Menopause
Peri- and Meno- Pause
If you are starting to experience symptoms such as irregular periods, more painful periods, increased anxiety and depression, extreme brain fog, hot flushes and many more aches and pains, then you may be in perimenopause. If your periods have stopped for over 12 months then you are in menopause. These symptoms, a result of changes in your sex hormones, which also then affects the symphony of other hormones in your body, can be debilitating. But do not fear, this doesn’t have to be the end of life as we know it, leaning on hormone replacement therapy just to function. These symptoms can also be reduced when you heal your gut and make sure your adrenal glands have the right support.
Addressing gut health will give you your energy back together with your mental clarity and the skip in your step.
Nutrition for Menopause
Improving the health of your gut now will have a tremendous effect on your menopausal symptoms and overall health. Look at your entrance into this new stage as the perfect impetus to make some positive changes. The gut is a resilient place; it just needs to be put on the right track by cultivating some simple dietary habits.
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Hormones
Hormones are chemical messengers in the body. They are made in the endocrine system and travel in the blood stream. Your ovaries are an endocrine gland and the main source of oestrogen production. During menopause, the ovaries become less responsive with age and can no longer perform their usual function, one of which is to regulate your oestrogen. Inevitable changes and the natural decline of oestrogen levels during menopause, can significantly affect your health for years to come.
Oestrogen
If you are in the stages of perimenopause your body has begun its decline in oestrogen production. Fluctuating levels of oestrogen are the elemental causes of menopausal and perimenopausal manifestations, such as:
- hot flushes
- depression
- mood swings
- brain fog
- breast pain
- insomnia
- joint pain
Estrobolome
We used to think that the decline in the health of our ovaries was solely responsible for changes in our sex hormones, but now we know the gut plays a pivotal role. There is a subset of bacteria called the estrobolome that specifically work to metabolise oestrogens. Estrobolome maintains homeostasis in a healthy and balanced gut. But an unbalanced and distressed gut can cause either the deficiency or excess of free oestrogen, and consequently, oestrogen-related health issues arise including menopausal symptoms. And there’s also evidence that a compromised estrobolome in postmenopausal women is associated with an increased risk of weight gain, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.