Category Archives: Questions & Answers

Questions & Answers

Using Canxida Restore For Post-Antibiotic Gut Recovery

I’ve been asked countless times if I think it is beneficial to take probiotics at the same time as taking a course of antibiotics. That’s like giving fertilizer to a plant while you’re spraying the plant with glyphosate (RoundUp). It doesn’t make sense to do things it that order. It’s just not logical.

Medical doctors seem to think it does make sense to combine probiotics with antibiotics. I read on a very well-know medical website that it is beneficial to take probiotics two hours after your antibiotics dose. Well, that doesn’t make sense. Many studies show that that approach doesn’t work. Some studies support using probiotics at the same time as antibiotics, but common sense says it’s nonsensical.

In my opinion, you should wait for a few days after you’ve completed a course of antibiotics to start taking probiotics. Let your gut settle down a bit before adding probiotics to the mix.

Even better, start with a little bit of sour, unsweetened Greek yogurt. Don’t go putting a lot of kefir, sauerkraut, or bone broth into your diet too quickly. Taking an antibiotic causes a massive amount of disarray in the gut. It’s not only harmful bacteria that have been killed off – so have beneficial bacteria. You’re pushing bacteria like Prevotella, Firmicutes, and Bacteroides into different quadrants. It’s a little bit like you get a whole gang of new guys coming into town and they’re punching everybody up, they’re shooting people. Everybody starts taking different types of territories. You can’t just walk in there like the good sheriff and fix everything overnight.

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Eating a healthy diet after antibiotics is a very smart idea. Eating well allow the three main groups of bacteria to come back into their own again. Check out two of my videos on prebiotic foods if you need some dietary guidance.

After you’ve completed your antibiotics, eat well, and sleep well. Food is your medicine at this point. The priority is to get your eating right after you’ve finished your antibiotic prescription.

Once you’ve had a few days to settle back into a healthy routine, you can consider taking a probiotic. My suggestion is that you take a probiotic supplement that also includes digestive enzymes. CanXida Restore fits the bill. Using a combination supplement will restore the gut a lot faster than taking probiotic on their own.

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Questions & Answers

Traditional Chinese Medicine: What can it offer?

The question today is, are Chinese herbs good for Candida?

I’m a huge fan of herbal medicine. I’ve been practicing herbal medicine now for a long, long time. I’ve been taking herbs probably for about 40 plus years. I have attended multiple workshops and learned how to cultivate and use herbs appropriately.

People have been using herbs now since time immemorial. In fact, Ayurvedic scriptures show that people used herbs thousands of years ago. The Chinese have a very long history of herbal medicine. In fact, Ayurvedic medicine likely informed Chinese medicine. Many people I’ve spoken to say that the Chinese learned their wisdom a long time ago from the original Ayurvedic physicians.

I think some of the smartest people I know are Chinese doctors. If you’re going to take Chinese herbs, my advice is to follow the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practices as well. Preferably, find someone who trained in China. Work with someone who has vast experience. There are Chinese herbs that work very well for fungal, viral, or bacterial conditions, but they are used in conjunction with diet.

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You’ll benefit the most from TCM is you follow a diet stemming from that branch of medicine. Don’t go to a Western-trained dietician and expect to be given proper instructions related to TCM diets. TCM talks about things like damp spleen, warming foods, and cooling foods. This is not a Western approach to healing.

I don’t recommend combining Western “natural” medicine with TCM. That’s my take on it. I’m a big supporter of Chinese medicine, but you need to get guidance from the right person with the proper training. Also, Chinese herbs are not an overnight solution. They take a considerable amount of time to work. Again, Chinese remedies work best if they are combined with the right diet and the right lifestyle.

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Questions & Answers

Are sugar and carbs off-limits on the Candida diet?

A question I’ve been asked a million times, maybe a billion times or a trillion times, is, “Should I cut out all sugar and carbs on the Candida Diet?”

There is a lot of misinformation about Candida out there.

When people come to my Candida Crusher Channel, I want them to understand that the problem is bigger than Candida. It’s about microbiome imbalance. It’s about several factors that create disharmony in the digestive system.

Remember, if you haven’t had a comprehensive stool analysis, don’t assume a) that you have Candida or b) that cutting out all sugar and carbohydrates is going to fix your health problems.

As I said many times on YouTube, about half the people I’ve seen over all these years didn’t have a Candida problem at all. They had a problem with overgrowth of harmful bacteria, with parasites, or with very low levels of beneficial bacteria.

In my clinic, I’ve always treated people, not diseases. Once I’ve reviewed the stool test results, I’ll work with my client’s diets. The majority of people I see with Candida problems have already cut out most of the junk food in their diet. That makes up about 80% of my Candida clients. About 20% will still sneak a little sugar into their diet. I tend to clamp down on these clients a bit more when it comes to their diet.

My usual message is that I want people to focus on eating fresh food. I’ll have people react in horror while saying, “But fruit causes Candida, don’t you know.” Well, actually, it doesn’t. If you look at my Candida Crusher diet, it has three categories of fruit: low, medium, and high sugar. Some people with Candida can tolerate bananas, watermelons, and grapes without any problem.

So, here’s the thing. There are no fixed rules when it comes to Candida. You have to find the “rules” that fit your situation. Your Candida and gut imbalance is totally different from that belonging to the women here or the man over there.

