[SERIES] The Gut-Hormone Connection | Ep. 4 of 8

All right, you did it. We are back for episode number four of the I've tried everything serious and right now we are diving into the connection between your gut health and your hormone health. Now this is personal for me because this is exactly what I went through for years. I thought that I had these crazy hormone problems, not to say that you don't, but I tried everything from supplements to diet changes, but it turned out that my issues were really rooted in gut dysbiosis after I took some antibiotics. That was super fun. So that's why this is so important because what's going on in your digestive system is 100% impacting your ability to maintain balanced hormones and support your overall fertility. So let's talk through concrete examples of how issues with digestion can manifest as hormone symptoms. If you have any of these symptoms, any of these experiences, then this will be helpful for you right away. First, I want to talk through constipation because if you are experiencing constipation, okay, how does that impact your hormones? Well, it can result in higher recycling of astrogens. Right, normally astrogens is eliminated through your stool. So if you're not having bowel movements in a regular or complete manner, then that astrogens has the opportunity to recycle which could result in PMS or heavier bleeding or all of the other symptoms associated with estrogen dominance. I worked with one client, she started with me when she was 30 and she had experienced literal years of constipation and she had been relying on laxatives for every single bowel movement for three years. Now what was happening? That constant patient was resulting in higher levels of estrogen in her body and again, that's a recipe for PMS, for bloating for really heavy periods. So what we focused on first with her was, of course, her gut health, getting things moving every day, that then set the conditions for us to implement additional actions and make changes to support balanced hormones. Now example number two, let's talk about bloating or stomach aches. There are certainly many reasons why bloating or stomach aches can occur, yes. But what is a common theme with both? Now these both usually occur in conjunction with inflammation and where there's inflammation, there's increased stress as well as an increased immune response. This is important because when there's higher levels of stress, there are higher levels of inflammation and that can signal to your brain like, hey girl, not a super good time to procreate. Let's kind of just shut down this ovulation process until things seem to be in better shape. So on your day to day, you might think, okay, well, I'm kind of bloated by the end of the day, but why would that impact my period? But it could be that this bloating is a result of maybe an imbalance in your gut microbiome, which is then increasing your stress levels and impacting your menstrual cycle regularity. Now that is the short version to say the least. There's certainly more nuance to get into, but suffice it to say that if you're experiencing bloating on the regular, that is absolutely something to investigate. Now next I wanna talk about food sensitivities. Food sensitivities are common and I wanna make sure we differentiate them from allergies. As I have started to use food sensitivity testing with my one-on-one clients, it has really enabled us to find the absolute fastest and most clear route to supporting a healthy digestive, digestive system, and why is that? Because once you become super crystal clear on what food sensitivities you have, you're not guessing like, oh, I think it's wheat. I think it's tomatoes. I think it's whatever you think might be causing you digestive chaos. But once we get really clear on what we need to eliminate, your inflammation is going to improve that inflammation that was increasing stress or preventing you from properly digesting your foods or properly absorbing those nutrients. So having a sensitivity to a food, which is sometimes associated with leaky gut, once you figure out where the sensitivity lies and once you address that sensitivity, you're paving the way for an easier cycle for less PMS and for more predictable periods. Now I had another client who started working with me when she was 26. She had a lot of bloating. She had some intermittent constipation. We used a stool test to check out her gut right away. We went through a gut protocol and she saw her menstrual cycles go from being between 55 and 120 days down to having her first cycle that was in the 30 day range, like in years. So your gut health again is so closely related to your hormone health, to your fertility, to your menstrual cycles. The bottom line here then is if you were having issues of cycle of regularity, or if you can't predict your menstrual cycle, if you are frustrated because you feel like you've tried everything, take a look at your gut health because that could be what is really gonna move the needle for you. And again, this was my story too. I spent years thinking that my hormones were the root cause of my problem, but it was my gut all along. And once I addressed the gut dysbiosis from those antibiotics, everything else really started to shift. So if this resonates with you, if you are nodding your head over there thinking, that is exactly what I'm dealing with. Don't wait until the end of the series, because if you're listening to this series, you are done guessing, that tells me that you are ready for real answers. And I'll invite you to book your 45 minute discovery call because when you book that call, you can feel confident, like truly confident about what are the best next steps for you specifically. You can understand which interventions will actually work for your body. And so you can stop wasting time guessing, trying to DIY this and finally get personalized one-on-one guidance. On this discovery call, I promise you, you will learn more about how you got to where you are. And you will also learn more about my coaching packages, so you can decide if working together is the right fit for you. This call is for women who are done guessing and ready to get to the root cause of their imbalances. So go to imhermonal.com/goals, or click on the link in the show notes. And what's coming up next? Well, in the next episode, we're gonna be talking about lab work. What testing will actually help you versus what might just be a waste of money. I'll break down the specific tests that I use with clients and what they reveal, so you can stop guessing and start getting answers. (upbeat music)