Overcoming Candida

[Guest guest]

Overcoming Candida Albicans

by Lindsey Duncan, CN

 

http://www.consciouschoice.com/health/candida0906.html

 

When Denise first came to my Home Nutrition Clinic she was 32-years-old,

working in the entertainment business, and extremely burned out from

stress and fatigue. Although she was slim, her stomach was bloated and

distended, and she suffered from a chronic chest cough and head

congestion. Denise had cold hands and feet, a coated tongue, dry,

thinning hair, splitting nails, mood swings, peeling skin, brain fog,

and she was extremely weak. She was chronically constipated, moving her

bowels about once every other day. Denise's physician had diagnosed her

with Epstein Bar Virus and Candidiasis and put her on Niastatin, an

antifungal drug.

 

Candidiasis is a yeast/fungal infection caused by the toxins given off

by an abundance of the common yeast Candida Albicans. Candida is an

organism and, like all organisms, it has to eat and then excrete its

waste. It thrives on sugar, yeast, breads, alcohol, and food molds found

in cheese, grapes, mushrooms, and fermented foods (vinegar, tamari

sauce, tofu, etc.). It is believed that the organism's waste is the

cause of illness in humans.

 

Candida's main home is the intestines--the 29 feet between the mouth and

rectum. It's dark in there, it's moist, it's 98 degrees, and the

environment has a tendency to be overtaken by candida and other

unhealthy bacteria. This is where candida enters the bloodstream and is

distributed to the rest of the body. The blood is fed by the intestines

so, when candida begins to take over, every part of the body that is fed

by the blood will also feed the candida. When candida becomes systemic

it weakens our immune system. If these other factors are involved: lack

of exercise, poor diet, stress, toxins, illness or overuse of antibiotic

or steroid hormone medications, the chances of having a weakened immune

system are increased.

 

Candida lives in the mouth, skin, vagina, and intestinal tract in a

healthy person, but it is naturally controlled by a healthy immune

system and the hundreds of " good " bacteria (including bifidobacteria and

lactobacillus) that reside in the intestines. When candida proliferates

in the bloodstream and becomes a systemic problem it can eventually

result in a plethora of problems including " brain fog, " fungus under the

toenails, intense sugar cravings, digestive gas and bloat, cold hands

and feet, weak muscles, chronic fatigue, skin problems, mood swings and

more. When it has taken over to this degree, you can also bet that the

candida has hampered the body's ability to maintain efficient digestion,

assimilation and elimination.

 

Who Gets Candida?

I would say that a very strong majority of the population in the U.S.

has a significant level of candida. How many people have been on

antibiotics and have drunk chlorinated water (which destroys bad and

good bacteria because chlorine doesn't have the inherent ability to

differentiate between the two)? How many of us grew up eating

concentrated sugars, starches and carbohydrates? What we have to

remember about candida is that everything is relative and it exists in

varying degrees.

 

John and Mary, next door, eat poor foods. They may have candida and not

realize they don't feel well. So too may the office worker who bloats

after she eats and and has a strong craving for sweets searches for an

answer to her unwanted symptoms. The problem extends to the chemically

sensitive person who must move out of the city to a nontoxic environment

and has to wear special clothes.

 

Women and men develop candida infections as a result of too much stress,

toxins, antibiotics, and eating the wrong foods. But women are more

susceptible to the infection for several reasons. Yeast enters the body

easily through the vagina, and hormonal changes--influenced by multiple

pregnancies, birth control pills, and estrogen replacement

therapy--encourage candida growth.

 

Denise developed a candida infection for a number of reasons. She ate

too much sugar and yeast breads, she was taking birth control pills, she

had a long history of taking antibiotics, she was under a lot of stress,

and she only moved her bowels once a day, or once every other day. I

immediately put her on a cleansing and detoxification program.

 

If you remove the mucus, the congestion, and the toxic buildup from the

body, then you remove the home where the candida lives. Candida likes a

warm, moist, anaerobic environment (without oxygen). It emits toxins

which, in effect, decrease the blood flow to and from the site leading

to a build-up of more toxins. The more toxins the more candida!

 

Getting Rid of Candida

The goal is to eliminate the toxins and arrest the growth of candida.

Healthy liver function and a strong immune system, along with a clean

intestinal system, are the keys to lasting prevention and control of

candida. So--the first thing I had Denise do was change her diet.

 

The average American consumes 52 teaspoons of sugar every day! Denise

didn't eat quite that much, but, like most people, she drank two cups of

sweetened coffee per day, and she usually had a muffin in the morning or

toast with jam. Add on top of that a can of soda (which contains 16

teaspoons of sugar), a tablespoon of ketchup with french fries and a

burger, or a cup of tomato sauce (which almost always contains sugar) on

pasta, a few cookies, or a bowl of ice cream at night and you're

probably already up to at least 40 teaspoons of sugar--candida's

favorite food!

