Your intestine is the first entry point for nutrients that your body needs to function. Without a healthy gut, your response to other treatments for PCOS may not be what you are expecting!
You’ll learn how poor gut health can manifest in different ways such as headaches, mood swings, fatigue, cravings, metabolic dysfunction, and more!
What causes leaky gut? We discuss the impact that gluten has on intestinal permeability and how it can lead to an overactive immune system creating an inflammatory state in your body!
How do we treat it? You’ll learn steps you can take today including exercise, treatments available, supplements, and more!
What is Gut Health?
Gut health refers to the overall well-being and proper functioning of the digestive system. It has to do with maintaining diverse bacteria, proper absorption of nutrients, healthy digestion, and a strong gut barrier.
Good gut health is SO important for your overall health! It can impact everything from digestion and immunity to mental health and cognitive functioning! However, bad gut health can cause a lot of PCOS symptoms like:
- Bloating
- Gas
- Abdominal pain
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Irregular bowel movements
- Good intolerances
- Fatigue
- Mood issues
- Skin problems
- Weight gain (and trouble with weight loss)
- Autoimmune conditions
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Weakened immune system
- Joint pain
Sound familiar? If so, you may have poor digestive health! Taking care of your gut can help you feel your best and live symptom free!
How Does Gluten Affect Gut Health?
Gluten can be devastating to the gut for lots of people—especially women with PCOS. (This may be because PCOS could be an autoimmune disorder like celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder.) There are varying degrees of celiac gluten sensitivity, but essentially the protein in gluten called gliadin can trigger a number of issues. PCOS and gluten just don’t mix well!
It can prompt an inflammatory response in the digestive system, disrupt the gut barrier, and worsen gut bacteria balance. The gut issues caused by gluten can contribute to a lot of PCOS symptoms!
How to Improve Your Gut Health
Exercise regularly.
One of the most important things to your gut health is exercise! Though there are lots of things that can help your digestive system, exercise is essential. Exercise produces a fatty acid called butyrate that nourishes your gut lining, reduces inflammation, promotes the growth of good bacteria, and strengthens the gut barrier to ensure toxins don’t leak into your bloodstream. One of the reasons you feel so good after exercise is because of how much it helps your gut!
Take the right supplements.
L-Glutamine and probiotics are good to consider to improve your gut health! L-Glutamine can be helpful after meals to support good digestion, strengthen the gut lining, and boost immunity. You can get L-Glutamine in capsules or even in powders to mix in with your meal-time drinks!
As Sirak and I discussed in the episode, the overall goal for gut bacteria is diversification. So, the more stains of bacteria, the better! Choosing probiotic-rich foods and taking a high-quality probiotic that includes plenty of bacteria strains can do wonders for your gut health.
I recommend Pure Encapsulations Probiotic G.I. supplement, and here are some probiotic-rich foods you can incorporate into your PCOS diet:
- Sauerkraut
- Kimchi
- Kombucha
- Pickles
- Miso
- Coconut yogurt
Drink plenty of water.
As a rule, drinking water is pretty much good for every part of your body. Staying hydrated can help maintain the proper balance of fluids and bacteria in the digestive system, relieves constipation, and promotes regularity!
Manage stress levels
Stress can trigger lots of digestive issues. First of all, stress can cut off communication from your brain to your gut, causing cramps, stomachs, and bowel movement issues. Stress can also make your gut more sensitive to inflammatory foods and cause bacteria imbalances in the gut microbiome. Maintaining stress is a great way to support your gut health goals! (Psst . . . regulating stress could help with other PCOS symptoms too!)
Consider cutting gluten and other inflammatory foods.
As mentioned, when you eat gluten, it can cause lots of problems for the gut. One of the biggest issues is the fact that gliadin, the protein and gluten, can weaken the permeability of the gut barrier. When that barrier weakens and the tight junctions of the small intestines loosen, it can allow for toxins to leak into the bloodstream (leaky gut syndrome.) To prevent this, and improve digestive health, I recommend you try going on a gluten-free diet for 30 days to see how you feel! (Here’s how to know what’s a gluten-free food, so you can at least be avoiding gluten.)
Though gluten is the big one that can cause gut issues, it’s not the only food sensitivity out there! Get food sensitivity blood testing to help you understand what foods may be negatively affecting you. Cutting out gluten and other food sensitivities can encourage BIG improvements in your overall well-being!
Talk to a professional.
At the end of the day, talking to a professional is the best way to find a gut health improvement plan that fits you and your goals. Talk to your primary care physician about a referral to a gastroenterologist for next steps.
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While Tallene is a Registered Dietitian and Sirak a Personal Trainer, this podcast provides general information about PCOS. It is not meant to serve as fitness, nutrition or medical advice related to your individual needs. If you have questions, please talk to a medical professional. For our full privacy policy, please click on the following link: (bit.ly/PCOSPrivacyPolicy)
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