Tag Archives: candida

Questions & Answers

What You Need To Know About Prebiotics

It’s important to know how to get prebiotics into your diet.

Prebiotics are a certain type of sugar, what we call oligosaccharides. Prebiotics go through the gut without being digested. When they arrive in the colon, prebiotics feed the good bacteria (probiotics).

My recommendation is that you get prebiotics from your diet rather than from supplements.
It’s much better to eat and chew the foods that contain prebiotic sugars. Food as a source of prebiotics is better for your colon than supplements.

When I first started to recommend probiotic supplements in the ’80s, people thought I was nuts. They couldn’t see the benefit. Why not just have a bowl of yogurt, they’d ask.

Let’s look at the different types of sugars. There are monosaccharides, polysaccharides, and oligosaccharides.

Polysaccharides tend to be starches or very undigestible kind of foods.
These are sugars, no different from white sugar. Polysaccharide bonds are more elongated and complex, making them more difficult for the body to breakdown.

The polysaccharides are also quite good for the gut, but it’s the oligosaccharides that have a tremendous effect.

Oligosaccharides are found in onions, leeks, garlic, Jerusalem artichoke, and chicory root, to name a few. The cruciferous (Brassica) family also contains a lot of prebiotic sugars.

The nice thing about the onion (Allium) family is that there are also good for immune function, mood, and blood pressure. Likewise, Brassicas have been linked to cancer prevention and immune health.

If you live in the U.S., you’re lucky if you are having any more than three grams of prebiotics in your diet each day.

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But if you live in certain parts of Europe, you’d be consuming 10 grams or more. If you live in Africa, you could be consuming way more, like ten times as much.

The general rule is that if you are eating minimally processed food, you’ll be getting a lot of prebiotics. This means you’ll also be generating trillions of beneficial bacteria as a result.

At one time, I would recommend prebiotic supplements to my clients. Then I noticed that I was getting a stream of calls from patients who were having significant side effects like gas, diarrhea, and headache.

I also found research that linked prebiotic supplements to the overgrowth of Klebsiella and Candida.

I found that I got much better results if I gave probiotics mixed with digestive enzymes and then encouraged my clients to eat prebiotic foods. This is the reason I created CanXida Restore, a probiotic-enzyme supplement that is entirely free of prebiotic sugars.

The other thing to remember is that prebiotics are not good for people who have a very sick gut. Don’t pile on lots of fermented and cultured foods, followed by prebiotics, and probiotics, if you’re just starting to get your gut healthy.

Stick with whole food if you want to include prebiotics in your diet.

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Questions & Answers

Multivitamins: Which One Is The Right One For You?

What makes a multivitamin good? How do you know a good one from a not-so-good one?

Well, many multivitamins are good today, and many are not so good. A lot of it depends really on the quality of the raw materials. Other factors to consider are the manufacturing process and the formula.

Are all the vitamins in there? Multivitamins generally contain vitamins A, Bs, C, and E. Those vitamins are pretty standard.

In my opinion, what sets a good multivitamin apart is the balance of all of the trace elements. It’s also essential that the multivitamin contains hard-to-get minerals like molybdenum, manganese, chromium, and vanadium.

In my opinion, many multivitamins are okay, but they are customized for people with digestive problems. For example, most don’t contain any digestive enzymes. I’ve also never seen a multivitamin with an antimicrobial back-end.

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After researching the multivitamin field for a long time, I realized that there was a need for a unique multivitamin that included an antimicrobial base. That is how CanXida Rebuild came to be.

Unlike other multivitamins, CanXida Rebuild also contains gum mastic and goldenseal root. Gum mastic can help treat Helicobacter pylori. Golden Seal Root is one of the most potent mucosal antimicrobial you can get in the herbal medicine realm. Rebuild also contains carminative herbs that settle the gut and reduce bloating and gas. Slippery elm is a probiotic that I’ve also included in CanXida Rebuild.

CanXida Rebuild can help reduce symptoms when you are going through a diet transition.
CanXida Rebuild also contains betaine-hydrochloride, a compound that optimizes stomach pH and absorption of nutrients.

Rebuild has now been around for several years. The feedback has been phenomenal. Many people take one to two pills a day on an ongoing basis.

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Questions & Answers

Improve Your Carb Tolerance In Five Easy Steps

Some people complain about not being able to tolerate carbs. They might have issues with resistant starches or soluble fibers. They’ll complain of bloating and gas. These people will believe that they can’t eat bread, potatoes, carrots, squash, rice, pumpkins, and other kinds of carbs.

In my opinion, there are five core reasons why you might have issues digesting starchy and carbohydrate foods.

1. Low levels of stomach acid is a key reason for problems digesting starchy foods. Low stomach can be caused by a myriad of reasons. It could be an infection such as Helicobacter pylori. It could be stress-induced or lifestyle induced (e.g., staying up late night after night).

Eating the wrong kinds of foods can also play havoc with stomach acid levels. Low levels of zinc and B vitamins can reduce the production of hydrochloric acid by the stomach. Lifestyle and diet play a huge part in getting your stomach back into working order.

If the stomach isn’t working correctly, the pancreas won’t function properly. That leads us to reason number two for poor carbohydrate digestion.

2. Lack of sufficient pancreatic amylase interferes with carbohydrate digestion. Check the level of pancreatic elastase 1 (PE 1) in your stool to determine if the pancreatic exocrine function is sufficient.

Exocrine means non-endocrine because, remember, a small portion of the pancreas makes insulin. But the largest portion makes enzymes and also bicarbonate to neutralize the acids – both of which are considered an exocrine function.

