Like I said before, improving your digestion and bowel function is critical to your diet’s success. Here are some more tips for doing just that.

Seven – Chew Food Well

How could I forget to mention that it is important to chew proteins in particular more slowly and carefully than you would other foods? That way you prepare your digestive system for what’s to come as chewing promotes the release of enzymes and acids in your stomach and small intestine. Make sure that you chew all foods well, but especially the high protein foods. That way you will also help to reduce them to a much smaller size and allow your digestive power to more easily render these foods to their components called amino acids which will be much more readily digested and absorbed.

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Eight – Try 30 Minutes Exercise Every Day

Did you know that those who walk daily have a significantly better digestive health than those who don’t? Are you creating “sitting disease” by being chained to your computer or iPad? Walking stimulates digestion and is one of the best things you can do to improve the tone of your small and large intestine especially, so if you are not in the habit of walking most days get started. Just get up and out of your chair and start moving, don’t take the escalator, take the stair instead. Regular movement such as walking, swimming and dancing for example helps food to move through your digestive system, stimulates your metabolism and aids significantly in weight loss.

Nine – Alcohol and Tobacco Are Two Big Enemies Of Your Digestive System

You will never beat a yeast infection if you can’t give up drinking alcohol for at least 4 months, end of story. Those who are serious about their health will know that cigarette smoking is crazy, but I’m very much surprised how many patients I have seen with yeast infections who want to continue both smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol yet still want to beat their yeast infection. It is not likely to happen, and the day you are prepared to become disciplined and say “NO” to these destructive habits is the day your health will change. Once your yeast infection has significantly improved you should be able to drink socially again, but may soon realize that moderately heavy drinking may lead you down the path of another yeast infection.

Ten – Learn the Art of Relaxation

Your digestive system is very much affected by stress, especially any acute or ongoing low-grade stress. I’ll talk a lot more about the effects of stress, your digestive and immune system and candida later on in this book. When you learn to counter the effects of stress in your body you will be amazed at how much better your digestion works, in fact it is another one of those best-kept and totally understated health secrets. Stress has the ability to impair your stomach and digestion in general, and has been shown to cause weight gain, constipation, diarrhea and a lowered immune system. For example, I see many guys in my clinic who complain of heartburn or indigestion related to stress. A few methods you could use right now to reduce stress in your life is to get involved in yoga, meditation, and having regular massage.

There are many other relaxation techniques that can help you handle stress and improve digestion but I’ll expand much more on them later in this book.

Eleven – Understand Your Digestive Habits

If you have recurring digestive problems and can’t get a handle on them then try to use a diary or your daily journal to write down what you eat along with any increase or reduction of digestive symptoms you experience. Sometimes it is only the simplest things in your diet and lifestyle you have to change in order to get an amazing improvement in your health. It may be the combination of a few dietary indiscretions you are consuming simultaneously, or you may be eating too late or too fast, either way, by keeping a symptom diary you will be in a much more powerful situation to truly establish any cause and effect.

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Twelve – Don’t Treat Yourself, Go Your Naturopath or Doctor

OK, so you have made all the necessary changes, you are exercising regularly, learning to relax more, drinking more water, eating plenty of vegetables, lean meats, etc., but you still don’t feel quite right. May I suggest that you contact your naturopath or nutritionally minded natural medicine doctor? You may need testing for food allergies or intolerances, you may have an underlying bacterial or parasite problem or there could be any one of a dozen hidden causes such as heavy metal toxicity that may need exploring in depth.

Your digestive process improving is critical to your success on the Candida Crusher Diet plan. If you really want to see improvement, consider the tips I’ll provide in this post and the next:

One – Add Fermented And Cultured Foods to Your Diet

You have just read the section on fermented and cultured foods; doesn’t it make sense to start including some of these you’re your diet every day? These kinds of foods include yogurt, kefir, kombucha, tempeh, fermented coconut water, miso, soy, tempeh and no doubt there will be several other kinds fermented foods. Besides containing beneficial bacteria like lactobacillus and bifidobacterium, fermented and cultured foods provide your body with lactic acid, and lactic acid is what feeds beneficial bacteria like lactobacillus acidophilus.

A good way to begin to incorporate these foods into your diet is to include a small portion, about three to four tablespoons, of a natural yogurt into your diet each day. Beware though, as I mentioned before, not all yogurt is created equal, and some brands are laden with artificial sugars and don’t even contain a shred of beneficial bacterium. Always read the label first, and if in doubt, avoid buying yogurt from your supermarket and purchase from your organic wholefood suppliers instead, these kinds of folk are often less motivated to look only at profit and are focused on providing you the consumer with foods that are actually healthy.

