If your digestion’s feeling a bit ‘off’, you’ve got hormone problems or your immunity is not what it could be, perhaps your liver could do with some TLC. Let’s take a quick look at some of the main jobs the liver does, and how we can support it. If you have a congested, or sluggish liver you’ll definitely feel the effects around the body, so is your liver causing your gut problems? Read on to discover more.

• What does your liver do?

  It’s perhaps not the first thing that springs to mind when you think about your gut problems, but your liver is definitely a key player in your digestive system. Everything you eat, drink and consume in other ways – breathing in toxins for example – passes through it. Therefore you definitely need to treat it right so it can do its job effectively.

   

  • Your liver helps to clean your blood, literally filtering it and ridding the body of anything harmful.
  • It makes bile, which helps you break down fats from food.
  • And stores glucose, giving you a boost of energy when it’s needed.

   

  A lot of women don’t realise that their livers are a vital part of their hormones staying balanced. While the liver is filtering out toxins we don’t need, it’s also breaking down and escorting oestrogen to the door, when is no longer needed.

   

  The liver operates in two phases to do its detoxification work, and it needs specific vitamins and minerals to do this optimally. If it’s not functioning as it should be, or if you’ve got excess toxins circulating, then your liver gets all clogged up and can’t get rid of all that excess oestrogen. When oestrogen isn’t metabolised properly it simply ends up circulating through the body again.

   

  With an optimally functioning liver you can look forward to – 

  • Less problems with your digestion
  • Regular hormone cycles with less PMS, perimenopause and menopause symptoms
  • Increased energy
  • A more efficient immune system
  • A brighter mood and focussed concentration

   

  Is your liver causing your gut problems? Here’s what to avoid

  • Excessive alcohol
  • Packaged, processed and refined foods
  • Heavily sprayed fruits and vegetables
  • Processed meats
  • Refined or hydrogenated vegetable oils
  • Sugary snacks and drinks

   

  All these types of foods cause the liver to work extra hard to remove toxins instead of allowing it to do its main jobs in the body.

  Aside from all that, what’s also really bad for your liver is high levels of ongoing stress.

  Research has demonstrated that consistently high stress levels contribute to increased inflammation throughout the body and exacerbates liver damage.

• Eat an anti-inflammatory diet, and choose organic where possible to reduce the level of pesticides you’re consuming. Your diet has a huge impact on how your liver works. Because the liver is so busy processing the foods you eat it can become overwhelmed when it has too much to do.

• Avoid breathing in toxins, or absorbing them through your skin. Cleaning products, aerosols, cosmetics and toiletries, and insecticides typically contain toxins which damage your liver. It’s always preferable to opt for organic, natural household products where possible as these are much kinder to your liver and your health in general.

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: 

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

Does optimising your gut health really help in your fight against colds and flu?  Read on to discover more. 

Scientists are increasingly focusing on the link between our immune system and our gut. Recently its been recognised that the ‘friendly’ lactic-acid producing bacteria within our large intestine may even help to protect us against common infections such as colds and flu, so the link between immunity and gut health is very real indeed.

This isn’t at all surprising when you realise that around 70 per cent of our entire immune system is found within the lining of the intestines, in what is known as our gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). In fact, this is where you’ll also find 80% of our antibody producing immune cells hanging out. They form white patches throughout the gut, known as Peyer’s Patches. Perhaps even more importantly, this is where our T-cells form any new immune memories needed against newly discovered infections.

Funnily enough, when I see clients for IBS and we start to tackle their gut health, one of the first improvements they tend to notice is with their immunity.  They comment that although everyone around them is dropping like flies, they’ve escaped unscathed! 

Immunity & gut health: The mucosal barrier

Our first point of contact for bacteria, viruses and other pathogens is our mucosal barrier. This is the layer of mucus which covers our oral cavity, digestive system, reproductive and respiratory tracts.

This mucus layer should be packed with antibodies and will eliminate potential invaders before we’ve even had a chance to realise we were under attack.

How do you keep it healthy?

Vitamin A and zinc are vital nutrients for keeping your mucosal barrier healthy, strengthening both your gut health and immunity.

Prebiotics from food and supplements keep your friendly bacteria well fed. Prebiotic-rich foods to include are –

• Leeks
• Onions
• Garlic
• Boiled and cooled potatoes
• Chicory
• Asparagus

Ensuring you’re eating a diverse diet can be a nightmare when you’re suffering with your gut, especially as so many of these ‘healthy’ foods are also big trigger foods. If this is the case for you I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help you eat safely, whilst avoiding triggering symptoms. 

It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods.

To further strengthen your immunity, ensure you minimise or avoid –

• Sugar
• Ultra processed foods
• Excessive alcohol intake (this is very damaging to your gut)

It’s a double-win if you can reduce sugar as you’ll help your immunity as well as your digestion.

I hope this helps you avoid the dreaded bugs this winter.

Here are five surprising and simple additions to your diet to help alleviate anxiety.

Unfortunately it’s a sign of the times that, to a greater or lesser extent, everyone seems to be plagued with some degree of anxiety or worry. And if you suffer with digestive issues it’s a double whammy as you no doubt will have noticed that what goes on in your head definitely impacts what’s happening in your gut. We all frequently use phrases such as ‘I have a gut feeling about this’ or ‘I’ve got butterflies in my stomach’ – these all refer to our powerful gut-brain connection, and this is the link between stress, anxiety and gut health.

The more scientists discover, the more it’s becoming apparent that the link between our digestive system and emotions is incredibly strong. Gut health can impact depression, stress and anxiety in a big way – so it’s vital to keep both functioning as optimally as possible. The brain and the gut are ALWAYS talking to each other.

The gut is known as the second brain for good reason – it’s home to the enteric nervous system (ENS). The more scientists research the ENS the more they discover just how complicated and powerful it is – so its no wonder that it’s so sensitive to any sign of stress.

Unfortunately our bodies don’t distinguish between psychological and physical stress. It makes no difference whatsoever to our bodies whether we’re being pursued by lions, or freaking out about a deadline at work. It responds in the same way. The upshot of all this stress is a state of chronic inflammation, which we absolutely want to avoid as inflammation is the root cause of so much disease.

So, with that in mind which foods will help you?

Luckily there are dozens of food choices which will assist you here, but here are some really easy ones you can add (or remove!):

2. Avoid gluten if necessary

Limiting, or even totally avoiding gluten-containing foods such as pasta, bread and baked goods may have a positive effect on your mood. Traditional food processing methods such as sprouting or using fermented grains, for example, ensure gluten-containing grains are much easier to digest and allow for greater nutrient absorption. So if you’re struggling with grains its always worth trying sourdough bread, or sprouted grain products to see if that makes a difference for you.

4. Consume Mushrooms

Mushrooms are a fantastic source of B-vitamins so feel free to consume them in abundance. They’re especially rich in B6 which is needed for serotonin production, this will help ensure your mood remains positive, and is a natural stress reliever. Shiitake mushrooms are especially beneficial as they’re great for immunity as well as being a great source of B6.