Gut Health & Hormones
The 4 Gut Repair go-to’s your Hormones will Love!
The health of your gut is intimately linked to the health of your hormones. The 100 trillion bacteria in your gut have many important functions in and if they are out of balance (more bad than good) you will start to notice symptoms of dysbiosis which can develop into chronic disease like PCOS(1), endometriosis(2), diabetes(3), heart disease(4), Alzheimer’s(5) and even cancer(6). Addressing your gut health now will not only do wonders for your Period Problems but it will lower your risk of developing these chronic disease.
Our guts are truly amazing, they not only digest our food to give us energy but they also produce hormones like melatonin - the sleepy hormone, serotonin - the happy hormone, just to name a few. When it comes to the connection between Period Problems and gut health we can focus to a group of gut bacteria called the estrobolome. The estrobolome makes an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase and it’s this enzymes job to regulate the amount of estrogen in your body. Beta-glucuronidase gives estrogen molecules the ability to connect to cells all over your body, which is great in small amounts but in large amounts it causes estrogen dominance which equals Period Problems.
So how can you support your gut health?
The best thing you can do to support your gut is to STOP eating the foods that make you feel lousy, that includes sugar & alcohol and START feeding your good gut bacteria while also supporting the repair of your gut lining. Eating plenty of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes is a great place to start.
But what about supercharging the repair process so you can feel better sooner? Glad you asked, here’s my list of the 4 gut repair go-to’s your hormones will love!
1.Collagen & Bone Broth
Traditional bone broth comes from boiling down the bones and cartilage of animals like cows and chickens. You know when you're sick and people say eat some chicken soup? Well, it’s not just an old wives tale. Traditional soup was made with bone broth - which soothed the gut and because our immune system is mostly in our guts (about 70%) it can help you recover quicker. I make chicken bone broth in my pressure cooker, it’s super simple and cooks down in about 4 hours.
But what’s in the bone broth that makes it good for your gut?
It’s the nutrients extracted from the bones that help to heal the gut*. When collagen is cooked it turns into gelatin and gelatin has been shown to aid digestive function, as well as stimulate growth and repair of joints, skin and hair. Bone broth is also rich in minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium and the marrow is rich in vitamin A, vitamin K, zinc and omega 3s. All of which are necessary to reduce inflammation and repair the gut lining.
Can you get vegan collagen?
Yes! Well kinda, it works a bit differently - vegan collagen is packed full of the ingredients your body needs to make its own collagen. So it’s not actually collagen in a bottle, it’s the building blocks your body needs to make its own collagen. So it’s a two step process, first your body makes collagen, then it gets to work using that collagen to repair your gut.
*Bone broth is high in histamines, so if you have histamine intolerance you’ll want to get that under control before you start using bone broth. I use vegan collagen, not bone broth. The plus side of vegan collagen is that it can contain high levels of vitamin C, vitamin B6 and copper, which helps regulate the enzyme that eliminates histamine from your body, DAO. Look for a powder high in these nutrients to get the most bang for your buck.
2.Drinking
Your stomach does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to breaking down your food and preparing the food for nutrient extraction through your intestines. It’s the acid in your stomach that is the key to this process. When you drink a lot of water during your meals you effectively dilute the acid in your stomach making it harder for the food to be broken down. Drinking between meals gives your stomach time to process the water and be back at full acid function during your next meal.
You can also help your stomach acid production by taking digestive bitters with meals. The Romans were said to add bitters to their wine to help digestion, so the idea has been around for a while. You can buy digestive bitters from health food stores or chemists. They’re made from spices, bark, leaves, root, fruits and herbs. They really get the party started, so if it’s your first time using them I suggest taking half the recommended dose with meals and working your way up to the full dose over a week or so. I started with the recommended dose and it was obviously too much for my poor long suffering stomach, so my advice is to be gentle and tune into how it makes you feel.
