Gut Reaction:

What do heartburn, morning aches, creaky joints, depression, PMS, headaches, dandruff, excessive perspiration and memory loss have in common? While you might think it’s a list of symptoms that define aging, these seemingly unrelated complaints have been linked to problems in the digestive tract caused by a single-celled bacteria (yeast) called ‘Candida albicans’. Happily, you can stop Candida in its tracks and start feeling good.

When yeast takes over
Your intestines are home to trillions of creatures – and unpleasant as that may sound, you want most of them to be there. Beneficial intestinal bacteria help to break down food, metabolize hormones, create vitamins, and prevent yeast and disease causing bacteria from taking over your system. On the other hand, bacteria like Candida can take advantage of your hospitality; living in your intestines without offering any positive payback – but as long as the beneficial bacteria outweigh the freeloaders, there is harmony in your digestive tract. If the environment shifts in favour of Candida they quickly take control and the results can be felt far from your digestive tract.

Shifting the balance
The most obvious trigger for intestinal imbalance is antibiotic medications, which disable or kill bacteria when you have an infection. Unfortunately, antibiotics don’t discriminate. Not only do they kill bacteria causing an infection, they also eliminate those that serve and protect you. Because opportunistic bacteria like Candida tend to recover more quickly than the beneficial varieties, your internal landscape shifts.

What to do
One of the most effective ways to eliminate Candida is to stop feeding it. As a yeast, Candida needs sugar to survive. Reduce your intake of refined sugar and white foods like bread and pasta that quickly convert to sugar in the body. If you want to be really serious about starving Candida, eliminate fruit from your diet for a short while. Although otherwise good for you, fruit also provides plenty of sugar to feed yeast.

Other foods to avoid include red meat and processed foods, which are difficult to digest, causing your digestive process to slow down and Candida to dine.

Chlorinated water is another common cause of intestinal imbalance, as is pregnancy, AIDS, high alcohol intake, pesticides, herbicides, and too much processed or packaged food. Lacking digestive enzymes found in fresh fruits and vegetables, prepared foods are more difficult for the body to digest, causing a slow-down in the intestines that leads to a feast for freeloading bacteria. The feasting allows bacteria like Candida to reproduce and create waste, which is toxic to us. The walls of the digestive tract become irritated and inflamed, and susceptible to damage. Candida cells then produce root-like structures that penetrate the lining of the gut in a condition called ‘porous bowel’ or ‘leaky gut syndrome’. Tiny holes in the digestive tract allow two things to happen. Firstly, undigested food proteins can directly enter the bloodstream, triggering an immune system reaction as your body tries to eliminate a perceived threat. As a result, food allergies and sensitivities frequently develop.

Secondly, Candida itself leaves the digestive tract and travels through the bloodstream until it finds an available organ to call home. In fact, a 2002 study found that 15% of sinus infections were caused by Candida albicans. Candida is also involved in many vaginal yeast infections, nail infections and skin conditions like eczema.

How do you know?
With such a long list of symptoms, it might seem like everyone you know is affected by a digestive imbalance. And since most people have used antibiotics, been exposed to chlorine, live with stress and don’t always eat a perfect diet, you might not be far off. If you want to be sure, ask your naturopath or health care provider to perform a stool analysis and to offer guidance. Happily, however, many of us can make changes ourselves to restore harmony in our bodies – and possibly say good-bye to some of our symptoms.

Wheat is also a problem for many people to digest, so experiment with other grains such as quinoa, kamut and millet. To change your internal environment, you’ll also want to eliminate fungus foods such as mushrooms, as well as yeast-containing foods and nuts. Nuts often contain mold. Avoid alcohol and dairy, which are high in sugar, also limit your intake of coffee.

If you’re starting to wonder what you’re allowed to eat, take heart. All vegetables, lean protein such as eggs, chicken, turkey, fish and legumes as well as whole grains like brown rice are fair game. Enjoy green tea and P’au D’arco tea, as they both are useful for eliminating Candida – and drink plenty of water. To build up your beneficial bacteria, use supplemental probiotics containing live bacteria. Prebiotic products, on the other hand, contain fructo-oligo-saccharides (FOS), a group of naturally occurring carbohydrates that feed friendly flora, helping them to grow and multiply. You can also find Candida-elimination kits containing both prebiotics and probiotics.

You’ll know you can start to reintroduce eliminated foods when the symptom that inspired you to rebalance your intestines is noticeably improved. To preserve harmony, maintain as much of your revised eating plan as possible after the Candida elimination period. 

H&L