Ever felt you were so bloated you looked pregnant? Have you lived with bloating, constipation, gas, or other tummy problems for a lot of your life? Are you struggling with your hormones?
If 2015 is the year you’ve decided to get your hormones back on track, then a great place to start is your gut. Hippocrates, considered the founder of Western medicine concluded after a lifetime of work, “All diseases begin in the gut”. How you eat, digest and absorb food, intimately affects your weight, mood, brain function, energy levels…well everything including your hormones and ultimately your risk of developing chronic diseases.
I see women who have ongoing problems with bloating, constipation, IBS symptoms and have lived with the discomfort for years and think it’s normal and they are going through menopausal/hormonal hell. So what’s the connection and how can you heal your gut and your hormones at the same time?
You might have heard the gut is the second brain as 95% of the neurotransmitter serotonin – the happy hormone – is produced in the gut. Your gut instincts, the body responding to emotions of fear, threat, excitement or stress outside of your conscious control, is your second brain talking…like the feeling of butterflies in your stomach before a big event.
The gut lining is also the first line defence of your immune system; 70% of your immune cells hang out there stopping potential invaders such as viruses and bacteria from entering the blood stream The 1.5 kg of bacteria that you play host to in your digestive system is intimately connected with how you metabolise and remove excess estrogens from your system one of the big causes of peri-menopausal symptoms. Good bacteria are also responsible for the production of B group Vitamins for energy production and mood and Vitamin K important for bone strength and blood clotting.
What can go wrong?
When you are stressed with high or low levels of cortisol, have a gut infection, eat foods that inflame your gut (sugar, processed foods, damaged fats, gluten) or take antibiotics or regular medication (non steroidal anti-inflammatories) like asprin or ibruprofen…. you can easily wipe out the friendly bacteria, your greatest immune protector. The delicate gut lining can become inflammed and damaged, leaking toxic food particles, environmental chemicals, estrogens and bacterial waste into your blood stream for your overtaxed liver to deal with.
Leaky Gut
“Leaky gut” sounds gruesome. And just as the name suggests your gut leaks big protein particles into the blood and the immune system responds as if under attack, triggering a response that can overload all your body systems. You wonder why you start reacting to foods that in the past were not a problem or you have flare up of joint or skin conditions. The worst thing about leaky gut is that it is completely overlooked by mainstream medicine and yet it jump starts chronic diseases destroying your health and your hormones.
What to do?
New research suggests you can reset your microbiome – the microbial zoo of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa living on and in your body numbering into the 100 trillion – in less than a week! Here’s how:
1. Manage stress with awareness
High cortisol levels increases the permeability of your intestine (leaky gut) so if you are struggling with daily fatigue daily, suspect adrenal fatigue and also suspect leaky gut. Stress is the number one cause of hormone issues in menopause and starting to address your relationship to stress is a bold move to rebalance your hormones. Meditation, prayer, restorative yoga, breathing essential oils are calming and peaceful helping manage anxiety, mood, sleep and energy.
2. Remove the leaky gut triggers
Follow an anti-inflammatory diet with the avoidance of gluten and other foods that irritate your gut. You may already know what these possible allergens are. HINT : just ask yourself what foods CAN’T you do without for a day, a week, a month???
Eradicate gut infections which can include long standing parasite infections, viruses, bacteria and yeast infections like candida. Strong anti-parasitics like oregano oil, black walnut and wormwood, olive leaf extract and other herbal remedies can be fabulous treatments. Sometimes antibiotics are required to shift long standing gut infections.
3. Rebuild your gut
Diet, lifestyle and supplements are the cornerstone to healthy gut function. Supplements like glutamine, essential fats, digestive enzymes and food based probiotics are the starting point to rebuild your digestive system.
When you create a healthy terrain with probiotics and foods that suit your body type and get rid of those gut triggers you can heal your gut and and your hormones for a healthier 2015!