Connections: Candida and Food

What you eat can directly impact your ability to have problems with Candida or yeast infections. Conversely, it can also help you by creating an environment where healthy flora flourish and bad bacteria perish. I wrote about this recently for a friend and business contact.

Our bodies house good bacterium and can have bad bacteria as well. Yeast infections or candida can happen when the bad bacteria levels get high. This can happen for many reasons and can result in unpleasant symptoms in the genital area or the mouth. In order to deal with this, you often need to have treatment that kills off the negative bacteria but the problem with this is that treatment can also kill the healthy flora living in your body.

Candida can happen frequently and it can become a pain. We don’t want to overdo it on antibiotics and risk developing a tolerance to them which makes getting well when we really need antibiotics difficult. We also want the positive bacteria in our bodies to thrive as they can help us in many ways. Candida doesn’t just cause yeast infections, oral thrush and diaper rash. It can impact your health in many ways including headaches, mood swings, and sinus problems and is reported as suspected of being linked to other problems as well.

There are foods you can eat to encourage healthy bacteria to flourish in your body and to keep unhealthy levels of yeast from rising. There are probiotic foods which encourage the healthy bacteria to grow and antibiotics which are intended to kill off harmful bacterium. The problem is that when we need to take antibiotics, the antibiotics cannot tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys so they wipe out everything in sight! If your body has a tendency to produce too much yeast and you are prone to yeast infections, you should be cautious about what you eat and drink to help prevent the overgrowth of that yeast. In fact, your diet alone could be the culprit.

There are many types of flora living in our bodies and the culprits for the yeast infection occur when there’s a proliferation of albican yeast growth. Prevent albican yeast growth by eating healthful unprocessed foods. Probiotic yogurt and cheese can be very helpful. Eating junk food and refined carbohydrates is not helpful as it will feed the bad bacteria. Eliminating sugar and bleached white flour is a very good idea and you should avoid all fermented foods like alcohol, cheese and yeasts and fungi such as mushrooms. Instead, eat plenty of live cultures like yogurt and unsweetened kefir. Organic apple cider vinegar can also be helpful for restoring balance in the digestive system.

Opt for food with fast transit times for your food so that it won’t sit and rot in your intestines creating new bacteria. A special diet is typically used for two to four weeks so that symptoms can subside and people who have recurring problems with yeast may decide to stay on this diet as a regular rule. Use oils for cooking such as virgin coconut oil offers great antifungal properties.. Garlic, clove oil, oregano oil and spices like cinnamon, curry and cayenne can also be very beneficial.
If you want bread during your candida diet, opt for whole grain bread that isn’t leavened with yeast. Probiotic or lactose reduced cheese can be taken in lieu of regular cheese. Albican yeast free cookbooks or resource sites exist which help you find more recipes that incorporate great foods without harmful yeast.
Eating well, exercise and good digestive health are all factors for treating and preventing candida yeast infections.

This article was written for my colleague and friend Matthew Bredel. Matt owns the helpful website Candida Solutions.

Resource:
Yeast-Free Cookbook