Anti-Stress Nutrition Programme to Improve Mood,
Health, Behaviour and Learning
By Brenda Sampson
SUGAR AND THRUSH (CANDIDA YEAST INFECTION)
Candida yeast, thrush, is a normal inhabitant of the bowel, and is harmless in small quantities. But it proliferates in people who take antibiotics and eat a lot of sugar or sweet foods. When it proliferates, it produces enough toxic wastes to be very harmful indeed, as the toxins:
1. weaken the immune system causing susceptibility to ear infections, glue ear, asthma, bladder infections giving a fishy smell etc.
2. damage the skin causing eczema, nappy rash, etc.
3. damage the nervous system leading to disturbed emotions and behaviour
4. disturb the metabolism, leading to gastro-intestinal troubles and also food and chemical sensitivities.
Yeast thrives on sugar! Do not ever give children sugar or sweet foods. To do so is a form of child abuse. Ask your public library for a book entitled "The Yeast Connection" by William Crook. Also a little booklet entitled "Yeasts and how they can make you sick" by the same author.
CANDIDA YEAST INFECTION
Candida is a form of yeast found in human beings. Its common name is thrush, maybe because in the mouth it can cause specks on the tongue like the specks on a thrush's breast. Fifty years ago it was rare. A doctor might see two cases in a year; now he might see five or six in a day.
The human gut is inhabited by millions of micro-organisms. Some are beneficial because they make vitamins for us, which are absorbed into the blood. Some are harmless, some are harmful. Everyone has some Candida yeast in the gut; it is harmless in small quantities, but in large quantities it produces enough toxic waste to be very harmful indeed.
Micro-organisms multiply very rapidly if the living conditions suit them and there is plenty of food. The food that yeast likes is sugar, and modern people give it plenty of that. Since the 1930's there have been two other factors that favour the development of yeast. One is the contraceptive pill, which favours the growth of Candida. The other is antibiotics which kill beneficial bacteria as well as harmful ones, but do not kill yeast cells because they are not bacteria. So without the competition of bacteria, the yeast flourishes. After antibiotics, one should replace beneficial bacteria with lactobacillus acidophilus. It is found in acidophilus yoghurt, in lactofermented vegetable juice, or in tablet/capsule form sometimes available dairyfree, all available from health shops.
The combination of these three things, the pill, antibiotics and sugar, has caused a proliferation of Candida in many people today. Mothers pass it on to babies, and men also suffer from it. It is no good testing a swab from the gut, because everybody has some of it, but proliferation can be suspected in people who have symptoms like fatigue, constant infections, and allergies; who eat a lot of sugar, or have been on long term or broad spectrum antibiotics or immune suppressant drugs (much used these days), or have used the contraceptive pill.
Yeasts eat sugar and discharge toxic waste. When Candida proliferates in the body, the toxins increase so much that they can damage the immune system and other systems in the body. When the immune system is damaged people get more infections, take more antibiotics, and so the problem gets worse. When the metabolism is affected, people become very sensitive to foods and foreign chemicals. When the central nervous system is affected, emotional and behaviour problems result.
What should one do if a Candida problem is suspected? (1) Stop eating sugar in all forms, for at least four months; also foods containing yeast for a trial period. (2) Avoid antibiotics except in life threatening cases. Minor infections heal perfectly well with fasting for one to three days, drinking plenty of water, and taking vitamin C. (3) The medical treatment for Candida is Nystatin. There may be initially a bad reaction to Nystatin when it begins to destroy yeast cells. The dead cells are toxic in the body until it can get rid of them; so one may feel worse before feeling better. This is a good omen, as it means that the Nystatin is having a good effect. It is necessary to persist through the initial setback. People say that if they have established themselves on the sugar free anti-Candida diet before starting Nystatin, the "die-off" reaction is less.
A member of our association told me she had a bad start to her Candida treatment. She had withdrawal symptoms when she stopped eating sugar. She had a die-off reaction to Nystatin; and she had PMT at the same time. She felt terrible for ten days, but then began to feel very well; and she said, "The bonus is that I have totally lost my sugar craving!"
Since then I have advised people who want to treat Candida, to begin by totally avoiding all sugar and sweet foods for at least a month before using Nystatin. This way the thrush in the gut is reduced more gradually by starvation, and the person is less likely to experience a die-off reaction if they begin using Nystatin. Also, if you are troubled by PMT, pick some other time of the month to begin.
Nystatin is only available on a doctor's prescription. There are some other remedies; garlic in any form is an anti-Candida remedy. Other remedies available from health shops are Chaparral powder or capsules, Pau d'arco tea, Yeast-stop, Lactobacillus acidophilus, in capsules or in acidophilus yoghurt. Mrs. Alcorn who founded Open Forum for Health Information in Petone, recommended Caprinex, made from coconut.
I read once that the commonest symptom that a doctor hears about in his surgery, is excessive tiredness; he may not have learnt much in medical school about how to deal with it or acknowledge that it can go into overgrowth. Fatigue, depression, poor memory, 'nerves', are among the many symptoms of thrush overgrowth in the bowel. Others are digestive problems; skin problems; headaches; chemical sensitivity; menstrual problems or lack of sex drive; a feeling of being 'sick all over'. If you have such symptoms, and a medical checkup does not reveal a cause, it would be worthwhile to try an anti-thrush sugar free, yeast free diet. William Crook's book, "The Yeast Connection" explains fully what to do. He has also made a brief summary of this book entitled "Yeasts, and how they can make you sick". Both these books include a questionnaire which gives an indication of whether Candida is a problem. There is also a "Yeast Connection Cookbook" by William Crook and Marjorie Jones.
