How to Keep Candida at Bay

Last week I blogged about what I had been learning about Candida (see Is Candida Halting Your Weight Loss?). It astounded me that so much of what I had been experiencing was tied to this noxious weed of a condition. So, I wanted to share what I had learnt through my research.

Interestingly, one of the commentors said that her Personal Trainer puts an individual on a Candida diet if their weight loss has stalled. Makes sense now!

So, this post is about how to prevent / overcome a candida / yeast overgrowth.

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1. Eat Well

Candida wants to party in an environment where there is a steady supply of sugar / carbohydrates, not just the obvious add it to your coffee sugar, but the hidden stuff in processed foods and the natural sugars / carbs found in foods like fruit, fruit juices and root vegetables.

So, a diet rich in protein (meat, fish, chicken, eggs, seeds and nuts), vegetables (avoiding root vegies, peas, corn, all beans except green beans, all squash except zuchini and mushrooms – hey they’re a fungi!) and healthy cold pressed oils (olive, sesame, coconut, almonds, flaxseed, safflower, sunflower …). Oh, and forget the carbs in the form of rice, pasta and bread for a while until the Candida is under control – just gives the Candida more fuel. Vinegar, salad dressings with vinegar and aged cheeses aren’t going to help either.

Once you starve the Candida of the fuel it needs to keep going, it will start to die off. This is the not nice part – in the process of dying they will release their toxic by-product into your body and so you will initially feel worse (like for the first couple of weeks).

My mistake is that in the first couple of days I feel really good and then drop my guard a bit and some of the ‘fuel’ creeps in to my diet (or sprints through the door), creating a bit of a yoyo effect – not good for my body. For it to work, you’ve got to stick with it.

Another tip – if you’re moving to a higher protein / lower carb diet make sure you take something to keep the pipes moving, like psyllium husks. I use a natural product called Intestinal Formula 2 from a herbal pharmacy in the UK (let me know if you’re interested and I’ll pass on details).

For more info on diet have a read at The Candida Diet

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2. Exercise

Exercise helps with keeping things moving through your pipes! But, it also has the benefit of helping to bring back into balance the levels of neurotransmitters in your brain (remember, Candida breakdown affects the work of the neurotransmitter Dopamine….. anxiety, depression, foggy brain etc result). The result is an improved mood and feeling better overall …… getting the endorphins happening too.

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3. Re-balance the Bacteria

Supplement your diet with a good source of probiotics (I’m using FiveLac and a Mercola Probiotic supplement at the moment) as this will help bring things back into balance and eventually will outnumber the Candida (which is as it should be). Cultured and fermented foods, like natto, also contain sources of good bacteria.

Another site that has good information and is set up well is Candida Support

4. Stress

Candida is metaphysically linked to an overactive mind, so another thing to help overcome it is dealing with sources of stress, things that throw your mind into overdrive. Deal with the triggers and find strategies that help to manage the stress, like walking or swimming, meditation etc.

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5. Deal with Emotional Eating Issues

This is a biggie! Because Candida thrives on sugar, food cravings for sweet things happen all the time, because the Candida wants its fuel. So, if you have an emotional eating type response, if you’ve got Candida, bet you go for sweet or highly processed things. Dealing with emotional eating issues is huge and challenging. Awareness is great, but something like hypnosis or Emotional Freedom Technique (tapping or meridian tapping) might help. I’m yet to seriously do tapping, but that for me is my next port of call – I’m thinking of making a video of myself doing it so people could tap along with me. Let me know if you’re interested.

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6. Avoid Exposure to Chemicals and Medications

According to Dr Mercola, antibiotics, corticosteroids and birth control pills all need to be avoided. Also, chemical sensitivities and allergic reactions are common in people with yeast overgrowth, so avoid paints, household cleaners, perfumes and scents if they inflame symptoms.

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7. Other Helpers

Because your digestive system is getting hammered in this process, taking some digestive enzymes might provide some support – I started out on them, but don’t feel I need them at the moment. Herbs that can help balance intestinal bacteria and fight the yeast growth include Caprylic acid, Pau D’Arco, Oregano oil, Black Walnut, Grapefruit seed extract, Garlic (fresh and crushed is good) and Beta-carotene. A pro-biotic I am about to start taking mentions to stop taking these while you are taking it – I’m not sure why, but will do some more research.

Thursday, 23 September 2010 12:43 Written by Catherine F. 3 Comments

Is Candida Halting Your Weightloss?

Well readers of this blog would have had glimpses of my on-going dance with Candida (sounds like a Spanish flamenco dancer!). Search on Candida if you want to get a feel for it….

I have been trying to deal with it without the use of pharmaceuticals (to give my liver a break, but also because of my poor success rate with them in the past). I’ve been trying to get on top of it mostly through diet and homoeopathy, but also through methods to deal with stress and an over-active mind (the metaphysical reasons for candida).

Well, in the first couple of months of this programme when I was pretty restrictive with my diet (no carbs, no sugar, no fruit), my symptoms improved. I failed to consistently deal with my stress though – either through better ‘management’ or through things like meditation.

In the last few months, I’ve not been as restrictive and carbs, sugar and fruit have crept back in – not over the top, but certainly more than before.

But what I found was that as soon as I started having more carbs, my craving for all things sweet went through the roof! My body has responded to the extra carbs by feeling bloated, gassy (you’re lucky this is over the internet!) and more bloody itchy bum syndrome!

I also jumped on the scales after a long hiatus (I was consciously not jumping on the scales every 5 minutes like before). My weight had gone from being 89Kg to 92Kg! Talk about devastated.

So, I spent some time doing some research into Candida so that I would better understand the condition and I started going back to the strict diet (no carbs, sugar or fruit).

Well, blow me down, but I ‘lost’ 2Kg in 24 hours – I’m at 90Kg today.

So, here’s some of the info that I found out….. I’ll put it in 2 posts to make it better to read.

Besides the common symptoms that we are all familiar with, some other common conditions that are signs associated with Candida overgrowth include:

Irritable bowel syndrome (don’t have that but thought it interesting given the number of bloggers who seem to have it).
Migraines
PMS (I had that big time – homoeopathy relieved it completely though).
Weight gain – YES!
Chronic fatigue – YES!
Depression – YES! I’m just coming out of another black hole episode that I’ve had for the last 3 months.

On the issue of depression, when the Candida break down in your body they release alcohol and acetaldehyde in high amounts. Acetaldehyde reacts with the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is why people with yeast overgrowth often experience anxiety, depression, poor concentration and feeling spaced out.
Well, I’ll be darned!

[Sourced from http://www.mercola.com/Downloads/bonus/Candida-yeast/default.aspx - it’s a free report when you sign up]

So, I currently have a liver under-load (from coping with all the toxins from the breakdown of the Candida) and Dysbiosis, which is an imbalance in intestinal flora that results when the Candida has overwhelmed the good bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.

As the toxins enter the bloodstream, it triggers an allergic response which leads to:

Food cravings (especially for carbs, yeasts favourite food and the main fuel for its growing).
Bloating
Liver overload as it tries to deal with the toxins.
Decreased thyroid function and metabolism; toxins block thyroid hormone function.
Increased fluid retention to dilute toxins; fat cells swell as they trap toxins to protect the rest of the body.
Gas from metabolic function of the yeast.
The stress of toxins, weight and feeling awful triggers more cortisol, the chronic stress hormone, to be released – side effect here is to make it nearly impossible to lose weight. [See past post on Cortisol ]

[Source: http://www.yeastconnection.com/about_leaky.html]

When I first read the list I was just amazed. I have first hand experience of all but one of them and my 2Kg weight loss in 24 hours attests to the fluid retention and bloating.

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So, my advice would be to anyone trying to lose weight, go and find out if you have Candida, because all of our weight loss efforts may be that much harder while this condition exists in our body.

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In the next post I’ll cover different strategies to prevent Candida from taking hold……

Friday, 10 September 2010 21:37 Written by Catherine F. 6 Comments

Sickie Food and Gratitude

Well, just as I thought I was coming out of the hole, as things would happen …. I got sick. I wrote a post on the morning of the 15th and by 5pm I was rotten as a chop!

Metaphysically Speaking ….

I already knew that my liver and kidneys were under load and struggling a bit …. metaphysically the liver is about anger (that’s where expressions like ‘being livered’ come from) and the kidneys are where we hold our fear. That fits with the last couple of posts! So where does the flu fit in (sore throat, body aches, hot and cold, cough etc).

Well, according to Annette Noontil in “The Body is the Barometer of the Soul”, the flu is about not wanting to do what someone else has told you to do and feeling guilty about it. While Louise Hay says that it’s a response to mass negativity and beliefs. Well funnily enough they both fit. I have a few significant tasks that I have to do and just don’t want to get to them. Because of my stalling they now have taken on huge proportions and Monday was to be my start date – getting sick put an end to that and was probably the only way I could avoid it without feeling overly guilty! As for Louise Hay’s version, I am so over the lies and spin from both sides of politics in the upcoming Australian election, and all the negativity that raises. I definitely just wanted to hibernate from it all!

Anyway, after 3.5 days of withdrawing from the world and craving the comfort food of my youth (homemade creamed rice – Mum, come back from Monkey Mia) I have surfaced, feeling more positive than I’ve felt in a while.

So, I thought this post would focus on 2 things – sorry if it’s a bit confusing, but hey, my brain’s a bit addled:

What are your memories of comfort food while you were sick as a child?
What are some of the things that you feel grateful for today?

Today, I feel grateful for…..

A body that is getting healthier each day … yeh team!
The wonderful support of my special friends and family. For example, my buddy L. came over with a big pot of her delicious homemade hearty soup and that has been all I’ve wanted to eat. I’ve had homemade sausage rolls and carrot cake roll up too! Kids think it’s Christmas!

Today is such a beautiful sunny day – I’m grateful that I could lay on the trampoline with my 10yr old girl, Snugglebunny, who is home for some tlc too! We were working on getting our Vitamin D intake to increase our immune systems!

Broccoli from our garden
A husband who says not to worry about cooking, we can get take out!
A husband who closes the bedroom door so I might get a little bit more sleep before the demands of motherhood press that bit harder. Heck, I’m just grateful all over for my hubby!
My beautiful friend Sally Moore, who also happens to be my Homoeopath – she called up when I was wallowing, talked to me about my symptoms and emotions and then put me straight on some remedies, even sending extra remedies down to me (she lives about a 50 minute drive away).
A vegie garden that is just brimming with healthy broccoli, cauliflower, beetroot, peas and spinach – it’s joy to be able to pick from the garden fresh produce.

The garden bed with the spinach etc ... and a dog!

Enough for now …. my brain hurts and I need a sleep! Oh poop – forgot to put sheets on the bed …… I am grateful that my sheets dried quickly in this beautiful sunshine! That’s better!

Thursday, 19 August 2010 13:13 Written by Catherine F. 0 Comments

Tissue Salts and Bach Flower Remedies – the Mind Body Connection

Sunday 2nd May, 2010

Here is more information on what Kitty prescribed for me last Thursday….

Tissue Salt – SP96 (sodium phosphate)

This remedy, taken at the rate of 2 tablets chewed 3 times per day, looks to treat the Candida by restoring liver function and in turn bringing balance back to the bowel.

Tissue Salt – ML20 (magnesium phosphate, potassium phosphate, lecithin, dried yeast and natural vitamin E)

This remedy, taken at the rate of 2 tablets chewed 3 times per day, is supporting the metaphysical reasons for the Candida – my overactive mind and elevated stress levels (and fatigue) as a result.

Bach Flower Remedies

The next 2 paragraphs are extracted from http://www.bachflower.com :

“Dr. Edward Bach was a British Physician, who began to see disease as an end product; a final stage; a physical manifestation of unhappiness, fear and worry. He therefore, began to look to nature to find healing flowers. Over a period of years Dr. Bach found 38 healing flowers and plants that with the right preparation became the 38 Bach Flower Remedies®.”

“The Bach Flower Remedies® are a safe and natural method of healing. They gently restore the balance between mind and body by casting out negative emotions, such as, fear, worry, hatred and indecision which interfere with the equilibrium of the being as a whole. The Bach Flower Remedies® allow peace and happiness to return to the sufferer so that the body is free to heal itself.”

Kitty dowsed and identified the Bach Flower Remedies to be used to make up my dose bottle (taken at the rate of 4 drops under the tongue, 4 times per day) at this time:

Aspen – Populus tremula

Centaury – Centaurium erthraea (or Centaurium umbellatum)

Trumpet Vine – Campsis tagliabuana

The following information is extracted from the Flower Essence Repertory by Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz:

Aspen

Positive Qualities: Trust and confidence to meet the unknown, drawing inner strength from the spiritual world.

Patterns of Imbalance: Fear of the unknown, vague anxiety and apprehension (that fits), hidden fears, nightmares.

The Aspen personality has a disproportionately developed astral body, especially in relationship to the ego, or conscious awareness. [Astral body is the energetic duplicate of the physical body, and it is from this that passions, emotions and desires are conveyed to the physical body; connected to the physical body, but can travel with the mind during physical sleep time]. Such persons readily receive impressions from other planes of reality; however, these intimations are perceived on the subconscious level, and often produce feelings of fear and foreboding. Aspen flower essence quiets and subdues the astral body so that the spiritual ego can gain greater strength and awareness.

Aspen essence calms and harmonizes the innate psychic capacities of such individuals, but allowing the conscious mind to receive and process more information. In this way, Aspen brings greater strength and confidence, and balances use of soul forces.

Centaury

Positive Qualities: Serving others from inner strength, with a healthy recognition of one’s own needs; acting from strength of inner purpose, saying “No” when appropriate.

Patterns of Imbalance: Weak-willed, dominated by others, servile, acting to please; difficulty in saying “No”, neglecting one’s own needs.

The healthy soul needs to learn to balance its ego forces between the polarities of servitude and selfishness. Those who require Centaury lack sufficient ego strength, not realising that the ability to give to and serve others requires a strong and radiant inner sense of Self. Such souls are easily depleted and devitalized; and more importantly, they lack a vibrant individuality which is so necessary for soul evolution.

These persons are often under the illusion that they are being loving and helpful, but in reality they are not strong enough in their will forces to say “no”, or resist exploitation by others. Their vulnerability lies in their reliance on pleasing others to receive self-validation. Thus the compulsion to serve others is misplaced, for such a person neglects his or her own needs and cannot perceive the true, objective needs of others.

In this way, the Centaury type retards not only its own soul growth, but also the progress of those who need to learn from him or her. Centaury gives beneficial strength and integrity to such personalities, helping them to assume greater self-awareness and self-responsibility [How accurate is this - scary stuff!]

Trumpet Vine

Positive Qualities: Articulate and colourful in verbal expression; active, dynamic projection of oneself in social situation.

Patterns of Imbalance: Lack of vitality or soul force in expression; inability to be assertive or to speak clearly, impediments in speech.

The capacity for human speech – to ensoul sound with thought and feeling – is one of the most extraordinary of human gifts. Yet for many souls, the ability to use the word as a creative force is stymied. Trumpet Vine flower essence is indicated for speech which tends to be mechanical, dull or constricted, and can be very helpful for various speech impediments such as stuttering.

It does not directly address fear or nervousness, but is nevertheless beneficial for many people who curtail their expression due to feelings of intimidation or shyness. With the help of Trumpet Vine, the soul is able to contact life energy residing in the lower chakras and to integrate these vital forces with the spoken word. Awareness and interest is brought to the expression itself, rather than focusing on the perception or judgement of others.

Trumpet Vine awakens the warm and colourful feeling life of the soul, helping these qualities flow into the human speech. As the soul learns to project and express itself, it grows in its creative capacity to share its unique essence with others, and with the world.

[NOTE: this remedy will be great for my healing through my blog writing. It I’m honest, I can already feel myself editing as I write for fear of putting into words things that are even more far out (from mainstream) than you’ve read to date!]

Sunday, 20 June 2010 11:11 Written by Catherine F. 0 Comments

Visit to Dr Kitty Campion

Thursday 29th April, 2010 – Post 1

I was scheduled to meet Kitty Campion, my Medical Herbalist supporting me on this journey, at 9.30am, but my day got off to a funny start. I got the kids off to school and then took the dog for a walk.

Cramming Things In

When I got home it was 8.30am and I had plenty of time. I also had to drop something off at my grandmother’s on the way through to Kitty’s. Plenty of time!

Well, the phone was buggered. People had been trying to get through to us without success, although we could call out. Thought I’d better initiate the process to get it fixed, especially seeing I was entering unchartered waters on the Liver Cleanse.

Well, after the obligatory wait, I spoke with a very helpful person. We did all the testing and elimination we could, but ended up having to book a Technician to come. At this point I’m still okay for 9.30am, but the last part of the process took longer and to hang up would mean repeating it (and when I questioned timing it always sounded like it was ‘almost finished’).

So then it was RUSH RUSH RUSH! Didn’t drop things at my grandmother’s as I was running late (and had to cope with the consequences of that later) and then copped traffic delays due to construction work – think I was being told to slow down!

Got to Kitty at 9.35am – so sorry Kitty!

But the lesson here is that too often I am trying to cram so much into a timeframe, that I’m in this heightened stress state. I don’t think it’s conducive to my body and I wonder how it works hormonally – might need to research that further to see if there’s a link with weight.

Kitty Campion Visit With Results

Kitty performed another Bioresonance Scan (like she did in the initial consultation). The detailed results will be on the My Results page, but the summary is:

My body is not in the very stressed state that it was (no longer at 11), but is still stressed. Better, but still not good – the highest number should be a 5 and it’s currently 7 (down from 11).
There is more congestion / stress around the head area than the last test, probably linked with all the initial activity with the blog. Kitty said that this was likely to manifest itself in things like insomnia – ha! Got that one! I’ve been waking up between 4-5am most mornings.
My body is still unable to shake the fungal (yeast – Candida) and bacterial infections.
My throat chakra is blocked again – probably linked to the blog writing. The throat chakra (or energy centre) is responsible for communication.

There are less items on the printout requiring attention than the first test (19 items versus 12), so some issues have been resolved to a degree. It’s a bit like peeling away layers – one layer comes off and the next is there to deal with.

My kidneys and spleen are working harder at the moment, which makes sense given the Candida and the clearing from the weight loss effort. [The spleen is part of the body’s lymphatic system and has an important role in resisting infection through the manufacture of antibodies. It also removes harmful micro-organisms from the blood, therefore easy to see why mine is under load at the moment. My kidney are working harder to filter the metabolic waste created through the breakdown of fat in my body. Note that fat is also a storage place for toxins not broken down by the liver.]

Tackling the Candida

Kitty has prescribed some tissue salts and a pro-biotic as the next stage of attack on the entrenched Candida fungal infection and she also re-programmed the SI (System Information) card to help with the infection and my metabolism.

Metaphysically speaking, fungal infections like this show an over-active mind / too many things to do. This completely fits with how I am. To help, Kitty has recommended some Bach Flower Remedies – more on the specifics of these in another post.

With regard to the stress, the weird thing is that on the whole I don’t feel stressed (apart from rushing this morning). Maybe though, I’m so used to being in a heightened state of stress that I just don’t feel it acutely. Back to multiple short bursts of meditation through the day. – maybe I should make more use the HeartMath Personal Stress Monitor that I got for my birthday in 2009 – more on that one later too! Duh!

Thursday, 17 June 2010 10:26 Written by Catherine F. 0 Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Metaphysical’

How to Keep Candida at Bay

1. Eat Well

2. Exercise

3. Re-balance the Bacteria

4. Stress

5. Deal with Emotional Eating Issues

6. Avoid Exposure to Chemicals and Medications

7. Other Helpers

Is Candida Halting Your Weightloss?

So, my advice would be to anyone trying to lose weight, go and find out if you have Candida, because all of our weight loss efforts may be that much harder while this condition exists in our body.

Sickie Food and Gratitude

Today, I feel grateful for…..

A body that is getting healthier each day … yeh team!

The wonderful support of my special friends and family. For example, my buddy L. came over with a big pot of her delicious homemade hearty soup and that has been all I’ve wanted to eat. I’ve had homemade sausage rolls and carrot cake roll up too! Kids think it’s Christmas!

Today is such a beautiful sunny day – I’m grateful that I could lay on the trampoline with my 10yr old girl, Snugglebunny, who is home for some tlc too! We were working on getting our Vitamin D intake to increase our immune systems!

A husband who says not to worry about cooking, we can get take out!

A husband who closes the bedroom door so I might get a little bit more sleep before the demands of motherhood press that bit harder. Heck, I’m just grateful all over for my hubby!

My beautiful friend Sally Moore, who also happens to be my Homoeopath – she called up when I was wallowing, talked to me about my symptoms and emotions and then put me straight on some remedies, even sending extra remedies down to me (she lives about a 50 minute drive away).

A vegie garden that is just brimming with healthy broccoli, cauliflower, beetroot, peas and spinach – it’s joy to be able to pick from the garden fresh produce.

Tissue Salts and Bach Flower Remedies – the Mind Body Connection

Visit to Dr Kitty Campion

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