hours a night

  • Exercise/physical activity: incorporate regular physical activity throughout the week

The Takeaway

As you can see, there are plenty of strategies you can use to help manage your stress levels and keep your cortisol in balance.If you want to get a snapshot of what your cortisol levels look like, I recommend working with a dietitian and getting your hormone levels tested via a DUTCH TEST

Without getting your levels tested, you can still benefit from reducing stressors in your life. I help my clients find stress-relieving strategies through nutrition, supplements & lifestyle modifications. Reach out to me through my services page to learn more about my services today!