Gut Check: How Your Microbiome Could Be Sabotaging Your Results
Inside your gut live trillions of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes. This ecosystem is known as your gut microbiome.
You’re working out. Eating clean. Watching macros.
And yet… you still feel off.
Maybe your energy crashes by mid-afternoon.
Maybe the scale isn’t moving.
Maybe your libido’s tanked—and your focus isn’t far behind.
Here’s what most men (and even many doctors) overlook: It might not be your hormones—or your workouts. It might be your gut.
Let’s talk about the invisible system that’s running the show: your microbiome.
Wait—What Is the Microbiome, Really?
Inside your gut live trillions of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes. This ecosystem is known as your gut microbiome.
When it’s balanced, it helps you:
Digest food
Absorb nutrients
Produce neurotransmitters
Support hormone balance
Regulate inflammation
Maintain a healthy metabolism
But when it’s off? Everything else starts to break down.
5 Ways Gut Dysfunction Sabotages Your Health
Let’s break down how gut issues directly interfere with the things that matter most to men over 40:
1. Inflammation Goes Up. Hormones Go Down.
A compromised gut leads to chronic low-grade inflammation, which signals your body that something's wrong.
Your system responds by shifting resources away from reproduction and muscle repair—and toward survival.
Translation?
Testosterone drops
Cortisol rises
Muscle loss increases
Libido tanks
2. Your Energy Drops—Even If You’re Eating Well
When your gut is inflamed or imbalanced, your ability to break down and absorb nutrients plummets.
That means even if you’re eating grass-fed steak and organic kale, you’re not fueling your mitochondria properly.
Low absorption = low energy.
And if you’re reaching for caffeine to compensate? That only taxes your adrenal system more.
3. Weight Gain—Especially Around the Middle
An unhealthy gut disrupts two critical processes:
Insulin sensitivity
Metabolic flexibility
This can lead to:
Bloating
Water retention
Stubborn fat, especially around your waist
Worse? The wrong gut bacteria can literally influence your cravings, pushing you toward sugar and ultra-processed foods that feed the bad microbes—and kill off the good ones.
4. Brain Fog, Mood Swings, and Poor Focus
90% of your serotonin is produced in the gut. So when the gut is off, your brain suffers.
Signs of a gut-brain disconnect:
Can’t focus
Short temper
Feeling “wired but tired”
Afternoon crashes
Lack of motivation
You might think it’s burnout or lack of sleep—but often, it’s microbial.
5. Low Libido and Sexual Performance
Yes, your gut affects your bedroom performance too.
Why?
Because gut inflammation:
Reduces nitric oxide (key for blood flow)
Suppresses testosterone
Elevates cortisol (a libido killer)
Interferes with thyroid function (affecting metabolism and mood)
If your sex drive disappeared with your abs… your microbiome may be the link.
So What Wrecks Your Gut in the First Place?
Here are some of the top offenders I see in men 40+:
Antibiotic history (even from years ago)
Chronic stress
Low-fiber diets
Too much alcohol
NSAIDs (like ibuprofen)
Poor sleep
Overtraining (yes, it matters)
These factors kill off the “good guys” and let harmful bacteria take over—leading to something called dysbiosis.
How to Fix It: A Gut-First Approach to Men’s Health
Here’s where most programs fail—they ignore the gut and jump straight to hormones. But with my program, CODEX, we look at the full picture. Here’s what I recommend:
1. Run the Right Labs
Blood work alone won’t cut it.
You need advanced stool testing (like GI-MAP or Genova) to see what’s going on:
Bacterial imbalances
Yeast overgrowth
Parasites
Inflammation markers
Enzyme output
Don’t guess—test.
2. Ditch the Gut Killers
Minimize:
Processed foods
Seed oils
Excessive alcohol
Artificial sweeteners (especially sucralose and aspartame)
These feed the wrong bugs—and wreck your gut lining.
3. Add Gut-Supportive Foods
Include:
Fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir)
High-fiber veggies (asparagus, artichokes, leafy greens)
Bone broth (for gut lining)
Prebiotic fibers (inulin, psyllium husk)
Bonus: quality probiotics—but only after you’ve cleaned things up.
4. Manage Stress
High cortisol = increased gut permeability = systemic inflammation = hormonal collapse.
Meditation, breath work, walking, lifting weights (not overtraining)—all help restore balance.
5. Fix the Gut BEFORE You Optimize Hormones
If you jump straight into TRT or supplements while your gut’s a mess, you’ll spin your wheels.
Why?
Because your body won’t absorb, convert, or regulate hormones efficiently until inflammation is under control.
Final Word
Your gut isn’t just about digestion. It’s your hormonal command center. Your metabolic engine. Your libido regulator.
If your results are stalling—despite doing “everything right”—your microbiome might be the problem.
The fix isn’t guesswork. It’s strategy.
CODEX
The Art of Aging Well
A revolutionary approach, created by award-winning, board-certified physician and surgeon, Dr. Peter Marta, combining the precision of conventional medicine and the nuance of functional medicine. At the heart of Codex is hormone optimization, with a comprehensive system addressing seven core areas vital for men’s wellness. What even many physicians overlook is that hormonal health and gut health are inextricably linked—you can’t have one without the other. Codex addresses these connections, unlocking vitality and balance through a tailored, easy-to-follow, scientific approach.
