What to do about Candida when shifting to a conscious diet?

Hey Cathy,

We're all there with you. It's not always easy switching - this sapiens body has been hybridised to accept animal protein and in many cases crave it. So the soul may feel that and it can often conflict with the higher truth.

Awareness is always the key to the transformation. You feel into the conflict and don't retreat from it, work not to take the soft option if you can. But then don't beat yourself up if you can't. You're not to blame. It is not your fault... but the transformation is your responsibility.

So work progressively.

Big hug

Open *OK*

PS - heavy metals can be removed well with Bentonite Clay and Liquid zeolite. Lots of green vegetable juices will also help.

Cathy, I appreciate the challenges that you so authentically present. We cannot underestimate the environmental toxins and the decades of their use. There has been some very interesting research on the tight junctions of the GI tract. These tight junctions prevent toxins from permeating the intestinal tract and leaching into the blood stream. However, foods like modern day wheat, glyphosate (Roundup) residue among others cause the body to produce a substance called Zonulin, a protein, that signals the tight junctions to open. Now you have the blood stream flooded with toxins that the tight junctions would have closed off. These toxins can include Candida yeasts, gluten, as well as heavy metals, herbicide residue, and pathogenic bacteria.

Both Peter and I have noticed over time that our GI tracts just weren't functioning optimally. For myself there were times when I would swallow food and get an immediate burn in my gut, lasting only a few seconds, but incredibly uncomfortable. Peter would get real digestive pains, heartburn. We started looking for causes: was it the conventional strawberries we bought when organic was not available? Did we not cook the beans enough? We made peppermint tea from our mint, drank aloe juice, took probiotics, juiced every day (thank you Trinity), and while there was improvement, the problem wasn't fixed. We fasted, focused only on eating alkaline foods, but I could still feel something needed to be healed in my gut.

The mirror for all of this was the horses: so many are experiencing leaky gut and irritable bowel syndrome.

I stumbled on this research on tight junctions and the lightbulb went off. Down the rabbit hole I went and found lignite extract. Lignite is peat with a high carbon content. A very interesting study showed that it closes the tight junctions.

For three weeks Peter and I have been taking Lignite extract. Finally for the first time in several years there is no burn in my gut when I take my first bites of food. Peter's heartburn is gone. My gut feels totally different, and our elimination is different. We both commented this morning that we feel lighter energetically, because I think the daily toxins like chem trails, glyphosate, car exhaust can't permeate our gut mucosa anymore.

We had some lettuce from our garden last night and I told Peter to just shake off the dirt, don't wash the leaves, as more and more we have to get the soil based micro organisms back into our gut.

I know you have battled Candida for some time, and I wonder whether restoring the health of the tight junctions may be of some help.

love, tigger

I think one of the issues with transitioning to a vegan diet at least for some people is that in order to feel satiated people tend to eat more refined carb rich foods that arent necessarily balanced, than previously. e.g. eating lots of 'refined' carbs and sweet foods which might cause sugar spikes or imbalances. Its understandable because you're looking for enough fuel and those sources are readily available and tasty.
So it might be worth looking at that? Perhaps a tranistion is to a more whol-istic diet - are you eating enough complex carbs (e.g. whole grain products, seeds, veggies)? and fats etc.
I wonder how useful avoiding things like quinoa etc is, if you are already restricting your diet - I think so long as they're rinsed and cooked should be fine. but I think like Trinity said its feeling what's right individually. I think its possible, but a question of 'asking' intuitively.

Some people also find blue green algae's really useful for the detox. and good quality supplements.
I found it takes some time to transition, for some people years to rebalance, so it might be a more gradual process.

Dear Catherine,
I really hope it'll help. I'll send you a some good vibes, too.
All the best,
Helen

Hi Catherine and all,

I have recently discovered Neem oil, which is won from another miraculous tree like Moringa. The Neem tree originates from India and various parts, but especially the oil, is widely used in Ayurvedic medicine as well as in agriculture as fungicide and insecticide. It is said to be a cure for candida. There is plenty of information on the web.

Maybe this comes too late, as I hope you are now candida-free. But it's still very interesting. Wonderful as a biological mosquito repellant, it smells quite strong, though.

Love,
Helen

Catherine, hang in there!

