Have you ever connected gut issues—bloating, gas, indigestion, constipation or diarrhoea—with your hormones? We often hear from women with poor gut function that they also have problems with PMS, endometriosis, fibroids, infertility and menopausal symptoms. Let’s connect the dots for you between healthy gut bacteria and happy hormones to support you and take your health to the next level.

The spotlight is on the microbiome—the population of bacteria in and on the body with about 1.5kg in the gut alone. Every day more is known about the benefits of gut bacteria—from helping to digest food and eliminate waste, producing nutrients such as Vitamin B and K, neutralising toxins and preventing disease causing bacteria from entering the bloodstream. There is so much hope and solid science in these little bugs to transform our health and our hormones.

But have you heard of the ‘estro-bolome’? This is an amazingly powerful group of bacteria producing enzymes in the gut that metabolise and eliminate estrogen. All of us, every woman, can benefit from knowing that good gut bugs help eliminate excess estrogens from the body and therefore balance hormones. Estrogen dominance as a result of poor gut health is implicated in just about every hormonal symptom that you can think of—heavy bleeding, cramps, low libido, PMS, infertility … are we ringing any bells?

Dr Raphael Kellerman, author of The Microbiome Diet, explains that for so many years women have been misdiagnosed by their doctors. Have you had the experience of asking your doctor for help with your hormones but still have unexplained symptoms like …

• Bloating and gas
• Fatigue
• Moodiness
• Foggy head and headaches
• Difficulty losing weight
• Sugar cravings
• Frequent illness from colds to yeast infections
• Acne

Now there might be a very good reason why you’re struggling with weight gain, cravings, and never feeling really satisfied after meals, hunting down sugar. Your gut bacteria can actually dictate what foods you crave and how your body utilises fats and carbs. Change the way you eat and live and you change your populations of good and bad bacteria. A bit more sugar and bread here, a few more glasses of wine and cups of coffee there, a course of antibiotics and we are on the slippery slope of ‘dysbiosis’. And of course the reverse is true. The body and it’s inner ecosystem of bacteria, naturally want to head towards healthy. So with each mouthful, each meal we can feed the microbiome—bacteria respond rapidly to our love and care.

Let’s start helping our hormones …

1. Cut the crap—sorry but that’s what it is, sugar, processed foods, damaged fats, gluten, dairy, artificial sweeteners, GMO and food additives.
2. Go organic—as much as you can—with whatever goes into or on your body. Xenoestrogens (foreign estrogens) from pesticides in food, chemicals in personal care products and unfiltered water kill good bacteria and lead to estrogen dominance and toxicity.
3. Support and soothe, repair and restore the gut with whole unprocessed clean food that works hand in hand with fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi and wholefood based probiotics.
4. Use nutrients that can reduce gut inflammation—zinc, glutamine, essential fatty acids, antioxidants and soothing herbs.

Probiotic Foods for Women contains many unique FOODS and HERBS including queen garnet plum, goji berries, dandelion root, broccoli, cinnamon recognised for their hormone balancing effect. These foods have been exposed to a mother culture of organic bacteria, breaking them down to release nutrition to the cells. Because Probiotic Foods for Women is a naturally fermented whole food product that contains multiple strains of beneficial bacteria, it is suitable for all women at any age and stage of the hormonal rollercoaster.

“I personally love Probiotic Foods and recommend the range in my women’s hormonal program and find menopausal women get great relief.”

Dianne Scott, Nutrition and Weight Loss Solutions, Diamond Creek, Victoria

Start with an ⅛ of teaspoon for first time users and gradually build up to ½ teaspoon twice per day and start to track your hormonal symptoms using the 30 Day Self-Check Questionnaire. It’s exciting to notice how quickly your symptoms can change when the body remembers it’s natural state of wellbeing. Notice how other lifestyle factors, like hydration, exercise, breathing, laughing and de-stressing are all a factor in how healthy your gut is. So if you or anyone you know is feeling a little hormonal, take time out to remember and care for your gut bacteria. There are more of them than there are of you!

“I can honestly say I’ve felt an improvement in my energy levels and digestive function since taking Probiotic Foods for Women.”

Elizabeth, Queanbeyan Health Foods, NSW