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Two – Slowly Begin Adding Soluble and Insoluble Fiber to Your Diet

It never ceases to amaze me how many patients I have seen over the years who simply don’t eat much fruit at all, perhaps one piece every so often, and the vegetables they consume are either bought frozen or consumed after having being been boiled or microwaved. Fruits and vegetables contain some of the best levels of soluble and insoluble fiber you can get, be sure to read what I have written further ahead in this section on fiber in your diet. There are so many ways you can increase the amount of fiber you can take in, but once again, go easy to begin with. You’ve heard it all before; go low and go-slow is my motto when it comes to making any changes to your diet and digestion. It is a fact that most people eat a small amount of fiber (20 to 40 grams) when compared to people who live in the undeveloped nations (80 to 120 grams), and as a consequence they experience all the digestive problems that go hand in hand with such low-fiber diets.

Start by including small amounts of beans, lentils, fruits (wait until your candida improves first before including too much fruit), vegetables, raw or partially cooked are best, seeds, whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, millet are best, and continue to add these foods slowly over a two-week period until over half of what you eat are these kinds of foods.

So you want to eat less, lose weight, feel full and improve your bowel tone? Then eat more soluble fiber; these foods include pears, oranges, strawberries, kiwi fruit, carrots, psyllium hulls, slippery elm bark powder, lentils, rolled oats, and cucumber. Soluble fiber fills you up as it swells up in your stomach due to its ability to hold water; you feel fuller and thereby eat less.

So you want to bulk up your bowel motions, or perhaps clean out that lazy bowel? Then try including insoluble fiber into your diet. These foods include brown rice, onions, leafy green vegetables like broccoli and spinach, celery, bulgur (cracked wheat), chia seeds, various nuts and seeds and whole grains.

So you want to reduce the amount of gas and bloating you have and feed up any good bacteria you have? Then I recommend you consume a combination of fermented and cultured foods as well as foods which contain pre-biotics, basically these are beneficial sugars which feed the friendly bacteria. The pre-biotic feeds the probiotic, and these foods include Jerusalem artichoke, artichokes, garlic, onions, shallots, scallions, and spring onions.

Three – Cut Back On Sugar and Fat In Your Diet

This is quite a simple achievement, just reduce the amounts of foods you buy and eat which contain sugars and fats. Be sure to read the labels of processed foods you buy to see how much sugar and fat they contain. It won’t be difficult for you to do this if you prepare most of your own meals from meats, grain and vegetables, because you control what other ingredients then go into your meals and not some manufacturer in a factory far away. The problem with foods containing sugars and fats is that they will also contain all manner of chemicals such as artificial colors, flavors and preservatives that you may not be aware of, especially if these foods are highly processed foods. The less of these foods you consume, the better your digestion will work and the more likely that you will be able to build good levels of beneficial bacteria. This will result in an easier ability for your body to crush a yeast infection.

Four – Drink Water

This sounds like a simple tip but is the one health boosting tip that many never seem to be able to achieve, to drink more water. Your digestive system will work so much better when you consume ample water, and you will be quite surprised how much better you feel overall when you are more hydrated.

Your digestive system will work that much better, especially your stomach, pancreas and intestines, and although no proof exists that water actually aids digestion I have certainly noticed that those with a yeast infection who do drink water and considerably less coffee, tea or alcohol, appear to have much less bother with many different digestive problems. Remember also, that when you slowly add more fiber into your diet that it really pays to drink a lot more water. The best approach in improving your digestion however, is to cut back on sugary, salty and fatty foods, increase the number of fruits and vegetables and whole grains your consume (fiber) and drink more water every day. Try this for twenty-one days and you will be delighted at the difference these simple dietary tips can make to your life.

Five – Avoid Three Large Meals A Day, Eat Several Smaller Meals Instead

Did you know that one of the best-kept secrets to crushing candida permanently is to improve the ability of your digestive system to produce digestive enzymes? Many high quality candida supplements contain enzymes, and now why would that be? It’s because enzymes can help to bust open the walls of yeasts, bad bacteria and other nasty bugs which may invade your digestive system. By eating smaller meals more frequently, you avoid over-loading your digestive system and because your body is better at digesting smaller quantities in one sitting you will be improving the way the digestive organs work. Can you recall I mentioned just before that your stomach is like a cement mixer, it functions best when half full and not overloaded? First you will need to figure out how much food you need to eat per meal, and then try to keep a regular schedule that your body can adjust to. This will take about two or three weeks.

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Six – Eat Small Amounts of Lean Protein

Look at the palm of your hand, and if you are a meat eater, that’s the size of the piece of meat you should be eating each day. Many adults eat too much meat, and the portion sizes are just too big. While protein is essential for good health, you will find that smaller amounts of lean cuts of meat are less likely to cause digestive discomfort such as heartburn, bloating or gas and will be quicker to digest. In general, high-fat meats take longer to digest than low-fat meats, so always choose meat containing less fat.

Can you handle these? If yes then click here to read the part 2 of my post.

