Why no yeast?

Ok I have been trying to get an answer to this for a while. What is the reasoning behind no yeast in our diet? The only real info I can find is that it could increase the risk of a yeast overgrowth. But is there any other reason? Does it affect recovery? My Dr swears its a big no no..He says one dose of yeast will set recovery back a week. He is also a victim of lyme and says he immediately has symptoms after eating it. I myself experience no such reaction. It makes me wonder if he is struggling with an overgrowth of yeast already.

Diets while in treatment is a pretty controversial topic to be honest. Everyone has their own take on what's best - worse than for Lyme treatments sometimes!

Personally, I say eat healthy. If you have issues with dairy, then keep it low or avoid it; if you have issues with yeast, then avoid it. Although I do think everyone should eliminate gluten and then slowly reintroduce it to see if there is an intolerance and all refined sugar should be avoided, as it does set up for a yeast overgrowth situation.

I have issues with all dairy except goat milk products, so I stayed on raw goat milk products. I have issues with sugar (my intestines don't tolerate it), so no sugar is a way of life. I don't have issues with gluten, but I do with yeast, so I have to be careful when and how much I allow myself to have.

I avoided a lot of issues by using kefir - a probiotic drink for those that don't know. Keeping the intestinal bacteria happy, healthy and in balance eliminates a lot of issues.

I have been off of abx for 3 months now and if I eat white stuff ie pizza, processed food etc. I wake up the next day with a yeast infection. Going on abx really throws off your gut flora. Probiotics and fermented food help but my nutritionist said it will still take a good year or so before my gut flora is better.

I once drank a beer just as I was coming down with a seasonal cold. Within an hour my throat almost closed up and I was rushed to the emergency room.

It was explained to me by the ER docs that (active) yeast and sugar feeds the bad bacteria strongly in your body. In a healthy body, the good bacteria keep this bad bacteria at bay. However, in an immune compromised individual, the bad bacteria already have a strong foothold on your body. Feeding them with yeast/sugar only causes more problems.

However, with Lyme it gets even more complex. Not only does the Lyme target the intestinal walls specifically, weakening them in the process, but the ABXs we are on destroy the good bacteria that would traditionally protect these walls. This weakens your digestive track, making you less likely to digest all foods in general and can actually trigger allergies you never even had before. In my case, I actually developed a mild reaction to bread.

If you can tolerate it, you can still eat yeast, but personally as my health deteriorated, I simply stopped.

Kdawg said...
Traveler, what do you mean by..intestines don't tolerate the sugar?

HI Kdawg,
Any time I eat something with "regular" sugar, my intestines start to cramp, resulting in bloating, loose stools and misery. The more sugar, the harder and more involved the cramps become. This is really terrible when you are a "choco-holic"! LOL!

As my intestines have healed though, I'm a bit more tolerant. All this means though is that if I have very, very small amounts of sugar here and there, I don't go into massive cramps. If I break down and eat a "sugary" something, my innerds are pissed off for days though.