Perimenopause and gut health...

• One of the most common struggles my perimenopause clients bring up is an increase in gas and bloating. This can happen out of the blue without any change in diet or lifestyle. Suddenly certain foods cause our belly to become increasingly distended throughout the day. This can be disconcerting, to say the least, and uncomfortable. It is so important to eat well and get proper nourishment during our peri years, but how can we do that if food suddenly makes us feel bad?

As we learn more about the microbiome and how important it is for our overall health, we also continue to learn how it can change at different stages of life. During perimenopause, wildly fluctuating estrogen, which helps to regulate the gut microbiome, can lead to changes in bacteria populations. The loss of "good" bacteria species can lead to an overgrowth of "bad" bacteria, or a migration of bacteria up from the large intestine into the small intestines, where it doesn't really belong. What this change in microbiome can look like for us includes symptoms such as increased gas and bloating when we eat sugar, carbs, veggies, or legumes. If the imbalance goes on long enough, the constant irritation in the small intestine can lead to an inflammation of the gut lining, and eventually to leaky gut. This means that our gut has become more permeable, allowing for material to pass through that would have been kept out by a healthy gut lining. When foreign material gets into our system, our immune system responds and we now have systemic inflammation. (a topic for another newsletter)

Back to our imbalanced microbiome... Part of the role of a healthy microbiome is to help regulate hormones. Once the liver packages up estrogen and sends it to the gut to be excreted, a population of bacteria in our gut known as the estrobalome helps to send it on its way. You see, we really need to keep moving estrogen out of the body. If it continues to circulate in the system we can easily end up with too much, a condition known as estrogen dominance (very common in early perimenopause), with symptoms such as super heavy periods, periods that go on "forever", uterine fibroids, worsening PMS, weight gain, and more.
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You can see how this can become a vicious cycle... shifting hormones lead to microbiome changes, which leads to increased hormone imbalance and possible systemic inflammation, which leads to worse perimenopause symptoms (symptoms like hot flashes, yes, but also anxiety, brain fog, low energy, mood swings...).


        What can you do?

• Make sure to eat a diverse diet, with lots of veggies in a variety of colors (the fiber in vegetables is the food for our microbiome)
• Keep processed food to a minimum and try to cut out as much sugar as possible
• Get good protein and healthy fat with every meal
• Add in fermented foods
• Work on stress levels (chronic stress can wreak havoc on our microbiome)
• If you have trouble digesting foods without gas and bloating, see an herbalist to address possible SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) so you can start feeling better and eating all the foods you need at this time.

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Learn more about perimenopause and gut health, as well as so much more, in my Perimenopause Crash Course. Take a 5 week deep dive to change your understanding of perimenopause, and gather the tools and strategies to care for yourself effectively.

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Perimenopause Crash Course

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If you are looking for individual, one-on-one support, let's book a consultation and get you started on an individual support plan that includes custom herbal formulas. See all the details for my consultation practice here...

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