the candida connection

Has anyone heard of the connection between IBS and candida?  A lady at church was telling me what her symptoms were, and they were so similar to mine that I went online and did some research.  Wow, what a coincidence.  I'm curious what you all know about this? 

Yes, that's what my nutritionist told me. I would highly recommend buying a book called "The Beat Candida Cookbook" by Erica White (Amazon Link). It's got lots of anti-candida recipes in it, but the first quarter of the book isn't recipes, and contains a lot of useful information that made a lot of sense to me. Basically, an anti-candida diet consists of no sugar whatsoever - as this feeds the candida. Note that this also includes natural sugars - ie. no fruit. Also, no alcohol or stimulants (as this makes the body put sugar into the blood). There's quite a few other rules to follow too. She also says to take good bacteria (ie. acidophilus), and to also take an anti-fungal agent to further help killing the candida. The final part is to increase your vitamin/mineral intake (I highly recommend reading "The Optimium Nutrition Bible" by Patrick Holford (Amazon Link) for this). The extra vitamins and minerals should help boost our imune system and help fast healing of the gut wall.

Also, another thing she points out is that dead candida releases a lot more toxins into the body than alive candida. So for a couple of months your symptoms may go a lot worse (until your body can get rid of the dead candida). This normally causes a lot of people to think that the diet isn't working for them, and give up. The symptoms going worse is actually a very good sign, and means that the candida is being destroyed!

I've only recently started this anti-candida diet - so I can't tell you whether it's helping me or not yet - but I'll keep you all posted!

I thought that your body produced all the sugar that it needs? As far as I'm aware, the diet does not require any sugar intake whatsoever. I do eat lot of veggies, so that will provide a bit anyway (but nowhere near as much as fruit does).

Are there candida tests available in the UK? My doctor said there wasn't - but you know what doctors are like!

Carbs are the biggest source of sugar for the body. You can refrain from eating table sugar, honey and the like, but the corn, carrots, potatoes, etc. will give you what you need.

If we didn't have to have sugar, then (type I) diabetics would just never eat carbs and never have to take insulin. However, they have to eat carbs and therefore have to take insulin in order to process it.

Hi Dracan,
You don't have any problems with cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, carrots and celery? Those are all tough on the gut. Tomatoes are especially rough because of the seeds and acidity. The others mentioned are incredibly gassy and leave many bloated and crampy.

Dracan, just curious to know the results of your anti-candida diet. Thanks.

For me, an antifungal program was the only thing that helped me get well. You need to go on a lo-carb/no sugar diet to kill the fungus, then you can re-introduce some foods back into your diet. You could eat fruits like berries, lemons and limes because they have amazing antioxidants in them that outweigh the sugar factor. Most veggies are fine on the program. All grains, including corn are contaminated with mycotoxins (fungal poisons) so they are best to be avoided at first, and then used in moderation, anyway. I could not eat some of those veggies you mention here until my gut was healed. Now I can eat them again, if I don't overdo it, especially the seeds. I truly believe there is a fungus link with IBS/IBD. The only was to know is to experiment with such a diet. Give yourself 2 weeks of no cheating, and see if you don't feel better. Fungus comes in many forms and can do much damage. My doctor ran oodles of tests and never once indicated I had a fungal condition. Do you crave bread, pasta, potatoes.....? That could be a sign.

If you have Thrush it is easily treated with meds. It can get in the lungs and esophagous. Swish and Swallow medicine may help and is safer than pills.

Sounds like fungus to me. And yes, some fruits can feed the fungus because of their high natural sugar content. That is why when you first try to starve the fungus with an antifungal diet, you limit fruits to berries, green apples, lemons, limes, grapefruits. They are all excellent antioxidants and not so high in sugars...at least the benefits far outweigh the sugar factor. It is not a forever thing. If you truly want to find out what it is, experiment with an antifungal diet. You'll know soon enough. That's what I had to do. Doctors couldn't/didn't tell me anything about fungus. What other health issues do you have...just wondering..........