candida...

A week ago I decided to stop eating sugar. I really didn’t think it was going to be a big deal. Boy was I wrong. The first three days I might as well have been coming down from heroin. I craved sugar. I’d be sitting at my desk and suddenly visions of candy bars and cookies would broadside me. I had to drink a cup of tea to curb the craving.

I realized that throughout the day I looked forward to moments of sugar. After lunch, sugar, after Riley goes to bed, sugar, instead of dinner, sugar and it goes on and on. I ate more sugar than staple food. I realized I’d eat less good food so I’d have room for sugar. I’ve been thinking for years I’m doing ok because I wasn’t over weight and felt fine, even though every night when I put Riley to bed I’d be exhausted, I’d have excruciating allergy attacks and a drunken sailor would be afraid of crossing my path if I was pms’ing.

I felt fine but not good.

For about a month, I’ve been noticing after a couple glasses of wine and then eat my sugar I’d wake up the next morning with a headache, a skull cracking headache; a headache that would normally be caused by a night of debauchery not just a couple glasses of wine. It had to be the sugar.

Then last Tuesday I went to the doctor for my yearly physical. The only issue I had was a rash on my back and my chest for about a year. I thought it was an allergic reaction to something and anticipated it to go away once I pinpointed the problem. When my doctor saw he said it was a fungus. “A fungus” I asked with a disgusted look on my face. He said it was like athlete’s foot and told me I needed to get some Lotrimin to get rid of it. He said it’s common and his wife gets it all the time. Then while he was doing my annual exam he mentioned a possible yeast infection. “What?” I thought. “I’m falling apart.”

As I walked back to my office the word, “Candida” floated through my consciousness. As soon as I got back to the office, I did some research and both of my symptoms are signs of too much Candida. Candida is a genus of yeast that if it becomes overgrown leads to different health issues, one of them being fungus, along with fatigue, achy joints, thrush, hay fever, sinus problems, allergies, intestinal problems, and moody pms. I wondered why my doctor didn’t put my two symptoms together and say, “By the way you might want to cut back on yeast and sugar and take a Probiotic” but then I read this on Wikipedia, “Practitioners of alternative medicine claim that Candida overgrowth can cause various health problems, from fatigue to weight gain, but this is rejected by most doctors and there is no evidence to support the theory” and I realized that was why he didn’t mention it.

I discovered a very simple test I could do to figure out if you have an overgrowth of Candida. First thing in the morning spit in a glass of water. If within three minutes your saliva starts getting legs or drops to the bottom of the glass, you most likely have too much Candida in your system. The next morning, I spit into the glass and low and behold, my saliva had legs.

After doing hours of research I came to the conclusion I needed to stop eating sugar and bread (for the most part). I also needed to start eating more raw food. Raw food supplies good microbes to stabilize the gut flora for better digestion, processing of food and makes it a hostile environment for the Candida. I also started doing a cleanse and taking Threelac (probiotics) along with Flax Seed Oil and Coconut Oil both of which help stabilize the gut flora.

How do I feel? I have to admit I feel better. It’s only been a week and they say it can take a year if not more to fully get rid of the Candida but the rash is better. I have more energy. I’m not fatigued at night and sleep much better. I haven’t had an allergy attack all week. Things are good. I knew theses changes needed to happen. I’m glad I’ve taken these steps to take better care of myself.

My body is my temple and now I’m fully on board with that statement.