Candida Part 2

The foods and spices incorporated in this diet have hundreds of specific benefits. I couldn’t possibly list all of them, but most interactions were calculated to the best of my abilities. Pros and cons were weighed for each entry. Just because I didn’t mention a benefit or adverse-effect, doesn’t mean it wasn’t considered.

Of marked importance are the quantities listed for each food. There is a bit of wiggle room, but try to adhere to them.

Water
To start, make sure you get as close to 1 gallon of water a day as you can.

- Coconut (100 grams)

With its candidacidal, anti-inflammatory, immune-supportive, and antioxidant benefits, coconut is an important addition to any Candida diet. Its effects are well known, and both lab testing and thousands of personal experiences can attest to its power. Coconut is a hardy source of carbs, but the presence of lauric and capric acid in the fruit’s flesh make it a bad food choice for yeast.



- Blackberry (1 cup)

Although blackberries taste great, their Sugar content is relatively low. The 7 grams of Sugar in a cup of blackberries doesn’t even compare to the whopping 23 g found in a single apple. Blackberries inhibit the growth of Candida as well as many strains of pathogenic bacteria. It’s even been suggested that they have potential in water purification! Gallic acid in blackberries displays powerful disruptive effects on Candida biofilms (its also anti-inflammatory). Blackberries also contain ellagic acid, a powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and moderate antifungal.


- Cranberry (1/2 cup)

Cranberries contain ellagic acid, but thanks to proanthocyanidins, they have a unique anti-candidial effect. Well, maybe not unique, as a lot of foods kill candida, but definitely exceptional. It targets Candia biofilm formation. Oregano and cranberries also show a synergistic effect against Helicobacter pylori. Cranberry juice has similar effects, but should be avoided due to the high Sugar content.


- Brazil Nuts

(10 kernels, spaced out through the day. You can take 2.5 at a time. Soak in water first)

Brazil Nuts have the lowest carb/sugar content out of all the common nuts, but still pack a protein punch. They’re also easy to digest compared to other nuts (and soaked in water few hours before consuming)… But they wouldn’t be on this list if they didn’t go above and beyond to treat yeast overgrowth. BNs contain linoleic acid - a potent inhibitor of Candida hyphal development (also destroys H. pylori) – and palmitic acid, a strong antibacterial.

Palmitoleic acid, another strong antibacterial, is also present (very effective against resistant Staphylococcus strains). Selenium – contained in brazil nuts - has been known to encourage Candida growth in vitro, but its also proven to promote lactobacillus growth in the guts of animals. In one study, lactobacilli enriched with selenium showed significant Candida inhibition and an overall increase in intestinal probiotic strains. I believe that in conjunction with probiotics, the benefits of Brazil nuts (including selenium content) far outweigh the drawbacks. We also have to remember that if we were to rob Candida yeasts of everything that ‘feeds’ them, our diet would be reduced to nothing.


- Chopped kale (1 cup)

Kale is another food with too many benefits to list. It is chalk-full of antioxidants and has relatively high protein content (for a leafy green). It provides much needed fiber to us humans, but does nothing in terms of candida nutrition. Anyone trying this diet will benefit from kale’s vitamin-rich composition. It also contains antihyperlipidemic agents that regulate lipids in the blood; an important addition to a low-carb, high-fat diet such as this one. Diets heavy in healthy fats are best against Candida.


- Lettuce (1 cup)

Fiber content, vitamin E. Nothing more nothing less.

- 1 cup Boiled spinach (180 g)

Spinach is a damn healthy food. Although it doesn’t directly fight Candida, it has a ton of benefits that go great with ANY and all diets (in fact, one benefit is that it will help you stick to the diet!! It helps you feel full.)


- 1 cup mixed basil and chicory

Basil is a great dietary source of pH regulating trace metals… it has antioxidant, antifungal, antibiotic, and antiviral effects. Shown to be very potent against Candida!

Chicory is anti-parasitic, antifungal, antibacterial, and is an overall scout when it comes to fighting Candida.

