Getting Gutsy in Midlife
The connection between gut health and hormonal shifts is legitimate, and the sooner we get our tum-tums optimized, the better off we'll be in peri and beyond.
When I was a kid (hand up if you’re GenX, too), there was a show called Slim Goodbody. Actually, was that the name of the show or just the main character? I think he was part of Captain Kangaroo. Can’t recall. Blame the brain fog.
Anyway, the guy (pictured above) wore a unitard printed with all the bones, muscles, and blood vessels in our bodies. The show was STEM before STEM was STEM. He was big on talking about body systems, how our incredible machine ticks, and taking kids on a tour through the caverns of (likely) cadavers. I’m just assuming, because how else were they getting that footage?
I found it fascinating. I bet most of you forgot about it and I just unlocked some crazy childhood memory. Am I right? I didn’t forget about it because it made me want to be a scientist. Since that dream didn’t pan out, I instead occasionally play one in my newsletters. I’m endlessly interested in how our bodies work, and I like to share relevant information. So, today we’re talking about how hormones affect on our gut.
Why would perimenopause disrupt our gut?
Great question! Short answer: everything affects everything in our bodies. Now, let’s dive into the science.
Modern life is brutal on our gut. Between processed food, depleted soil mineral content, stress, and toxins, the balance of good vs. bad bugs in our intestines is easily upended. Even in the best of times, when our hormones are at peak production and in ideal balance, we may have gut dysbiosis (imbalance). But when estrogen begins to drop in perimenopause, buckle up.
Besides being a key hormone for reproduction, estrogen helps women maintain a balanced gut microbiome. The microbes that live inside of us are important for keeping our intestinal barrier strong and tight. When things get out of whack, the junctures loosen and particles can “leak” into our bloodstream. If they do, it can trigger an immune response from our body which interprets these particles as dangerous invaders. Cue the inflammation.
Leaky gut syndrome has been tied back to hot flashes. Eureka!
We need to be cognizant of the situation in our gut because modern life works hard against it. Between antibiotics, oral contraception, antacids, and hormone fluctuation, we could be laying the foundation for nasties like parasites to get a foothold inside of us.
But I take a probiotic!
The good news is that the larger medical community is finally waking up to the importance of a healthy gut microbiome. The bad news is that commercial products haven’t caught up. Taking a broad spectrum probiotic that you might find on the shelf in CVS, may not be enough. In fact, it might be detrimental. If you don’t know what your own gut composition looks like, you could be adding more of the bacteria you already have in excess, actually worsening your balance.
Why is this extra important in peri- and menopause?
Gut bacteria are little superstars. They help break down the food we eat, but they also help our bodies break down and metabolize estrogen. Why would we need to break down estrogen? Because leaving excess estrogen not in use but circulating around can lead to estrogen dominance. When this occurs, symptoms such as hot flashes and anxiety can become more pronounced. But it also makes women more vulnerable to cardiometabolic diseases like Type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (recently renamed to Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD). Really rolls off the tongue.
Vitamins and Minerals
It’s not a scientific breakthrough that eating a diverse array of fresh fruits and vegetables is beneficial to human health.
The new dots being connected, however, pertain to the relationship between those foods and our body’s mineral intake. Processed foods don’t provide sufficient minerals for optimal human health. They are also typically low in fiber and high in sugar and ultra-processed oils that trigger inflammation. When our bodies experience mineral deficiency, it can affect our stomach acid levels. Without sufficient stomach acid, we can’t break down food well, leading to malabsorption and elimination issues. (If you want to check your stomach acid levels, try the burp test (Google it).)
The food pyramid is a joke. I said what I said. Do some research on why it’s designed the way it is and who paid for it. Then, step away from the noise and make sure you’re getting the newly recommended 30 (yes, thirty) unique plants into your diet every week. The advice to eat such a broad diversity of plants came out of a giant microbiome study, and really, more is more in this case. Eat the rainbow.
Your liver
The largest organ in your body, besides your skin, is your liver. And that baby is working overtime. Its job is to filter out all the toxins you shovel in and slather on. In peri- and menopause, your liver is also trying to detoxify the extra estrogen floating around unused but hellbent on wreaking havoc.
