How a Healthy Gut Affects Your Body and Hormones

Do you monitor the food you eat? Do you notice sometimes that your mood changes depending on the foods you ate? Did you know that whatever you feel in your body and the change on your hormones is sometimes a reflection of your gut? How does your gut affect your hormones? Or is it the other way around?

As we eat our food, it goes down to our stomach and our gut will do its part. An intestinal bacterium called Gut Microbiome inside your endocrine system may be the most important player in your endocrine system. It can signal the glands in your body to create or release hormones such as thyroid hormones, estrogen, melatonin, and stress hormones like cortisol. When you have a healthy Gut Microbiome, it produces the right amount of beta-glucuronidase to maintain estrogen homeostasis – body energy and metabolism. Also, according to Dr. E. M. Quigley, having a wide variety of good bacteria in your gut can enhance immune system function, improve symptoms of depression, help combat obesity, and provide numerous other benefits.

However, having an imbalanced gut microbiome can cause you some disease like hypothyroidism. It can also cost you almost everything such as headaches, migraines, allergies, auto-immunity, weight gain, acne, skin rashes, yeast infections, hormonal imbalances, fatigue, immune challenges, even the way you sense pain.

To know if you have an unhealthy gut, you often experience these things – upset stomach like bloating, a high-sugar diet from processed foods and added sugars, unintentional weight changes without changing your diet or exercise habits, sleep disturbance or constant fatigue such as insomnia and poor sleep, skin irritation like eczema, autoimmune conditions where the body attacks itself, and food intolerance that caused diarrhea. Good thing, you can still take care your gut by lowering your stress levels by meditating or spending time with family, getting enough sleep of 7-8 hours uninterrupted sleep per night, eating slowly by chewing your food thoroughly to promote full digestion and absorption of nutrients, staying hydrated by drinking plenty of water, taking probiotic through taking the supplement in your diet, checking for food intolerance by not eating specific food after feeling abdominal pains and changing your diet by reducing the number of processed foods you intake. You can also try eating food like high-fiber foods such as legumes and beans, garlic and onion to enhance immune-system, fermented foods such as kimchi and yogurt, and collagen-boosting foods such as bone broth and salmon. (Sethi, 2020)

The usual way to know about your gut’s condition is through your poop schedule. Your gut will tell you what is happening inside you and it keeps talking to you. Normal poop can occur three times a week to three times a day. Although each gut is different, you should check your poop pattern. If your poop pattern is irregular and you feel often constipated, perhaps it might be helpful to watch the food you eat before it becomes worse. Take care of your gut as you take care of your face and skin because it plays a huge impact on your holistic health. Always remember that a healthy gut is directly linked to a healthy body and hormones.

Bibliography:

Vincent Pedre, M.D., (2015, December 14) Happy Gut: The Cleansing Program to Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Eliminate Pain https://maxliving.com/healthy-articles/gut-health-and-hormonal-imbalances

Alisa Vitti (2019, August 22)The Relationship Between Gut Health & Your Hormones https://www.floliving.com/guthealthhormones/

Natalie Butler, R.D., L.D., (2018, September 16) If your gut could talk: 10 things you should know https://www.healthline.com/health/digestive-health/things-your-gut-wants-you-to-know#1

Chris Kresser (2017, November 15) The-Gut Hormone Connection: How gut microbes influence estrogen levels https://kresserinstitute.com/gut-hormone-connection-gut-microbes-influence-estrogen-levels/

Bulletproof (2019, June 6) https://www.bulletproof.com/gut-health/gut-microbiome-hormones/

Saurabh Sethi, M.D., M.P.H (2020, March 26) https://www.healthline.com/health/gut-health