How Your Gut Health Affects Egg Quality, Ovulation & Fertility

Yes, your digestion, your poops, your bloat, your constant reflux + GERD that has you popping tums all night… 

All of it is directly tied to how your hormones function, their balance and whether or not your body feels safe enough to ovulate, produce quality eggs, + sustain a pregnancy.

I work with so many women who are eating “all the right things” and still dealing with irregular or painful cycles, low progesterone, or trouble TTC. And more often than not? There’s something going on in the gut that’s holding them back.

First, your gut controls over 70% of your immune system. And your immune system isn’t just about fighting colds... it also plays a huge role in fertility. In fact, your immune system has to “approve” of a fertilized egg before implantation can happen.

So if your gut is inflamed or overburdened with things like:

…it can add sooo much stress to your body in a few different ways. Gut inflammation / Poor nutrient absorption = hormone chaos.

When your gut is inflamed, it sends stress signals throughout the body. That can:

Your body’s priority is survival (especially when it thinks it's being chased by a bear), not reproduction, so if your system is overloaded with STRESS, especially when stemming from your gut, it’s less likely to prioritize healthy ovulation and egg maturation. Nutrient absorption starts in the gut.

Even if you’re eating grass-fed everything, drinking bone broth, and loading up on leafy greens... If you're living in fight or flight, your thyroid is down-regulated, or gut isn't functioning properly, your body may not be absorbing those nutrients.

And you need those nutrients for:

Low stomach acid or gut infections can interfere with absorption of key nutrients like:

If you’re not pooping daily, it'll be darn near impossible to have balanced hormones because pooping is one of the ways that we detox/balance estrogen levels.

So if you've been told you have estrogen dominance, you have brutal periods with endo and you're NOT going daily, I'm talking to you.

This might not be cute to talk about… but we have to talk about your sh*t. If you're not going at least once a day, your body can’t properly eliminate excess estrogen. Instead, that estrogen can get reabsorbed back into your bloodstream — which can lead to:

Sluggish digestion = hormone bottleneck. And your gut is the CULPRIT.

I know you’ve probably heard that stress can impact fertility. But not all stress is emotional. Internal stress — like chronic inflammation, imbalanced gut bugs, or even low-grade food sensitivities — can silently raise cortisol and throw off your whole hormone dance. If you’ve been told everything looks “normal” but something still feels off...

Your gut may be the missing link. 

So you're probably thinking, "Okayyyy Rita, but what can I do to start supporting my gut for better fertility?

Here are a few places to start:

And of course—work with a practitioner who knows how to dig deep (hi 👋🏼) if you need support navigating this. Bottom line?

Your gut is the gateway to hormone balance.

If you’re trying to conceive, support ovulation, or just want smoother cycles — your digestive health has to be part of the conversation. And if you’re doing “all the things” and still not seeing results… Don’t skip over the gut. It may be where your breakthrough happens.

Need help figuring out what’s going on inside your gut?

If you need extra support to help prep for fertility consider joining our waitlist for our Nourish to Nurture  program that starts back August 4. Nourish to Nurture is a 12 week root-cause focused fertility program, that helps you boost fertility (whether or not you want kids now) and beat pesky symptoms you've been battling for years. Because you deserve to feel GOOD before you even see a positive pregnancy test. 

And if you're a girlie who loves podcasts, be sure to tune into the Gut Health episode of our Nourish to Nurture: Unfiltered mini podcast series.

XOXO,

Rita