Makeripples

In this article Elaine shares updated information about candida and auto immune disorders.

I just finished reading a natural health/medical journal article about candida and found myself shocked that they were still in the dark ages when it comes to candida overgrowth. I was also shocked to read that people are still viewing autoimmune problems as a disease and not as a set of symptoms. As usual it is out of frustration that I write about the subjects I do. A general lack of understanding becomes your gain.

Let’s start at the beginning and go through candida and autoimmune diseases as a set of symptoms rather than the disease names they are called.

I am sure this sounds odd until you think it through. Any disease is a symptom or set of symptoms of an unbalanced internal environment. So let’s start there and think about what allows the environment to get out of balance. It is simple; there are only two answers, too much waste or not enough nutrients. Waste is simply defined as anything the body no longer needs. (Perhaps it never needed it to begin with) and nutrients should be in the food we consume.

Let's assume you have read our previous articles about protein digestion and carbohydrate digestion. If not, please click the links and read them. I suggest you start there because undigested food is perfect environment to allow candida to thrive.     

The article I read was in Townsend Letters for Doctor’s and Patients. The bottom line of the article was that even with weekly treatments of antifungal drugs the drug would need to be taken for life to keep the problem under control. That to me is a band-aid to slow the bleeding. True “cures” are short term because they fix the problem. Think of it as filling a bucket with water, you can fill a leaky bucket if you keep a steady stream of water flowing in as long as it is faster than the flow leaking out the bottom. Fixing the hole in the bucket is more work initially but in the long run is the only real treatment that does not need long term support. Thisis where consuming the proper food and then digesting it properly comes into play.

When you eat a meal, the food is reduced in size by the digestive enzymes, then minerals are pulled from the blood stream to make HCL in the stomach, which drops the stomach pH to about 3, killing pathogens on the food and enabling protein and minerals to be further broken down by the other digestive juices the acid pH activates. This food then goes to the small intestines where it is rapidly alkalized. (Remember, you don’t have protective mucosa on the small intestine walls so without this alkalizing mineral bath, you will have burning and pain) This entire process must take place to break food into small enough pieces that it can now passthrough the wall of the small intestines and be picked up as food for energy at cell level.

If all this is working properly and you are eating a diet rich in raw or at least organic foods you are probably in good shape. However most people have a problem somewhere before we get to this point.

If you happen to eat fast, the digestive enzymes made in the mouth are not able to mix with the food in a high enough quantity to predigest that food. If you don’t make HCL then the pepsin cannot convert to pepsinogen in the stomach, and protein digestion as well as mineral absorption is impeded and the pancreas must work harder attempting to make enough enzymes to digest the proteins in the small intestine. If your overworked pancreas cannot keep up with the demands put on it, enzyme production will decrease or stop altogether. This sets up a scenario that makes the body malnourished in spite of proper food intake.

Food that cannot cross the gut wall as cellular nourishment, either irritates the gut wall or crosses through and circulates unable to be used. A large piece of food crossing the gut wall creates a situation that can lead to all kinds of problems (We will get back to them in a minute).  The body automatically sets up a defense plan, thus yeast enters the picture. Although we call yeast or candida a bad bacteria it really isn’t. It is simply a bacterium in the gut with a job to do.  That job is to eat protein or starch that wasn’t digested in the gut so that it doesn’t accidentally get into the blood stream. When dealing with any cell structure, the more you feed it the more waste it makes. It is the waste from the yeast being metabolised by the cells that creates an imbalance which shows up as symptoms of dis-ease. Killing off all the yeast is not the answer, feeding it less is!!! Yeast must be present in the gut, just like probiotics. They both have a purpose.

Over the years natural health practitioners have had many complex protocols for yeast. One ofthem is even posted on our web site; we used it successfully with many clients. What none ofus understood was that yeast is a symptom of poor digestion. Yeast isn’t a bad guy, the yeast has simply been super-sized. Killing off the enlarged yeast is simple, cellulase digests yeast quite nicely. It can be administered internally for systemic issues, as a mouth rinse, a douche or enema, or even as a foot soak. Cellulase is the main ingredient in Enzyme Solutions Formula #17.  The other ingredients in this product are probiotics. Remember that this is a band aid if you do not clean up the digestion so that the yeast has less to eat, therefore less to eliminate.

Now back to those undigested foods that got though the gut wall into the blood. Simply put, they must be dealt with by the immune system. They are called circulating immune complexes and are acted on by white blood cells as a foreign invader. These will, over time, tax the immune system to the point that it can not even recognize what belongs and what doesn’t.  This may surface as an auto immune problem.

Ok now what?? It’s time to go back to the basics… clean up the diet.

• Eat real food, not boxed, processed or fake food. Eat a diet that is properly balanced.
• Avoid high starch, high sugar foods including the very sweet fruits until you are more balanced.
• Digest it well, you may need enzyme support if you have a history of poor eating habits, if you have stress, if you eat in a hurry or you are over 40 years old.
• Eliminate the waste regularly.
• Exercise to keep the blood flowing. This delivers nutrients and eliminates waste.

If there has been a large overgrowth, you may need to decrease the yeast in the system and start over with a new balance, I suggest Enzyme Solutions Formula #17 for this.

If the immune system has been compromised, herbs like astragalus that balance that system may be helpful.

Overgrowth of candida yeast remains one of the most common symptoms I see, but now I hope you realize that it is indeed a symptom of poor digestion. If the foods were good choices and properly digested they would be used as nutrition not consumed by “bad” bacteria. If you see imbalances in the body as the request for help that they are, you will find that healthy balance isn’t all that difficult to achieve.