Tag Archives: Antifungal Drug Treatment

Questions & Answers

Using Charcoal To Treat Candida

Charcoal has been used for thousands of years, probably since pre-Egyptian times.

Charcoal is the result of burning wood in the absence of oxygen. That process greatly increases the porosity of the material.

Charcoal can hold an incredible amount of stuff due to its porosity. Many people take charcoal as part of a detoxification regime. But, you need to be careful with charcoal, especially if you’re taking medications.

Charcoal needs to be taken well away from food. For example, between meals or at bedtime are appropriate times to take charcoal.

Dosages of charcoal can range up to as high as two grams or more. If charcoal is recommended, our clinic starts people on a low dose. It should be taken with plenty of water.

Related articles:

Being well hydrated will make such a difference in your life. I run a five-stage filtration system for the house with many different types of filters to take everything out of the water. I like drinking ultra-pure water and getting my minerals from eating good food.

For some people, drinking pure water and then taking charcoal can have a positive response on Candida. Charcoal can reduce the toxic bioload produced by dysbiotic bacteria like SIBO and Candida.

Some clients have reported that charcoal gave them tremendous relief from symptoms of die-off. Other people reported that they had black stools and experienced no benefit from the charcoal.

Some naughty people I know, take charcoal to reduce hangovers because it has an ability also to reduce the level of alcohol byproducts, particularly if taken before bed.

As I mentioned, be careful taking charcoal if you’re on pharmaceuticals. Also, take charcoal well away from any other kind of supplement.

If you want to make the most of the charcoal supplement, eat a high-fiber diet. I like to eat apples and pears, for example, and lots of berries in my diet and avocados. All these foods I grow them myself, so I’m quite lucky that I’ve got access to all these nice fresh, unsprayed produce. When you eat large amounts of fiber, and you have good bowel movements, charcoal is a significant benefit.

There’s no point eating fries, burgers, and a glass of pop and then taking charcoal supplements. I mean, that’s just a dumb thing to do.

Charcoal benefits those who have a good lifestyle and a good diet.

Charcoal is also a handy supplement to take with you while traveling, if you’re worried about getting sick from food or water. Charcoal is sometimes used in emergency rooms for acute detoxification from pharmaceutical drugs.

Charcoal definitely works for some people with Candida and SIBO, although I’m not sure if it is effective against parasites. If you have brain fog and you’ve got blastocystis, for example, it’s certainly worth trying charcoal to see if that reduces the toxic bioload.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

Treating Candida With Garlic And Other Herbs

Can eating raw garlic alone help with Candida, or will a garlic supplement alone help? The answer to that question is that both options are good.

I prefer to eat lots of garlic in my diet. I often add partially cooked garlic into my food, especially salad.

All spring and summer, I tend to have one or two cloves of garlic finely chopped, mix that in with olive oil, maybe lemon juice, a bit of pepper and salt, and that gets put on salads. This is a standard salad dressing I make.

A lot of people say they chop their garlic and leave it to stand for a little while to allow the active ingredient to come out into its own.

Dr. Benjamin Lau wrote an excellent book on garlic. Dr. Lau’s work was one of the first serious books on the science behind why garlic is such an effective immune stimulant and antifungal.

In many studies, garlic has been shown to have just as good, if not better, effect as an antifungal than drugs like fluconazole. We know that people who eat lots of garlic regularly in their diet are going to benefit.

Related articles:

Garlic supplements are also a good idea. I recommend buying a standardized garlic supplement. Don’t buy just any garlic supplement. Buy a garlic supplement that has a documented percentage of allicin in it. Allicin is converted to ajoene through an enzymatic reaction, and ajoene is an even more powerful antifungal agent.

By getting a standardized supplement with a guaranteed percentage of allicin, the benefits are even more potent than from garlic alone.

When you consider an antimicrobial for Candida, always try and get something with a bit of oregano in it, a bit of garlic in it, and a bit of grapefruit seed extract in it. You want antifungal, antibacterial, and antiparasitic actions all in one supplement. That kind of multi-modal supplement saves you taking ten different pills. It also has far better action, especially if the product is balanced.

Consider adding garlic to your diet every day. I also recommend ginger daily in your diet and taking garlic as a supplement. You’ll get much better benefit by including garlic both as food and as a supplement.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

Is Peppermint Tea Gut-Healthy?

We are talking about peppermint tea, one of my favorites. I’ve grown lots of mint, especially peppermint. It’s incredible, especially in spring and summertime when it really starts to grow and you grab a handful and It just about knocks you out, that strong menthol smell.

I can remember several years ago when I was at a medical conference and I had a bursting headache. I don’t know why but I had this terrible headache in the afternoon. A lady came up to me because she saw my eyes and she just rubbed some peppermint oil on my forehead. Within about five minutes, the headache was gone. I was absolutely blown away by the peppermint oil.