When I need to ground myself, I head for dirt...the micro biome isn't just in our GI tracts, it is our skin as well. I get dirty! Not filthy disgusting dirty, just barefoot, digging in the soil, hugging trees, rolling in the grass with dogs, or sitting on moss covered stones in the creek. I am such a literal being that "grounding" to me is to be in contact with the earth.

Sometimes I just imagine that I am a carrot, and my legs are deep into the earth, up to my waist. Just must be on the lookout for bunnies :-)

Sending you some etherial Virginia farm soil!

tigger

Greetings Sandra ;)

Thanks so much for sharing your Candida experiences here and how you're dealing with it. I'm sure it's a great inspiration to many.

With blessings

Open

And I have been a great admirer of yiurs, Catherine,since I first began reading your entries on this Openhand community, and saw you in the Victoria retreat 2015 photos and pictures. I do hope we continue to become close sisters and communicate as often as possible.

Lots of love...

Loved your comment about Crazy Horse spirit, Catherine. He is an ancestor of mine and I never have accessed his spirit, oddly enough. As soon as i read yiur post....there he was! Im sure he hss been there all along. What a heroic soul he was/is...a humble warrior spirit always. Btw, my animal sign, given to me only a few weeks ago...perhaps by him....is an untamed, unharnessed, unbroken, totally free and beautiful black stallion. I have drempt of this horse since i was a child...

This is particularly directed to Catherine....i too am a vegan, which means i pared my diet down to very little, especially during the detox week. Not many options available. I did break one vegan practice and have eaten 2 organic eggs in a veggie omlet since Day 1 in order to have some protein. I have also followed Eat Right for Your Blood Type for years...i am Type A which works well with vegetarian/vegan and is already a pretty stringent vegetable-based dietary plan. So paring down even further for a week ( and i have extended that with the the addion of nuts and quinua) was not difficult.Drinking the detox drink was the real challenge and i ended up cutting back on the amount daily ingested. I also had an immediate Candida die-off which is not pleasant...lasted about 3 days. I also slept a lot and read Openhand daily many times to keep my Soul strong. My yoga practice was not possible for the detox week plus a few days. It is fully back now and i am adding daily walks up and down the bluffs of KC to enjoy abd inhale the newly released body from the toxins and build new strwnghtand endurance. I also am happy to report an expanded Soul capability, which intuitively i knew must be a result of all this...IT IS!

Over 70% of humanity has yeast infestation. I am happy to see this dialogue going on at Openhand. Where else would such awakening occur??

Hey Catherine, I can't take any credit for the conjuring of Bear Heart: that came through from The Ancestors :-)

I will hold your paw, and you can hold mine.

tigger

Catherine, every time I read one of your postings this name keeps coming up for you: Bear Heart.

tigger

I returned to the States from living 3 years in Africa in 12/2013 with a lot of physical symptoms. One thing I knew was that I had a yeast infection. Doctors gave me a tablet, ran diagnostics and came up with nothing. About 4 weeks ago, I began to research candida and found many symptoms which I had. I found a program called ''The Ultimate Candida Diet'' which I have now been on for 3 weeks. It is a 60-90 day program and is all natural. I have recently added the anti-fungals and have increased the dosage. However, my diet...consisting of all greens and not ALL greens...is still in place by my choice. I can begin to add other foods and have added nuts and about 3 tablespoons of quinoa per day. No fruits at all. I recommend you look at this plan. Frankly, I would rather be on something like this...dietary change with time enough to actually implement the changes on a permanent basis....than I would doctors prescriptions. Most of them really don't recognize Candida symptoms. Joint pain is ''arthritic'' rather than a classic symptom of Candida, etc. Anyway, check it out.

BTW, I have dropped quite a bit of weight. Couldn't tell you how much since I threw away my scales years ago and refuse to purchase a new one. Much of it dropped the first 2 weeks. Now the weight loss is slower.

All this, I truly believe, is preparing us for a healthier lifestyle in these last days, and ridding the body of toxins just as we are ridding the soul of them. In the end, it is an elevated being that we are each becoming.

Namaste

Hi Catherine,

I really admire your motivation and commitment. Keep shining!

This is fantastic Catherine.

It will likely be the softness of the divine feminine that will take you into this. And the cleansing will open internal sensitivity so you can access deeper karmic source pain. And breaking through this unleashes unimaginable expansions. That's when our psychic gifts become 'interstellar'!