Just about every person I see daily in my naturopathic practice has digestive problems to some degree, and I’m sure that many people who practice natural medicine reading would tend to agree. It is incredible how many people needlessly suffer with regular bouts of constipation, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, bloating, nausea, and various kinds of food intolerance. Most of these problems can be avoided or corrected by eating a healthy a well-balanced diet to begin with.

If you are plagued with digestive problems, then I’d recommend you slowly start to change your habits and include more of the following into your diet: water, vegetables, probiotics and the specialized foods I talk about later in section 4 of this chapter, including garlic, ginger, coconut products and fresh herbs as well as the fermented and cultured foods and sea vegetables I have just outlined before.

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Always Adopt Dietary Change Slowly

One of the most important points to emphasize with regard to diet change is to start right away yet to adopt these new habits slowly. All too often I have found that when I make a recommendation in the clinic to a patient then these recommendations are adopted too rapidly and almost overnight, meaning that their whole diet and lifestyle is changed literally within 24 hours. You can imagine the misery this can bring about, years of sloppy or bad eating habits changed in an instant, and the result for many can mean bad headaches, nausea, plenty of gas and bloating, more constipation or diarrhea and sometimes insomnia, headaches and fatigue. It doesn’t sound like fun, does it? But it happens regularly in the clinic, so I must warn you again – begin to adopt health dietary changes slowly, preferably over a two to three week period to be on the safe side.

I know that you want to feel better fast, but slow dietary changes will mean less misery in the long term, and a greater chance that you will adopt these changes permanently. Perhaps you can remember once when you went on that health kick or exercise program some time back, you made sweeping changes to your diet overnight, or were a little too enthusiastic with exercise. Can you recall how you felt after two or three days? Need I say anymore on this topic?

Your Beneficial Bacteria and Digestive Enzyme Levels Will Improve

Believe me, it is not difficult to improve your digestion and bowel function, it is just a matter of adopting the correct lifestyle and dietary habits, and then keeping these habits going until they become engrained enough to have become habitual in your life. Start with my following my 12 recommendations for a full twenty-one (21) days straight without a break. If you can manage to continue these habits for a full three weeks, then it is likely they will last and stay with you long enough, for at least three to four months. An important concept to understand is that when you make long-term and positive changes to your eating habits that the microorganisms in your stomach and intestines will change as well, the bad ones will reduce in number and the good ones will increase.

Your yeast infection will not like these good partners whatsoever, as it likes to rub shoulders with the bad guys, candida will also hate the fact that your body is starting to produce healthier amounts of digestive enzymes in all areas of your digestive system in your stomach, pancreas, liver and small intestine. This in itself will bring about a renewed vigor you may not have felt for years, and as your digestive health improves, which is your foundation for great health, then the superstructure you build on top of this foundation, your body’s trillions of cells, will become healthier and stronger as a result. The end result is a solid structure, able to withstand just about anything that nature throws at it, and this is called good health.

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Have you ever had a colonic? Many people swear by them, and I regularly refer patients to a colon therapist. I’d like you to keep an open mind when it comes to this form of therapy and try to understand the benefits you can get from this amazing treatment. Colonic therapy is something a lot of people would never consider as a treatment and it is certainly not a therapy supported by mainstream medicine. But it is important to remember that mainstream medical doctors regularly prescribe antibiotics and do not believe in the concept of a candida yeast infection either. Colonic therapy is a very valid form of therapy and if you go to a professional person you need not be embarrassed either. I know of several colonic clinics in both Australia and New Zealand that have been treating patients for many years with excellent results, especially those who have had chronic digestive issues for many years.

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Why Colonic Irrigation With Candida?

Having a colonic makes sense if you have been suffering with a yeast infection, especially a chronic one. Colonic irrigation is a great way to get the most out of your Big Clean-Up; it will assist in loosening and removing any unwanted and hardened fecal matter from your large intestine. This treatment will ensure that there are virtually no places for the yeast to hide in your large bowel, and give your digestive system a clean foundation. If you are considering colonic irrigation, then a colonic cleanse is best attempted now before you start on the Candida Crusher Diet. I have seen less noticeably less aggravations during the candida treatment phase in those who have a colonic at the start compared to those who didn’t.

What Am I Likely To Expect With Colonic Treatment?

Your colonic therapist is a person who is experienced in this area. Be sure to enquire how much experience he or she has had, and it is important to enquire which professional colon therapist association your therapist belongs to.

A treatment session lasts anywhere from 30 – 45 minutes, and the patient initially will have a nice relaxing abdominal massage in the lower stomach area. This helps to loosen any bowel plaques or accumulated matter that the colonic irrigation treatment will help to expel from the body. After the massage, your therapist will insert a small disposable tube into the rectum through which warm water is passed into the colon. You may find the first treatment a little strange, but you soon get used to it. The water is expelled after, along with any loosened matter. The best way to find a therapist is to ask your local health food shop, or go online or look in the yellow pages. I recommend anywhere from one, two or even three treatments during your cleansing week, but your therapist will best be able to guide you on the frequency of treatment.