Overcoming Candida Albicans

[Guest guest]

Overcoming Candida Albicans

by Lindsey Duncan, CN

 

Conscious Choice, November 1996

 

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?

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjoguest

DietaryTipsForHBP

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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