Do you want to know about candida?
Please read our articles about infection candida, & yeast candida.

Check out this great website for more information on Candida:

Click here to take Candida Questionnaire. 

Click here to read "The Symptoms of Candida."

What Is Candida?

by Mark G. Lester

Once you have read this article, for more detailed information, we suggest you read "Candida Treatment" by Mark G. Lester, Diector of The Finchley Clinic and "Conquering Candida" written by our colleague Sherridan Stock.

There are over 150 species of candida.
Common strains include:

* Candida albicans
* Candida dubliniensis
* Candida famata
* Candida glabrata
* Candida guilliermondii
* Candida humicola
* Candida krusei
* Candida lambica
* Candida lipolytica
* Candida lusitaniae
* Candida parapsilosis
* Candida pseudotropicalis
* Candida rugosa
* Candida stellatoidea
* Candida tropicalis
* Candida zeylanoides

  Foods to eliminate:

           A) Excess sugar consumption, of which most people are guilty, suppresses immunity (by depressing neutrophil and lymphocyte activity), and alcohol has a similar effect. Sugar, of course, also feeds Candida.
           B) Caffeine (from coffee and to a lesser degree in cocoa and tea) is an adrenal stressor, and depletes adrenal glands, lowering the immune system. We have also seen claims that caffeine also destroys friendly bacteria. We have not found any evidence as to whether this is true or untrue but if it is true, this is a second mechanism by which caffeine may contribute to candida overgrowth, psychological stress, lack of dietary fiber or lowered thyroid activity) allows a environment in which candida and other unhealthy micro-organisms can more easily flourish.

Candida releases poisons in blood causing all kinds of symptoms. The toxins that are released include:

* Ethanol : Produced when yeast has lots of food. Excess ethanol can cause symptoms of alcohol intoxication.
* Acetaldehyde : The primary candida toxin, which can damage organs, disrupt fatty acid oxidation and production of collagen, cause abnormal behavior, memory loss, distorted thinking, mood swings, depression, impaired intellectual functioning and emotional disturbances.
* Formaldehyde: A highly reactive compound that has a toxic effect on all organisms (source: Microbiology (2002), 148, 2697-2704. (Molybdenum may be helpful for breaking down candida toxins.)

Typical symptoms of Candida include (but are not limited to) :

Food allergies
Sugar and carbohydrate craving
Abdominal pain and/or bloating, excessive intestinal gas and indigestion
Chronic sinus drainage - which antibiotics don't help!
Brain "fog" or poor concentration
Urinary infections
Rashes anywhere on the skin
Anxiety/Depression
Menstrual Irregularities
Bad breath

~Note from Golden Illumination~

I struggled with Candida for 25 years! I was blessed to find some great information. Get off of bread. I now eat Sourdough bread. This bread does not have any yeast, or sweeteners in it of any kind. Make sure it has a sourdough starter and is not made with white flour. If you have a whole foods market call them to see if they carry fresh Sourdough in their bakery.

Foods rich in oils can overwork the liver, weaken the pancreas, and cause dampness, we suggest that individuals with candida use nuts, seeds, avocados, oils and other fatty foods very sparingly.

Eliminate all unshelled nuts, peanut butter & almond butter..they are all rancid. Eliminate all oils from one's diet.

Also eliminate foods that are WHITE: flour, potatoes, rice, pasta, sugar, cereal.

From an acupuncture theory oil creates dampness and dampness creates a wonderful environment for the fungus to GROW! Oils are all rancid except for the ones that are labeled UNREFINED. Oils need to be refrigerated. After 3 months my Candida was gone by eliminating these foods.

Dampness creates signs of stagnation and sluggishness--- the person is easily tired and feels heaviness in the body. If there is pain, it is fixed in one location.

Conditions of dampness include edema or watery accumulations in all or parts of the body, excess mucus, tumors, cysts, parasites, yeasts such as candida, fungi, excess body weight, and a thick and/or greasy tongue coating. Dampness affects the functioning of the spleen and pancreas, and therefore weakens digestion.

Dryness decreases fluids in the body resulting in dry skin, chapped lips, thirst, dry nose, and throat, constipation, unproductive cough, thin body type. Dryness particularly affects the lungs.

Foods that dry dampness are often bitter:
Lettuce
Celery
Turnip
Aduki beans
Aspargus
Pumpkin
Vinegar
Papaya

Avoid or limit foods that promote dampness or mucus:
Dairy Products
Meat
Eggs
Tofu
Soy Products
Pineapple
Concentrated Sweeteners 

Foods Which Moisten Dryness:
Spinach
Asparagus
Millet
Barley
Salt
Seaweed

This information was taken from "Healing With Whole Foods", by Paul Pitchford.

