If you suffer from persistent acne, unexplained rashes, allergies, recurring vaginal or bladder infections, strange muscle aches, fatigue, fibromyalgia, headaches, ADHD, arthritis, mood swings, respiratory infections, asthma, eczema, psoriasis, thyroid imbalance, auto-immune disorders, Type 1 diabetes, or digestive disorders such as IBS or constipation, you may have Candida, currently known as leaky gut syndrome. What might all of these ailments have in common?
The answer is: By having taken antibiotics, your beneficial intestinal flora, have been killed off, along with the bacteria, which the antibiotics were targeting.
Beneficial intestinal flora can also be greatly reduced by:
antibiotics
prolonged medications or drugs
excess alcohol
ongoing stress
toxins in pesticides (found on all non-organic food)
toxic residues in tap water (everyone should use a water filter as there are 2,000 chemicals in tap water.)
How can candida cause so many problems?
Intestinal flora’s function is to break down food, into substances which can be assimilated.
So if you have no or low flora, you are not assimilating much from the food you eat. For example, you could eat ten oranges, and hardly absorb any vitamin C.
So what happens when your body absorbs almost no nutrients? Well, it cannot perform a wide variety of healing and detoxifying functions, hence the acne, bladder infections, and muscle aches begin.
Low flora causes an overgrowth of candida
When flora are low in number, candida becomes high in number. The overgrowth of the candida fungus, becomes so thick inside certain parts of the intestines, that it literally blocks the absorption of nutrients, much like a wall would.
The candida fungus ‘eats’ into the wall of the intestine, much as a wood fungus eats into the wood. The result is that waste matter and harmful proteins, which belong in the intestine, leak through the intestine wall, allowing toxins to discharge into the bloodstream. This can create a wide variety of sickly symptoms, from allergies to auto-immune disorders.
How do I re-populate my body with friendly intestinal flora?
Its easy, they say – just take the supplement called Probiotics, which is supposed to replenish intestinal flora.
In fact, a growing number of Doctors, when prescribing antibiotics, recommend that you take Probiotics, such as Lactobacillus Acidophilus, at the same time.
But sadly, many Doctors are unaware of the effect that repeated antibiotics have on the body. So with each course of antibiotics taken, your chances of a repeated bladder or vaginal infection, increase.
Its not that easy – a change of diet is needed
If you take probiotics together with antibiotics, you might be fine.
However, if you have taken antibiotics in the past, ( even 20 or more years ago), the damage has spiraled to a point where taking probiotics now, will not have enough of an effect, because you now need to kill off the candida overgrowth. This is done by eating the following diet, for three weeks.
The Candida yeast survives by eating sugar. Hence you will see that the diet does not allow sugar in any form, or foods which readily convert to sugar.
The following are all forms of sugar, once converted:
Fruit converts to fructose.
Dairy converts to lactose.
Refined carbohydrates convert to glucose.
Which antifungals must I take?
The opinions are divided on using antifungal supplements, even herbal ones, because:
ANTI-CANDIDA DIET PLAN
Eat this diet, while taking Probiotics.
CARBOHYDRATES AND GRAINS
NO: refined flour products (pizza, bread, pasta, etc)
refined grains (for example, white rice)
corn (converts rapidly to sugar)
NO GRAINS CONTAINING GLUTEN ( gluten causes a glue-like hold on the candida, which you are trying to loosen up): wheat / spelt / kamut / farro / barley / rye / triticale.
ALLOWED: GLUTEN-FREE GRAINS: Wholegrain brown rice / quinoa / whole oats / whole millet / amaranth / buckwheat (which is not a wheat) /whole barley (called hulled barley or hulless barley / wild rice / teff / sorghum.
100% stoneground pasta made from any of the above 100% whole grains (except wheat or corn.)
Brown rice cakes.
There are some breads and pastries you can make, using baking powder (not yeast), stoneground flours, eggs, butter, unsweetened soymilk, allowed oils, and stevia for sweetening.
VEGETABLES
NO: potatoes of any type including yams and sweet potatoes. Also: carrots, beets, parsnips, peas, beets, tomatoes, or juices of these (starch-to-sugar conversion is too high.)
ALLOWED: All other vegetables, cooked or raw (canned vegetables usually contain some kind of sweetening, so avoid these.)
FRUIT
NO: fruit or fruit juice.
ALLOWED: lemons.
