I had a problems that started a few years ago where my digestion was not working well. I added in HCL, pancreatic enzymes, bile and other enzymes. I was faithful to take these supplements with each meal. When I thought I was doing well, I cut back on the amount I was taking. Overtime I feel like I have filled up my enzyme bank and don't need to take as much or as often.
1. Digestion and hormones - The health of your digestion is CRITICAL
for overall health as well as your hormone balance. I've personally
never met a person struggling with digestive issues (such as
bloating, constipation, IBS, loose stools, gas and acid reflux) and
enjoying excellent overall health and balanced hormones.
2. Stomach acid - There’s a difference between enzymes and stomach
acid. These issues are addressed in one of the articles linked below,
and I also want to show you how to test for stomach acid at home.
3. Digestive Enzymes - These can turn your digestive health around
substantially (more on that below, plus the very information-rich and
inspiring interview with Steve Wright). This is especially relevant if
you suffer from many food sensitivities and chronic bloating.
How digestion impacts your hormones
Your gut is like the Grand Central station in your body because it’s where
processes such as the absorption of nutrients, immune responses, and
energy production occur. As hormone production also takes place there,
an unhealthy leaky gut can compromise or shake up your levels of:
Estrogen: A leaky gut does not effectively excrete “dirty” estrogens (they
are antagonistic metabolites) out of your body. Instead, they stay in
circulation, causing Estrogen Dominance.
Estrobolome: This is a subset of bacteria in the gut that helps to
metabolize estrogens and disarm the “dirty” estrogens (which are the
harmful estrogen metabolites) that cause cancers in the thyroid, breast and ovaries.
How to test stomach acid level at home
Most people with leaky gut have a host of estrogen
problems.
Thyroid hormones: Part of your conversion of T4 thyroid hormone into the
stronger, more active T3 form, occurs in your gut—but may be
compromised if your gut is unhealthy.
Chronic inflammation of hormone receptors: Chronic digestive distress
leads to chronic inflammation. This long-lasting inflammation shuts down
hormone receptors making the update of hormones highly inefficient.
Inflammation is also the root cause of various conditions, including
diabetes, heart disease, and hormonal imbalances.
Sleep and mood hormones: Around 80-90% of serotonin (your happiness
hormone) and melatonin (which induces sleep and is produced from
serotonin, in total darkness) are made in your gut. That production can go
haywire due to a leaky gut. Poor sleep makes hormone imbalances
worse.
Insulin levels: The healthier your gut function, the more stable your blood
glucose, the less you crave sugar and the less insulin you release. On the
flip-side, an unhealthy gut can predispose you to insulin resistance, where
your energy cycle doesn’t work properly, which also reduces your ability to
burn fat.
Appetite hormones: An inflamed, unhealthy gut promotes unhealthy
bacteria that can change your levels of ghrelin (which makes you hungry)
and leptin (which signals when you’re full). It can also impact the food you
crave and your taste receptors.
Here are a few helpful resources on digestion:
Learn why digestion is so important in hormone health.
Find out if you have sufficient stomach acid.
The importance of sufficient stomach acid
Stomach acid, or Hydrochloric acid (HCl), is secreted by the stomach to
help digest and absorb proteins and other nutrients that we consume in our
diet. HCl also serves to protect us by killing various pathogenic
microorganisms (parasites, yeast, bacteria) that might otherwise cause
infection in the digestive tract.
Sufficiently digested food is key for giving the body the nutrients it needs to
function well, including producing hormones.
How to test your stomach acid levels at home
Method 1: Baking soda test (easy but not the most accurate)
You can very easily do this test at home.
1. Mix 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in 4-6 ounces of cold or room
temperature water first thing in the morning, before eating or drinking
anything.
2. Drink the baking soda solution.
3. Time how long it takes you to belch.
4. If you do not belch within 3 minutes, stop timing.
5. If you do not belch, you have too little stomach acid. If you belch, you
are fine.
This is not the most effective test and it often produces false negatives
(meaning, it makes you think you have sufficient stomach acid). I,
therefore, recommend Method 2 below.
Method 2: The HCl pill test (recommended method)
The idea here is to dose the HCl pills until you feel a slight discomfort in
your stomach. When I was low on stomach acid (due to the bacteria
h.pylori), I had to take as many as seven pills to feel the warmth.
1. On Day One, start with one capsule (usually 500 to 750mg) of HCl,
at the beginning of each meal. Note: This means a full meal, not a
snack.
2. Watch for any feelings of warmth, discomfort, pain or burning in the
throat or stomach.
3. If you experience any of these symptoms after just one capsule, do
not take any more pills.
4. If these symptoms are NOT present, go to the next step.
5. On Day Two, increase your dose by one capsule (this would be two
capsules for a total of 1,000 to 1,500 mg for day two) of HCl at the
beginning of each full meal. If you feel any of the symptoms
mentioned above (warmth, discomfort, pain or burning in your throat
or stomach) decrease your dose to the level at which you had no
symptoms and maintain this dose.
6. If you do not feel these symptoms go to the next step.
7. On Day Three, increase your dose as previously described. Each day
increase the dose until you feel a warming sensation or until you
reach a dose of seven capsules per meal. Do not take more than
eight (8) capsules with a meal.
Hopefully this article will help with any digestive isssues.
Good Health to You
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