Tag Archives: Yeast Infection Treatment

Questions & Answers

Treating SIBO With Colloidal Silver: What You Need To Know

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=942y7DyPnlE

Have you heard of colloidal silver?

Hopefully, you haven’t been scared off by Google. There is a guy called Blue Man who developed argyria, blue skin, by drinking homemade colloidal silver in very high concentrations.That is not what I’m recommending! You’re not going to be drinking a gallon of homemade high concentration colloidal silver every day to treat SIBO.

There are many different brands of colloidal silver available. You can get anywhere from five to twenty parts per millions. Usually, ten to fifteen parts per million is more than adequate. Firstly, no matter what gut condition you’re treating, do not take colloidal silver on a long-term basis. Period.

Colloidal silver should only be used in short bursts, not for months at a time.

Secondly, I highly recommend that you don’t take colloidal silver until you have a sensitivity report that confirms it will be effective against the pathogens in your gut. A stool test is better than a breath test for that purpose.

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Some will argue that a stool test doesn’t give you a measure of small intestinal bacteria. There’s merit to that statement as the stool test focuses on the contents of the colon. Still, in my experience, I’ve had far better outcomes using a comprehensive stool analysis to guide my SIBO treatment than when I used breath tests.

Colloidal silver often comes up high on susceptibility panels from my SIBO clients. I usually use the silver for between three to six weeks, and then I’ll give the patient a break for fourteen days. Then, we might do another three to six weeks of colloidal silver treatment. However, colloidal silver is not the primary agent I use for SIBO. I think antimicrobials like standardize garlic, standardized oregano, and grapefruit seed extract work even better than colloidal silver for SIBO.

In my experience, 10 to 15 ppm of colloidal silver is more than enough. I particularly love the colloidal silver from Silver Biotics, a company out of Utah.

Colloidal silver can be used orally. I know some people who brush their gums with a toothbrush dipped in a dilute colloidal silver. Colloidal silver is good for the oral cavity and the entire GI tract. It also has some value when treating Helicobacter pylori. For H. pylori, you can take 30 mills twice a day on an empty stomach. I’d also combine it with aloe vera when treating H. pylori.

Again, let me reiterate, don’t take colloidal silver for any longer than three to six weeks at a time. Stop for at least fourteen days between courses. You don’t want to get any complications from using too much colloidal silver.

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Questions & Answers

Mental Health And Gut Health: The Foods You Need To Eat

Some foods offer particular benefits both for psychological well-being and gut health.

1. Complex carbohydrates: One of my concerns with paleo and keto diets is that people have taken too many carbs out of their diet. Fruit, many vegetables, starchy foods, legumes, and grains are stripped out of the fiber in favor of too much animal fat. Your body needs complex carbohydrates for emotional and gut health. When people skimp on dietary carbs, they become grumpy and have a higher incidence of mood disorders. Keep in mind that I’m talking about healthy carbs. The truth is that arbs like candy, ice cream, high-fructose corn syrup, and sugar can actually increase obesity and ramp up depression. It’s foods like whole grains, nuts, seeds, starchy and green leafy vegetables, and many different fruits that contain healthy carbs, fibers, and resistant starches that will improve gut function and psychological well-being.

2. Brightly colored foods with high levels of antioxidants are also good for your brain and your gut. Antioxidants help manage the oxidative stress that occurs in the body. If you want good levels of dopamine and serotonin, antioxidants will help protect those neurotransmitters. There’s a lot to be said for including brightly colored foods in your diet such as blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, aubergines, tomatoes, bell peppers, and zucchinis.

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3. Omega-3 fatty acids are excellent for the brain and the GI tract. You can find Omega-3s in oily fish like salmon, walnuts, and chia seeds. Omega-3 fatty acids are a critical addition to our diet because your body can’t make them on its own. I’ve read many research papers that have demonstrated that Omega-3 fatty acids improve both mood and cognitive function.

4. B vitamins such as B6, B12, and folic acid are essential for your mental health. There’s a clear link between depression and low levels of B vitamins. B5 is a vitamin that is particularly important for keeping energy levels high.

5. Probiotics offer your brain and bowel ample benefits. You can take supplements, but other sources of probiotics include fermented and cultured foods. It’s helpful to have sufficient prebiotics in your diet to make the most of the probiotics. For example, vegetables from the brassica family, such as broccoli and cauliflower, are a great source of prebiotics. So are plants from the allium family such as onions and chives.

