The solution to your hormone problems is surprisingly likely to lie with your gut health.
Are you plagued with dreadful PMS each month? Or perhaps you suffer with awful perimenopause symptoms? Surprisingly, the solution to these hormone imbalances is likely to lie with your gut health. Keep reading to discover three really simple actions you can start working on today, to help get your hormones balanced.
Hormones: What are they and what do they do?
Examples of our hormones include –
- Oestrogen
- Testosterone
- Adrenaline
- Insulin
They are extremely important chemical messengers that affect many aspects of our overall health.
Before we get onto how to support your hormone health, its useful to be aware of the kinds of symptoms which indicate your hormones might be out of whack.
Common signs include the following:
- Irregular periods
- Uncontrolled weight loss or gain
- Fatigue
- Insomnia
- Problems with digestion
- Depression and anxiety
- Energy dips throughout the day
So as you can see, problems caused by hormone imbalances can be very far reaching, affecting just about every part of your body.
High oestrogen can contribute to problems that include endometriosis and fertility issues, while symptoms of imbalanced insulin often include energy plunges through the day and weight gain.
So what has all this got to do with your gut?
Let’s focus on the female hormones here to give you an idea: Enter the estrobolome.
What is the estrobolome?
The estrobolome refers to a cluster of friendly bacteria which resides in the gut. One of its functions is to metabolise and modulate levels of circulating oestrogen.
With a healthy microbiome the estrobolome produces optimal levels of a vital enzyme called beta-glucuronidase – however, we don’t want too much of this as it can cause oestrogen imbalances – we need it at exactly the right levels. Beta-glucuronidase is also vital for nutrient absorption and carbohydrate breakdown.
It is crucial then that your levels of friendly bacteria are optimised if you want to avoid those nasty monthly, or perimenopausal symptoms.
For more information on optimising the health of your microbiome, click here.
Additionally, new research is demonstrating that the dreaded leaky gut also plays a huge role in regulating hormones. How? Because inflammation tends to start in your gut, and then impacts almost every part of your health.
So here are three REALLY SIMPLE actions you can start today to help your gut and hormone health:
1. Do not cut down on healthy fats!
Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to cut down on healthy fats in a bid to cut calories and lose weight (you can happily show unhealthy fats such as crisps and cakes the door though!)
Fat-containing foods provide a variety of short, medium and long-chain fatty acids. Your body needs these as they provide the building blocks for your hormones. You may remember a health campaign a while back urging us to cut down on cholesterol. However, you need cholesterol as it is in fact a vital building block for our hormones, as is saturated fat.
Not only do healthy fats provide vital building blocks for our hormones, they also help to keep inflammation levels low.
On the other hand, refined white carbohydrate foods such as sugar, flour, bread and pasta can encourage inflammation and mess up your delicate hormone balance.
Great sources of healthy fats include –
- Avocado
- Oily fish (salmon, mackerel and sardines for example)
- Nuts and seeds
- Coconut oil
- Extra virgin olive oil
2. Watch your stress levels
It’s true to say that stress is unfortunately unavoidable. However, how you manage your stressors is a major component in how well your hormones stay balanced. Key here really is taking time for yourself – making yourself a priority. It’s often tricky to acknowledge that we’re stressed when we’re in the midst of a stressful situation, but weirdly when we look back it seems obvious! It’s a good idea to get into the habit of some self-care techniques, some great ones which are easy to incorporate include:
- Journaling – putting stress thoughts onto paper can really help
- Meditation
- Taking time to walk in nature each day
- Deep breathing exercises
- Magnesium baths
- Acupuncture
3. Make sleep a priority to keep your hormones happy
If you’re not making sleep a top priority, this could be a HUGE contributor to your hormone problems. Most of us need around eight hours per night, and you need to have dropped off well before midnight.
Sadly, disrupting your natural circadian rhythm can spell disaster for your hormones. For example, cortisol – well known for the part it plays in the stress response – is regulated at midnight, so unless you’re sound asleep by that point you’ll see no break in in your fight-or-flight reaction.
In fact, a lack of sleep and chronic stress are two of the biggest contributors to high serum levels of stress hormones.
So to optimise your hormone function aim to be in bed by around 10pm and keep to a regular sleep cycle. More info on how to do that here.
If you would like to speak to me about any aspect of your gut health, then please use this link to book into my diary for a FREE 30 minute chat so I can find out more about what is going on for you. Alternatively please use the ‘Learn More’ link below.
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