 

Denise cut out all sugar... period! She stopped eating her daily muffin

and all other baked goods. She did extraordinarily well. At my clinic I

see many people with candida who get obsessed with what they can and

can't eat. The obsessions cause stress, and stress breaks down the

immune system. Stress has no place in a program to combat candida.

 

Just keep it simple. Here's a clue: If it tastes sweet, don't eat it.

Brown rice? You may not think of it as sweet, but it is, in comparison

to other grains. Carrots? Way too sweet. So are beets, sweet potatoes,

and yams. Fruit is also too sweet. The candida diet is basically a sour

diet without fermented foods. I also had Denise eliminate dairy products

and red meat and switch to a diet that consisted of:

 

~ Fresh vegetables--50% Four to six fresh vegetables each day. Two dark

green, leafy vegetables each day.

~ Grains and Starches--20% Millet, buckwheat, quinoa, wild rice.

~ Protein--20% High quality protein such as bean and grain combinations,

seeds, almonds, cashews, soy protein, fertile eggs, free-range,

antibiotic-free turkey and chicken, fish, unsweetened, plain yogurt

(eliminating all other dairy products and tofu, which is fermented).

~ Fat--10% Cold-pressed organic olive oil, avocados, and organic,

antibiotic-free butter. Denise obtained fat naturally through foods like

seeds and nuts, and animal protein.

At the same time Denise was changing her diet, I had her take a number

of supplements to aggressively attack the candida. First of all, it's

very important to clean out the intestinal tract with a high-quality

internal cleanser and fiber product. I add Bentonite clay, which absorbs

bacteria, to echinacea and pau d'arco. Pau d'arco bark, obtained from a

tropical tree native to Brazil is a fungicide, antiviral, and diuretic,

and is also beneficial in fighting Candidiasis. When purchasing products

with pau d'arco, be sure that they contain lapachol, an organic compound

known for its antibiotic action, because many products that claim to

contain the bark have only trace amounts or even none of the herb.

Ascorbic acid and caprylic acid acidify and destroy the candida, black

currant and flax seed oils kill the candida, and certain other less

popular herbs and certain tannins will also kill candida. I also

recommend taking a pro-biotic supplement such as FOS

(Fructooligosaccharides) to

encourage growth of your own normal colonic micro-flora, which aids your

body's response to toxins and other internal stresses that threaten your

health.

 

It's important to realize that yeast is a living organism, a part of the

body. Killing them off is traumatic. Most people with candida live with

very uncomfortable symptoms, and when the candida are killed off it's

common to feel worse before beginning to feel better. It's the knowledge

and understanding of what candida is and the understanding of the

" die-off " process that pulls them through the initial hard times.

 

My advice is to be as gentle with your body as you can and give yourself

all the time that you need--at least three to six months. Of course, if

you have candida you want to get better quickly, but multiple therapies

all at once can be self defeating, physiologically upsetting, and too

traumatic to the system. Just go at it at your own pace.

 

When you go into battle against something that has overcome your body,

it's your responsibility to learn what you are battling, why you are

battling it, what weapons you will use, how you will win, and what

winning the battle feels and looks like. Knowledge that is the key, and

once you use it, you'll open the door to good health.

 

Lindsey Duncan is the founder of the well-respected Home Nutrition

Clinic, in Santa Monica, California, and distributor of Nature's Secret

products. Self-Diagnosis for Candidiasis

 

Ask yourself the following questions. One or more " yes " answers is a

strong indication you have Candidiasis.

 

1. Have you ever taken cortico-steroid drugs or antibiotics, or been on

antibiotics for an extended length of time?

 

2. Are you currently on birth control pills or ever taken them for a

period of two years or more?

 

3. Have you ever been plagued with vaginal yeast infections, vaginitis,

PMS, menstrual pain, endometriosis, prostatitis, or loss of sexual

interest?

 

4. Do you crave sweets, bread or alcoholic beverages?

 

5. Do you suffer from unexplained aches and pains or headaches?

 

6. Have you been pregnant more than twice? (Hormonal changes contribute

to candidiasis susceptibility.)

 

7. Are you overly sensitive to chemicals including perfumes, tobacco

smoke, paint, insecticides, etc.?

 

8. Are you bothered by chronic digestive complaints such as bloating,

gas? Do you have constipation or diarrhea?

 

9. Do you find yourself having to deal with problems like athlete's

foot, jock itch, nail fungus, ring worm? Do you have bouts with

psoriasis, eczema, hives or chronic dermatitis?

 

10. Are you chronically fatigued? Do you suffer from memory loss ( " brain

fog " ), erratic vision, spots or " floaters " in front of your eyes,

nervous tension?

 

11. Do you feel depressed or ill for no known reason? Do you feel worse

on damp days?

 

12. Do you often have cold hands and feet?

 

13. Is your tongue coated?