'cortisol Belly' Myth: When Diet Culture Is Rebranded As 'wellness'

The latest viral wellness trends - "cortisol belly" and "cortisol face" - promise a calmer, leaner, more radiant you … if you can just lower your stress hormones. With attention-grabbing claims like "You don't have a belly fat problem. You have a cortisol problem," creators promote 30-day transformations that supposedly shrink waistlines and slim faces by targeting cortisol.

These posts often feature hashtags like #cortisolreset, #hormonehealth, and #nervoussystemregulation, along with before-and-after photos claiming reduced bloating, flatter stomachs, and tighter jawlines. The secret? They suggest techniques like cold plunges, cutting caffeine, or taking trendy supplements. However, the truth is that cortisol can't cause such dramatic physical changes that quickly. The real "secret" is likely a mix of marketing and exaggerated claims.

Cortisol - often called the "stress hormone" - is produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress. This can include everything from daily frustrations (like traffic jams or looming deadlines) to major life changes (like illness or divorce), or persistent stressors such as financial strain.

Cortisol plays a vital role in our fight-or-flight response - an evolutionary function designed to help us respond to threats. It mobilises energy, regulates blood pressure and blood sugar, reduces inflammation and helps control our sleep-wake cycle. Cortisol naturally peaks in the morning to help us wake up, then decreases throughout the day.

While short bursts of cortisol are helpful, chronic (long-term or frequent recurring) stress can keep levels elevated over time - and that's when it can start to cause health problems .

Sustained cortisol elevation can affect appetite, sleep, cravings (especially for high-calorie comfort foods) and how fat is stored in the body. These factors can contribute to weight gain, particularly around the abdomen .

Abdominal fat includes both subcutaneous fat (just beneath the skin) and visceral fat , which surrounds internal organs. While both may increase under chronic stress , visceral fat is more strongly linked to health risks such as cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance.

Yes, reducing stress is good for your health - both mentally and physically. But framing stress management as a path to visible cosmetic changes - flatter stomachs, sharper cheekbones - reduces a complex health process to an aesthetic issue.

And that's exactly what many of these viral trends are doing.

Old ideas in new packaging

The appearance-related concerns supposedly "solved" by cortisol regulation - puffiness, belly fat, bloating - closely align with western beauty ideals : thin, toned bodies with flat stomachs and sculpted faces. These ideals are especially gendered, targeting women with the ever elusive hourglass figure : slim waist, fuller breasts and hips.

Internalising these ideals has been consistently linked to body dissatisfaction , disordered eating and poorer psychological wellbeing.

Influencers and wellness brands often co-opt the language of health to sell what are essentially beauty ideals - repackaged as "empowerment" and "self-care". In this way, wellness culture subtly continues the legacy of diet culture, just with a more palatable aesthetic. Today's message? Don't count calories - regulate your hormones.

Many of the quick-fix solutions being promoted - from adaptogenic teas (teas containing herbs, roots and other plant substances believed to help the body adapt to stress and restore balance) and cold plunges to "no-coffee-before-breakfast" rules - are based on limited or inconsistent scientific evidence. While these practices may help reduce stress for some people, their ability to visibly reshape your body in 30 days is unlikely.

Claims that you can "spot-reduce" fat or lose fat in targeted areas (like the belly or face) are not supported by scientific consensus. That said, there are evidence-based ways to lower cortisol and support mental and physical wellbeing - such as mindfulness and meditation or emotion regulation strategies . These practices activate the parasympathetic nervous system (the "rest and digest" state), which slows the heart rate, reduces blood pressure and decreases cortisol. They can also help manage anxiety, sleep and inflammation.

But again, these are not weight-loss hacks - and definitely not quick fixes for belly fat.

The idea that stress alone can be responsible for face puffiness or belly fat oversimplifies complex physiological processes. Many factors , not just cortisol, influence how and where we store fat, including sex, genetics, hormones - such as insulin and oestrogen - diet and exercise, age, and individual differences in physiology.

Managing stress is important . It supports immune function, sleep , mental clarity, and emotional regulation . But when stress regulation is marketed as a tool to transform your appearance, it risks reinforcing the same body ideals that diet culture thrives on - just under a shinier, more "mindful" label .

Instead of focusing on what cortisol does to your waistline, we should be talking about what chronic stress does to your health, relationships and wellbeing. Instead of striving for a flatter stomach through wellness hacks, we might aim for a healthier, more balanced life - regardless of what we look like.

Nadia Maalin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.