Are you tired of feeling out of sync with your own body? For many women, hormonal imbalances can seem like an endless battle, impacting everything from mood and energy levels to digestion and immunity. I focus on five essential body systems in my program: digestive, intestinal, nervous, immune and endocrine. These systems often bear the brunt of hormonal issues, leaving many women feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and disconnected form their true selves. And what’s so great about focusing on these key areas first, the other systems in the body naturally come into balance as well. That’s the amazing thing about taking a holistic approach - our body finds balance again!
Join me below for a deeper dive into our digestive and intestinal systems and the connection to hormone health, along with a quiz to asses the health of your gut!
Most Common Areas of Imbalance for Women
GUT - HORMONE CONNECTION
Dysbiosis & Microbiome
Your microbiome affects the circulation of your hormones. Some of the bacteria are responsible for re-circulating the estrogen in your system, while others are responsible for eating up “dirty” estrogen, or the toxic metabolites that make us sick. Gut bacteria rid the body of these metabolites. This process helps protect us from patterns such as estrogen dominance, insulin resistance, PCOS, endometriosis, thyroid disorders, and infertility.
If your gut isn’t working well - for whatever reason - your microbiome shifts gears in a negative way. This is called Dysbiosis - triggering leaky gut, inflammation, hormone imbalance, and predisposition to disease.
This relationship between hormones and the gut is a constant back and forth. So, when women don’t have enough progesterone, or too much estrogen, or are going thorough menopause we see shifts in the microbiome, causing all sorts of digestive issues. This is why pregnant women get reflux, perimenopausal women suffer bloating, or menopausal women are constipated. Low progesterone, for example, can lead to more Candida, or yeast overgrowth; low estrogen can lead to poor gut motility or constipation.
Why does the Microbiome matter
The gut has billions of tiny microbes, tiny bacteria that live in your gut, processing, digesting, absorbing and transporting nutrients. There are roughly the same number of bacteria in a millimetre of stool as there are stars in the Milky Way - that’s pretty amazing!
(1) Make and process you hormones
(2) Produce acids to help digest your food
(3) Help break down certain B vitamins
(4) Reduce inflammation in your gut
(5) Help stimulate your immune system
(6) Rev up your metabolism
Leaky Gut
Leaky gut is when the gut lining is no longer intact and healthy, creating a state of low-grade chronic inflammation. This inflammation leads to microbial and nutritional shifts that directly impact hormone production. What connects the intestinal cells to each other are mesh-like structures called junctions. When the gut is healthy, there are no holes and only your nutrients can pass through this very thin barrier.
The problem arises when the tight junctions become loose and your gut literally starts leaking. The end result is inflammation and this leads not only to decreased hormone production but also to disease, development of autoimmune conditions, cognitive impairments, skin issues and weight gain. Inflammation also causes stress in the body leading to overproduction of cortisol, which can then trigger anxiety and deplete the immune system. Almost 95 percent of the neurotransmitters are made in the gut; this directly impacts mood and sleep. So it’s not surprising, then, that a leaky gut is often at the root of anxiety, depression, OCD, brain fog, and many other mental health conditions.
When the screen door is torn, well, there goes your nutrients. All that effort to eat well and clean is undermined by a leaky gut. Absorption of the nutrients essential for hormones is blocked, leading to and accelerating hormone imbalances.
Do you experience heartburn, bloating after eating, especially protein? Constipation, digestive upset, reflux? How about low energy, poor immune health, or weight gain?
How Healthy is Your Gut?
