Yeast issues

What protocols, supplements and diet do you recommend for Yeast issues such as Candida, etc? Also, any good reference materials (blogs, books, etc.) you recommend?

My daughter battles candida. We keep it in check by avoiding refined grains and sugar, limiting even relatively healthy sweets like fruit and honey/maple syrup. We lean more towards lower sugar fruits like berries and have them with plenty of fresh cream. When she was acutely ill, we completely eliminated all sweets and she ate no more than two small servings of fruit each day but now we can be a tad more flexible. Watch for bloating -- it can guide you to which foods might be feeding the candida.

We eat plenty of nourishing fats, bone broths, and ferments too. Sometimes what you DO eat is more important than what you DON'T. Candida will cause you to crave sugar and carbs - the very foods to be avoided for healing. So I find if I work TO include certain foods, it's easier to avoid the culprit foods. Fats (lots of butter from grass fed cows, lard, coconut oil, fresh cream) really nourish the body and reduce cravings. Ferments help beneficial bacteria outcompete the yeast. Have some at every meal (but start slowly if you are new).

The GAPS protocol can help heal the gut if it is damaged to the point that the full WAPF/NT way isn't enough. My personal opinion is to really work WAPF/NT first and then go deeper if need be. We seem to do well on a varied diet but really push the healing broths, ferments, meats and fats that are echoed in the GAPS protocol.

There's a thread on usnea (a lichen) over in medicinal herbs that talks about how it can possibly help with yeast or candida issues.

My dear mom was trying to help with my chronic ear infections (due to a then-undiagnosed milk allergy or pasteurized milk) followed by chronic sore throats. She took me to doctors who gave me antibiotics every six months the first ten years of my life. This, I think, is a primary cause for a lifelong struggle to regain a proper balance with the yeast in my system.

Now in my 40's with a slower digestion and slower metabolism, my 20+ years experience of what works best for me includes:

paleo, grain-free, sugar-free, dairy-free diet (have not yet tried raw milk)

fermented foods and/or probiotics

supplements that kill off the yeast - oregano oil, Thorne's Formula SF722, or herbs from an excellent Chinese herbalist

occasional bitters (see thread on safest bitter herbs) to jump-start my digestion

I second Susan's comment that the fats (and, IMHO, the ferments) really help keep the sugar/carb cravings at bay. I would be a withering blob of a mess with that!

I realize the "kill" approach isn't exactly a (what might be more preferable) wholistic or balancing approach, though I have been plagued enough to use them (occasionally over the years) and they have helped me. This is my current way of "going deeper" as Susan put it, and it works for me.

While these natural yeast "killers" definitely fall within a more Western medicine approach, they are not nearly as harsh as the prescription drug often used to kill yeast. (Forgot the name at the moment.) That said, the resulting die off even from the oregano oil and such, can cause one to feel a bit icky and then possibly even lead to a related need to detox the liver which has had to clean up the mess, so to speak.

Would love to hear others' tips and successes with killing off the yeasty monsters in their systems.

Limit sugars and starches and take olive leaf extract....cheap, effective, healthy.

The GAPS Diet (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD is the first reference I would look to for healing and rebalancing a gut with candida problems. I have NOT seen folks get good long term results with the Candida Diet.

This is going to sound really wierd. But at least in my case it has worked splendidly.

About a week ago my husband came home with an article about some guy in Australia who did research on boron deficiancy. The cure (which sounded really wierd to me) was to take an 1/8 teaspoon of
Borax (the common laundry additive) in water. They recommended drinking it slowly over the course of a day. (Which is not what I did.)

By the end of the article I was so excited because so many of the symptoms that were being attributed to boron deficiancy were the ones I had that my initial reluctance to the crazy idea evaporated.

My yeast infection (which I have beat back successfully for many years with a mild vinegar solution -- into a bottle of water add one tiny drop of vinegar and spray it you know where)
is now gone. Also my hormonal levels are improved (boron is needed for the adrenal glands to function correctly -- and all those glands interact with each other in complex ways).