And then there’s alcohol. Yeap, booze, it’s bad news for texting your ex at 3am and it’s bad news for good gut bacteria. Overconsumption of alcohol can feed bad gut bacteria and kill good bacteria. It’s as simple as that. It’s also prioritised by the liver meaning regular detoxification of things like estrogen is delayed or denied in favour of detoxing alcohol. In this case estrogen goes back into circulation leading to estrogen dominance and period problems. Once your gut is back in good health alcohol can be ok in small quantities but if you have symptoms of dysbiosis I’d suggest giving it a rest for a while, so you can let your body repair itself.
3.Probiotics and Prebiotics
Probiotics are found in foods like fermented vegetables and also in supplements containing good bacteria. They colonize your gut helping your microbiome to balance the good and bad bacteria. Let’s talk about the foods that feed your good gut bacteria, these are called prebiotics. Prebiotics are a type of fiber that your body can’t digest. They pass through the stomach and small intestines, then find their way into your large intestine where they’re greeted by trillions of hungry bacteria, this is a good thing! You need both probiotics and prebiotics for healthy gut function.
Here’s a list of prebiotic foods to include in your life; onion, garlic, leek, asparagus, artichokes, bananas, apples, berries, oats, cocoa, flaxseeds, peas, beans, wheat and soybeans.
Here’s a list of probiotic foods to include** in your day to day; sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, kefir, pickles, tempeh, miso, kombucha. If you’re new to probi rich foods start slow! A teaspoon of sauerkraut or even just the juice could be all you’ll tolerate to start with.
**If you suffer from histamine intolerance opt for a supplement until you get your histamine issues under control. If you have histamine intolerance let me be the first to tell you, you don’t have to rely on antihistamine pills to get through your day. You can dramatically lesson your histamine reactions with diet and lifestyle changes. Surprised? I was, I did it for myself and I can help you too but that’s another blog post.
4.Chew your food
Chewing your food sounds so basic. But in our fast paced world chewing 30 times per bite is pretty rare. Should you even care? Is it even that important? In a word, yes.
Digestive processes start when you see or smell food, your eyes and nose tell your brain to activate your saliva glands. Chewing mixes food with saliva and your food begins to break down - this is where the digestive party really gets started. If you don’t chew properly you end up swallowing huge pieces of food and your stomach and intestines are left to do the work your teeth and jaw were made for. If food isn’t properly broken down you can’t absorb the nutrients - meaning you receive no benefit from the food you just ate and it can start to ferment in your stomach resulting in gas and bloating.
Your hormones are screaming for nutrients, so do them a favour and chew your food so every little nutrient morsel can be extracted and sent to the organs and systems that need them.
What’s next?
It’s my mission to give you all the information I wish I had years ago in simple terms and actionable steps. So take this article and apply the changes to your diet and lifestyle over the next few months. Break it down into small weekly achievable goals, like; this week I’m going to chew my food, 30 times each bite at every meal. Once you’ve locked in that change move onto the next. And in a few months you’ll begin to feel the difference and your guts will thank you!
If this feels like the path you want to head down but don’t know where to start or you feel like you can’t do it on your own, I’m here for you. I coach womxn just like you to get rid of their period problems and start living the life they’ve always dreamed was possible. If you’d like to see if health coaching is right for you, book a discovery call now. There’s no obligation and I will give you your first action steps, so you can start moving in the right direction for your guts and your hormones.
CLICK HERE to find out more way I can help you with your hormones.
It all starts with gut health - so take action today.
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Kitai T, Tang WHW. Gut microbiota in cardiovascular disease and heart failure. Clin Sci (Lond). 2018 Jan 11;132(1):85-91. doi: 10.1042/CS20171090. PMID: 29326279; PMCID: PMC6413501.
Askarova S, Umbayev B, Masoud AR, Kaiyrlykyzy A, Safarova Y, Tsoy A, Olzhayev F, Kushugulova A. The Links Between the Gut Microbiome, Aging, Modern Lifestyle and Alzheimer's Disease. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2020 Mar 18;10:104. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.00104. PMID: 32257964; PMCID: PMC7093326.
Rajagopala SV, Vashee S, Oldfield LM, Suzuki Y, Venter JC, Telenti A, Nelson KE. The Human Microbiome and Cancer. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2017 Apr;10(4):226-234. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-16-0249. Epub 2017 Jan 17. PMID: 28096237.
