Our bodies are full of trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. They are collectively known as the microbiome. These bacteria and microbes that reside in our gut help us digest food and support our immune, heart, and brain health.
Good health starts with our gut as everything is connected to it! If we start thinking of our gut in the same way we would a seedling or plant in the garden, it helps us simplify how to improve our gut health. When we want to grow a seedling, we use the best soil and add water and sunshine and let nature do the rest. Our gut is very similar. By giving our gut the best nutrition, we can, then it will start to serve our bodies and support us to live our best life.
Ideally, we want an abundance of healthy and diverse gut bacteria. We also need to keep unhealthy gut microbes to a minimum. The first step is to remove all the weeds from the soil where you want to plant your seedling. So, in gut terms, we need to remove the highly processed junk foods and high-sugar foods that have become the Western diet norm. These foods, particularly sugar, literally feed unhealthy gut bacteria. They need these toxic foods to thrive and survive. So cut them out, and voila, you are on the road to good gut health.
Healthy gut bacteria need prebiotic fibres. These are not to be confused with probiotics, we will come onto those. Prebiotics are a form of dietary fibre that feed the “friendly” bacteria in your gut. Foods that are prebiotic fibres are beans, bananas, chicory, onions, leeks, artichokes, avocados, dark chocolate, garlic, asparagus, apples, dandelion greens, barley, and oats.
So now that you have stopped feeding your unhealthy gut bacteria and removed all the weeds from the soil. It is time to “plant your seed” with probiotics. These are healthy bacteria from fermented or cultured foods such as yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, tempeh, miso, natto, pickles, and kombucha. These are the awesome bacteria necessary to balance our hormones and immune system.
Now to talk about how our but helps our hormones. We have a group of bacteria in our gut known as the estrobolome which eliminates estrogen from the body. A healthy gut helps hormones by lowering inflammation and supporting blood sugar levels. Estrogen dominance is triggered by a perfect storm of Western lifestyle factors in the foods we eat, the products we use, stress levels, poor sleep, and exposure to environmental toxins. The condition is compounded by a sluggish detoxification system and that’s where the estrobolome comes in. If it’s not functioning one hundred percent then your ability to detox estrogen will be compromised.
If you suffer from hormone-related health issues, like menopause, perimenopause, PMS, and PMDD heavy or irregular periods, then you’re suffering from an underlying hormone imbalance and you can help heal your symptoms by addressing gut health. A healthy gut is directly linked to healthy hormones. So, come on let us start loving our guts and hormones! If you need some help changing your lifestyle then do get in touch for a free discovery call with me.
Take Care Mel x