20/08/2026
Cortisol gets blamed for everything. Meanwhile, no one’s asking why the body needed to raise it.
But cortisol isn't just a stress hormone. It's also involved in keeping enough glucose available when not enough energy is coming in.
So if you're chronically under-eating, skipping meals, fasting for long periods or barely touching carbs while expecting your body to work, train, think, parent and generally keep its s**t together... your body has to compensate.
Cortisol helps mobilise stored energy and increases glucose production so you've still got fuel available when you're not giving it enough.
Which makes the obsession with simply “lowering cortisol” a little backwards. It's not always the villain. Your body is doing overtime because you didn't eat lunch.
And no supplement, breathing technique or cortisol-lowering morning routine can replace adequate energy availability.
Before trying to shut the stress response down, ask what keeps asking it to switch on.
Sometimes the answer is unsexy and boring:
Eat enough. Eat regularly. 🍳🥖🥗🧀🌮🍗🍚🍲🥝🍒