Birthologie.com

by Amy Jones and Julia Holt

What Causes Yeast to Overgrow?

• Antibiotics
• Refined flours/high starch/carbohydrate foods
• Alcohol, recreational drugs, many prescribed drugs
• Use of corticosteroid and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs.)
• Stress (depresses or even shuts down the Immune System.)
• infant formula use
• Exposure to heavy metals (via tooth fillings, vaccines, and food, tap water)
• Exposure to artificial coloring, flavorings, and sweeteners
• Insufficient vitamin D (in particular, not enough direct sunlight exposure)
• Consuming animal products contaminated with antibiotics or growth hormones i.e. any meat or dairy that is NOT organic
• Insufficient sleep
• Excessive traveling
• Pesticide/herbicide consumption

How to balance yeast

You will find 101 ways to balance yeast once you go looking for remedies.  Here are some of the more simple ways to get yeast in check:

Step 1:  Probiotics

A note about good bacteria:  As newborns, our large intestines are colonized by beneficial bacteria, like Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacteria bifidum. These bacteria, acquired from our mothers as we pass through the birth canal (one reason why c section babies are more sickly), perform a number of functions in our bodies. They manufacture B vitamins, aid in the digestion and absorption of food, and provide a barrier on the mucosal lining of these various tissues, preventing abnormal bacteria and yeast from entering the system. Besides coexisting peacefully in the colon, beneficial bacteria also reside in the mucous membranes of the throat and in the vagina. These “good bacteria” live within us in a symbiotic, friendly relationship.

Take a live, strong probiotic daily, consisting of at least 15 billion active cultures.  The more the merrier.  Also, look for a probiotic containing at least 15 different strains of beneficial bacteria.  Typically, the best ones will be in the refrigerated section of your health food store.  Probiotics contain our good bacteria, that coats our internal organs and keeps yeast in check, preventing it from invading our systems through our organ walls.  For infants, you want to get a probiotic that specifies that it’s for babies and toddlers, as the molecules are smaller and are more available in their little systems.  If you are unable to find infant or toddler specific probiotics, go ahead and use the adult ones.

• Prebiotics.  Prebiotics are non-digestible parts of foods that propbitiocs can use to fuel their growth and activity. The prebiotics work by stimulating the growth of probitoics. However, in order to get to where they are needed, prebiotics must be able to get through the upper part of the intestine without being digested or absorbed by the body. The top prebiotics are:

1. Chicory Root
2. Jerusalem Artichoke
3. Dandelion Greens
4. Garlic
5. Leek
6. Onion
7. Cooked Onion
8. Asparagus
9. Wheat bran
10. Whole Grains, including oatmeal
11. Banana
12. Flax and chia seeds
13. Almonds.  Well known for their prebiotic properties that improve our digestive health by increasing levels of beneficial gut bacteria, in addition to being an excellent source of alkaline protein.  Soaking them in water in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours will remove their phytic acid (an enzyme inhibitor that protects the nuts while growing), making the nutrients more bio available.  You may wish to sprinkle sea salt or Redmond salt on them.

Step 2:  Greens

Taking a greens supplement is incredibly helpful when you are balancing yeast.  Mold, Fungi and yeast attach on to the greens molecules and helps to sweep them out efficiently

Step 3:  Treatment

You can approach balancing yeast with herbs, essential oils, or homeopathics.  The latter I will not address because I haven’t personally tried it, although I’ve known many people who for them, homeopathics have been effective at balancing yeast.

Herbs:  equal parts chaparral, pau d’arco, olive leaf, and myrrh.

These can be encapsulated or tinctured, or purchased commercially at www.myfeelgoodfoods.com.

If you are in stage 1, you could try the following regimen for persons 7 years and older: 3 pills (or 3 dropperfuls – dropperful equals 25 drops), 3 times per day for 14 days – which would equal 120 pills or 4 oz of tincture.

Tips and tricks for treating with herbs:

1. Once this 14 days is complete, take 3 pills (or 3 dropperfuls) once a day for one month for every year you’ve had a problem, otherwise the yeast is likely to overgrow again quickly.  For many people, this would include exposure to yeast overgrowth in the womb.  For instance, if you are 30 years old, and you feel you’ve had yeast overgrowth symptoms all your life, you would take 3 pills a day for 30 months.  Add on one more month if you think your mother had yeast overgrowth when she was pregnant with you.
2. Be sure to take a probiotic, greens and prebiotics with this regimen.
3. For infants and between 4-12 months, doing 1 dropperful per day with a probiotic is sufficient
4. For children 1-3 years, 2 dropperfuls with a probiotic per day
5. For children 4-6 years, 2-3 dropperfuls with a probiotic
6. MyFeelGoodFoods.com Regimen.  Some people report great success on this regimen

Essential oils: (recommendations courtesy of Julia Holt) 5 drops Lemon Essential Oil, 5 drops Melaleuca (Tea Tree) Essential Oil, 3 drops Oregano Essential Oil, in a capsule -take 1 per day with a meal.

Tips and tricks for treating with essential oils:

Rotate using the essential oils with probiotics. For example, stay on the yeast killing blend for 10 days. Then rebuild with a Probiotic for 5 days, taking a good probiotic 3x day. Repeat cycle until yeast is controlled.

This cycle can last a few months.

Diet and Other Supplements

You will find a lot of recommendations when it comes to diet and balancing yeast, most of them highly impractical and certainly not doable for a toddler or child.  Personally, I am not of the school of thought that eliminating fruits and vegetables from the diet is healthy.  While it is true that yeast can feed off of these foods, I find that treating with the herbs or oils eliminates the ‘need’ to cut out any healthy food.  Additionally, many people are so intimidated by the diet restrictions, that they feel living with the yeast is better than the treatment.  I have found that those with a whole food diet, ones that even include dairy and meat, can see huge success implementing the herbs and oils, but the following are some general diet guidelines that will improve your outcomes:

• Coconut water and Cold pressed Coconut Oil.    It contains caprylic acid, a powerful antifungal agent that directly kills the Candida yeast.  At minimum, drink the water from one or more coconut daily and/or take 3 tbsp. of oil per day.
• Garlic.  Two fresh clove is high in a biologically active compound called allicin. This is a strong anti-fungal.
• Diet.  Reducing and/or eliminating refined sugars, refined flours, and refined grains (ie white rice) is the most important step.
• Vitamin D.  Yeast overgrowth produces an immune suppression, or maybe it overgrows because of a lack of it, but either way, when a yeast overgrowth is present, you must increase your vitamin D levels. Sources of vitamin D include those found here.

Before treating with any herbs or essential oils, please refer to Part 4 in this series to avoid negative side effects.

Taming the Yeastie Beasties Part 4: Yeast Die Off and Maintenance