Click here for alternative to using butter...GHEE

Directions for making Ghee:

• Place one pound of organic unsalted butter in skillet
• Simmer on a low flame for about 25 minutes until golden brown on bottom of skillet
• Drain liquid butter into strainer pouring liquid butter into glass with a covered jar
• Scrape and throw away remainders on bottom of skillet
• Let cool and cover
• Place covered jar in refrigerator
• Take out after ghee has thickened
• Leave on countertop covered and ENJOY!
  
  

  To this day I still do not use oil. I make my salad dressings with these basics:
  Fill my hand full of fresh cilantro, or fresh dill, or fresh parsley, 1 tablespoon avocado, 1-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, sea salt, 1/4 cup water. Place in blender.To this I can add any vegetable: tomato, cucumber, carrot, and sea salt, etc.

  HAVE FUN and GET WELL SOON!
  Robin Powell - Owner Golden Illumination
  866-650-6086

Natural Unleavened Bread

Natural leaveners introduce live airborne yeasts into dough and yield a bread that is light and totally digestible with a distinctive and delicious sweet or sour taste. Some natural leavening agents are sourdough, miso, rejuvelac, fermented cooked grains, etc.
   Whenever a flour and water mixture remains in a warm place, some natural leavening occurs.
The use of fermented products such as sourdough merely accelerates the leavening process and provides for a certain type of fermentation to take place. Quality sourdough products were, until the last few years, a commercial variety in America, although with alittle perseverance they can nearly always be found in Europe.

 Recently, however, a number of new as well as established American bakeries are offering a variety of sourdough products, made simply with ingredients such as organic whole-grain flour, whole salt, and pure water.

   Sourdough and natural leavening have been with us for thousands of years. Yeast for bread is a relatively recent innovation, discovered in the chemist's lab in France about one hundred years ago.

   According to some European researchers, naturally leavened bread is superior to cultured yeasted bread. Yeasted bread is linked to stomach bloat, indigestion, thin blood, and weak intestines; yeasted products seem uncannily to exacerbate conditions that occur with Candida yeast overgrowth symptoms, including many degenerative diseases. Thus, various European and - more recently - certain American health clinics forbid their clients yeasted bread.

   Commercial yeasted breads, even the whole-grain variety, often have other problems. They typically contain flour bleach, which forms alloxan, a compound known to cause diabetes in animals by destroying the beta cells of the pancreas (Clinical Nutritional Newsletter, Dec. 1982).
Flour bleach does more then bleach. It acts chemically to soften and age flour, and to repel insects.

Other benefits of naturally leavened breads:

·                     The long proofing allows the fermenting agents to break down the celluose structure andrelease nutrients into the dough, improving its nutritional value.

·                     Contains lactobacillus, which helps generate the intestional flora essential for proper digestion and elimination.

·                     The natural bacterial action and baking neutralize nearly all of the phytic acid which occurs in wheat and other grains.(Phytic acid reduces mineral metabolism-especially in those whose diet includes a good percentage of grains and legumes-and can contribute to anemia, nervous disorders, and rickets). About 90% of the phytic acid remains in yeasted breads.

·                     It stays edible for weeks and is more delicious and nutritious in 5 to 10 days, if stored in a cool dry place.

 Do you have a whloe Foods Store near you? If so you can purchase different kinds of Unleavend bread. We purchase the Prussian Rye located in their bakery department. Fantastic Bread!

From AST Enzymes:

Tips for Intestinal Balance and Good Health

1) Eliminate or minimize the use of antibiotics, steroids, immune-suppressing drugs and oral contraceptives ( only after consulting your health care provider or physician).

 2) Change your diet. Candida thrive in a high sugar and acidic environment, so reduce your intake of fruit juices, sugar, honey as well as coffee, soda, and alcoholic beverages. Dairy and yeast products should also be reduced or eliminated.

 3) Eat plenty of vegetables and lean protein to increase fiber consumption for detox. Try turnips, cabbage, eggs, fish, and chicken, as well as gluten-free millet and quinoa as substitutes for wheat breads.

 4) Drink plenty of water (8-10 ounces/day)

 5) Replenish your "friendly" bacteria and, enzymes with Floracor-GI.

 6) Exercise and keep a positive attitude!