why your PMS keeps getting louder

Hi friendssss!

I want to tell you about a part of your body that is quietly running your hormones and almost nobody talks about when talking about hormone health!

Your gut.

And specifically, the part of your gut that decides whether your estrogen leaves your body… or gets recycled back into it.

Stay with me, because once you understand this, about six different symptoms you’ve been blaming on bad luck make suddenly make sense.

Here’s the thing nobody explained to me for years: your body doesn’t only make estrogen, it also has to get rid of it. Every month you build estrogen up, use it, and then you have to clear the leftovers out. That clearing-out is just as important as the making, and honestly it’s the part that goes wrong for most of us.

The cleanup happens in three steps:

1. Your liver packages up the used estrogen so it’s ready to leave (this is the part most wellness people obsess over)

2. The packaged estrogen gets dumped into your gut via bile

3. Your gut walks it out the door when you… go to the bathroom

That third step is the one we never discuss, and it’s the one breaking down all over the place.

Living in your gut is a specific community of bacteria whose entire job is metabolizing estrogen. When your gut is happy and balanced, it lets that packaged-up estrogen leave like it’s supposed to. Smooth exit. See ya next month.

But when your gut is out of balance, or when you’re constipated and things just aren’t moving, something annoying happens: certain bacteria produce an enzyme that essentially un-packages the estrogen your liver worked so hard to wrap up, and that freed estrogen gets reabsorbed straight back into your bloodstream.

So now you’re walking around with last month’s estrogen plus this month’s. Circulating, building up, with nowhere to go.

This is the quiet engine behind so much of what gets dismissed as “just PMS.”

Here’s the symptom-stack (you know I love a symptom-stack). If estrogen isn’t clearing well, this is what it tends to look like:

• Constipated the week before your period? Estrogen’s not exiting. It’s sitting there getting reabsorbed

• Breakouts that show up like clockwork on your chin and jaw? Hormonal, and made worse by recirculating estrogen

• Breast tenderness so bad you can’t sleep on your stomach? Classic too-much-estrogen

• Periods getting heavier or more painful with the years? Same story

• Bloating, water retention, the “I gained 4 lbs overnight” thing? Estrogen holds onto water

• Mood swings, irritability, the rage that arrives like a weather system? Estrogen and your mood are deeply linked, and the swing gets worse when it’s not clearing cleanly

And here’s the part I really want you to hear: this is sooo fixable. It’s not your hormones being “broken.” It’s a traffic jam at the exit. We just have to open the door.

None of this is about restricting (that’s not how we do things here.) It’s about adding in the things that help estrogen actually leave. Four moves:

1. Fiber, and a lot more than you think. Fiber literally binds to estrogen in your gut and escorts it out before it can be reabsorbed. It also feeds your good estrobolome bacteria. Most women are eating maybe 12g a day and we want to be closer to 25–30g. The easiest wins: ground flaxseed (a tablespoon on yogurt, oatmeal, in a smoothie, anywhere), beans, lentils, chia, berries, kiwis, and leaving the skins ON your fruit and veg.

2. Cruciferous vegetables, on repeat. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, arugula. These contain a compound that directly supports the liver side of estrogen clearance (step 1). Cabbage and broccoli are your MVPs. Aim for some form of cruciferous most days, it’s genuinely one of the highest-leverage foods for women.

3. Fermented foods, a spoonful most days. Sauerkraut, kimchi, plain yogurt, kefir, miso. These diversify your gut microbiome so the right bacteria are running the show. A forkful of kraut on the side of dinner counts. You don’t need a fancy 30-strain probiotic

4. Actually… go to the bathroom. Daily. I’m going to be the friend who says it: if you are not having a daily bowel movement, your estrogen has nowhere to go. Hydrate like it’s your job, get the fiber above, walk after meals, and if you need a nudge, magnesium glycinate or citrate at night helps a lot of women here (and supports sleep and PMS while it’s at it, my forever favorite mineral)

That’s it. Add fiber, eat the cruciferous, spoon the ferments, keep things moving. The exit opens!

I built this one specifically for this newsletter and it hits every single move above in one bowl. It’s become my actual lunch on repeat.

Why it works: broccoli (cruciferous, liver support) + chickpeas and quinoa (fiber + protein for blood sugar) + a dressing built on ground flax and miso (lignans, and fermented) + a pile of kraut on top (estrobolome love). This is basically an estrogen-clearing machine that happens to taste incredible.

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the bowls:

• 2 large heads broccoli, cut into florets

• 2 (15-oz) cans chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted very dry

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 1½ cups quinoa, rinsed

• 3 cups broth or water

• Salt, pepper

• Sauerkraut or kimchi, to top

• Avocado, to serve

For the flaxy-miso tahini:

• ⅓ cup tahini

• 2 tablespoons white miso paste

• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1 garlic clove, grated

• 1–2 teaspoons maple syrup

• Warm water to thin

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Spread broccoli and chickpeas on a sheet pan (use two if it’s crowded, crowding = steaming, and we want crisp). Toss with olive oil, smoked paprika, cumin, a big pinch of salt, and pepper.

2. Roast 25–30 minutes, tossing once, until the broccoli edges are charred and the chickpeas are crispy.

3. Meanwhile, combine quinoa and broth in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce, cover, and simmer 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

4. Whisk all the dressing ingredients together, adding warm water a tablespoon at a time until it’s pourable and silky. Taste, adjust salt and lemon.

5. Build: quinoa base, big pile of roasted broccoli and chickpeas, sliced avocado, a generous forkful of kraut or kimchi on the side. Drizzle the whole thing in the dressing. Don’t be shy with it.

6. Eat slowly. Go for a little walk after if you can. Your gut will literally thank you.

• Ground flaxseed in literally everything (keep it in the fridge so it doesn’t go rancid!)

• A short walk after dinner instead of straight to the couch, it’s the most underrated digestion + blood sugar hack there is

• Magnesium glycinate at night, my desert-island supplement

• Castor oil packs over my lower belly on slow luteal evenings (cozy, and lovely for digestion)

• A really good body oil after the shower, the 90-second ritual that softens my whole evening 🌞

• Cherries. They’re everywhere right now and I’m not being normal about it

I’m not going to ask you to overhaul anything. Just this:

• One tablespoon of ground flax, every day

• Something cruciferous most days (roast a tray of broccoli, you’re done)

• A forkful of something fermented with dinner

• Water like it’s your job, and notice if things are moving

Give it two weeks and pay attention to your next luteal phase. The breast tenderness, the bloat, the mood, the breakouts, watch them get quieter. This is the kind of shift you feel.

ps, if this connected some dots for you, forward it to one woman in your life who’s been told her brutal PMS is “just normal”! It is so common, but it does not have to be your normal. We’re getting this into as many hands as we can :)

xx Paige