Fruit-Only Smoothie Bowls
Most smoothie bowls are made primarily with fruit and far less greens (if any at all) which can cause a blood sugar roller coaster. You might think you’re nourishing your body with nature’s candy, but loading a blender with multiple servings of banana, mango, and pineapple creates a sugary bomb that sends your stress hormones skyrocketing. Typical store-bought or cafe bought smoothies can be loaded with sugar in the form of several servings of fruit, which can wreak havoc on your health and your blood sugar levels and cortisol levels, especially when it’s how we start our day.
Most of the smoothies you would get at a smoothie shop or that you might make at home could potentially be damaging if they are too high in sugar, with both natural and added sugars being problematic because the pre-blending of smoothies makes them easier to digest and helps these sugars hit your bloodstream faster. Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver and unfortunately can’t be used for energy. Without the protein and fat to slow absorption, your pancreas has to work overtime to regulate the surge. The result? A cortisol response that leaves you feeling wired, then crashed, then craving more sugar within a couple hours.
Freshly Pressed Fruit Juice
Processed fruit juices contain concentrated sugars without the fiber found in whole fruit, which leads to a rapid sugar spike, with liquid calories from juice being quickly absorbed and contributing to weight gain. Even if you’re juicing organic apples and oranges at home, you’re essentially drinking liquid sugar minus all the beneficial fiber that would normally help regulate your body’s response.
The elevated cortisol from blood sugar crashes increases fat storage. Think about it this way: when you eat a whole orange, you get roughly four grams of fiber. When you juice three oranges, you get nearly all the sugar with virtually none of that protective fiber. Grapefruit juice had dose-dependent effects on increasing cortisol excretion and the ratio of cortisol to cortisone. Your body perceives that rapid blood sugar spike as a stressor, pumping out cortisol to stabilize things.
Store-Bought Granola with Low-Fat Yogurt
Many granola bars, fruit juices, and even some savory sauces contain high amounts of added sugars that can contribute to cortisol spikes. That crunchy, wholesome-looking granola often packs more sugar per serving than a glazed donut. Flavored yogurts often contain 15-25 grams of added sugar per serving, which can double or triple the carbohydrate content compared to plain versions, with these added sugars getting absorbed quickly into your bloodstream and causing rapid glucose spikes.
Fat-free yogurts like Yoplait Light are often higher in sugar, which has been shown to raise cortisol levels and hunger. These kinds of yogurts can elevate the secretion of cortisol in your body and affect the health of your gut. When food manufacturers strip out the fat, they often compensate by adding more sweeteners to maintain taste. The combination of sugary granola and sugar-laden yogurt creates a double whammy for your adrenal glands.
Coffee on an Empty Stomach
Let’s be honest, half of us stumble to the coffee maker before our eyes are fully open. Because coffee contains roughly 200-250mg of caffeine per serving, consuming it on an empty stomach can drastically increase your cortisol levels at once. One study found that caffeine increased cortisol levels, even in people who were used to drinking coffee every day.
Consistent, sharp rises in cortisol can interfere with the production of estrogen, progesterone, FSH, and LH, as well as compromise thyroid function, while coffee consumption on an empty stomach can also potentially affect blood sugar control. Your cortisol is naturally elevated when you wake up to help you feel alert. Throwing caffeine into that equation without any food to buffer it amplifies that spike. Let’s say you chug coffee in lieu of a wholesome meal and dive right into a stressful work task, which short-term causes a sugar spike and crash, while long-term elevated cortisol can lead to conditions like type 2 diabetes and PCOS.
Sugary Cereal with Skim Milk
Similar to other refined carbohydrates, sugary cereals trigger the release of insulin, with frequent blood sugar spikes promoting fat storage, especially around the abdominal area, due to cortisol’s role in directing fat to this region. Those colorful loops and frosted flakes marketed to kids aren’t doing adults any favors either. Sugar is one of the strongest dietary triggers for cortisol, and when you eat foods high in sugar, your blood glucose spikes quickly, forcing your body to act immediately to bring it back down, with this dramatic swing signaling the adrenal glands to release cortisol.