The pancreas doesn’t like alcohol. Pancreatic function can also be impaired by type 1 diabetes.

If you have a pancreatic problem, you need to consider enzyme supplements to make sure you don’t develop serious health problems.

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3. The third reason for carbohydrate intolerance is the type of diet you eat. Some people go back and forth between different types of diets. You shouldn’t do that to your digestive system. It’s too abrupt.

Be very careful with making dietary changes, make them very slowly and consistently over time. If you want to add a new carbohydrate to your diet, do it slowly, over a couple of weeks. Also, make sure you are eating the right kinds of foods – not the type found wrapped in plastic and packaged in boxes.

4. The fourth reason you might be having problems digesting carbohydrates relates to cooking methods. Some people can tolerate a boiled potato, but not a baked one. Experiment with different ways of cooking carbohydrates until you find one that suits you the best.

5. The fifth factor that can interfere with carbohydrate digestion is stress.
Stress can interfere with digestion, and that includes anxiety about what you’re eating.

You need to back off and relax a lot more, and you’ll find that it’ll be a lot easier for your digestive system.

When the brain is in a relaxed state, the digestion is seriously improved.

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Questions & Answers

Your Lower Esophageal Sphincter: What You Need To Know

The lower esophageal sphincter (LES) is a round muscle and contracts and closes off down at the bottom of the esophagus that leads into the stomach.

The LES stop the contents of the stomach from coming back up again. If it’s not working well, people can run into problems with swallowing, burping, bloating, heartburn, and feeling sick to their stomach. A poorly functioning LES can result in GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).

The LES works best in people who are not highly stressed, aren’t overweight, and aren’t drinking massive amounts of coffee each day.

People who smoke, who eat lots of chocolates and mints, drink lots of coffee and are larger, are at risk of having a problem with their lower esophageal sphincter. The LES can become saggy, loose, and stop closing correctly, resulting in acid reflux.

What are some of the critical things you can do to strengthen the LES?

To begin with, you need to eat the right kinds of foods.

In my book, Candida Crusher, I review the importance of not eating too fast and throwing everything down the throat like it’s some kind of cement mixer.

Some people will have a cup of coffee, then ice cream, followed by a piece of chocolate, a glass of wine, and a slice of pizza. They seem to think that everything will magically digest properly.

Going to the doctor’s is not going to help because you’ll only get put on a proton-pump inhibitor like Nexium. That’s not the answer.

When you have a digestive problem, think about what might have caused the problem.

Maybe it was the big piece of pizza and a couple of cans of beer. Perhaps you got stressed out and upset.

Years ago, I had a problem with my lower esophageal sphincter. We had three young children, I was quite stressed, and I was eating too fast.

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I can remember having reflux and other digestive problems at the time.

When the body is in a fight or flight mode, it’s not going to digest food properly. When it’s in a relaxed mode, what we call the rest and digest, or the parasympathetic dominant part of the autonomic nervous function, you’ll digest very easily.

That’s why it’s important not to watch bad news when you’re eating. I recommend that you put all screens aside and just sit there, relax, and chew your food.

The other step you can take is to get an assessment of your level of stomach acid production. A baking soda or betaine hydrochloride test will tell you how much acid your stomach is making.

You can get your stomach prepped up in making acid, and train it to work better, by adding Swedish Bitters, lemon juice, or some apple cider vinegar to your diet. I recommend Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar.

Acidic foods will help tone the LES and get your stomach in better shape.

Lastly, a digestive enzyme-probiotic formula like CanXida Restore can help get your upper GI tract in great shape.

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Questions & Answers

Sugar Alcohols: Are They Safe?

Are xylitol, sorbitol, and other sugar alcohols a safe replacement for sugar?

Xylitol, erythritol, sorbitol are polyols, or sugar alcohols, which are commonly found in fruits. They’re also found in tree bark and vegetables. They tend to be some digestible, although some are partly digestible, and some are indigestible.

Some sugar alcohols are fermentable oligo-, di-, mono-saccharides, so keep that in mind.

Studies have indeed shown no serious side effects from these products, even if people are consuming three to four ounces of xylitol a day for two years. Apart from a bit of gastric distress, a bit of diarrhea or bloating or gas, they didn’t have any problems with it.

Why I don’t recommend regular use of sugar alcohols is because they can get people hooked on a sweet taste.

The only sweetening agents I would use in my house would be honey from my own beehives, or pure maple syrup, and even then in moderation.

Further readings:

It’s not a great idea to get hooked on sweet foods. It’s going to disrupt the gut. It’s only going to cause problems down the track. There’s definitely some research demonstrating that sugar alcohols may potentially push people into craving more sugar.

I recommend integrating bitter and sour foods into your diet. You’ll still enjoy sweet foods but no so much.

Do I think that sugar alcohols are a safe replacement for sugar?

Well, I think they are. These sorts of sugars are certainly safer than the artificial sweeteners that are widely researched and shown to be linked with many different problems, including brain dysfunction.

I certainly endorse xylitol and stevia as natural sugars. There’s very robust evidence that xylitol has a great effect on stopping streptococcus mutans, or the plaque formation on teeth.

Even though sugar alcohols are okay, I still suggest you don’t overdo it.

Try not to get used to anything really sweet in life. You’re going to enjoy your food a lot more if you don’t have this constant need to have something sweet in your diet.

If you do want something sweet, have berries. Berries are quite sweet to eat and they also contain phytochemicals that provide health benefits.

Try and take the focus off of having sweets. Make your diet about enjoying food for other reasons.

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