Why Bloating, Exhaustion, and Weight Struggles are Not Normal!
How many times have you been told the following……
To avoid bloating after a meal, you probably should just eat less or better.
Everyone is exhausted and it is just this season of life. Things will get better as time goes on.
Weight gain and struggles are completely normal in menopause since your hormones are shifting. You will just have to learn to adapt.
You know your body best and you know when things ARE NOT normal. Symptoms like these are never something we should equate with being a daily expectation. These symptoms are not the real issue, they are the result of something deeper going on which is why it is so important to test instead of guessing so that you can truly put together a healing plan that will restore your body back to a safe place of optimal functioning.
Let's break down what else could be at play here….
BLOATING:
A majority of the time bloating is the result of food sensitivities, gut bacteria imbalance, and/or sluggish digestion. Something important to know is that this can happen when eating healthy and non-healthy foods (coming from someone who had digestive symptoms, but ate extremely well). If it is not properly addressed, these daily symptoms will become a new normal for you.
This could be caused by a multitude of different things including:
Your digestive system being suppressed since your body has allocated excess energy towards stress management.
Your body improperly breaks down protein and fats (so even if you eat lots of protein and healthy fats, are you getting the benefit?)
Specific foods that your body has become sensitive to due to a suppressed immune system (which is also located in the gut)
Food sitting too long in the small intestine which invites in too much bad bacteria
Too many tight junctions being open at the same time in the gut which increases inflammation
Pathogens, parasites, and bacteria being present in the gut microbiome.
Lack of stomach acid or digestive enzymes.
EXHAUSTION:
Being tired after a long day can be normal. Feeling absolutely exhausted is not. Being exhausted is a feeling of depletion, a lack of mental clarity, complete burn out, and feeling like you are running on empty. When you are exhausted, short term rest usually does not relieve the symptoms. It can be very common to feel this way when we have hormonal imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, or our body's normal function is suppressed due to dealing with chronic stressors.
This can be due to a multitude of things internally such as:
Cortisol production has slowed and can no longer pump like it used to. This results in you feeling the catabolic damage (the breakdown of all your muscles, tissues, and cells) occurring in the body.
A lack of DHEA which is the counter balance to cortisol.
Progesterone is low as this is our rest and relax hormone that helps to relieve inflammation.
Nutritional deficiencies due to malabsorption or malnutrition
Lack of nutrient absorption due to poor gut health and inflammation in the immune system.
Vitamin deficiencies
Gut dysbiosis or imbalance of good to bad gut bacteria.
Blood sugar imbalances
WEIGHT STRUGGLES
We have been taught to believe that as we get older and hormones start to decline, that weight gain struggles are to be expected. I hear this consistently and have worked with so many women inside my nutrition coaching business that hired me for that reason alone. While things do change internally as we age, we do not have to settle for that being a reason why we cannot lose weight as there are many things we can do to be proactive. It has less to do about our age and more to do about how our body is performing internally (which is where testing can provide so much insight!).
A multitude of internal factors that could be impacting weight loss:
Hormonal imbalances
Insulin resistance due to stress, diet, and lifestyle
Less muscle mass which leads to a lower metabolic rate
Blood sugar imbalances
Metabolic plateau due to consistent undereating
Nutritional deficiencies can impact bile production, digestive enzymes, and stomach acid
Chronic stress which puts all fat loss efforts on the back burner
Inflammation in the small intestine and GI tract
Luckily, most of these are all markers for testing that can be completed or can be understood based on other markers. Testing will give you the insight into your body so that you can finally get the relief you have been searching for without taking any more medication, without additional side effects, and without putting your body further into dysfunction. You deserve so much more than to live with daily symptoms. Your healing journey is a few tests away.