cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
Why your breakfast might be the perfect recipe for stress—and what to eat instead - Well and Good
Waking up and moving through the day with the zen calmness of a Buddhist monk sure sounds idyllic, but, for most people, certainly doesn’t seem all that realistic—especially given the extremely uncertain, stressful state of the world we live in right now.
There are a lot of factors that can contribute to feeling stressed, from looming work deadlines to health worries and existential climate anxiety. Some of these things are in our control, some of them are not. But according to functional medicine doctor and Food Fix author Mark Hyman, MD there’s definitely something surprising that could be causing unnecessary stress: your breakfast.
No, I’m not talking about the stress of making breakfast, I mean the actual ingredients in your breakfast itself could be increasing your stress levels. “Did you know when we eat things like flour, sugar, and fried foods we actually increase inflammation and stress hormone production?” Dr. Hyman recently shared on Instagram. “Sugar in [a] muffin increases cortisol and adrenaline, the stress hormones. Yes, sugar literally jacks up your stress hormones, even if you are not stressed.”
Waking up and moving through the day with the zen calmness of a Buddhist monk sure sounds idyllic, but, for most people, certainly doesn’t seem all that realistic—especially given the extremely uncertain, stressful state of the world we live in right now.
There are a lot of factors that can contribute to feeling stressed, from looming work deadlines to health worries and existential climate anxiety. Some of these things are in our control, some of them are not. But according to functional medicine doctor and Food Fix author Mark Hyman, MD there’s definitely something surprising that could be causing unnecessary stress: your breakfast.
No, I’m not talking about the stress of making breakfast, I mean the actual ingredients in your breakfast itself could be increasing your stress levels. “Did you know when we eat things like flour, sugar, and fried foods we actually increase inflammation and stress hormone production?” Dr. Hyman recently shared on Instagram. “Sugar in [a] muffin increases cortisol and adrenaline, the stress hormones. Yes, sugar literally jacks up your stress hormones, even if you are not stressed.”