Its up to you how you want to consume these; a good idea is to mix them with the lettuce and kale in a salad.


- Lemongrass (chew on some)

Potent anti-inflammatory and antifungal. And when I say potent, by-god do I mean POTENT!!!

Chew or eat a bit of lemongrass every day.


- 150 g avocado

Avocado contains slight antibacterial, yet moderetaly immuno-supportive defensins, is rich in vitamins, and has powerful antioxidants.

Our friends, palmitic and linoleic acid also make an appearance. Avocado will help us complete our daily protein requirements while being a delicious addition to meals.


For the following two entries, you can either choose to incorporate both (egg whites, chicken) or just the one you feel more comfortable with. If you don’t want to eat eggs, substitute them with ~30 grams of chicken. If you don’t want to eat chicken, substitute it with more eggs. If you are strictly vegetarian or simply don’t want to eat either, then you have to find a protein source you feel comfortable with. You can contact me for help with that if you want.


- Egg whites (3)

This is probably the food most people will be reluctant to try. But the truth is… everything negative you’ve ever heard about eggs was in reference to the yolk (almost). Egg whites are arguably the most helpful anti-candida food on this list… (except for spices and coconut). Let’s weigh out the pros and cons:

(pros)
Egg whites are one of the animal proteins lowest in: choline, sulfur, and fat (in fact, they have the absolute best protein/fat ratio).

Egg whites are amazing for our immune system (especially when it comes to candida).

Egg whites are powerful antimicrobials and promote gut health and digestive flora.

Egg whites are the only significant dietary source of Lysozyme … this is HUGELY important. Explained here:

“Antimicrobial peptides are present in men, animals and plants and represent an important component of the innate immunity. Nevertheless they can also be generated through proteolytical digestion of food proteins. Thus, food proteins can be regarded not only for their nutritive value but also as a possible resource to increase the natural defence of the organism against invading pathogens. Consequently food proteins can be considered as component of nutritional immunity… The possibility that proteins can be tailored and their fragments modelled to achieve a particular function is recently giving rise to increased interest. This strategy has had particular success with food proteins like lactoferrin and lysozyme. Both bactericidal domains of these proteins have been extensively investigated. A number of short peptides with high bactericidal activity have been developed from the bactericidal domain of lysozyme through the strategy "tailoring and modelling"…. The observation that antimicrobial peptides can be generated through proteolytical digestion of parent proteins, which usually have another physiological function in the organism, led us to consider these latter as multifunctional molecules. This raises the question, whether multifunctionality is an intrinsic property of many proteins or limited to a few.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12769733

“Lysozyme is one of the antimicrobial agents found in human milk, and is also present in spleen, lung, kidney, white blood cells, plasma, saliva, and tears. The protein has antibacterial activity against a number of bacterial species. Missense mutations in this gene have been identified in heritable renal amyloidosis”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/4069


“Lactoferrin and lysozyme (muramidase) are non-immune defence factors present in various exocrine secretions, including saliva. Previous studies have shown that both proteins, either singly or in combination, are bactericidal in nature and their combined activity is synergistic. As little is known of their interactions with Candida species, 20 oral isolates of C. krusei and 5 isolates of C. albicans were studied for their susceptibility to human apo-lactoferrin and lysozyme, either singly or in combination, using an in vitro assay system. The two species exhibited significant interspecies differences in susceptibility to lactoferrin (p < 0.05), but not for lysozyme; C. krusei being more sensitive to lactoferrin (c 1.4 times) than C. albicans. Both species revealed significant intraspecies differences in their susceptibility to lysozyme (p < 0.05), but not for lactoferrin. No synergistic antifungal activity of the two proteins on either Candida species was noted. The results imply that the variable expression of the fungicidal activity of lactoferrin and lysozyme on Candida species may modulate the oral carriage of yeasts in a complex manner.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9393559




(con)
Egg whites are high in leucine (a problem for TMAU). Still not as much of a problem as other meats however, which contain BOTH leucine and choline. {Keep in mind, it is a statistical truth that the vast majority of people who think they have TMAU actually don’t. The numbers are less than 1 in 250,000. Do you know how many people have Body Odor and how many people claim TMAU? It is vastly… VASTLY disproportional.