When it comes to eating fruit, you need to observe your own reactions. What fruit causes gut symptoms? Are you eating fruit from all three categories? Are you eating dried fruit?

I usually recommend green apples as a starting point when it comes to my clients with Candida.

I’ve always found green apples to be compatible with Candida. Even going back to the ’90’s, I’ve found them to be okay for 95% of people. The Granny Smith, or the tart apple, they’re high in malic acid. They’re a very powerful probiotic food. They’re excellent for improving your stomach and pancreatic functions and even better for the colon when it comes to fermentation. But, don’t eat apples with a high sugar content.

Often, I ask clients to drop bananas, pineapple, watermelon, and grapes when they first start the Candida Crusher program. When your gut is imbalanced, it’s best to consume fruit on its own – away from other food.

If you have bloating, gas, constipation, or diarrhea, I recommend avoiding all forms of manmade sugar. That includes cane sugar and molasses. Avoid honey if it upsets your stomach. If you need something sweet, have an apple, pomegranate, or kiwi.

As for carbs, they vary in their ability to impact the digestive system. Brown rice and quinoa are well tolerated by over 90% of people. Even people with SIBO generally respond well to this combination of carbs. It’s about portion size. Don’t eat a large amount.

The carbs that could cause some problems for people with Candida are pumpkins, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash. Although, even with these vegetables, the impact on the gut depends on how they are cooked. For example, a baked potato is often better than boiled or mashed.

So, to revisit the question, should you take all sugar and carbs out of the Candida diet? Yes, for added sugar. You can still have fruit on the Candida diet – you need to find out for yourself which ones aggravate your gut and which ones don’t. It will depend on your tolerances, your gut at the time, your microbiome, and several other factors.

If you avoid a specific food for a while, come back later to see if you can reintroduce it. Don’t fall for the nonsense that you have to eliminate certain foods for the rest of your life. We’ve got enough laws without the food police telling us what we can and can’t eat. Healthy people like me can eat any kind of food. Any type of food. I want you to bear that in mind. Even carbs, and even sugars, all those foods can be consumed. The healthier you are, the wider the range of foods you can tolerate.

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Questions & Answers

Is Washing Enough To Eradicate Genital Yeast Infections?

A question I get asked a few times by some of my female subscribers is whether washing their private parts more regularly helps eradicate yeast infections. Some women may also have bacterial vaginosis (BV), which can cause a fishy, briny odor. In fact, repeated washing doesn’t reduce the infection for any significant period. Washing may temporarily create a different odor, but the irritation, itching, and smell will return quickly.

I recommend watching my videos on women’s yeast infections. I discuss boric acid treatment as well as the lifestyle and diet that helps eradicate genital infections.

For men, if you have a penis infection like balanitis, constantly washing is not necessarily going to set things right. I have several videos on genital infections in men available on my YouTube channel.

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My recommendation for women or men with genital infections is to treat the issue internally. You need to address your digestive system by eating a healthy diet, following a healthy lifestyle, and using the right high-quality supplements. Internally treating yeast infections is what will give you the best possible outcome.

In addition, vaginal douching with boric acid works very well. Calendula, a herbal tincture, can also be used for douching. Other women use colloidal silver, tea tree oil, or tampons with yogurt.

If you have a genital yeast infection, it’s a good idea to wear cotton underclothing, keep the pubic hair short and trim, and expose the skin to sun and wind when appropriate.

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Questions & Answers

Do Antioxidants Help With Candida Infections?

Before I discuss whether antioxidants are good for Candida, let’s define antioxidants.

Antioxidants are compounds that help limit the ability of free radicals to damage our cells. Free radicals are substances that are generated from things like cigarette smoke, high stress, and pollution.

Some foods have a higher ORAC (oxygen radical absorption capacity). They measure this by putting samples in a test tube and measuring the ability to reduce the free radical potential of pollutants.

Berries have the highest ORAC value, meaning they can quench free radical readily. That’s one of the reasons I grow so many berries myself. Blueberries and black currants have some of the highest ORAC values.

You can consider antioxidants as powerful cleaning aides for the body. They stop the damage from toxic substances. Vitamins A, C, E, and the mineral selenium are all antioxidants.

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Antioxidants aren’t just good for fighting Candida. You’ll want to have a diet rich in antioxidants to keep you in great shape as you get older. A sixty-year-old like me can easily feel like a 40 or 50-year-old just by having an antioxidant-rich diet.

Unfortunately, I have patients in their 40s who look like they’re 70. It’s a result of years of smoking and drinking far too much alcohol. If you don’t counter these habits by eating the right kinds of food, you’re going to age much faster than you should. In my opinion, that’s where the saying, “people dig their own graves with their teeth,” comes from.

That’s why I always promote eating fresh, healthy foods. If you eat blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, goji berries, avocados, Brazil nuts, the brassica vegetables, and small amounts of dark chocolate, you’re getting a dose of antioxidant. A small glass of red wine each day will also

provide valuable antioxidants. Just don’t use antioxidants as an excuse to eat a slab of chocolate and drink a bottle of wine each day.

When it comes to antioxidants, think color, think fresh, and think frequency. Eat these foods regularly. Not only for Candida but for your general well-being.

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