Balancing Hormones, Gut Health and Weight
Navigating the Intricacies of Insulin Resistance
Medical experts are now establishing the connection between hormones and gut health. Our microbiome significantly influences the endocrine system, which is pivotal for hormone health, shaping our perception of the world and our emotional well-being.
To gain a clearer understanding of hormones and gut health, we have to take a closer look at estrogen’s role in the gut. Estrogen is the only hormone that has its own colony of microbes that are there to help metabolize and detoxify estrogen. Other hormones do not have this special colony.
Why is that?
Progesterone serves as a crucial regulator in managing estrogen, which is 100 times more potent. The liver neutralizes estrogen, and subsequent control occurs in the bowel. The body recognizes the potent mitogenic, proliferative, and potentially carcinogenic effects of estrogen, prompting a specialized process to prevent its harm. While acting as a "Lion Tamer" or modulator for estrogen, progesterone plays a key role not only in keeping estrogen in check but also in acknowledging the essential need for estrogen in the body.
Progesterone undergoes breakdown and conjugation in the liver before being excreted into both urine and the bowel. Unlike estrogen, progesterone is neither a toxin nor as potent a hormone. There is no risk of eliminating progesterone at the bowel and recycling it back into the body, as is the case with estrogen.
Progesterone is often unfairly implicated in estrogenic reactions, and the dynamic interplay between these two hormones can be intricate. In situations of estrogen dominance, when estrogen is in control, introducing progesterone supplementation can inadvertently stimulate estrogen receptors. Picture the lion tamer unexpectedly encouraging the lion into action—I refer to this phenomenon as estrogen kickback. It may lead to apparent estrogenic reactions that are wrongly attributed to progesterone. The primary cause of this stimulation is often insufficient progesterone dosage tailored to individual needs. This sets off a figurative tug of war, where estrogen's inherent potency often wins, emphasizing how crucial it is to get the progesterone dose just right for things to work out.
Microbiologist Kiran Krishnan. Listen to full podcast HERE.
As emphasized in that video featuring Kiran Krishnan, estrogen gets stimulated and then goes through the detoxification process, ultimately reaching the bowel. In the presence of gut dysbiosis, this elimination of estrogen can significantly influence factors such as motility, distention, gas, or the exacerbation of existing gut issues. Repeatedly, this situation tends to result in pointing fingers at progesterone supplementation or the inherent cyclical increases in progesterone for the outcomes triggered by estrogen.
Another important point, betaglucuronidase an enzyme and the estrobalome which is a colony of microbes are found in the gut to help detox and/or reactivate estrogen but there is no such mechanism for progesterone indicating no need to “detoxify” it.
The body’s metabolic processes regulate the levels of progesterone without the need for detoxification.
This distinction alone highlights the potential harm that estrogen can pose, as it requires neutralization in the liver, unlike progesterone.
This introduces us to another significant contributor to gut health and hormonal balance. I'll defer to Kiran Krishnan for a more thorough explanation, as he articulates it better than I can.
Microbiologist Kiran Krishnan. Listen to full episode HERE.
In essence, it can be stated that dysregulated cortisol, commonly referred to as STRESS, stands out as a major catalyst for the development of leaky gut and insulin resistance.
More on cortisol; Released by the adrenal glands, cortisol is pivotal in blood sugar regulation. It stimulates gluconeogenesis, a liver process converting non-carbohydrate sources like amino acids and fats into glucose. Cortisol decreases glucose uptake by tissues, maintaining higher blood glucose levels. These coordinated actions respond to stress or low blood glucose, facilitating the body's energy requirements.
This is why consuming enough calories daily in a balanced diet that includes carbohydrates, protein, and fats is crucial because, without adequate fuel, the body resorts to cortisol, breaking down tissues to generate energy. Persistent cortisol demands can accumulate in fat tissues, creating a cycle where excess adipose tissue functions as both an estrogen and cortisol producer, potentially leading to ongoing hormonal imbalances.
Effectively handling cortisol is vital and this involves managing stressors in your life.
Successfully managing daily emotional stress is crucial, but equally important is our response to stress, particularly when addressing healing from past trauma, PTSD, and the nervous system patterns that shape our reactions to trauma. I appreciate and highly recommend the somatic nervous system work pioneered by IRENE LYON.
Beyond emotional stress, there are various other stressors to consider, such as infections, notably dental infections, inflammation, and toxic burdens including mold, metals, chemicals, and xenoestrogens. Another increasingly discussed aspect is epigenetic stressors.
Epigenetic stressors refer to factors that can bring about changes in gene expression without altering the underlying DNA sequence. These stressors encompass environmental factors, lifestyle choices, or experiences that have the potential to impact the epigenetic marks on genes, ultimately influencing the activation or deactivation of genes.
"Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul." -3 John 1:2
Now lets get to the meat and potatoes, weight gain and insulin resistance;
Progesterone doesn't contribute to weight gain; estrogen dominance and insulin resistance, on the other hand, can.
What do we know?