Open *OK*

Fascinating you should mention an earth based probiotic Ariel. Acidophilus which I mentioned is a 'lactic acid' based probiotic. Which, as I understand, most are. The problem with these are that they tend to break down in the gut, so their effect is only partial.

Consuming small quantities of earth is actually (of course) quite natural. We used to do that anyway in our daily diet - before the standard human diet became horribly distorted. I've always been encouraged not to scrub all the soil of my veg providing that is, it is organic, and a trustworthy, ethical source.

If you don't have a clear source that you can trust, you could explore the possibility of this recommended earth biotic "Prescript-Assist" ...
http://www.candidastore.com/prescript-assist-60.html
(I can't personally vouch for it, but it does come well recommended).

Just before I wrote this, a lovely synchronicity came to me: I was clearing a wood pile at the bottom of our garden which exposed a fair few worms and slugs. I took a rest for a while, during which, a friendly blackbird I know, came to join me to feast on the worms I'd uncovered. I wondered if it would also try the slugs? Knowing that it would be difficult to digest the slime on its skin. At which point (it was like I had a telepathic connection to the bird), it picked up a slug and then began to wipe it with soil! It did this for about 5 minutes before consuming it. It seemed to confirm for me the value of earth based probiotics!

But only of course if you can trust the soil and the source!

Open

Just adding a tid bit to Opens post...With the extensive imbalance that I was suffering with I could not consume the typical "good bacteria" I had to purchase "soil based bacteria" that comes straight from MOTHER EARTH. This was and still is the only "good bacteria" that my severely damaged tummy can handle. The bad and good bacteria cannot feed off of this type of organism and thus does not feed the imbalance. I find that this is something most do not consider so just in case there are those who are like me and have the persistent not giving in easily candida overgrowth, this knowledge will be of great benefit to you. :)

This is a book that I found most helpful when I first began researching my Candida diagnosis in 2004:

Candida Albicans: Could Yeast Be Your Problem?
Leon Chaitow D.O. N.D

Alex

This is becoming quite an exploration into Candida, so I felt to add some important background (for those new to the thread, you will find some great feedback and sharings above).

What is Candida?
It's a fungus, that is a form of yeast, which naturally exists in the gut and in small quantities the mouth. It aids in digestion and nutrient absorption. However, due to the typical unhealthy lifestyles people live, it gets out of control, can break down the walls of the intestine and cause many digestive and health problems including leaky gut. When out of control, it can lead to severe tiredness, depression, and strong sweet food cravings. I believe a lot of people on a regular diet probably have it to varying degrees.

How do you get candida overgrowth?
Here are the typical causes:

- Eating a diet high in refined carbohydrates and sugar (which feed the yeast)
- Consuming a lot of alcohol
- Taking oral contraceptives
- Living a high-stress lifestyle
- Taking antibiotics that kill off too much friendly bacteria
- Eating a diet that is too high in beneficial fermented foods like Kombucha, sauerkraut and pickles (While fermented foods are great for your "good" bacteria, unfortunately, the "bad" bacteria also feed off these foods)

Here are 10 common candida symptoms

- Skin and nail fungal infections (such as athlete’s foot or toenail fungus)
- Feeling tired and worn down or suffering from chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia
- Digestive issues such as bloating, constipation, or diarrhea (and including mouth ulcers)
- Autoimmune disease such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Ulcerative colitis, Lupus, Psoriasis, Scleroderma or Multiple sclerosis
- Difficulty concentrating, poor memory, lack of focus, ADD, ADHD and brain fog
- Skin issues such as eczema, psoriasis, hives, and rashes
- Irritability, mood swings, anxiety, or depression
- Vaginal infections, urinary tract infections, rectal itching or vaginal itching
- Severe seasonal allergies or itchy ears
- Strong sugar and refined carbohydrate cravings

The Good News!
The good news is that you can overcome it by moving to a healthy plant based diet. Although in the beginning, if you notice these kinds of symptoms, it is most advisable to take some of the other precautions spoken of in this thread:

- cutting out refined sugar
- cutting down on fruit (some suggest cutting it out completely, but I've found greatly reducing it is sufficient. Be wary of fermenting fruits like peaches, plums, mangoes, papayas, strawberries and melons. Although when cured, eating them on their own will be fine)
- cut out alcohol, yeast and mushrooms
- reduce carbohydrates (like potatoes)
- use coconut oil to break down carbohydrates
- use diluted apple cider vinegar to break down candida
- daily use of garlic
- build friendly microbiotics (using for example Acidophilus)

(with regards the last point, I know Kombucha is becoming quite popular to build friendly biotics, but my own intuition has told me that over use is not a good thing, for the reasons outlined above).