6. Trace elements such as iodine, molybdenum, manganese, zinc, and copper are all critical for proper brain and digestive function. Look for foods that are organic and locally grown as these tend to contain higher levels of minerals. Good sources of minerals include pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, Brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts, and sardines.

If you ensure your diet includes these six categories of food, your mind and body will thank you!

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Questions & Answers

How To Break Your Sugar Habit

“How can I stop eating sugary foods?” is a question I’ve been asked many times.

Sugar is extremely addictive for the brain. The brain loves sweet foods.

One of the first steps you can take to break a sugar addiction is not exposing yourself to the media that glorifies sweets. Instead, involve yourself in your own hobbies, physical activity, and healthy past times.

It’s also best to avoid sharing meals with people who eat a lot of sweets. The more friends you have that eat sweet foods, the more likely you are going to partake in all of this too. When you’re working on improving your health, spending a lot of time with junk food addicts isn’t going to help.

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I also recommend avoiding social events that include ample access to treats and sweets.
The more fresh food you eat – like vegetables, fruits, and lean meats – the less likely that you’ll crave sugary foods.

Making healthy choices for breakfast will help reduce sugar cravings. Having some protein in the morning is particularly helpful in keeping you satisfied for hours at a time. There are also hundreds of snack options that don’t involve sugar. Stock your kitchen with easy to grab, nutritious snacks like nuts, seeds, and chopped vegetables.

Over time you’ll lose your taste for sweet things. You’ll find that you no longer like the taste of pop or candy.

People don’t decide on their future. They decide on their habits. And their habits will then decide on the future of their health.

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Questions & Answers

What’s The Connection Between Stress And Food Cravings?

There’s a connection between stress, appetite, and sugar intake.

A study in 2001 took a look at this issue. The researchers exposed 59 premenopausal women to stress on one day and then had them experience a low-stress day. The caloric consumption on the stressful and non-stressful days were recorded. Some of the women had a very high cortisol spike on the stressful day. These participants were called super reactors. In contrast, there are some people who are “low reactors” to stress.

It makes the point that it’s often not the stressor that’s the biggest problem; it’s the reaction to it.

The women with the highest cortisol spikes in response to stress had the highest calorie consumption. The calories came primarily from sweet foods.

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In other words, life events can trigger physiological reactions in the body that lead to sugar cravings. People who are highly stressed often make the wrong call when it comes to food and drink choices. They reach for sweet foods. They reach for soda pop.

The take-home message is that it’s essential to not only reduce the stress in your life but also to manage how you react to that stress. It’s not possible to eliminate all stress, but you don’t have to deal with life by eating a box of donuts.

I recommend finding a way to compartmentalize your stressors, so they don’t invade all aspects of your life. Find ways to relax and keep your cortisol levels in the normal range.

High cortisol is associated with obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. It’s clearly important to ensure that you’re living a low-stress life.

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Questions & Answers

Vitamin C And Weight Loss: What’s The Connection?

Can vitamin C help you lose weight?

A study from the mid-2000s demonstrated that vitamin C has a definite effect on burning fat (thermogenesis) in some people.

When people have adequate vitamin C stores, their ability to burn off body fat is 30% higher compared to people with low vitamin C stores.

The benefits of vitamin C aren’t new. Look at the work by Mathias Rath and Dr. Linus Pauling, who got two Nobel prizes, I believe. Dr. Pauling was ridiculed by scientists for many years, but one day his work on vitamin C will be vindicated.

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Vitamin C has a profound effect on the adrenal system. One of the highest levels of ascorbic acid in the human body is found in the adrenal cortex. An expert once told me that vitamin C used to be measured in the body by measuring the levels in the adrenal gland.

The body needs sufficient ascorbic acid levels to produce adrenal hormones such as the stress hormone, cortisol. You can extrapolate from that that low vitamin c levels might contribute to adrenal exhaustion. The fatigue associated with adrenal dysfunction can promote weight gain as it interferes with normal physical activity and can lead to snacking on high-calorie foods.

Vitamin C has a role in immune function, energy levels, skin integrity, and thermogenesis. That’s why I recommend people keep their vitamin C intake high. Make sure you include ample vitamin-C rich foods in your diet.

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