Some people are allergic to egg whites.

Some people are vegetarian.

- Chicken *Quantity Revised* (70 g)

Chicken doesn’t have significant anti-Candida effects (except the antimicrobial protein stuff explained above.) It is important to meet our daily protein requirement however, and the most practical way to do that is with a little bit of chicken. Luckily, chicken doesn’t do much in terms of promoting Candida growth either… yes, yeasts do break down amino acids into ammonia and other nasty byproducts, but that’s a problem we have to cope with…what are we going to do, stop eating all protein? That isn’t an option. Vegetarian proteins come with their own unwanted effects and drawbacks, especially when eaten in excess. So, chicken is the practical answer for most people; we’re incorporating it solely because we need the macromolecules (I still think egg whites are a healthier choice though. Please look into the NOW FOODS 100% egg white protein powder. Great, great product.).

The biggest worry with eating meat is that it’ll be difficult to digest and worsen constipation… That’s where the spices in the next section come in handy. If you remember, regularly incorporating spices into our diet is going to do wonders for our digestive enzymes and gut flora. Some herbs and spices not only increase digestive enzymes, but also contain phytochemicals that work in synergy with those enzymes.



SPICES TO INCORPORATE:

These spices together are antibacterial, antifungal, probiotic, pre-biotic, anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic, antitumor, antipsoriasis, antihypertensive, antideprresive, antithrombotic, epithelial-strengthening, antidiabetic, antihepatoxic, antihyperlipidemic, antiphlogistic, and much more.

I’m serious, these will make or break your recovery… they are superfoods in every sense of the word (minus the actual ‘food’ part?)

- Cumin
- fennel
- Black pepper
- Turmeric
- Oregano
- Clove
- Eucalyptus
- Green tea leaves
- Thyme
- Cinnamon
- Laurel
- rosemary
- tarragon

The most important ones are turmeric, cinnamon, oregano and clove. You should incorporate a spoonful of each into your diet per day (But only 1 teaspoon for cinnamon and clove!!) Don’t hold back on the others though! Use them freely to season chicken, egg white omelets, or on salads. Like I said, the benefits are too many too list, but here are a couple:

***** One important aspect of spices is that they’re chelators, and will bond to metal particles in your gut before Candida biofilms can. **********

“We examined the effect of a clove (Syzygium aromaticum) administered by two different routes on Candida albicans growth, using a murine oral candidiasis model. When the clove preparation was administered into the oral cavity of Candida-infected mice, their oral symptoms were improved and the number of viable Candida cells in the cavity was reduced. In contrast, when the clove preparation was administered intragastrically, oral symptoms were not improved, but viable cell numbers of Candida in the stomach and feces were decreased.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15711533

“Curcumin, an important Asian spice, is part of many Indian food preparations. This work evaluates the antifungal activity of curcumin against 14 strains of Candida (10 clinical and 4 standard). Curcumin displayed antifungal properties against all tested Candida strains, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) varying from 250 to 2000 µg•mL⁻¹. The in vitro effect of curcumin on growth, sterol content, proteinase secretion, and H+ extrusion by plasma membrane ATPase was investigated for 2 standard strains Candida albicans ATCC 10261 and Candida glabrata ATCC 90030 and compared with the effect of fluconazole. “

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21358761

“Cinnamic aldehyde has been identified as the active fungitoxic constituent of cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) bark oil. The fungitoxic properties of the vapours of the oil/active constituent against fungi involved in respiratory tract mycoses, i.e., Aspergillus niger, A. fumigatus, A. nidulans A. flavus, Candida albicans, C. tropicalis, C. pseudotropicalis, and Histoplasma capsulatum, were determined in vitro as minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum lethal concentration (MLC), inoculum density sustained, and exposure duration for fungicidal action at MIC and higher doses, as well as effect of incubation temperatures on fungitoxicity. It is concluded that these inhalable vapours appear to approach the ideal chemotherapy for respiratory tract mycoses.”