Excessive estrogen is the culprit behind hormonal weight gain. If you inadequately dose progesterone according to your needs, it can stimulate estrogen.
Estrogen is mitogenic, signifying its role in causing cells to divide and grow, resembling the processes seen in a fetus, tumor, or fat cells.
In addition to hormonal factors, obvious contributors to weight gain include poor diet, lifestyle choices, and lack of exercise.
An excess of estrogen or simply estrogen unopposed by progesterone, is also known to induce insulin resistance, a condition prevalent in MOST women experiencing weight gain with progesterone. SEE HERE
It's crucial to recognize that while estrogen may promote weight gain, progesterone, with its thermogenic properties, can potentially counteract these effects by boosting metabolism.
Why does intermittent fasting help insulin resistance, blood sugars and diabetic numbers?
This is by way of adrenaline, cortisol and aldosterone, emergency hormones. Not ideal for long term hormone balance.
That’s your backup generator not your primary energy power plant.
This is a state of “emergency” for the body.
It works for several months and for some, several years, until it doesn’t.
Ultimately, the backup generator relies on glucose. If it's not readily available from your food, it resorts to using cortisol to break down tissues and organs, as discussed earlier in relation to gluconeogenesis.
This isn’t individual. Nobody is unique in this process. If you are a human you have two modes of making energy; from the rest and digest state or the fight or flight state.
The goal is to get your body to function using its primary metabolic process and save the emergency back up systems for emergencies.
This includes up-regulating healthy digestion, thyroid and liver function. READ MORE HERE.
But what is insulin resistance?
Insulin resistance is a situation where cells ignore insulin's signal to let glucose in. Even when the pancreas makes too much insulin, cells don't respond properly. This excess insulin may be due to a very sensitive pancreas or the liver not clearing insulin effectively.
In insulin resistance, blood sugar levels can be normal or slightly high. When it gets more severe, insulin levels are usually high. This stage is called "metabolic syndrome," where both glucose and insulin are elevated.
Insulin resistance, if left unchecked, can progress to diabetes, where blood sugar levels become too high, and insulin levels can be high, low, or even absent. Symptoms of insulin resistance include various issues such as fatigue, increased hunger, frequent urination, excessive thirst, unexplained weight gain, difficulty losing weight, dark skin patches, high blood pressure, and more.
Insulin resistance is linked to conditions like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, polycystic ovaries (READ MORE HERE), and obesity. It's associated with various symptoms such as fatigue, increased hunger, and difficulty concentrating.
Possible effects and contributing factors to insulin resistance encompass oxidative stress, inflammation, a diet high in processed and unhealthy foods, vitamin D deficiency, elevated parathyroid hormone, stress, certain medications, growth hormone therapy, and environmental factors like pollution and exposure to specific chemicals.
Other symptoms may include increased thirst, frequent urination, increased hunger, insomnia, blurred vision, headaches, skin issues, slow-healing cuts and sores, and dark patches on the skin.
Recent research and the consensus among many experts indicate that individuals with insulin resistance have a compromised gut or "leaky gut." Kiran Krishnan provides a comprehensive explanation of this connection.
Microbiologist Kiran Krishnan. Full episode HERE.
As an advocate for gut health and a gut health educator, my primary objective when assisting individuals with various illnesses, diseases, or imbalances is to enhance healthy digestion. Incorporating DIM, sulphoraphane, lymph drainage, parasite cleanses, castor packs, nutritious food, and supplements can be beneficial. However, if the gut's motility is too slow or too fast, it can result in the recycling of toxins, including estrogen, back into the system. This may lead to those supplements or remedies intended for improvement making individuals feel worse.
Discussing the essential significance of diet and lifestyle choices is crucial when addressing hormone balance, weight management, and insulin resistance. Many trendy diets, which exclude entire food groups and emphasize intermittent fasting, have gained popularity. It's wise to approach mainstream awareness cautiously. Contrary to popular recommendations in grocery store magazines, I've found success in doing the opposite. While there is data supporting intermittent fasting, there's limited evidence regarding its long-term impact on hormone balance, cortisol regulation, and adrenal fatigue. Extreme diets that eliminate food groups or eliminate food, may offer short-term benefits but often lead to long-term harm to hormonal health. It's not a universal rule, but this pattern is observable for many.
HERE is some startling data regarding the enduring consequences of fasting.
When it comes to exercise, individuality matters, especially for those grappling with hormone imbalance. High-intensity workouts might not be suitable, particularly for women dealing with hormonal issues. Lifting heavy weights for your body type promotes bone growth, metabolism, immunity, and graceful aging. Daily walks, aiming for 7000 to 10,000 steps daily, significantly impacts hormones, aids weight loss, and offers low-impact benefits for hips and knees, which may not matter to you now, but trust me when I say, perimenopause and menopause comes in like a wrecking ball when we are not prepared in every possible way that we can be. Obviously men go through life transitions in their own way and they are not spared these metbolism challenges.
Both weightlifting and walking help combat insulin resistance and provide dopamine release without inducing adrenal fatigue from extreme high intensity workouts.
