How many times do you normalize your bloating, weight, and low energy even though you are sick and tired of your health issues dragging you down?
Every. Single. Day???
You’ve tried everything. And nothing is helping.
I know the feeling because that was me. I was beginning to lose hope that my doctor would be able to help me figure it out. And I didn’t want to keep taking medication.
When I began addressing my gut health, I noticed the changes and I was feeling more hopeful. I was learning so much, some of which surprised me.
For example, did you know that your gut helps regulate hormones?
Yup, it's true!
There is a microbe population living in your gut, particularly in the intestines, involved in female hormone balance called the Estrobolome. The Estrobolome is responsible for one essential hormone task – metabolizing estrogen!
Many of the hormonal problems you may experience are belly bloat, weight gain, difficult periods, and skin issues. They can all be signs that your gut is compromised, even though they are commonly viewed as hormonal issues.
When estrogen isn’t metabolized efficiently, this leads to an excess of the hormone in your body (hint: that’s not a good thing).
Are you listening to the signs and signals that your body is giving you? Here are some common (and not-so-obvious) signs of gut imbalance:
Hormonal imbalance issues
Leaky gut
Weakened immune system
Heartburn
Bloating and gas
Frequent cold and yeast infections
Acne and eczema
Brain fog and concentration issues
Depression and anxiety
Chronic fatigue
Rapid weight gain and difficulty losing weight
There are a number of factors that cause gut problems, including poor diet, toxin overload, and micronutrient deficiencies that lead to gut imbalances.
- Leaky gut: With leaky gut, damaged cells in your intestines don't produce the enzymes needed for proper digestion. As a result, your body cannot absorb essential nutrients, which can lead to hormone imbalances and a weakened immune system.
- While antibiotics are sometimes necessary, the overuse of antibiotics can harm your health. Not only the oral antibiotics, but also the use of antibacterial soaps, wipes, and sprays. Antibiotics kill both the bad and good bacteria.
- Diet and lifestyle factor: Poor sleep quality, alcohol consumption and inactivity, can harm your gut bacteria.
- Chlorinated Drinking water: A necessary evil, use a good filtration system.
- Diet: Eating a diet low in fermentable carbohydrates hinders your ability to populate your healthy gut flora.
- Hormonal birth control methods: Synthetic hormones mess with your estrobolome.
- Over-the-counter medications: Especially antacids and pain/fever reducers.
- Refined sugar and processed foods: These foods promote the growth of bad bacteria in the gut and hinder the growth of beneficial bacteria.
- Toxins: Pesticides, herbicides, glyphosate, and environmental chemicals can negatively shift the microbiome.
There are several changes that you can make in your life in order to start restoring your gut health.
Here is a look at some of them:
Functional Lab Testing
If you’ve “tried everything” when it comes to trying to figure out why you have your symptoms (hormones, gut, weight, energy, skin issues, etc.), yet nothing seems to work then it’s time to test instead of guess. You are unique and therefore your diet, exercise, sleep, supplements and stress reduction needs will be too. What works for one person isn’t exactly going to work for you.
When your attempts to lose weight, increase your energy and get your health back under control aren't working, it’s a sign that something bigger is going on beneath the surface such as hormone imbalances, liver congestion, poor nutrient absorption or fat for fuel metabolism, and your typical blood tests won’t pick up on these hidden dysfunctions.
Your results will always be lacking, no matter how many diets or workout routines you try, if you’ve got something greater going on under the hood.
So stop shooting in the dark, run some functional lab tests that will give you a bigger picture of your overall health and take a more strategic, and personalized approach to reaching your health goals this year.
Add Non-Reactive Foods in Your Diet
Being mindful of what you eat can go a long way in improving your gut health and boosting your hormone health. Eating organic and eating a balanced diet is just the start.
Continuous consumption of reactive foods leads to inflammation of the intestinal area, dysbiosis, candida overgrowth, leaky gut, malnutrition and malabsorption, liver congestion, impaired immunity, detox capacity.
Think of your body as a temple and show your gratitude for it by feeding it for energy and life. Eat more blood-sugar balancing foods. There are several foods that help balance blood-sugar levels, which will in turn support a healthy gut. Go for high phytonutrient, low-glycemic foods like salmon, avocados, nuts, seeds, and olive oil.
Eating fewer white foods. Sugar, dairy, and gluten have all been linked to causing disruptions in the gut microbiome. Reduce your intake of these foods or cut them out of your life completely.
Lower Stress
You are wired to handle an acute stress episode, then return to normal for an extended time, until the next acute stressor surfaces. Demands of work, relationships, family, finances, illness and pain all create a stress response.
You may not always see the internal damage that is being done during consistent stress responses. But when you begin to lower your stress levels, the body can begin to heal. Your digestion, hormone and immune systems system function is restored. Metabolism is no longer suppressed. Detoxification system functions better. You reduce your oxidative stress. Weight returns to normal. Sleep is better. Inflammation is reduced.
Lower Your Inflammation
Low-glycemic foods will help greatly with this. You should also avoid exposure to toxic substances, exercise more, and get enough sleep. Lower stress levels will help in this area.
Limit Antibiotics
As the name suggests, antibiotics kill off bacteria. This means all bacteria, not just the bad ones. You should therefore only take antibiotics when absolutely necessary. Certain doTERRA Essential oils have antibiotic properties that when used as directed help the body restore normal gut flora.
Rethink Hormonal Birth Control
Hormonal birth control messes up the gut microbiome. It also increases the risk of inflammatory bowel diseases like colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Consume More Hormone-Healthy Micronutrients
Micronutrients are essential for proper gut health. Here is what they can do for you:
Magnesium: Magnesium deficiency reduces the amount of bifidobacteria in the gut
Zinc: Zinc deficiency reduces bacterial activity and leads to a less diverse microbiome
Vitamin B12: It nourishes and shapes microbial communities
Vitamin D: Vitamin D deficiency can trigger inflammation
Selenium: More selenium in the gut leads to an increase in bifidobacterium
Supplement with a Probiotic
Most cultured foods naturally contain a wider variety of strains than probiotic supplements and may be easier for the body to absorb, but supplementing 'in addition' is often needed.
This is especially true if you:
Heavy periods, PMS and reproductive system problems may not seem like they are related to your gut – but they often are. Hormones don’t just break! Hormone imbalance is almost always a sign of a root problem somewhere else in the body.
Commit to improving your gut and hormone health to finally feel like yourself again. Check out my mini-course, Why Lab Testing is Essential for Happy Hormones and Gut.
Feeling fed up with symptom treatment and ready to take back control of your health? Get to the bottom of your health complaints once and for all and schedule an Ideal Health Discovery Call. We can talk about what you want for your health and want in the way of support.