The liver sends metabolized estrogen out the chute, but sometimes it breaks free and gets recirculated if levels of beta-glucuronidase aren’t optimal in your body. (I know, big science words. Suffice it to say, it’s an enzyme that helps metabolize estrogen.)
Symptoms of estrogen dominance:
Breast tenderness
Fatigue
Weight gain (especially in your middle)
Insomnia
Hot flashes
Anxiety, depression, irritability
Vaginal itching/dryness
Your liver is also working to keep your cholesterol in a place that doesn’t garner you a sideways glance from your GP. It’s worth noting that your cholesterol will most likely go up during perimenopause even if your habits haven’t changed. Don’t panic. (And for the love of all things holy, do your research on the side effects of statins before you agree to take one. The overall number is less important than the small particle number. Look into it.)
In our modern life, we take more over the counter and prescription medications than any previous generation. Guess what organ has to deal with that? Your liver. Frankly, it’s overwhelmed. And if you’re shopping any interior aisles of your grocery store, you’re not helping the cause.
Change can be hard. So, I’m going to suggest making two small, not-overwhelming ones: get seed oils out of your life and watch the sugar.
What’s a seed oil?
Anything that is hard to manufacture without a chemical process. So, I’m talking about sunflower oil, canola oil and soybean oil. Never willingly eat cottonseed oil (that is a toxic byproduct of industrial production and should NEVER have been allowed into our mouths, Mr. Rockefeller). If an oil is “hydrogenated” or labeled as “vegetable oil”, skip it. Skip it hard!
Go check your fridge and pantry right now. This is going to cost you a few bucks because these cheap and heinous oils are IN EVERYTHING. I challenge you to find a commercial salad dressing free of this crap. I’ve found two, but it took some looking.
Which oils are ok?
Glad you asked. You can go ahead and buy products with olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, and butter/ghee. Palm oil is sort of ok, but the others are better.
Now, let’s talk cheap sugar. We are a country addicted to sweet. Our drinks, our food, even our lip balms. Sweet, sweet, sweet. All that sugar is killing our livers. Especially industrial sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, fructose, dextrose, maltose, glucose, and malt syrup. Cane-, raw sugar, and honey aren’t great either if you want to talk about insulin sensitivity. But at the very least, get everything with an -ose out of your life. Please and thank you.
Doing these two things can go a long way to helping your liver do its job.
The balance
Now that you’re ready to be nicer to your liver, let’s get back to estrogen. You want enough estrogen to not feel like Firestarter, but you don’t want to be estrogen dominant. Estrogen dominance leads to unpleasant things besides hot flashes and anxiety, such as breast and ovarian cancers and endometriosis. Why’s it gotta be so hard?
Estrogen is not living in a vacuum. It’s just one of many hormones at work in your amazing body. There is an important connection between estrogen, insulin, cortisol, and other sex hormones. When one is out of whack, the whole balance goes out the window. So you need a doctor who understands the dance these hormones are doing, and is willing to test you and make minor modifications to keep your machine firing on all pistons.
I know I dropped a boatload of info on you, so let’s summarize, shall we:
Keeping your gut microbiome in shape helps keep your gut barrier tight.
A tight gut barrier helps protect your body from any rogue bits leaking out and rallying your little internal soldiers of inflammation.
The healthier your gut, the more chill your body can be. (Very scientific, I know.)
While you’re doing all that, lighten the load on your liver so it can more efficiently process and purge excess hormones and all the toxins that are bombarding your modern life.
Easy peasy.
Small steps accumulate (in good ways or bad; your choice). But knowledge is power. The medical establishment is broken. It’s not set up for health. It’s set up to manage the symptoms of illness. Health is on you. And, frankly, it should be. No one will ever be more invested in your health, well-being, and longevity quite as ardently as you. So, become your own advocate. Push back when you’re being stonewalled by doctors who haven’t been well-educated on the relationship between the gut, hormones, and overall health. Find practitioners who get it. Talk to other women willing to share. Join my community because I’m all about making this less lonely.
I’ll keep doing my part to share what I find. I hope, as a member of this community, you’ll do the same for us.
Cheers to our empowerment and good health.
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