5 Diet Strategies to Heal Your Gut and Balance Hormones During Menopause

In this episode of Joyful Menopause, host Lynda Enright addresses common challenges faced by women during perimenopause and menopause, such as weight gain, brain fog, restless sleep, and belly fat, and explains how these issues are often linked to gut health, hormones, and metabolism. Lynda offers five science-based dietary strategies to support gut health, balance hormones, regulate blood sugar, and reduce inflammation. Key recommendations include increasing fiber intake, diversifying plant foods, incorporating colorful polyphenol-rich foods, adding fermented foods and healthy fats, and including resistant starches. Listeners are encouraged to consistently make small dietary changes to improve overall health and well-being during menopause. 

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Have you ever noticed that theolder you get, the harder it
seems to lose weight even whenyou're eating great and you're
exercising, or maybe you'refinding other struggles like
brain fog, restless sleep, orbelly fat, that just feels
impossible to change.
If that sounds familiar, you'renot alone and it's not your
fault.
What's happening inside yourbody during perimenopause and

(00:22):
menopause has everything to dowith gut health, your hormones,
and your metabolism.
And today we're gonna talk aboutfive simple, powerful ways to
support your gut through food.
Because a healthy gut helps youbalance your hormones, regulate
your blood sugar, improve sleep,reduce anxiety even, and yes,
make it a little bit easier tolose weight during menopause.

(00:45):
So let's get started.
Menopause doesn't have to feellike you are living in someone
else's body.
Your host, Linda Enright, hasspent the last 25 years helping
women to thrive in midlife.
Here you'll find science-basedpractical advice that you can
start using today to get realresults for your health.
Welcome to Joyful Menopause.

(01:06):
Let's start with a littlescience, because understanding
why this happens makes it somuch easier to make changes that
work.
So when estrogen levels declineduring perimenopause and
menopause, it can impact a lotmore than just your reproductive
system.
Estrogen actually supportsinsulin sensitivity, which helps
your cells use glucose moreefficiently and protects you

(01:29):
from storing fat around yourmidsection.
So when estrogen starts to godown, your metabolism can start
to slow down because your bodyis becoming more insulin
resistant, and then fat tends tocollect a little bit more
easily, especially around theabdomen.
So that's one of the big reasonswhy a lot of times women are
struggling with how to loseweight during menopause.

(01:50):
At the same time, progesteronealso decreases.
Now progesterone helps keep yourdigestion moving, so when it
drops, it can lead to slowermotility and even to
constipation.
And then we have less movementthrough your gut, your
microbiome, those, all thosetrillions of beneficial bacteria
that live inside you can startto lose diversity.

(02:13):
So we don't have as much varietyin that microbiome.
Now we add in stress.
Elevated cortisol levels, whichare super common for women
during this time of life.
And then high cortisol canincrease gut permeability,
something we call leaky gut.
That can reduce the diversity ofthose good bacteria, so now we
have more inflammation, morecravings, more bloating, and

(02:37):
maybe even some more challengeswith sleep and menopause.
Now, top it off.
Estrogen also directlycommunicates with your
microbiome.
So when estrogen is decreasing,that communication can get
disrupted too.
So what, what does all this meanfor you?
It means that by improving yourgut health, you can directly
support your hormones and makeit easier to manage symptoms

(03:00):
like brain fog, menopause, sleepproblems, anxiety and weight
gain.
So let's talk about how to dothat.
Here's the good news.
Every single meal you eat hasthe power to shift your
microbiome and your hormones inthe right direction.
Think of it this way, every biteyou eat feeds two systems.
You and your microbes.

(03:20):
So when you nourish thesemicrobes with the right foods,
they can create compounds thathelp to repair your gut lining,
can calm inflammation, canbalance blood sugar, and can
even help with mood and energy.
So I wanna talk about the fivethings that you can do with your
diet to build a healthier gut,balance your hormones, and feel

(03:41):
better from the inside out.
Number one.
Feed your gut with fiber.
Fiber is the primary food foryour gut microbes.
So when those microbes digestfiber, they produce something
called short chain fatty acids,which are really powerful
compounds that repair the gutlining, that reduce inflammation
and can help your body useinsulin more effectively.

(04:04):
So that means better blood,blood sugar balance, fewer
energy crashes and support forhealthier weight.
So the aim is 30, even up to 40grams of fiber per day consuming
from a bunch of vegetables,fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds,
whole grains.
If you're new to eating morefiber increase gradually for
sure.