BUT also be careful not to take too much. At too high a dose it can also be toxic (the same way iron can -- iron is needed but too much will give you the runs).

There is also a worldwide campaign to ban boron and borax from domestic use. In Europe it is already banned. If you choose to believe this wierd idea helps you, know that it is also in danger of being taken away.

Denise Lehtinen wrote:This is going to sound really wierd. But at least in my case it has worked splendidly.

About a week ago my husband came home with an article about some guy in Australia who did research on boron deficiancy. The cure (which sounded really wierd to me) was to take an 1/8 teaspoon of
Borax (the common laundry additive) in water. They recommended drinking it slowly over the course of a day. (Which is not what I did.)

By the end of the article I was so excited because so many of the symptoms that were being attributed to boron deficiancy were the ones I had that my initial reluctance to the crazy idea evaporated.

My yeast infection (which I have beat back successfully for many years with a mild vinegar solution -- into a bottle of water add one tiny drop of vinegar and spray it you know where)
is now gone. Also my hormonal levels are improved (boron is needed for the adrenal glands to function correctly -- and all those glands interact with each other in complex ways).

BUT also be careful not to take too much. At too high a dose it can also be toxic (the same way iron can -- iron is needed but too much will give you the runs).

There is also a worldwide campaign to ban boron and borax from domestic use. In Europe it is already banned. If you choose to believe this wierd idea helps you, know that it is also in danger of being taken away.

Yup sounds COMPLETELY weird, but you got my attention and I am going to have to look into it.

sounds like you need to graze more.

as we have found researching the nitrogen nodules on plant roots, you need bacteria, lichens and algea to balance out your system.

try the GUTS, but try the lichen first, and eat some raw leaves with some dirt on em!

There is a great program out there, the Human Microbiome Project, but they are still getting a baseline, and don't have any results to share yet.

We always joke it is time to go camping, and get some charcoal into our systems when we start getting sick....

Maybe it is because we move so often, and miss our homegrown gut bacteria.

go out after the rains and graze, and get down in the mud and get dirty again, like a kid !

Denise Lehtinen wrote:This is going to sound really wierd. But at least in my case it has worked splendidly.

About a week ago my husband came home with an article about some guy in Australia who did research on boron deficiancy. The cure (which sounded really wierd to me) was to take an 1/8 teaspoon of
Borax (the common laundry additive) in water. They recommended drinking it slowly over the course of a day. (Which is not what I did.)

By the end of the article I was so excited because so many of the symptoms that were being attributed to boron deficiancy were the ones I had that my initial reluctance to the crazy idea evaporated.

My yeast infection (which I have beat back successfully for many years with a mild vinegar solution -- into a bottle of water add one tiny drop of vinegar and spray it you know where)
is now gone. Also my hormonal levels are improved (boron is needed for the adrenal glands to function correctly -- and all those glands interact with each other in complex ways).

BUT also be careful not to take too much. At too high a dose it can also be toxic (the same way iron can -- iron is needed but too much will give you the runs).

There is also a worldwide campaign to ban boron and borax from domestic use. In Europe it is already banned. If you choose to believe this wierd idea helps you, know that it is also in danger of being taken away.

Boron helps the uptake of calcium into bone, and in plants, into their stems. A boron deficiency causes alfalfa to die. It helps chelate out some heavy metals in the body and removes calcium from places it isn't supposed to be, and along with potassium and magnesium, pust it where it belongs, back into the bones.

You can also add 1/4 cup to a foot soak in water if you don't want to take it internally, and just do that a few times a week. I use tiny amounts of borax on all my fruit trees, garden spaces, and pastures. I also put it into the livestock watering trough at times and when I do, all the wild birds come and drink from it, as they apparently need the boron, and so do all the honeybees in a large radius. It is one of the essential minerals our body needs in larger amounts than just the trace minerals.