Gut health + digestion
5 min read
Your gut isn't just where digestion happens — it's the piece connecting almost everything else on this page. Insulin resistance, PCOS, perimenopause symptoms and histamine reactivity all lean on gut health more than most people realize, which is why this piece ties the rest of them together.
The gut lining does more than you'd think
Your gut lining is a barrier — letting nutrients through while keeping bacteria, undigested food particles and other triggers out of your bloodstream. When that barrier gets compromised [often called increased intestinal permeability], more of those triggers slip through than should, and your immune system responds with inflammation. That inflammation doesn't stay contained to your gut — it circulates, and it's part of what worsens insulin resistance and revs up mast cell activity elsewhere in the body.
Why this connects to everything else here
Insulin resistance — inflammation from a compromised gut makes cells even less responsive to insulin, deepening the same cycle covered in the Insulin resistance piece
PCOS — gut inflammation and insulin resistance drive each other in a loop that shows up heavily in PCOS
Histamine + MCAS — a large share of histamine breakdown happens in the gut itself, so gut health directly affects how much histamine symptoms show up
Perimenopause — shifting estrogen affects gut motility and the gut microbiome, which is part of why digestion can change noticeably during this window
What actually helps
- Skipping garlic and onion when they're a known irritant [covered in the Recipes piece] — small swap, real impact for sensitive guts
- Prioritizing fiber-rich vegetables at most meals to feed a healthy gut microbiome
- Going easy on ultra-processed foods and artificial sweeteners, which can disrupt gut bacteria balance
- Eating slowly and without rushing — digestion starts working better when your nervous system is not in a hurry
The same approach, applied to the foundation
None of this requires a strict protocol. It's the same protein-forward, real-food approach running through every other piece here — just applied with an eye toward the gut as the foundation everything else is built on.