Your gut could be making your perimenopause symptoms worse
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Jan 30, 2025
Last week, we introduced the importance of estrogen detoxification—the process where your body breaks down and excretes "used" or "dirty" estrogen.
This process starts in your liver and moves into your gut, where the estrogen waste ideally exits your body.
In fact, this process is so crucial to hormone health that it has its own name: the liver-gut-hormone axis.
Give It Up for the Gut!A healthy gut ensures estrogen waste is excreted through your stool, keeping hormones balanced.
But when things aren’t working properly (ie: constipation, sluggish liver, low fiber intake, imbalanced gut bacteria), your gut may actually reabsorb the estrogen waste instead of eliminating it.
Yuck!
This can throw your hormones further off balance. In many cases, it leads to something called estrogen dominance—a common issue in perimenopause.
(If you missed last week’s newsletter on estrogen dominance and the liver, catch up here.)
Why Does Your Gut Get Out of Whack?
No surprise. Changing hormones play a role.
Gut Balance & Hormones
Studies suggest that declining estrogen levels can lead to an imbalance of gut bacteria.
For example, some good gut bacteria break down fiber. If you have less of these good bacteria, you're more likely to experience gas and bloating.
On the flip side, bacteria that are healthy in small amounts may overgrow when gut motility slows down. This can lead to inflammation, bloating, and digestive discomfort.
Leaky Gut: Myth or Reality?
Some research suggests that lower estrogen and progesterone levels might also contribute to leaky gut.
Leaky gut is a condition where the intestinal barrier weakens, allowing toxins to escape into the bloodstream. While still debated, leaky gut has been linked to bloating, food sensitivities, inflammation, and even brain fog.
Other Gut Disruptors:
Okay, we can’t blame everything on hormones.
Other reasons your gut might be struggling include:
🍡 Poor diet (too little fiber, too much processed food)
💊 Medications (like antibiotics, NSAIDs)
🥃 Alcohol (disrupts gut flora and increases inflammation)
🥱 Lack of exercise (movement supports digestion)
☣️ Environmental toxins (pesticides, plastics, chemicals)
😰Chronic stress (spikes cortisol, which impacts gut bacteria)
Sound familiar? Many of these factors also affect your liver health, further confirming how interconnected the liver-gut-hormone axis really is.
If one is struggling, the others probably are too.
How to Take Care of Your Gut in Perimenopause
Consider Probiotics – A good-quality probiotic can help support gut balance. I take mine first thing in the morning—before coffee!
🥒 Feed Your Gut Bacteria – Fermented foods (yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut) help balance your microbiome. Also, Kombucha (just watch out for the high-sugar ones!).
⛔️ Limit Alcohol & Sugar – They disrupt gut flora and spike inflammation. Boo.
🥦 Fiber, Fiber, Fiber! – Leafy greens support estrogen metabolism and digestion. Flax and chia seeds help, too—I put both in my daily smoothie.
💧 Hydrate – Water flushes toxins and keeps digestion moving. I started filling up an empty pasta jar with water and drinking it 2x a day.
🏋🏽♀️ Move Your Body – Exercise improves digestion and reduces stress. Even a two minute walk after dinner can greatly improve your digestive health!
The more you support your gut, the better your body can handle hormone fluctuations. And you'll suffer less symptoms.
Looking back, gut changes were my first symptoms of perimenopause. These days, my stomach is a completely different than it was just four years ago. I finally feel like I’ve got it balanced again.
To a healthy belly, Kelley Your Peri Cheerleader-in-Chief P.S. Want a deep dive into the gut-hormone microbiome? Scientific article here.