Studies have shown that when applied to the head for migraines or tension headaches, it works probably better than 1,000 milligrams of acetaminophen or paracetamol. Peppermint oil is definitely worth using if you have a headache.

Related articles:

There are so many studies I’ve read about peppermint and the digestive system. For example, on study involving 926 people showed a 40% reduction in symptoms of IBS in response to peppermint oil capsules.

Peppermint definitely helps with bloating and flatulence. If you have IBS, you may get significant benefit from taking peppermint oil capsules.

I’ve also worked with a few patients with inflammatory bowel disease who benefited tremendously from drinking peppermint tea. Peppermint tea helps to ease cramps in the gut, spasms, and bloating.

Peppermint can also help with menstrual cramps. Drinking peppermint tea for the few days around menses can make a big difference to cramps.

I am a big fan of peppermint tea. I highly recommend it for a variety of gut problems…and headaches.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

Why Eating Too Much Fruit Isn’t Good For Your Gut

Some patients I see eat way too much fruit. Some people eat ten pieces of fruit per day. I think that’s far too much.

Eating anything in excess is not good for the body. I’ve always maintained that consuming particular foods is fine, like vegetable consumption or meat consumption, but it should be in balance with other kinds of foods.

I’m not here to argue the different merits of diets, you know, whether you are a vegan or whether you are a paleo person. This article is about the downsides of eating too much fruit.
If you eat excessive amounts of fruit, you’re going to be overloaded with fructose. Fructose consumed in abundance can upset intestinal permeability and encourage the growth of harmful bacteria in the gut.

Some studies have shown that large amounts of fructose can cause liver damage. Further, people who eat far too much fruit tend to have lower Bacteroides levels. At the same time, proteobacteria levels tend to go up.

Related articles:

The microbiome often reflects the type of food a person east. For example, Prevotella bacteria thrive in the gut when a person eats a lot of fiber, particularly vegetable fiber.

Bacteroides bacteria prefer a mixed kind of a diet, especially if there’s a bit of meat in the diet. A healthy person will have a balance of different classes of bacteria.

If a person starts overeating one particular food, the result can be a bacterial imbalance in the gut. That’s why my motto is “Everything in moderation, nothing in excess” when it comes to healthy foods.

Of course, this motto doesn’t apply to unhealthy foods like high-fructose corn syrup. Up to 60% of foods now in US supermarkets contain high-fructose corn syrup. Avoid that substance as much as you can.

I am in favor of fruit, but I’m definitely not in favor of ten pieces of fruit a day. Definitely not.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

What You Can Do If You Have Clostridium Difficile

Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a bacteria that lives in the gut.

Some people can get a very serious C. diff infection after using antibiotics such as clindamycin. In one study, clindamycin was shown to wipe the gut almost entirely for two years. One dose.

Most cases of C. diff occur in hospital. One of the biggest causes of this infection is antibiotic use.

Conventional medical websites will say that the cause of C. diff is antibiotics and the cure is antibiotics.

To me, that’s like saying, “Watch out for handguns. They kill people.

By the way, if you carry a handgun, it’ll help you not get killed.”

If you’ve got a clostridium difficile infection, the concern is that you’ve got a 20% chance or recurrent C. diff infections.

If you have C. diff, my recommendation is to get a comprehensive stool analysis. The stool test will tell you if you also have problems with yeast, parasites, or other harmful bacteria. It will also indicate your levels of beneficial bacteria.

Related articles:

I highly recommend you use a proper lab like Genova Diagnostics or Doctor’s Data for your stool test.

Some people recover quite quickly from C.diff. For others, it becomes a chronic infection. Some will have relapses and recurrences. Unfortunately, some people have a very poor recovery from C. diff.

Fecal microbial transplants are recommended in some cases. Some people have to be hospitalized and have surgery for C. diff.

As far as diet goes, if you have C. diff, you should avoid aggravating foods.

To keep a long story short, with C. diff, it’s definitely an advantage to be alcohol, coffee, and caffeine-free for at least three to six months.

I would recommend including steamed vegetables and other easy to eat foods in your diet. You’ll have to monitor what does and does not agree with your GI system. For example, some people with C. diff have quite bad diarrhea and abdominal pain when eating salads. Lemon juice and apple cider vinegar may also be poorly tolerated on the presence of C. diff.

Yogurt is often fine, but be cautious with kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut.

For protein, emphasize lean protein without too much fat. Fish and eggs are usually perfectly fine.

Proceed with caution when it comes to fruit. I don’t think bananas or oranges are great foods for people with gut problems. I think the same about white bread.

Drinking water is essential because C. diff causes diarrhea.

As far as supplements go, grapefruit seed extract works quite well for C. diff.

Try not to take antibiotics if you want to prevent clostridium difficile infection, especially if you’re older. I suggest avoiding antibiotics unless it’s a matter of life and death.

Sources: