I hesitated about writing this post because it is so personal, but then I decided that people need to know about this, so if sharing my own journey can help someone else I’m willing to do it.

Candida

For those of you who don’t know, Candida is one of many fungi that lives in your digestive tract. More precisely, it is a yeast, and an overgrowth causes yeast infections, something I have suffered from for years without realizing. The first time I ever heard about Candida was through Total Wellness Cleanse.

There are several different ways to get an overgrowth of Candida, one of which is the use of antibiotics since these kill all bacteria, the good and the bad and, as most things go, the bad repopulate faster. So make sure to supplement with a good probiotic after taking an antibiotic to ensure the repopulation of the good bacteria.

There are also other causes such as diabetes, stress, fatigue, birth control pills, a compromised immune system, and the list goes on.

Diagnosing Candida

This can be tricky, but there is a simple at home test I used just to be sure. Although I already was sure, I just wanted to see if it would work.

Before going to bed, place a glass of water at your bedside and then first thing in the morning, before doing anything else, spit into the glass of water. Make sure to get enough to coat the top and then watch over the next half hour. If your saliva is clean, it should dissolve and the water remain clear. If it becomes cloudy, sinks to the bottom, grows “roots”, or cloudy specks are suspended in the water, chances are you have Candida.

For me, by the time I stopped spitting after a couple minutes (I wanted to be good and sure I had an adequate amount) it was already clear I had a problem. I didn’t need to wait a half hour, my saliva had already grown roots. Okay, now that I know, time to do something about it.

Conquering Candida

It isn’t easy trying to get an overgrowth under control. Sure there are treatments you can buy at the pharmacy, but they only treat localized symptoms, not the cause. If you want to treat Candida naturally, diet is the first step.

Fortunately for me, since I had just completed Yuri’s Total Wellness Cleanse, I already had my eating habits under control.

Candida thrives on sugar, and sugar is everywhere! It’s more than just the obvious sources like sugar cane, honey, syrup, etc, it’s in fruit and simple carbohydrates such as white flour that breaks down into glucose. In order to conquer Candida, you need to eliminate sugar from your diet.

No Sugar.

I know. It’s tough. But a vital component.

For me, the hardest part has been not eating the fruits I love. There are only a few “low” sugar fruits I eat, such as grapefruit, apples, pears and occasionally strawberries and cherries while they were in season, and I keep it to 1-2 servings a day. If I bake, I use Stevia, which I also was already doing.

Simple Carbs

This one was easy since I had already eliminated them from my diet, but I went a step further and completely removed anything with gluten. This helps promote a healthy digestive tract and many people are intolerant of gluten to begin with. If I bake, I use brown rice flour and I enjoy it. I also replaced my whole wheat pasta with brown rice pasta and quinoa.

I plan on adhering to this diet strictly for a minimum of six months, which will take me to the end of 2010. Two months down, four to go. I am looking forward to all the fruit smoothies I dearly want to try.

Supplements

I’ve never liked taking pills. Never. I was in my early twenties before I could even swallow them, which I learned to do after being put on antibiotics for an ear infection. In order to give my body a fighting chance, I’m taking the following:

• Vitamin C – to help boost my immune system
• Quercetin – a bioflavonoid (often taken with Vit C and is an anti-histamine/anti-inflammatory)
• Zinc – to help with adrenal fatigue (which Candida sufferers most likely have)
• B-Complex – boosts immune system function

This was added to the whole food based Multi-Vitamin, antioxident, and Omega-3 pills I was taking, along with probiotics and enzymes.

Sometimes my body rebels and says, nope, I’m not swallowing another pill, especially the horse-pill of a multi-vitamin I’m taking three times a day. Sometimes I feel like such a pill-popper. It’s been a month and it’s become easier. I’m looking forward to when I can cut back, but plan on supplementing for at least another month. There were even more supplements I could take, but I had to pick my battles and take the ones I thought would help me the most.

Killing Candida with Anti-Fungals

There are several natural foods and remedies you can take to help reduce Candida. The ones I’m taking are:

• Garlic (raw, minced and added to my foods)
• Caprylic acid (found in coconuts and I cook with coconut oil)
• Oregeno Oil (which is good for many other things)
• Grapefruit Seed Extract (which I alternate with the Oregeno Oil)
• Pau D’Arco (in tea form)

The Next Step

Following the program I’m on, the next step is a parasite cleanse. I’ve already purchased the kit, and probably in October I’ll use it. Then it also recommends heavy metal removal and a liver flush, both of which are further down the road.

In Conclusion

The above is hardly exhaustive, and barely touches the information available, including the many symptoms, remedies to reduce symptoms, the importance of sleep, stress reduction, alkalinity, and so much more.

Many of us suffer from Candida without even realizing it. If you want to know more about how to fight Candida naturally, I would recommend visiting to HowToCureCandida.com. It’s the program I’m following and will fit in nicely with your Eating for Energy lifestyle.

Best of Luck
Nichole