15/06/2022
The connection between the menopause and the gut.
Not only does the menopause mess around with our weight, our mood and our brain, did you know that the menopause can also cause imbalances in your digestive system and gut, and increase your risk of developing uncomfortable bloating, constipation and acid reflux? As if women didn't have enough to put up with!
Before menopause came along, oestrogen assisted in the digestion of food, but now we have to make dietary and lifestyle changes to
ensure we don’t go into our 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond with an unattractive, uncomfortable bloated belly, having to buy elasticated skirts and trousers, not to mention tunics that are really meant for pregnant women. We’ve got enough to contend with, what with waistlines and hips expanding due to the menopause, without having a bloated, uncomfortable tummy, acid reflux, and irregular bowel movements. If you have any such symptoms, contact your nearest ARCH colon hydrotherapy member and they will be able to give you relief from these symptoms, as well as advice and support to prevent symptoms from re-occurring. https://www.colonic-association.org/find-a-therapist/
So how can we regain our digestive and gut balance, from peri-menopause right through to the post-menopause years?
Start with a hormone-balancing diet:
• Try and get some balance back into your diet with phyto-oestrogens that help mimic what you’ve lost, i.e. a decrease in oestrogen. Think about eating more soy, such as tofu, tempeh and miso*
• Ensure you consume lots of vegetables and fruits, beans, pulses and legumes
• Make sure your diet includes good quality oils including olive oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil, and sesame oil
• Eat plenty of steel cut oats, barley and brown rice that provide B vitamins to help boost energy, manage stress and keep the
digestive system functioning
• Eat plenty of fibre-rich foods, including artichokes that help support liver detoxification. If the liver is not detoxing properly, there is a risk of emotional imbalances as the liver struggles to remove excess circulating hormones. Fibre-rich foods, along with folic acid (from leafy green vegetables such as spinach) can reduce
your risk of cardio-vascular disease that can increase after menopause
Increase your intake of fermented probiotic rich foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, and kombucha
Oestrogen and progesterone fuel bacteria in your gut. Therefore, a decline in these hormones can have a detrimental impact on your friendly gut flora. We need billions of friendly gut bacteria because they help to digest food, absorb nutrients, ‘crowd out’ pathogenic, disease-causing bacteria, fungi and yeasts, as well as manufacture important vitamins and hormones, and reduce our risk of getting nasty gut infections like C. difficile; they also help to positively influence our immune system. And it’s not just the decline in our ‘sex’ hormones that detrimentally affect our gut flora. As we age, our gut flora age with us, with the disease-causing strains becoming the dominant species in the gut. This must not be allowed to happen, for the reasons stated above, so it’s crucial to keep feeding your beneficial gut bacteria.
* *Eating soy-based products can be a controversial issue, with some studies indicating that women going through the menopause should eat more soy-based foods and other studies indicating that women with a high risk of breast cancer or who have had breast cancer, avoid soy. This article from The Harvard School of Public Health may make things clearer for you: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/soy
ARCH Wellbeing Team
Gut Health Matters
