The gut and hormones are closely linked. If either one goes wrong, then the other suffers. If you’ve been following my gut health posts, then you know that the gut is a wide network tied to almost every system in our body, not just the intestines. Today’s post is going to cover how you can best support its connection to our hormones, as well as how you can support your hormones to support the gut. For the nitty-gritty details on how the two go hand-in-hand, check out part 1. Now, let’s get right into it!

Lifestyle is Key

You might be asking yourself, “How do I make sure my gut and hormones are working well together?” It all starts with lifestyle.  

 If you’ve been following this series, then by now, you have a good idea of what this looks like. Cleaning up your diet and making sure you’re feeding your good bacteria with fiber, fermented foods, and prebiotics. Taking care of stress through simple practices like eating mindfully during meals, meditating, and finding little things that bring you joy. And living a lifestyle that works according to your bio-individuality, or uniqueness. That means eating the foods that work best for you, not whoever you follow online or the celebrity you idolize. 

With hormones, the same is true. Stress management, healthy foods, and regular exercise are a must. But other specific things can be done. Some you may already know, others not so much:

Getting Enough Sleep: It sounds easy, but you’ll be surprised at how many people struggle to go to bed. Having at least 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep is important for balancing hormones as well as the gut. The body repairs and restores itself during this time, so think of sleep as one of the ultimate “tune-ups” for your hormones. Proper sleep also helps to balance out cortisol, which is closely tied to stress. When cortisol is no longer an issue, our body switches from “fight-or-flight” to “rest and digest,” giving our gut a chance to resume its various functions and not be deactivated from whatever stress we may be experiencing. A healthy, well-rested body leads to a balanced gut, which then leads to healthy hormones.  

Maintaining a Healthy Weight: Being either underweight or overweight, leads to a downward spiral of health complications, especially those related to hormones. While a healthy weight is going to look different on everyone, you must focus on the best one for your body. It doesn’t matter if it’s curvy, short, tall, athletic, or lean. It’s what’s best for you based on your genetics, lifestyle, and goals. If you go against them, don’t be surprised if both your hormones and gut start to become dysfunctional. Working closely with a healthcare provider can help you to figure out the best weight for you, in addition to simple lifestyle habits like diet, exercise, and stress management. 

Supporting Your Liver: Because the liver plays a huge role in the processing of estrogen, we must give it some support. Rather than taking expensive pills-, which don’t work a majority of the time, and are quite expensive to boot-, focus on supporting it through diet. Bitter foods like arugula, dandelion, radicchio, and endive are all great for the liver, along with beets, carrots, grapefruit, lemon, lime, turmeric, and ginger. Remember, food first. And if your liver truly were compromised, you’d end up in the hospital. A lot of the supplements and cleanses out there don’t know anything about how the liver truly works. Don’t pay an arm and a leg for them. As I always say, lifestyle is key!

Limiting Exposure to Environmental Estrogens: Environmental estrogens, or xenoestrogens, are estrogen-like chemicals that can be found in things like plastics, processed foods, and skincare products. Xenoestrogens throw our body for a loop because they act like estrogens. When we become overloaded with them, the rest of our hormones start getting thrown off. Our body gets tangled up, trying to get rid of the excess estrogens while at the same time managing the other hormones. Down the line, these can lead to a host of imbalances and complications. Some simple, easy ways to reduce your xenoestrogen load include storing foods and drinks in glass containers instead of plastic ones, cooking with cast-iron skillets, and using natural, “clean” skincare products. A good resource for different products, cooking utensils, and storage is the EWG or Environmental Working Group. It gives you a list of affordable products that are free of harmful chemicals and xenoestrogens.

For the Athletes: This tip is for those of you who work out a ton or are athletes. Unfortunately, nature doesn’t make it easy for us to go as hard and extreme as men. In some instances, women can heavily disrupt their hormonal balance or cause infertility by excess exercise and dieting. If your body fat percentage gets too low, you’re constantly stressed, undereating, and under-recovering, then your body will be trapped in “survival mode” and pull the plug on fertility. Great for the short term (“Yay! No periods!”), bad in the long-term (think bone loss, depression, anxiety, heart disease risk, and so much more). 

Unless you’re an elite athlete, there’s no need to go all-in and exercise like it’s your job. If you’re doing so to look good in a bikini or fit into a pair of nice jeans, it’s time to change your approach. Think smarter, not longer. I don’t work out for hours on end. I live an active lifestyle, yes, but I first keep my workouts short, sweet, and intense. And I also prioritize my nutrition, mobility, and recovery. As hard as my workouts are, my recovery practice is also soft and restorative. And I know when to honor my body and not push it. For athletes, make sure you’re staying on top of your bloodwork and keeping track of your hormones with your doctor. 

Over to You

And there you have it! The top ways to support your hormones and keep your gut healthy and strong! Do any of these tips help? Let me know what you think down in the comments!

Further Reading:

[1] https://www.saragottfriedmd.com/the-most-important-organ-for-hormone-balance-consider-the-gut-microbiome/
[2] https://kresserinstitute.com/gut-hormone-connection-gut-microbes-influence-estrogen-levels/
[3] https://womeninbalance.org/2012/10/26/xenoestrogens-what-are-they-how-to-avoid-them/