Candida Diet.

What causes Candida?

Or put another way - if yeast can multiply to frightening levels given the right environment - what makes our body the right environment for Candida to multiply?

There are five key causes:
1) A weakened immune system,
2) Over-consumption of refined carbohydrates,
3) Medication - steroids, antibiotics, birth control pills, hormones,
4) Diabetes,
5) Nutritional deficiency.

1) If you have a weakened immune system you are more susceptible to Candida overgrowth and in fact Candida overgrowth is often seen as evidence of a weakened immune system. One will make the other worse in a vicious circle. If you have had a period of illness, or significant personal or work stress, the chances are that your immune system will be weaker than normal and this provides an ideal opportunity for Candida to multiply. This will then further weaken your immune system.

2) Anyone who has made beer at home will know the effect of combining yeast, sugar and vinegar. The effect on Candida is much the same. The yeast thrives on all refined carbohydrates, concentrated fruit sugar, yeast and yeast derivatives and vinegary/pickled foods. The fact that Candida emerged as a significant health issue in the twentieth century is not surprising given the recent increase in processed food consumption. As we have increased our consumption of refined foods, we have fed the parasite Candida in our body and enabled it to get out of balance. The added harm that we have done, by over consuming refined carbohydrates, is that we have depleted our bodies of nutrients in their digestion without adding many back in return. Sugar is the worst culprit for nutrient depletion as was seen in Chapter 4.

3) There are many modern medicines that upset our natural body harmony and encourage the overgrowth of Candida. These include steroids, antibiotics, birth control pills and hormones, all of which were unknown before the twentieth century. This is a further reason why Candida, and the related obesity problems, have become far more prevalent in recent years. Antibiotics are chemical substances capable of destroying or inhibiting the growth of living things such as germs but they are also capable of killing lactobacilli, which are found in the intestines. Lactobacilli are part of the 'friendly' gut bacteria which control Candida and thus antibiotics can contribute to a proliferation of Candida as the gut flora balance is disturbed.

4) As we know from Chapter 2, diabetes is also known as "sweet urine" and it occurs where the pancreas does not release insulin to regulate the glucose level in the blood. Diabetics, who literally have an excess of glucose in their blood, are providing the ideal breeding ground for Candida. It is well know that diabetics struggle more with their weight than the average non-diabetic and there could be a few reasons for this:

­ The injections of insulin lead directly to weight problems as insulin is the fattening hormone (remember what we don't use up is stored as fatty tissue). ­ Diabetics are more prone to Candida with their sugary body environment and, therefore, the cravings linked to Candida are likely to be making them fat. ­ Diabetics don't have a natural mechanism to regulate their blood glucose level and are, therefore, trying to avoid a state of Hypoglycaemia at all times by balancing injections with food consumed. They are, therefore, susceptible to food cravings if this balance is out of sync at any time.

5) There is much evidence to suggest that our nutritional deficiency has actually got worse and not better as we have 'developed' as nations. Analysis in the UK reveals that the war time diet, when food was rationed, was actually better for us than our current diet where we can freely choose from every food available. In war time we were limited to fixed amounts of meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, dairy products and grains but we were also limited in our access to sugar and other refined carbohydrates. In comparison with current diets, high in refined carbohydrates and processed foods, our predecessors ate quite well. We may be overeating as developed nations but we are certainly not over consuming vitamins. A number of nutrients are key to the control of Candida and there is evidence that they are lacking in our current diets: ­ Biotin, one of the B vitamins, can help prevent the conversion of the yeast form of Candida to its fungal form. One of the richest sources of biotin is pigs' kidneys while reasonable sources are eggs and whole grains. ­ Vitamin C affects general immunity which impacts the environment in which yeast can multiply. Stress also depletes vitamin C and we may not be getting the levels of Vitamin C we need for optimal health and immunity with our current 'fast food' diets. Vitamin C is not stored by the body so we need a constant supply to keep Candida at bay. ­ B vitamins are also needed for stress tolerance and the immune system and we lose valuable sources of B vitamins when we opt for refined carbohydrates over whole-meal carbohydrates. Cereals and breads are often fortified with added vitamins and these are the only sources of B vitamins in many of our diets. However, these come in products laden with sugar and other refined carbohydrates so we would be better off avoiding them altogether and eating the whole foods or taking a vitamin pill on its own. ­ Magnesium, selenium and zinc are the key minerals needed for the immune system and we generally find that modern diets are deficient in all three of these. Magnesium is found in Soya beans, nuts and whole grains. Selenium is found in kidneys & liver, fish & shellfish and whole grains. Zinc is found in oysters, meat, fish & shellfish and hard cheese. If your diet is lacking in nuts, whole grains, high quality fish, shellfish and meat you may well be lacking in any, or all, of these minerals. All of the nutritional deficiencies highlighted above can create the environment in which Candida can multiply within us.

This copy is an extract form a book by Zoe Harcombe called 'Why do you overeat? when all you want is to be slim'. This book tackles the question of what impact Candida, and other conditions, have on food cravings and how they can be overcome to get cravings under control. You can get a copy of Zoe's book, which is available as a paperback and e-book, right here.