10 Foods That Decrease Cortisol NATURALLY (Reduce Stress Hormones!)
JJ Virgin breaks down ten foods that lower cortisol, from dark chocolate and fatty fish to turmeric and chamomile tea. She explains the compounds in each—omega-3s, magnesium, curcumin—and how they reduce inflammation and calm your nervous system. Practical routines include adding dark chocolate to coffee and evening chamomile tea.
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Ever eaten because you were stressed? I know I have, and I also know it didn't really help. But it turns out there are foods that can help naturally decrease your stress hormones so you can break the cycle and have some calm in your life. I'm talking the top 10 foods to decrease cortisol. So let's start with a favorite— dark chocolate. So dark chocolate contains polyphenols and flavonols. And these can reduce cortisol levels by lowering inflammation, improving blood flow, and boosting mood-enhancing endorphins and serotonin. There was a 2019 study that was published in Antioxidants that investigated the effects of polyphenol-rich dark chocolate on salivary cortisol levels and mood in adults. They had 25 participants— why wasn't I in this study? That's what I want to know— who had to consume 25 grams of dark chocolate a day. They did either dark chocolate, high polyphenol dark chocolate, 500 milligrams of flavonoids, or a control dark chocolate with negligible flavonoids. And they did it for 4 weeks, and here's what came out of it. The results showed that the high polyphenol dark chocolate significantly reduced total daily cortisol, morning cortisol, and the cortisol to cortisone ratio. Here's how I put this into my life. I am obsessed with this product called Cacao Calm from Living Ratio. It's a dark chocolate adaptogenic mushroom product with no sugar, and I put that into my coffee. Now, the other thing that I do every day is green tea. Green tea is rich in something called L-theanine. This is an amino acid that increases GABA, which is the calming neurotransmitter in your brain, and it directly lowers cortisol levels and promotes relaxation without feeling tired. Green tea also has EGCG that might also help lower cortisol, and we know that green tea can improve insulin sensitivity. So what I do with tea is I take a big jug, I put my green tea in it, and then I add in my essential amino acids, my creatine, and my ElectroReplenish. The other thing that I eat every day are berries. So berries are high in vitamin C. Vitamin C is super important for your adrenal glands. It is the number one vitamin used by your adrenal glands, so very, very important. Can lower cortisol. And of course, you also have great antioxidants in your berries as well. So Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. Do a variety of different berries, but I'd get in a cup every day of berries. I know, I know it's a tough one, but see what you can do. Next up is fatty fish. So there are omega-3 fatty acids in fatty fish, and these directly lower cortisol levels because they reduce inflammation, and that then promotes a calmer state. In fact, one study showed that omega-3 fatty acids prevented the adrenal activation that was caused by mental stress. Reduce the rise in cortisol and other stress-related biomarkers after a stress-inducing task. The deal with omega-3s is ideally you're eating fish a couple times a week. Uh, shout out to my buddies over at Vital Choice. I always keep some wild salmon and wild halibut and wild sea bass in my freezer. But you're still probably going to want to supplement with omegas as well. I use my Omega Plus. It's one of my foundational supplements. So that's something you're probably going to want to supplement with as well. And you can figure out how much you need by doing an omega-3 index test, and that will tell you beyond your fish intake how much more omega-3s you need. Another fat that's really important is avocados. Avocados have so much goodness in them because not only do they have these healthy fats and great fiber— you often probably don't think of avocados for fiber, but they've got an amazing amount of fiber in them— they also have magnesium, potassium, and B vitamins, and those help manage stress and lower cortisol by supporting overall adrenal function, especially magnesium. Magnesium of course, is the calming mineral. It calms the nervous system and it can reduce the stress response. And B vitamins support brain function and energy levels, which of course can help mitigate the effects of stress. So avocados, I mean, easy to throw into a salad. We like to take them and freeze them in little chunks to throw them into our smoothies. And I'm going to include this in the show notes, my dark chocolate avocado mousse, which I use dark chocolate, I'll use some allulose for a sweetener, and