When it comes to minimizing those annoying little (or sometimes BIG) menopause and midlife symptoms like insomnia, hot flashes, joint pain, low libido, bloating, and chronic fatigue the best place to start is paying attention to the clues your gut is sending you!
So not only does menopause mess around with your weight, body composition, mood, and mental clarity, it can also cause imbalances in your digestive system, affecting your overall gut health, and increasing your risk of developing uncomfortable bloating, constipation and acid reflux.
Digestion is all about breaking food down into smaller nutrients, which your body then uses for energy, growth, and cell repair. It’s what keeps your body strong and healthy, fuels your workouts, and stabilizes your mood.
Factors like fluctuating hormones can lead to digestive problems. But it goes well beyond gas and constipation. Some gut issues can even be potentially life-threatening. Everyday Health notes that stomach-related chronic illnesses like such as polyps and cancer, infections, celiac disease, Crohn disease, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, and GERD, are among the most common health challenges people face.
The good news is that you can improve your health starting today!!
A healthy body starts with healthy habits, or in this case, proper nutrition.
Hormones may be the last thing on your mind when you’re considering ways to improve your gut health, but the fact remains that they do matter.
Have you noticed that the closer you get to menopause, the more intestinal bloating you experience? (As if midlife women don’t have enough to put up with!)
So why does menopause have such an impact on digestion?
You guessed it - hormones . . . especially our estrogen.
Here’s a quick science lesson for you . . .
- As we transition through menopause (aka Perimenopause) our estrogen hormone begins to decline. (Estrogen helps to regulate cortisol, the stress hormone)
- Because of your decreased estrogen - life just simply feels more stressful and you may begin to feel as though you can’t cope as well as you did before.
- Cortisol also has the effect of slowing down the digestion of food. This can lead to numerous digestive and gut imbalances.
- Before perimenopause, estrogen assisted in the digestion of food, but now it’s super important you start making some lifestyle changes, specifically dietary ones, to ensure you don’t go into your 50s, 60s, and beyond with an uncomfortable bloated belly.
So you’re probably wondering where is the best place to start when it comes to improving your digestive and gut balance to help make the three stages of menopause as “easy” as possible, right?
And it’s not just the decline in your ‘sex’ hormones that detrimentally affect your gut flora. As you age, your gut flora age with you, with the disease-causing strains becoming the dominant species in the gut. It's so super important that you do not allow this to happen!! It’s crucial to keep feeding your beneficial gut bacteria.
We need billions of friendly gut bacteria as they help to digest food, absorb nutrients, reduce disease-causing bacteria, fungi and yeasts.
Best place to start when it comes to healing your body from the inside out?
Check out my Mind Body Solution program >>> this 4 week program may be exactly what you need to get you back to feeling your best.
I'll walking you through 4 simple steps to improving your gut heath, PLUS I'll provide you with 4 weeks of meal plans to help you build up that good bacteria, helping to balance your hormones, increase your energy, and get you back on to feeling your healthiest self!
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