Guest blog by Deborah Freudenmann, BHSc Naturopath
Chronic stress isn’t just in your head, it rewires your body. In just weeks, it can shrink the part of your brain that stores memories, slow wound healing, and strip collagen from your skin and joints. Up to 80% of chronic health issues have stress as an underlying driver yet most people never address it directly.
You’re eating well, taking your supplements, maybe even exercising regularly but you still feel tired, bloated, unmotivated, or inflamed. Sometimes the missing piece isn’t what you’re eating or doing. It’s the silent force working against you: stress.
I’ve lived this twice once during my university years running on caffeine, skipping meals, and juggling type 1 diabetes management. And again, in early motherhood, when my newborn spent time in the NICU and needed surgery at three weeks old. In both seasons, no amount of “doing everything right” could fully offset the toll stress was taking on my body.
It’s a bit like trying to renovate a house while a storm is raging; your body’s repair crew (immune system, gut lining, hormones) can’t get to work if it’s constantly being pulled away to deal with the stress “emergency.”
Why stress stops your body from healing
Stress isn’t just mental. It’s chemical, hormonal, and physical and it leaves fingerprints on every system.
When stress becomes chronic, your body:
- Shifts resources away from repair aka slowing gut healing, hormone balance, and muscle recovery.
- Raises cortisol for too long leading to insulin resistance, collagen breakdown, and abdominal fat gain.
- Weakens digestion reducing stomach acid and enzymes, so protein and minerals aren’t absorbed as well.
- Alters the gut microbiome favouring more inflammatory bacteria.
- Disrupts sex hormones lowering progesterone/testosterone and altering oestrogen.
- Slows wound healing and changes how the liver detoxifies hormones meaning skin breakouts, PMS, and injuries linger longer.
This is why you can be “doing everything right” and still feel stuck.
Your stress response runs on nutrients
Your adrenal glands help you adapt to stress by releasing cortisol and adrenaline. But these hormones need steady supplies of raw materials protein, healthy fats, minerals, and the right carbohydrates.
When you skip meals, under-eat, or run on coffee, you’re essentially pulling fuel away from your adrenals and they can’t do their job well.
The result? Bigger cortisol swings, energy crashes, sugar cravings, and less resilience to future stress.
Food as medicine for stress resilience
If your nervous system “eats first,” feeding it well makes every other health goal easier.
|
Nutrient / food group |
What it does |
Real food sources / ideas |
|
Protein |
Amino acids build neurotransmitters, repair gut lining and stabilise blood sugar |
Chief Biltong; Eggs + avocado + seed bread; chicken or beef + brown rice + greens; Chief Beef Bar + apple |
|
Collagen & glycine |
Supports gut lining, skin, joints and calms the nervous system |
Chief Collagen Powder in smoothies or hot cacao; Chief Collagen Bars, slow cooked meats + bone broth |
|
Healthy fats |
Provide long lasting energy, regulate hormones and reduce inflammation |
Olive oil, avocado, nuts/seeds, sardines |
|
Complex carbs |
Help regulate cortisol and keep energy steady |
Sweet potato, carrots, beets, oats, quinoa, buckwheat etc. |
|
Minerals |
Support adrenal output and hydration |
Sea salt, leafy greens, coconut water, mineral broth |
|
Vitamin C |
Helps produce adrenal hormones and supports collagen synthesis |
Citrus, capsicum, berries |
|
B vitamins |
Aid energy production and stress hormone metabolism |
Meat, organ meats, Chief Beef liver capsules, leafy greens, eggs, legumes |
Practical tip: Keep clean on the go options on hand like Chief collagen bars, Chief biltong, Chief collagen smoothies or yogurts and beef bars for those days when cooking isn’t realistic. They give you protein, collagen, and minerals in a form your body can actually use.
Stress may be invisible, but its impact is not. When you feed your body like it’s in recovery not in constant battle mode you help create the conditions for healing. Every collagen smoothie, protein-rich breakfast, or mineral-packed broth isn’t just food. It’s a message to your body that it’s safe, nourished and can rebuild. And trust me, when your body feels safe, everything else from gut health, hormones, energy and skin will start thriving too.
Reference
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