Getting Candid about Candida Part 2
Why Did I Get Candida and How Can I be Sure?
If you caught the first blog in my Candida Series (Good Yeast, Bad Yeast), then you know that yeast is a naturally occurring fungus found in the body. It lives in small amounts in the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract and vaginal tract. Usually it aids with digestion and nutrient absorption, when you have a good balance of bacteria in your gut, but it can get out of control and cause some pretty annoying (and even serious!) health issues.
Yeast infections can occur in the mouth, esophagus, vagina, on the skin or in the bloodstream, and there are various causes:
- A poor diet can make it easy for yeast to thrive
- Yeast LOVES sugar, refined carbohydrates and processed foods
- Excessive amounts of alcohol
- Medications
- Antibiotics - Though they help kill off infection, antibiotics often kill a significant amount of good gut bacteria, too.
- Mother-to-fetus - If the mother takes an antibiotic during pregnancy, or had a yeast infection herself, it affects the development of the fetus’ microbiome. You could be predisposed to yeast problems due to what your mother did or didn’t do while pregnant with you.
- Steroids - Can weaken your immune system, opening the gateway for opportunistic infections (like yeast!).
- Antacids - You need enough acid in your gut to kill the bad stuff. If you take antacids on a regular basis, you are lessing the amount of acid that can help fight yeast.
- Oral contraceptives - Yeast LOVES estrogen, and birth control contains extra estrogen to keep your systems in check.
- Stress - A high-stress lifestyle can wear your body down (HPA-D) and provide a great place for infections (like yeast!) to take up host.
So now you know some of the major players in the yeast infection game, and you are exhibiting some of the classic symptoms, it’s time to get you checked out. If you’ve never had a yeast infection before, you can probably go to the regular doc and get a prescription. However, if you’ve seen the regular doc many times for yeast issues, contact me immediately. You clearly have something larger going on that what the regular doc can see on the surface, and I will help you get to the bottom of it.
Tests I will order for you:
- Blood test for IgG, IgM and IgA antibodies
- In your immune system, high levels indicate an infection. However, low levels could mean your immune system is suppressed and your body cannot mount a response.
- In your blood, high levels indicate candida overgrowth.
- CBC (Complete Blood Count) - I frequently see a pattern of low White Blood Count (WBC), high neutrophils and low lymphocytes in clients with a yeast overgrowth.
- GI Map - A comprehensive stool test that will check for Candida in your large intestine and can usually identify the type of yeast present.
- Urine organix dysbiosis test - looks for d-Arabinitol (the Candida waste product). High levels indicate yeast overgrowth in the small intestine.
Once we have the results from the above tests, we can begin to create a health plan unique to your body and heal you. Click on the link to sign up for a
Health Discovery Session and we’ll choose the right path for you.
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Heidi Toy Functional Medicine Blog
Did you know most people didn’t have refrigerators in their homes until well into the 1900’s? It wasn’t even invented for large scale commercial use until the mid 1800’s [1]. So how did people keep their milk cold and make their food last longer? Fermentation. It sounds like a gross concept, because we often associate fermentation with a bad odor, but foods like cheese, yogurt, sauerkraut and pickles are all fermented foods. And those aren’t gross, are they? Well, some might disagree with me about sauerkraut, but that’s beside the point. Fermented foods are digestive aids. Microscopic living organisms in fermented foods help extend the food’s shelf life, enhance flavor, and help the body absorb minerals. These organisms pre-digest the food, getting rid of harmful components, and create more vitamins and enzymes than the food began with. Enzyme-rich foods have many benefits including [2]: Increase digestibility of food we eat Boost immune system Increase alkalinity; neutralizing pH levels Provide a healthy balance of friendly flora in the gut (Learn more about your microbiome in my other blog posts ) Tone the colon and help with elimination Control cravings for unhealthier foods Eliminate toxins and undigested wastes in the body In the “old days,” people use to ferment all kinds of foods through pickling, canning, pasteurization and added salt. Nowadays, however, large scale fermentation has lost many of its nutritious benefits due to the need for speed to get the product on the shelf as fast as possible and as cheap as possible. The only true fermented foods you will find are sauerkraut, kombucha, yogurt and kefir, beans, wine and beer, some meats (such as salami and pastrami), legumes and nuts (such as tofu, soy sauce and miso), sourdough bread, and various kinds of vegetables [3]. Fun facts about sauerkraut: The Germans “stole” it from the Chinese! Sauerkraut (probably not labeled as such for the Chinese, but the same recipe) was one of the main foods for those who built the Great Wall of China. Genghis Khan brought it to Eastern Europe during an invasion. It also contains high levels of vitamin C, and sailors often took it on long journeys to prevent scurvy.
How can we best keep blood sugar stable? Do what our body is designed to do – use fat for energy. Our species did not survive the Ice Age because of vanilla coffee lattes and cheesecake. Throughout most of our history, we ate a diet that was likely 50-70 percent fat. Look at the old family photo albums, specifically pictures of people in the first half of the 1900s, before we had so many processed foods. You won’t see many fat people--in fact, most look darn skinny. If they lived on the farm, they ate lots of eggs, meat, milk, and vegetables out of their own backyards. “Diet foods” were non-existent. Heart disease was almost non-existent. Our metabolism is designed to work much better with fats better than with sugar. Fats provide the slow and steady fuel our body likes to use for energy. Think of fats as a slow-burning log on the fire. One log (i.e. one meal containing fats) lasts for hours. Starchy carbs, on the flip side, are like kindling. You constantly have to throw more twigs (chips, pasta, bagels) to keep the fire burning. The first step is to know your sugars by reading the labels, and then avoid said sugars as much as possible.
How Stabilizing Blood Sugar Can Help Put Autoimmune Conditions into Remission and Promote Healing
Omega-3 and Omega-6 are considered “essential” fatty acids because they cannot be produced by the body--we get them from the food we eat. They are biologically active upon ingestion, which means the body utilizes them right away and cannot store them up for later. They are essential because they help with both inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses.
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Valentine's Day is the perfect opportunity to show your love with thoughtful gifts that align with your partner's Paleo lifestyle.