I will use some avocado and coconut. It is fabulous. It's literally one of those desserts that you can make for company. Of course, anyone coming to my house knows that they're not getting sugar and gluten and garbage, but you can make it for a person who's used to eating a bunch of junk, and they would not know that this was healthy. Don't tell them. Next up, nuts and seeds. So nuts and seeds can help lower cortisol levels because they're rich in Magnesium, zinc, omega-3s, and B vitamins, which I've talked about a couple of these already. Magnesium found in almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds. I talked about this earlier. This can calm your nervous system. Most likely you're not going to get enough magnesium from even these foods that we're eating, but you start with food, and then I would recommend my Magnesium Body Calm. See how we named it? Because it calms your body. And of course, Omega-3 fatty acids are fantastic. You're going to get some of these here in your nuts and seeds, especially walnuts, flaxseeds, and chia seeds. And these are anti-inflammatory, so these can help lower cortisol. And then we haven't talked yet about zinc. So zinc is in cashews and pumpkin seeds, and it's great for proper adrenal function and helps regulate cortisol production. Now, one of the things I'm always trying to get more of in our diet are deep green leafies. Now I am not talking romaine lettuce, I'm talking spinach, kale, collards. These are awesome for helping lower cortisol levels. They're packed with essential vitamins and minerals, especially again magnesium and the B vitamins. And we've talked about these a bunch, just, you know, more magnesium, more B vitamins. We tend to really blow these out when we're under stress. What I like to do with these deep green leafies, I will give you a little heads up, there is a product over at Trader Joe's, it's like super greens or something. It literally has kale, and spinach and collard greens in it. And I buy bags of that and I will throw it into stir-fries, into cauliflower rice. You can also use it raw and throw it in your smoothie. You won't even really taste it. It'll make it look a little funky, but you won't taste it. Throw yourself a goal of at least 1 cup a day of these. The other thing that I've incorporated into my life, especially now that I've been able to eat more dairy, is Greek-style yogurt. Now, if you can't eat dairy, there are other options here. You can do some of the coconut yogurts. So there's other yogurt options, of course, out there. There's a bunch of 'em now. You just wanna make sure you're not getting one loaded with sugar. Important. But with these yogurts, you're getting the probiotics that can support gut health, and that can then of course help regulate stress hormones. Studies have shown that consuming probiotics can have a positive effect on mood and stress, and again, reducing cortisol levels. So here's a little pro tip that you can do. You can take your plain Greek-style yogurt. I like to stir in some of my collagen in there too. My Reignite Wellness Collagen, but you can stir in that Living Ratio Cacao Calm, some berries, and some freshly ground flaxseed meal or some walnuts. You just got a bunch of stress busters in one little thing. See how easy that was? Now, one of the things to do at night is try a little chamomile tea. Chamomile is well known for its calming and relaxing properties, and research suggests it may help reduce stress and anxiety, which of course, if you do that, you'll lower cortisol. It contains antioxidants that help bind to the receptors in the brain that promote relaxation and help reduce anxiety. And I'm all about these evening rituals. You know, another great evening ritual is to take an Epsom salt bath because you're getting more magnesium, and have your chamomile tea when you're in the bath. Now, turmeric is one of those supplements, and you're taking turmeric to get the active compound curcumin. Curcumin, you've heard about as this amazing anti-inflammatory, great antioxidant. It's great for your gut, but it's also great for stress response. In fact, several studies show— suggest that curcumin can modulate the HPA axis, which is responsible for regulating cortisol. Here's what's important with curcumin. It is not well absorbed, so you need to make sure that you are taking it with fat. In fact, if you look at a lot of the different places where they use curcumin, especially in Indian food, it always comes along with fat so that you're absorbing it well. Now, these foods I just shared, which all of them are like, who wouldn't want to add them to their lifestyle, right? But they are only part of an overall lifestyle to managing stress. Be sure to check out my next video on the top 10 ways to reduce stress for weight loss.
