Cortisol Control

[SteveMan]

Just curious as to everyones thoughts on cortisol blockers when cutting?? I have read reviews saying they are good and they are bad. Naturally I am a stressed person so I was thinking they would benefit me. I am not looking to block cortisol completely, just lower it at its peak times like in the morning.

[Freebsd1977]

Just curious as to everyones thoughts on cortisol blockers when cutting?? I have read reviews saying they are good and they are bad. Naturally I am a stressed person so I was thinking they would benefit me. I am not looking to block cortisol completely, just lower it at its peak times like in the morning.

What an amazing coincidence, I was reading a flex mag article today written by Jim Stoppani and Shawn Perine. Great article and they mention that because cortisol levels are highest in the morning, a great way to lower them is to drink a whey protein shake right after you get up.

[SteveMan]

I take a scoop of whey and 5g of glutamine upon rising. I also take vitamin C and a B complex vitamin that is suppose to control cortisol.

Since cortisol is at its peak when you wake, then doing cardio on an empty stomach first thing in the morning seems pretty foolish.

[L3]

freebsd: insulin inhibits cortisol the best, therefore,what you actually want is not the protein, but the insulin spike through sugar. add 2-4 tbspn of sugar to your wake up shake, along with your protein.
don't worry about messing with your calorie intake, its 1st thing in the morning so you'll have burned it off by the evening

you should also do the same for your post-workout shake

Grapes+ is another great antioxidant (and cheap too)
All your vitamins (e,c)
ecaneicea


steveman: youre supposed to do the morning cardio AFTER you take your morning shake. empty stomach just means no bacon eggs and cheese. you can get low carb whey if it is an issue.

just stick with the sugar in the morning, thats quite enough to control the initial spike.
ps. cortisol levesl peak ~20 mins after you wake up.

[Gettin'r'round]

Read somewhere the whole cortisol thing is BS bb'er marketing. Sure stress will kill muscle, but you seriously think these cortisol supp's will prevent muscle loss under a divorce, death etc?

[Freebsd1977]

freebsd: insulin inhibits cortisol the best, therefore,what you actually want is not the protein, but the insulin spike through sugar. add 2-4 tbspn of sugar to your wake up shake, along with your protein.
don't worry about messing with your calorie intake, its 1st thing in the morning so you'll have burned it off by the evening

you should also do the same for your post-workout shake

Grapes+ is another great antioxidant (and cheap too)
All your vitamins (e,c)
ecaneicea

Hey legaliz3, why didn't you write that article?
Thanks for the update, I'll give it a try.

[Rhinobolt10]

K, I'm definately not an expert here, but I have a somewhat high stress job and store fat mainly in my stomach, so I've looked into cortisol as much as I can. I try to read whatever stuff I can find from Poliquins biosignature, and for those that haven't heard of it, it's basically just taking a body fat test with calipers, and from the readings he can tell your hormonal balance. IE, high belly fat readings cortisol. OR, regular belly fat, but high back fat means... I can't remember. From there he'll put them on a supplement plan to normalize those hormones, and apparently fat drops right off.

I'm not sure if I buy this yet, but from the reviews I've managed to find, it seems fairly legit.

Anyhew, from what I've read on cortisol... and I'm still damn confused, it's supposed to be high in the morning (helps you wake up and get out of bed) and low at night (lets you fall asleep).

Now, when you're uber stressed out, it will just be high all the time, until your body gets pissed.

Then, it will be low in the mornings, (can't get out of bed, morning fog) and high at night (can't fall asleep). This is pretty much me to a T, as since I've been a kid I've had to drag my ass out of bed, and have never had that POP I hear most people have in the mornings.

So, as far as a cortisol blocker... I'm not really sure how they work, but I'd say take it at night before bed... but that is definately not expert advice.

Also, I've heard another way to help lower cortisol and restore the correct balance is an ass load of fish oil.

Hope this helps dude, and if anyone else has anything to add, I'm all ears.

[gustavo77]

Now, when you're uber stressed out, it will just be high all the time, until your body gets pissed.

Then, it will be low in the mornings, (can't get out of bed, morning fog) and high at night (can't fall asleep). This is pretty much me to a T, as since I've been a kid I've had to drag my ass out of bed, and have never had that POP I hear most people have in the mornings.

That's me to a T....i feel like shit every morning and it takes a long ass time for the mental fog to clear. Been like this since i was a child.

[Rhinobolt10]

That's me to a T....i feel like shit every morning and it takes a long ass time for the mental fog to clear. Been like this since i was a child.

I think it's not actually as simple as cortisol being out of whack, I think it's also adrenal fatigue.

I'm experimenting with fish oil, zinc and magnesium right now, seeing if I can pull out of it, but I've heard it takes a long time to reverse this.

Since it really pisses me off that I have to have 3 alarm clocks just to get out of bed, I'd really like to fix this problem.

[Sean]

1. Glutamine
2. Vitamin C
3. Stay away from Caffine (Coffee, Pop ect..)
4. Sleep