Are you curious why gut health is such a hot topic? Or maybe even what the heck a gut microbiome is, and how this relates to your hormones?
Gut health is a hot topic in the forefront now, as it should be!
I help women balance their hormones naturally and gut health plays a big part in having good health. In my Functional Medicine programs women usually come to me with some or many of these symptoms:
- Hot flashes, PMS, peri-menpause and menopause
- Low energy and fatigue
- Difficulty sleeping
- Weight gain and sluggish metabolism
- Low mood, anxiety, lack of mental clarity, brain fog
- Cravings, hunger, stress eating
- Inability to handle stress
- Autoimmune disease
- and last but not least GUT HEALTH issues
All of these symptoms will have a root cause in your hormones. Not just your female hormones, but also your stress hormones (adrenals and cortisol), your blood sugar hormones (insulin) and your thyroid hormones. Functional Medicine is all about finding the root cause and where the imbalances are.
Your gut is your small intestine, where your body absorbs the nutrients from the food you eat to give you the building blocks your body needs. Your gut houses trillions of “good” and “helpful” bacteria (your gut microbiome) and produces the majority of your Serotonin, your “feel happy” brain neurotransmitter. That’s why you need a healthy gut to have a good mood and mental clarity.
Plus your gut is part of your immune system. When I do hormone testing on women we can see the state of your immunity in your gut with a saliva test for your stress hormones!
Your gut is where you get your health from the inside out!
If your gut is not healthy, then you can have things like constipation, diarrhea, Leaky Gut, autoimmune issues, allergies (food and seasonal), food intolerances, bloating, heartburn, acid reflux, skin issues and rashes, candida infections.
You can also have lack of absorption from the nutrients in your food, the exact nutrients your hormones need to be healthy!
So how does your gut microbiome become compromised?
- Antibiotics
- Birth control pills
- Sugar and refined carbohydrates in excess
- Junk food, and processed food with chemicals
- Toxins in the environment like the pesticide glyphosate
- Stress
And over time this is where the digestive upsets, elimination problems, food allergies, bloating, fatigue, and weight gain can come from.
But Here’s the Good News! You can do simple things to improve your gut health now…
Eat these things:
- Whole unprocessed foods
- Protein, women need protein!
- Green and colored vegetables
- Fruit (but eat more vegetables than fruit)
- Healthy Fats such as real butter, coconut oil, avocados, nuts
Avoid these things:
- Unhealthy Fats that include seed oils (canola, soybean, safflower and sunflower oils). But aren’t these oils supposed to be healthy for you? We know now that they are not! The seed oils actually cause inflammation in your body by overloading your body with Omega 6 oils.
- Trans fats include fried food, and any oil that says “partially hydrogenated”
- Gluten contains lectins, which can inflame your gut and is a cause of leaky gut. If you are not sure then eliminate gluten for 30 days strictly and see how you feel!
Plus, add in a good quality Probiotic. Probiotics help to add in the “good” bacteria that your gut needs. Just for you to know there are many different “strains” of probiotics. There are strains for gut motility, your immune system, and your brain neurotransmitters. So it may be hard to choose, but make sure it is a reputable and high quality supplement, in this area you DO get what you pay for.
Stay tuned for more posts on Women’s Health and Hormone balancing tips, including nutrition, lifestyle, stress reduction, self-care, supplements and many other topics.
I have a Free Guide for you, my “5 Steps for Women to have more Energy after 40”. Go to my website to sign up for free: https://vibranthealthywoman.com
And, if you want to know how I can help you in one of my Vibrant Healthy Woman Programs please visit my website!