In Summary:
- Hormones and gut health are interconnected, with the microbiome influencing the endocrine system.
- Estrogen has a unique microbial colony in the gut that helps to regulate it.
- Insufficient progesterone dosing in estrogen dominance may lead to unintended estrogen stimulation which can worsen gut issues.
- Optimizing gut health is crucial as the gut plays a role in hormone detoxification. When supplementing progesterone, ensuring a healthy gut can support the proper functioning of detox pathways, contributing to overall hormonal balance.
- Gut dysbiosis affects estrogen elimination, causing issues wrongly attributed to progesterone.
- No detoxification mechanism is needed for progesterone, unlike estrogen, highlighting potential harm.
- Stress is a catalyst for leaky gut, along with infections, inflammation, and epigenetic factors.
- Weight gain and insulin resistance are linked to estrogen dominance, not progesterone.
- Leaky gut is prevalent in individuals with insulin resistance and in fact could be the driver, as explained by Kiran Krishnan.
- Maintaining healthy digestion involves factors like proper nutrient-dense foods, thyroid health, and stress management.
- Ongoing fasting and diets that exclude important macronutrients contribute to hormone imbalance and sluggish metabolism.
- Cortisol helps us to regulate blood sugar. But ongoing cortisol production leads to leaky gut and insulin resistance.
- Extreme and intense exercising can contribute to hormone imbalance and adrenal fatigue by switching on our emergency back of system of back up hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
- Focusing on nutrient dense diet including healthy carbohydrates, fats and protein eaten in balance for your body type helps supply the body with the necessary fuel for metabolism and avoid using emergency hormones.
- Focusing on heavy weights for your body type 3 days per week and approx 7k steps per day supports weight loss, blood sugar regulation and balanced hormones.
There are numerous strategies to enhance and promote healthy digestion. In my contribution to the article; Gerd Acid Reflux; Stop the Heartburn, I provided valuable insights. However, the author, Constantine Kanargeledis, does an excellent job of delving into the topic of Gerd and acid reflux which is often a major part of gut dybsiosis.
To up-regulate healthy digestion, it involves:
1. Identifying nutrient-dense foods that are digestible specifically for you, not for Dr. Peat, not for Dr. Axe, but for you! The book, “How to heal your metabolism” has a wonderful list of prometabolic, gut loving foods and recipes and meal plans. These are nutrient dense foods but even so they may not all be right for you.
2. Emphasizing the importance of chewing your food, which may seem basic but holds significance.
3. Checking thyroid health and conducting at-home tests for subclinical hypothyroidism. (SEE HERE)
4. Using digestive aids when necessary, such as ox bile, TUDCA, digestive enzymes, and HCL.
5. Incorporating spore-based probiotics to assist in healing leaky gut.
6. Including foods like carrot salad, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and other fibers that aid in clearing endotoxin from the gut—finding what works best for your body.
7. Engaging in breathwork and lymph massage for the vagus nerve, promoting the opening of detox pathways and supporting healthy digestion. Dr. Perry Nikelston has the best online programs for this work.
8. Addressing stress is crucial. While easier said than done, healing the gut is nearly impossible in fight or flight.
9. With complex gut situations, it could be beneficial to do a gut mapping test. Microbiome labs offers a Gut Biome test. Linked below.
These are other supplements that can be very beneficial in healing leaky gut and managing blood sugar.
- Organic inner leaf aloe and mastic gum (for H. pylori and ulcers)
- Immunoglobulins
- Mucosa builders
- Probiotics with strains like Bifido Longum to heal damage from cortisol, estrogen, and candida. Microbiome labs makes these products, linked below.
- Candida prevention supplements like Monolaurin
- B vitamins
- Peppermint tea
- Ginger tea
- Nettles
- Digestive herbs (extensive list, Google for details)
- Casgara Sagrada (a gentle laxative that has gut healing properties)
Links to recommended products and discounts:
Ona’s Plant Based Hormone Support ; Luna Oil 5 for oral usage, Luna Pro 5 for topical usage, Lunestriol - estriol cream, Lunestra-d - estradiol cream, Luna Madre’ - pregnenalone cream use coupon code BALANCE
Premier Research Labs nutraceuticals; register for your free account in order to purchase - Digest, Betaine HCL (not the HCL activator) and Castor oil and Castor flannels. Coupon code 25%_4G7W57_UL
Microbiome Labs; register for your free account in order to purchase. Receive automatic 15% off every order when you register under my account- Zenbome Cope, Gut Restoration Kit (ideally 3 months supply)
Monolaurin products; Use HEALTHYGUTGIRL for a discount
LifeBlud; TUDCA use KITTY10 for a discount
Casgara Sagrada; SKINLOVE discount
Microbiome Labs Biome FX kit test. You can contact me for an online interpretation.
Join us in the Estrogen Dominance Support Groupon Facebook and listen to my Podcast “Stuff Your Doctor Should Know” on all podcast platforms.
Hi there! Trying to register at microbiome labs with Zenbone Cope. Not taking your registration code. Is that accurate?
Great post, very informative!