I found this website quite useful...Mindbodygreen

Hi Ariel,

Great advice - I often take a sip of watered apple cider vinegar before eating. It helps bring digestive balance.

Open :-)

Hi Catherine!

My journey started with a Candida overgrowth roughly 6 years ago. It was the overgrowth that initially sent me on my holistic organic cleansing of the body and conscious lifestyle. It took me many attempts to finally overcome persistent parasite. If you need a tried and true method, I am your girl Catherine. :)I used a completely all natural approach which required no doctor's assistance or guidance as it was all limiting consumption of certain food groups while increasing others, daily fresh organic garlic from my own garden, an apple cider vinegar and water solution, papaya enzymes (to help break down the carbs), and daily coconut oil consumption. I've been completely candida symptom free for a couple of years now. Its true that you can't ever fully eliminate candida as it is crucial in maintaining a proper microbiome balance within your intestines however, the key is finding the right balance for your body. I can no longer consume alcohol or refined sugar however seeing as I don't like feeling awful as result of consuming these items, I am now in a place where its not a problem for me. I've won this battle and if you apply your warrior spirit to this adventure you will too. I don't know you but I've read a lot of your posts and see that the spirit and will to succeed are strong within you. YOU CAN DO THIS!!! With love and encouragement to take the step towards healing....Ariel-

My goodness, the way Open describes the opportunities inherent in candida, going deeply into internal sensitivity - it becomes sexy and glamorous, a beautiful blessing!
Perspective is awesome.
Thank you Catherine, and thank you Open.

Some great information here. However, I certainly don't agree that it's not something to be approached without professional help - sure, if it's available, but if not, let's not be put off. You could see candida as a gift actually. Why? Because in order to cure it, a person will have to go into their daily behaviours, what they consume and why? It's going to push many buttons and will cause a direct confrontation of the matrix within.

We can talk about being spiritual warriors - well here's where it's really at - when you have to face something like this. It's not sexy or glamorous like yoga etc. But in order to get deep into internal sensitivity, that one may approach transfiguration, you've got to cleanse your consciousness deeply. Otherwise you're not going to get into the source pain which holds people back. Source pain is deeper than the intellect and emotional densities; it often begins as a mere subtle vibration that can easily be missed.

So cleansing from candida, in a similar way to mucoid plaque, is going to push many buttons and challenge deeply, but each step will be a step along the path.

Open *OK*

Hi Catherine!

I was diagnosed with a Candida overgrowth in 2004, & did a strict Candida cleanse under the care of Dr. Harald Gaier, one of the leading experts on Candida for over 25 years & a very experienced & knowledgeable naturopath in the UK. He is a naturopathic doctor trained & registered in South Africa, but he's not a conventional medical (allopathic) doctor. His treatment quickly brought my Candida under control & removed the undesirable symptoms. Subsequently, I reverted to eating many of my favourite foods, including sugary foods, fruit, wheat & dairy, & eventually the Candida symptoms started to return. I did further Candida cleanses in 2007 & 2014, which have helped keep it in check.

In my opinion, Candida can be diffcult to treat on your own, as there are so many factors to consider, different types of Candida, & different treatment processes according to the severity of your condition. Therefore my first suggestion to anyone with moderate or severe Candida symptoms would be to find a suitably experienced & recommended naturopath or nutritionist, get a diagnosis or assessment of your condition from them, & then to follow their treatment programme, at least for a month or two.

As I understand it, a successful treatment programme for Candida must include at least these 3 aspects simultaneously:

1. An anti-fungal to kill the Candida yeast (bacteria) already in your system. I used the herb Berberine (Berberis Vulgaris) for 4 weeks.
2. High quality probiotics to replenish your gut with healthy bacteria.
3. An effective anti-Candida diet to deprive the Candida (which can't be completely eliminated) of its preferred foods, especially sugars of all kinds, gluten & dairy. I followed Dr Gaier's "Dysbiosis and Gut Fermentation Diet" strictly for about 4 weeks when I first did the cleanse in 2004, then gradually re-introduced the forbidden foods over a period of about 2 months. You can easily find this diet online by Googling "dr gaier candida".