Sugar in a muffin increases cortisol and adrenaline, the stress hormones, with sugar literally jacking up your stress hormones, even if you are not stressed. Pairing that with skim milk removes the fat that would ordinarily slow down sugar absorption. Eating refined flours like that found in some cereals can lead to chronic inflammation, and because this food-triggered inflammation activates the HPA axis, it can lead to higher cortisol levels.
White Toast with Jam
Both jam and white bread are filled with refined sugars and carbs which rapidly increase the level of blood sugar after eating, with the body reacting by releasing insulin to bring down blood sugar levels, but this sudden rise is often followed by a dramatic decline which causes the body to release cortisol in an attempt to balance energy levels. It seems innocent enough, right? Two simple ingredients that have been a breakfast staple for generations.
White bread has a high glycemic index leading to rapid blood sugar elevation, with the combination of refined carbs and sugar from the jam putting stress on the body and leading to increased cortisol production, while the insulin response to this sugar load leads to fat storage as well as increased cortisol levels. If we have an easily digestible high carbohydrate breakfast like white bread, jam, fruit bottom yogurt, or glass of orange juice, our bloodstream becomes saturated with even more sugar at the worst possible time. Your body is essentially getting hit with a double dose of fast-digesting carbohydrates right when your cortisol is already naturally elevated.
Pastries and Croissants
Flaky croissants are a beloved pastry, but their high levels of refined flour, sugar, and bad fats can increase cortisol levels and even lead to weight gain, with these ingredients quickly raising blood sugar levels after eating them. That buttery, melt-in-your-mouth texture comes at a metabolic cost. Honestly, pastries are just dressed-up sugar bombs wrapped in refined white flour.
Refined carbohydrates behave very similarly to sugar but often hide behind the illusion of being ‘meal-food,’ and when refined grains break down quickly in the body, they cause the same blood sugar roller coaster that spikes cortisol. Sugar increases inflammation and oxidative stress, leads to energy crashes that trigger another cortisol surge, and promotes cravings that result in repetitive cortisol spikes throughout the day. The morning muffin or almond croissant habit might feel like a treat, but your adrenal glands are working overtime to manage the aftermath.
Skipping Breakfast Entirely
Here’s the plot twist: not eating breakfast at all might be worse than eating a mediocre one. Compared to breakfast eaters, breakfast skippers had higher circulating cortisol from arrival to midafternoon and during the snack buffet. Breakfast skipping resulted in a blunted or flat diurnal cortisol pattern with significantly reduced morning cortisol.
Breakfast skippers are associated with elevated cortisol production, and if you skip breakfast, your blood sugar levels will remain low, triggering a stress response and increasing cortisol production, with elevated cortisol levels making you feel tense and anxious due to the activation of the body’s fight-or-flight response. The longer we go without eating breakfast, the higher the cortisol spike is likely to go and the longer it stays high for, meaning that skipping breakfast can easily put the body into a much more stressed-out state, wreaking havoc on blood sugar and disrupting hormonal balance. Your body interprets fasting as a stressor, especially when combined with the demands of your morning routine.
Acai Bowls Loaded with Sweet Toppings
Acai bowls look gorgeous on social media, but they’re often nutritional disasters masquerading as superfoods. The base itself is usually blended with juice or sweetened acai puree, then topped with granola, honey, coconut flakes, and more fruit. If you concoct or order the wrong blend, your refreshing drink can spike your blood sugar, leaving you queasy and feeling overall blah, rather than satisfied.
Even if a smoothie is overflowing with healthy foods, it can cause blood sugar levels to spike if it isn’t made with the right blend or ratios of ingredients, and when blood sugar levels rise and fall quickly, the body’s metabolism may get interrupted which can lead to feelings of nausea. Many smoothie recipes are high in sugar, which may feel good when you’re consuming it, but will most likely lead to more hunger, cravings, mood swings and a blood sugar crash soon after. The total sugar content can easily exceed what you’d find in a dessert, sending your cortisol levels soaring as your body scrambles to process it all.
What surprises you most about these breakfast choices? Did any of your morning favorites make the list?
