Your body and your health depend very heavily on a proper gut flora balance. But that’s easier said than done nowadays.
In a society addicted to sugars, grains, dairy and alcohol it becomes very difficult to treat the widespread digestive diseases occurring in North America. Candida albicans is a common yeast that grows inside the human body, and in normal circumstances, is a healthy, helpful and necessary resident of your gut flora. Generally, other bacteria and immune cells keep this yeast under control so it doesn’t cause any harm.
This overgrowth may be triggered by antibiotic use, poor digestion, lowered immune system, a high sugar and grain diet, stress, or hormonal changes. There are many natural candida cures that can help manage and even reverse this condition but the first place to start is by getting on a candida diet.
Curing Candida with your diet
- Colorful vegetables – Whole foods provide essential vitamins and minerals to help with healing and boost the immune system.
- Cultured dairy or fermented foods – To replace good bacteria which will help control yeast, add foods high in probiotics such as yogurt, kefir, kimchi, or sauerkraut.Green drinks – Green vegetables will help improve your immune response.
- Ground flax and chia seeds – Flax and chia seeds are anti-fungal.
- Unsweetened cranberry juice – Cranberry juice creates an acidic environment which is unpleasant for yeast.
Foods That Cause Candida Overgrowth
- Sugar – Feeds yeast, so you should avoid it at all costs.
- Fruit or fruit juice – Even though fruit is generally healthy, it is high in sugar and can make candida worse, and fruit juice in particular is usually loaded with added sugars.
- Alcohol – produces more yeast and should be avoided.
- Food intolerance – Some yeast infections are due to food allergies. Try to avoid foods that cause negative reactions of any kind. If you think you have a food allergy or sensitivity, try an elimination diet to figure out what foods are causing intolerance.
- Grains – Breaks down into sugar and can feed candida, yeast and bad bacteria.
Top 5 Natural Remedies For Candida
- Probiotics (50 billion units daily) Will give your body healthy bacteria which can help reduce the presence of yeast.
- Oil of Oregano (5 drops 3x daily) Oregano oil is naturally antibacterial and anti-fungal.
- Garlic (2 caps or cloves daily) Helps fight fungal infections and boost the immune system.
- Vitamin C (1,000mg 3x daily) Boosts immune function and helps fight off infections.
- Grapefruit seed extract (200 mg 2-3x per day) This herb has specific properties to fight candida.
Essential Oils For Candida
The best essential oils for candida have anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties. These oils include clove, oregano, melaleuca and myrrh essential oils.
Lifestyle prevention
Some general life choices you make can help you to avoid developing Candida. For example, try to limit your use of antibiotics. It’s very common for doctors to prescribe antibiotics even for viral infections–this is not only pointless but it’s irresponsible. This practice is slowly declining–thankfully–because the overuse of antibiotics has produced strains of bacteria that cannot be killed. Antibiotics, particularly broad spectrum antibiotics, just kill everything, including the good bacteria in your gut that keeps Candida in check.
Manage your stress. Yeast infections like Candida thrive in a stressed-out person, who has a much more chaotic and unbalanced internal environment. Managing stress is as easy as doing something you enjoy, be it knitting or building a bench or playing board games. Just take some time to let the cares of the world go somewhere else for a while each day. Beyond that, be sure to get enough exercise. A fitness regimen is great, but even just going for a walk everyday can have very positive health repercussions.
Avoid hormone therapy if at all possible. This includes birth control pills, antidepressants, steroids and even taking hormones directly like testosterone and estrogen. The positive effects of these drugs (except birth control) can usually be mimicked by a good diet and exercise anyway.
Just because it’s so common doesn’t mean you need to suffer from it. If you’ve already got a Candida flare-up, use the natural remedies above. However, as we all know, it’s better to avoid it if you can.
Stay healthy out there folks! Let us know if you have any questions