` http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8834832

“The mechanism of the anticandidal action of the major phenolic components of oregano and clove essential oils - carvacrol and eugenol - was studied… The in vitro results indicated that both carvacrol and eugenol exerted an anticandidal effect by a mechanism implicating an important envelope damage. Their in vivo efficacy on experimental oral candidiasis leads us to consider them as possible antifungal agents.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15720571

“Cinnamodial (1) and cinnamosmolide (2) were found to have high activity against Alternaria alternate (MIC=3.9μg/ml), C. albicans, and Wangeiella dermatides(MIC=15.6μg/ml). “

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3459460/

“In vitro influence of 14 individual spices (curcumin, capsaicin, piperine, garlic, onion, ginger, mint, coriander, cumin, ajowan, fennel, fenugreek, mustard, and asafoetida) on the activities of digestive enzymes of rat pancreas and small intestine was examined by including them in the reaction mixture at two different concentrations. A majority of spices enhanced the activity of pancreatic lipase and amylase when they are directly in contact with the enzyme. It is inferred that this positive influence on the activity of enzymes may have a supplementary role in the overall digestive stimulant action of spices, besides causing an enhancement of the titres of digestive enzymes in pancreatic tissue.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14727769

{ Capsaicin should be avoided however, as it supports Candida under certain conditions. }

“In the presence of a known colon carcinogen, 1,2-dimethyl hydrazine (DMH), the activity of beta-glucuronidase was found to be significantly increased in the distal colon, distal intestine, liver and colon contents and the activity of mucinase was increased in both the colon and fecal contents when compared to control rats. Chilli (Capsicum annum L., Solanaceae) administration also showed an increase when compared to control rats, whereas supplementation with cumin (Cuminum cyminum L., Apiaceae) and black pepper (Piper nigrum L., Piperaceae) in the presence of DMH, showed more or less similar values as that of the control rats. The increase in beta-glucuronidase activity may increase the hydrolysis of glucuronide conjugates, liberating the toxins, while the increase in mucinase activity may enhance the hydrolysis of the protective mucins in the colon. Thus cumin and black pepper may protect the colon by decreasing the activity of beta-glucuronidase and mucinase. Histopathological studies also showed lesser infiltration into the submucosa, fewer papillae and lesser changes in the cytoplasm of the cells in the colon in cumin and black pepper groups when compared to the DMH and chilli treated animals.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9720607



VITAMINS:

If you follow this diet by the book (including 3 egg whites and 70 grams of chicken), these are the vitamins and minerals you’ll need to supplement. Everything is calculated:

Calcium ~ 650 mg

Panto. Acid ~ 2.5 mg

Niacin ~ 10 mg

Potassium ~ 500 mg

Riboflavin ~ .3 mg

Thiamin ~ .5 mg

Vitamin B6 ~ .5 mg

Vitamin B12 ~ 2.4 mCg

Vitamin D ~ 6 mCg

Vitamin E ~ 7 mg

Zinc ~ 5 mg


This information is only for people following the diet, and corresponds primarily to the 18 – 35 age range. It’s not a huge deal getting these exact amounts, but the closer you get to these quantities the better.


Probiotics You Need:

Which kinds of probiotics do you need? Try to incorporate as many of the following as you can:

Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Lactobacillus fermentum.

Lactobacillus rhamnosus

Bifidobacteria bifidum

Bifidobacteria longum

Bifidobacterium infantis

Bifidobacterium lactis

S. boulardii

Streptococcus thermophilus

Enterococcus faecium


The trick to probiotics is getting at least three different strains at a time. If there’s one thing to know about bacterial strains, is that they work together. Too many people try to balance their “dysbiosis” with just one probiotic species. Now, how are they going to do that??

So when you’re looking for probiotics, look for one with a wide variety, not just lactobacillus strains or bifidobacteria. One brand that really helped in my recovery was Now Food’s Probiotic-10 (as you can see, I use a lot of their products :P

Remember to drink a couple glasses of lemon water with your probiotics!
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