You’re eating healthy and exercising but you still feel like crap, What’s the deal??
Most of the women who come to me complaining of hormone symptoms often also have digestive system issues as well and don’t even realize it. This is where a symptomatology assessment questionnaire can help tell us a story of what’s really going on.
Here’s the thing, if you’re digestion isn’t optimal, your hormones are not going to perform as well as they should and it may be the reason why you can’t lose the weight, your periods are a nightmare, sleep is impossible, and you have no energy.
Here are some of the ways poor digestion can impact hormones:
Stomach acid (HCL)
HCL (hydrochloric acid) helps to digest proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. The process of breaking down these macronutrients makes the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) available for hormone production. Many nutrients are important for the health of hormones including zinc, magnesium, B vitamins, and many more. If you aren’t digesting properly, breaking down food well, or even poorly absorbing nutrients, your hormones can suffer.
Gut permeability
When the lining of the GI becomes inflamed long enough this causes damage and permeability. What this means is, things like toxins, microbes, and undigested food particles actually start to make their way into your bloodstream and this can elevate stress hormones. When stress is high, the body puts priority on trying to deal with that stress instead of on other hormones. This is how hormonal imbalances can manifest. (1)
Inflammation
The gut is where the majority of the immune system lives. So when your gut is suffering it can increase inflammation which can trigger inflammation everywhere in your body. Inflammation will absolutely impact your hormones and make it difficult to lose weight and feel energized.
Dysbiosis
A dysbiosis is referred to an imbalance of intestinal microbes. This creates problems because good bacteria can metabolize and recycle hormones in your body. Estrogen, for example, circulates the body and when it reaches the liver it is inactivated. In a normal functioning digestive system, this inactivated estrogen is then sent to the intestines where it can be carried out by your poop. But if certain bad bacteria are present in your gut, the bacteria can reactivate estrogen and release it back into your body where it continues to circulate and can cause estrogen dominance. Hello PMS! (2)
Sex Hormones
Imbalances of estrogen and progesterone can influence the movement of food through the intestines. They can either speed up the process (causing diarrhea, nausea and abdominal pain) or they can slow things down (causing bloating or constipation). Altered estrogen levels can cause hyper-responsiveness to stress, which may promote an immune response and contribute to gut permeability. (3)
So as you can probably appreciate by now your digestion and how well it's functioning is a major player in how you feel and how your hormones behave. Unfortunately, good digestion isn't found in a pill alone. In fact, in order to control inflammation, repair damage and rebalance microbes, a multi-faceted protocol is required to get your digestive system back up and running smoothly again. This is why phase 1 of The Flourish Method we kick-start your digestion and detoxification pathways creating the right terrain for transformation.
Learn more about The Flourish Method HERE.