(04:24):
And if you're sensitive,definitely use cooked
vegetables, maybe soups, stewsbefore adding more raw foods.
The aim is even, you know, veryslowly, even if you're adding
maybe two or three grams offiber a day each week, as you
work yourself up to maybe that30 to 40 grams.
They say the average Americandiet has about 10 to 15 grams of

(04:45):
fiber per day, so we might havea long ways to go.
So absolutely going slow isimportant and will work great.
The next step is all aboutdiversity, because the more
variety you give your microbes,the stronger and more resilient
they can become.
So your microbes thrive onvariety, different plant foods
feed different species ofbacteria, and the more species

(05:07):
you have, the more balanced andstable that your microbiome
becomes.
So instead of focusing onperfection, we want to focus on
variety.
Try new things, new vegetablesadd herbs and spices.
They can be powerhouses for yourgut microbiome as well.
Mix it up with grains andlegumes.
Every new food can add newmicrobial species, and that's

(05:30):
what helps to build resilience.
And then that resiliencetranslates to you.
When your gut's balanced, youcan have fewer.
Pro health problems.
Fewer, fewer symptoms that youmight be experiencing, better
digestion.
You can even have improved moodand energy.
And talking about variety, coloris important too.
So let's talk about how therainbow on your plate can

(05:52):
support your hormones.
Different colors in your foodrepresent different polyphenols,
something these plant compoundsthat can help to nourish your
gut microbes and can calminflammation.
Things like berries, ourpowerhouses, green tea, cocoa,
pomegranate seeds, turmeric, um,all kinds of colorful herbs and

(06:13):
spices can also help tostrengthen your gut barrier and
support microbial diversity.
These same polyphenols can alsohelp insulin sensitivity so they
can support your metabolism andmake it easier for your body to
burn fat efficiently.
And because these foods alsocalm inflammation in the brain,
they can help to reduce brainfog and anxiety during

(06:35):
menopause, helping you thinkmore clearly and sleep more
soundly.
Now that we've talked aboutfiber, we've talked about
variety and color, let's look ata few powerhouse foods that can
give you that extra boost.
Fermented foods like goodquality yogurt, kefer, kimchi,
tempe can add good bacteria toyour gut, helping to create a

(06:57):
better balance, improvingdigestion and enhancing immune
health.
Healthy fats, things like oliveoil, avocado, nuts and seeds,
walnuts, almonds, Chia seeds,uh, pumpkin seeds, uh, sunflower
seeds are some that I love.
They can also play a big role.
They help your body to absorbnutrients, support your gut

(07:20):
lining, and promote diversityagain in this microbiome.
Okay.
And then lastly, don't forgetabout things called resistant
starches.
These are foods that are cookedand then cooled starchy foods
like potatoes, rice, lentils,and green bananas actually are
pretty good resistant starchestoo.
These act as prebiotics.

(07:40):
They feed the good bacteria thatcreate these short chain fatty
acids.
These powerhouses that we talkedabout earlier.
Simple additions of these thingscan reduce inflammation,
stabilize blood sugar, and evenhelp you manage hot flashes at
night, menopause insomnia, andthyroid and menopause related
fatigue.
And here's where it all comestogether, how you build your

(08:01):
plate every day matters morethan anything else.
Every meal is an opportunity tofeed your microbes well.
A balanced plate keeps yourblood sugar steady, your energy
consistent, and your hormoneshappy.
I like to think of it this way.
Fill half your plate with plantsand fiber foods, one quarter
with good quality protein and aquarter with healthy fats and

(08:24):
starches.
Protein and fiber together helpyou to feel satisfied.
They keep cravings in check andpre.
They prevent those blood sugarswings that can lead to fatigue,
irritability, and even could benight sweats during
perimenopause.
So remember, you don't have tobe perfect.
You just have to be consistent.
Small, steady changes can createbig results.

(08:46):
So let's recap during menopauseand perimenopause.
Lower estrogen and progesteronecan slow your metabolism,
disrupt your microbiome, andmake symptoms like brain fog,
sleep problems, anxiety, andwaking feel worse.
But your diet is one of the mostpowerful tools you have.
When you nourish your gut,you're also nourishing your
hormones.

(09:06):
You're calming inflammation,you're improving insulin
sensitivity and supportingbetter energy, sleep, mood, and
metabolism.
If you are ready to startfeeling better in your body,
again, to clear the brain fog,sleep through the night, and
finally feel like yourselfagain, start by feeding your
gut.
And if you want regular tips,recipes, practical ways to make

(09:29):
these habits part of youreveryday life, I'd love for you
to join my email newsletter.
It's where I share the kind ofsimple science-based strategies
that truly can make a differencefor women during these years of
perimenopause and menopause.
You can sign [e-mail] and start
getting weekly guidance on howto feel vibrant, balanced and

(09:49):
joyful again because you can,you absolutely can have a joyful
menopause and it starts withwhat's on your plate.
So thanks for listening todayand have a great rest of your
day.