As a caution, I need to add that if your Candida is severe and/or very long standing, it's wise not to be too aggressive in the initial treatment process, as you can experience yeast "die off" side effects, or the Candida may have already caused other damage to your digestive tract (eg leaky gut, food allergies). In such cases, it's particularly important to seek professional help & not to go it alone.

In my initial treatment in 2004, I was also diagnosed with a gastric juice dysfunction, & was prescribed digestive enzymes to take for a whole year (in gradually decreasing doses), to support my stomach in restoring it's normal function.

I hope that information is of some help.

Best wishes for your recovery.

Alex

Sorry to be jumping into this with both feet...

The legumes and beans have a fairly high carbohydrate content, which yeasts love. Carbohydrates are not just starches they are also include dietary fiber. Yeasts are very good at digesting fiber as well as starch. The thing about candida imbalances is that once candida is not ruling the roost, so to speak, in the GI tract, a person can go back to eating higher carbohydrate foods like beans and potatoes and fruits. You are not going to have to give these foods up forever!

Candida is a part of the micro biome of the gut; it works with other yeasts in the digestive tract as part of the fermentation process of food digestion. When it becomes one of the more dominant micro organisms, then it causes problems. So by reducing the foods it loves (sugar and carbs) and with the help of coconut oil, candida can go back to being a member of the micro biome team, instead of trying to be the captain of the team :-)

Catherine, my suggestion is that you are probably going to want to listen to your intuition on miso. Many candida cleanses recommend not using it. Again, once you get candida under control, which can take a few days or a few weeks depending on your diet leading up to the imbalance, then you can return to eating foods like miso and legumes. If your diet is already pretty clean it should not take very long to re-gain gut balance.

tigger

Pro-biotics are essential to the cure, but I've found that they only really work effectively, when you've cleansed any meat and diary biotics first. Or at least you can keep building them up, but they'll only re-establish when your system is clear.

Yes, yeast needs to be avoided, including mushrooms until you have it all properly realigned. However, I'm not sure where the advice came from to eliminate legumes and beans? I wasn't aware of that - something to check into.

Like you Fiona, I'm not convinced candida can necessarily be eliminated completely - but it can be greatly reduced and then managed. Basically if you have a strong desire for sweet treats all the time and find yourself craving refined sugar, then you've likely got a problem to deal with.

For anyone who seriously wants to restore their digestive system to a more original and aligned state, requires moving relatively quickly into purity - a plant based diet, free from refined sugars, wheat, gluten etc. Then I've found the body can deal with some degree of impurity - like alcohol, caffeine, sugar etc - providing its minimalised.

Open

Hi Catherine,

Candida is a very irritating yeast when it gets out of hand...so sorry you are dealing with this.

Coconut oil is one of the best antagonists of Candida. Coconut oil has capric/caprillic acid which works as an anti fungal. Candida doesn't seem to build up resistance to coconut oil like some other anti fungals.

Probiotics are key players in the colonization of the GI tract. Look for probiotics that are 1) refrigerated 2) have high CFUs (colony forming units), 3) are multi strained (to include Bifido bacteria, and Lactobacillus strains). Flora has a good probiotic called Udo's Choice Super Bifido Plus, which is available in Canada.

Diet is extremely important and there are a host of veggies that are safe to eat when you are reducing candida as well as grains like quinoa, millet, a variety of nuts. What you want to avoid are the starchy foods like potatoes, corn, squash, beets, and beans.

A couple of days on coconut oil (1-2 Tablespoons per day) and you will feel a difference!

Hang in there it will get better,

tigger

Hi Catherine,

Great that you are feeling to eliminate excess Candida from your system. From what I understand we all have it to some degree, it's when it goes into excess that we feel out of balance and it can have quite a big impact on our energy levels and general wellbeing.

I found that eliminating refined sugar and severely cutting down on other sweet things (such as agave, maple syrup, sweet fruit, grapes... etc), as well as avoiding yeast, alcohol and mushrooms was really beneficial for me. I think some people suggest taking particular beneficial bacteria which is something you might want to look into also.

Best wishes, Fiona