An ode to to my first hate-mail sender who “strongly voiced” her opinions of me and my staunch views against sugar.
Have you ever gone long periods without laughing? Without fun? Without the light-heartedness you love about yourself? Many years back it seemed like I’d not experienced any one of these feelings for a very long time. I wanted my sass back.
My new naturopathic doctor said, “Have you ever been tested for candida?”
You’ve Got Candida
Before I got to my first visit with my new naturopath, I had a team of doctors who could not tell me why in my mid-20s I was chronically sick. So when he told me what candida was, an aggressive and opportunistic fungul bacteria, my eyes welled up, I leaned forward and said, “No need to test me. I’ve got it. I’d bet all the money I’ve ever made that I have this candida thing. Matter of fact, I say that if you try to measure it, it will be off the ‘richter scale.'”
Check. They couldn’t measure the candida in my body, it was that high. I had what is called chronic polysystemic candidiasis, which means the rogue bacteria, candida, spread throughout my body, beyond my digestive tract and was eating away at every cell, tissue and organ in my body. Without knowing for sure if I had ‘it,’ I intuitively knew I did.
Making The Connection
At this time, Dr. William Crook wrote and published the book, The Yeast Connection. I learned that at that time, 80 million Americans suffered from candida, like me, but it was largely overlooked by the medical community. I also learned that near every symptom I was experiencing was associated with this bacterial overgrowth throughout my body. I suffered from chronic exhaustion which caused me to think I was just lazy and miserable, an insatiable craving for sweets and yeasty breads that largely made up what I lived on (who didn’t?), cystic acne on my face that broke my heart and caused me to develop a profound self-consciousness and sadness as each bump throbbed, brain fog that affected my concentration, focus and memory that caused me to feel “stupid” and shaped my whole sense of self, hormone imbalance including hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue, chronic allergy problems, digestive problems including, gas, bloating and constipation that impacted everything I couldn’t do, plus chronic urinary tract infections, chronic vaginal yeast infections and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Long list, eh? Take another look. All of the symptoms I experienced are considered ‘ commonplace and normal’ in today’s world — Take a pill, “you’ll feel better in the morning.” But I didn’t.
Prescription Medications and Candida
But my body was breaking down, I was losing my fun Spirit, and my doctors didn’t know what to do for me, but prescribe antibiotics like M&Ms and cortisone like spa treatments, while I ate cookie after cookie! And guess what? When we take antibiotics, they go in and wipe out all bacteria, including the troublesome rogue bacteria AND the beneficial bacteria we need! And when the friendly bacteria are knocked out and imbalanced, the candida rise up and proliferate like wild-fire! Add cortisone shots, birth control AND an insatiable sugar addiction and I had the the perfect storm for candida to take over! (But WHO doesn’t take medications in combinations like this today?)
The research I site from Crook in The Yeast Connection is 30 years old. Today, researchers from Rice University show that 70 percent of all people are affected by Candida!
Sugar and Candida
Do you crave sweets, bread or alcoholic beverages?
I learned that we who live on a high-sugar diet and yeast-containing foods are prone to a bacterial imbalance of candidiasis. And as I’ve said, but it bears repeating, sugar stimulates the growth of candida, and candida overgrowth in the digestive system can quickly spread throughout the body and affect every bodily function, as it did with me.
This is why eating sugar in moderation can NOT provide the healing your body needs to keep candida at bay.
And because candida is such an opportunistic pathogen, it can become very difficult to treat.
So I ask you, HOW could I be upset with someone who attacks me about my aversion to sugar? I personally know how detrimental it can be on the state of one’s health. She must not know this, or she’d totally understand. She may not have ever experienced profound illness in her body either, as I did, so how could I be upset that she doesn’t get how detrimental sugar can be on the human body.
But maybe you got sick like I did. Maybe when I recommend giving up sugar, to just do it, to cut it off, so you don’t feed and help this opportunistic organism proliferate throughout your body, it resonates and makes sense to you — You hear something from my younger self crying out to you, that an extraordinary life FAR beyond the laughter and play I so longed for years back does indeed exist on the other side of sugar addiction, chronic symptoms and candida.
I hope you heard something for you, in what I shared today. That was my goal in writing this post. It’s WAY more than mind-blowing to recount those early days of illness that have directed and shaped all of who I am today.
Your Next Steps
Do you know sugar owns you? If yes, then buckle up and get ready for 4-5 days to take the sugar-beast on! Addiction will scream (so will the yeast) for more sugar! You can NOT feed it. Think of it this way, can an alcoholic or drug addict have a little alcohol or drug? Sugar is THAT addictive! Bite the bullet and hold on — detoxing CAN help! It’s only the first 4-5 days that you’ll feel really challenged. It get’s easier after that!
Get a quality oregano oil. It’s anti-fungal, anti-viral and a great product to kill off yeast, as you stop feeding it with sugar! You can also add in Pau, D’Arco tea. It’s another great supplement to kill-off candida.
One more tip: Remember to stay focused on WHY you want to take sugar out of your diet. Surely it’s not about sugar, but about all that becomes possible if you’re not possessed and ravaged by the affects of sugar! Commitment can sometimes feel challenging, but the rewards are so worth it!
Do you agree?
Awesome! Now go clean out your cabinets, desk drawer and other little hiding spots with sugar tucked away!