SEEDS
NO: sprouts made from seeds, as these can contain molds.
ALLOWED: All seeds (sunflower, sesame, etc).
PROTEIN
NO: shellfish (shrimp, etc.) / meats that are: processed / lunch meats / deli / organ / bacon / red meat (releases ammonia, which feeds Candida.) / breaded fish or meat / any meat that is not organic / any fish that is not wild-caught.
ALLOWED: grass-fed organic meat / free range organic chicken / non-gmo tofu / wild-caught fish, including canned fish without added sweetening.
Eat meat, chicken or fish, three times a week maximum, but if possible, avoid red meat completely.
Non-gmo soy ‘meat substitutes’, with no starch or sweeteners, can be eaten daily.
DAIRY
NO: milk, yogurt, buttermilk, yellow cheese of any kind, cream, or any products containing these (mayonnaise, canned soups, prepared sauces, etc.)
ALLOWED: eggs, butter, unsweetened non-gmo soymilk or almond milk, non-gmo soy cheese containing no sweeteners or starches, unaged goat cheese, ghee.
NUTS
NO: peanuts, cashews, pistachios, (mold grows on these nuts), or butters and milks made from these.
ALLOWED: all other nuts, unsweetened nut milks, for example, almond milk.
BEANS AND LEGUMES
NO: beans, peas, sweetened canned beans or peas, sprouts made from beans or legumes.
ALLOWED: lentils, non-gmo soy beans.
SWEETENERS
NO: sweeteners of any kind, including honey, molasses, rice syrup, barley syrup, artificial sweeteners, syrups of any kind including high fructose corn syrup, or foods containing these (sauces, soups, cookies, sodas, etc.)
ALLOWED: stevia and xylitol.
SAUCES
NO: sauce or salad dressing containing any of the forbidden foods, for example, ketchup and tomato paste.
ALLOWED: Get creative with homemade salad dressings made of: lemon juice, stevia, olive oil, herbs, and spices.
Delicious sauces can be made by blending: lentils, nut milks, vegetables, nuts, oils, tofu, seeds, herbs, and spices.
OILS
NO: oils made from corn, peanuts, gmo soy, canola.
ALLOWED: oils made from olives and coconut are especially beneficial, but you can also have any seed oils or allowable nut oils, preferably cold pressed or expeller pressed.
HERBS AND SPICES
NO: herbs and spices with added sweeteners, flours or yeast extracts.
ALLOWED: herbs and spices.
ALCOHOL
NO: alcohol.
ALLOWED: sorry, no alcohol for three weeks.
FERMENTED FOODS
NO: pickled foods, soy sauce, vinegar, kombucha, foods containing yeast.
ALLOWED: vegetables not pickled in vinegar, for example, certain: olives or sauerkrauts are pickled in salt or lactic acid. Apple cider vinegar is good for you.
COFFEE AND TEA
NO: coffee (mold grows on the coffee beans, and coffee makes your blood sugar levels spike.)
ALLOWED: teas.
PRESERVATIVES
Avoid any food or drink containing preservatives.
Essential Oils kill off Candida Fungus
In addition to your three week diet, and Probiotics, apply the following Essential Oils :
Blend the above drops into 8 oz of Shea Body Butter. Shake a few times. This Anti-candida Formula can now be applied to your entire abdomen and back, twice a day.
The Essential Oils penetrate the pores of the skin, and, once in the bloodstream, they kill off the Candida fungus.
What should I eat, after the candida diet is complete?
Essentially, you can return to your normal diet, but you probably will find that you naturally make healthier choices. Ideally, you want to prevent the candida from overgrowing ever again, so try to avoid:
-antibiotics, unless absolutely necessary.
-prolonged medications or drugs, unless really needed.
-excess alcohol.
-ongoing stress.
-toxins in pesticides – found on all non-organic food.
-toxic residues in tap water – everyone should use a water filter.
-sugar and refined wheat products, especially in combination, such as pancakes, waffles, and doughnuts.
Being free of leaky gut syndrome, can often cause you to no longer be ‘allergic’ to certain foods. So introduce suspected foods one at a time, to test your reaction to them.
Enjoy the improved and radiantly healthy version of yourself, as being free of candida, will give you your life back.
I was honored to have my Candida Diet, published in Harcourt Health, where you can read more about how to do a total detox,
including the obesogen detox, parasite detox, fluoride detox, and heavy metal detox.