Dealing With Candida And Digestive Problems

[pboy]

you could also try masa harina porridge or steamed dumplings (some form easy to digest), its pretty easy compared to every other starch to digest. With fruit, stick to mostly orange juice...pineapple juice is pretty good too. I dunno why but besides those 2 and occasionally mango or tart cherry, I get problems with every other fruit. Dark chocolate and/or coconut oil are 2 fats that are pretty easy to digest...I think the problem with a lot of certain fats(nuts, cheese) is they don't contain choline to help digest the lipids and neither does fruit or grains to support the diet (tubers support themselves but don't provide abundant amounts) so people run into problems when they only eat those fats. Meat and milk have about enough to digest themselves, meat providing a little abundance and organ meats providing a good abundance. I'd avoid fish...maybe some whitefish at the most, shellfish are pretty good...maybe consider adding eggs (best choline source, easier to digest compared to meat or milk)

Side question: Would a little bit of raw cacao or coconut be good for the digestive tract along the lines of the raw carrot (antibacterial, cellulose...no/very low insoluble fiber)? Maybe like a tbsp. worth or so. Raw cacao and coconut are much less tasty or palatable than their prepared forms but I'd eat a little in the raw form if it would help keep the digestive tract clean...what' do you guys think?

 

[Lincoln-Imp]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone, I'm just having problems with the gelatin powder at the moment. Does anyone know why it would make my face greasy? At the moment I just mix it in cold water and then drink it, not long after my face goes horrible and it stays like that for a while. When I get that feeling on my face I just know I am going to get acne breakouts as well.

 

[Lincoln-Imp]

My stomach has been horrendous for the last week or so and I have been having a think what I could possibly be doing to cause this. The only thing I can think is adding manuka honey back in to my diet, could this make me bloated and constipated? I remember reading honey kills candida, usually foods that kill it like coconut oil make my stomach come to a halt. Does anyone really think this could be the reason?

 

[charlie]

Ray Peat says people can have problems with honey due to allergens. I tried to introduce honey into my diet and immediately had bad reactions to it. I tried this a couple of times with reactions both times.

 

[4peatssake]

Ray Peat says people can have problems with honey due to allergens. I tried to introduce honey into my diet and immediately had bad reactions to it. I tried this a couple of times with reactions both times.

I had a very similar experience. RP had recommended I do a ounce of milk and sugar or milk and honey before bed to help with insomnia.

I tried the milk and honey, once, had a horrible reaction to the honey. I can do milk and sugar no problem.

 

[Lincoln-Imp]

I still feel like I'm in such a conundrum. The main thing bothering me is fruit or potatoes as my main food? I was thinking of a diet of just white potatoes, cheese, milk, maybe a papaya as I think I'm okay with them and oj. But then there's the whole thing where some of you mentioned it's advised to not have any starch when trying to heal the gut. Does my plan sound like it could help? I guess the only way will be to try. I think the heavy fruit consumption really does need cutting down though, I've been eating a heavy amount of fruit for along time now with no improvements.

 

[pboy]

Give yourself a few 'anything goes' days and try different foods or different plans you've maybe been wanting to try, don't deny curiosity, and expect to have good results. Taking those kind of occasional days is something I've learned over the years that has really helped me. Sometimes things I thought would be really harmful ended up not being, and sometimes things I thought I 'needed to take for some particular reason' ended up being not that special or relatively inert. I think a lot of things are dynamic, in the moment, and dependent on your particular state of mind, physiology, hormone ratio, what's available at the time, stress in the environment, ect...so even sometimes one food might be beneficial at a certain time in a certain situation but you may not crave it at all in another time and place....try to formulate an idea of generally ideal options, then just kind of decide whats the best at the time and be ok with trusting your instinct

 

[Lincoln-Imp]

Give yourself a few 'anything goes' days and try different foods or different plans you've maybe been wanting to try, don't deny curiosity, and expect to have good results. Taking those kind of occasional days is something I've learned over the years that has really helped me. Sometimes things I thought would be really harmful ended up not being, and sometimes things I thought I 'needed to take for some particular reason' ended up being not that special or relatively inert. I think a lot of things are dynamic, in the moment, and dependent on your particular state of mind, physiology, hormone ratio, what's available at the time, stress in the environment, ect...so even sometimes one food might be beneficial at a certain time in a certain situation but you may not crave it at all in another time and place....try to formulate an idea of generally ideal options, then just kind of decide whats the best at the time and be ok with trusting your instinct

Thanks, this is very much what I'm doing at the moment. I have added milk and cheese in to my diet, before hearing about Ray Peat these are foods I would never have considered eating/drinking. I don't know how things will end up with them but the only way to find out is give it a try so that's what is happening.

Greek yogurt was mentioned in this thread earlier on and I was thinking of getting some so I have something to eat at work. I noticed a low fat one and one with fat but was low in polyunsaturated fat. Which would be best to go for?

 

[Lincoln-Imp]

I'm currently in a stage of mixed emotions, I'll start with the good. This is the first week I've done for a long time without cheating, it's down to the foods I have been eating keeping me satisfied. Before I just used to eat fruit and vegetables, there's no wonder I used to turn to bad foods as I was never happy with my diet. This really does feel like progress.

The disappointing part is that I'm extremely bloated/constipated. I have a feeling it is the gelatin, I've hit it quite hard even though I know it was mentioned on here to start slow. My face gets greasy and more acne starts to appear along with my stomach problems. Does this sound like detox reactions? How much of a detox can gelatin cause? My stomach has been in a bad way for a while so I think I may need to really cut back. Does one teaspoon every other day sound okay?

 

[Mittir]

I do not believe in those detox myth all the naturopath talks about. RP mentioned that acne is a good indicator that something is wrong in the diet. Take a break from gelatin for a while and see how it feels. Once your gut is healed you can eat lot more difficult to digest foods. Are you drinking milk? Milk usually helps with constipation. have you tried cooked potato juice?

 

[pboy]

I agree with Mittir about the detox myths...if you have a reaction to something, its almost always to something you ate that day or the day before and it is acting itself, not 'detoxing old things'...that's just what they say so people keep buying things that cause GI disturbance, and don't make the association that its the product itself causing the reaction.

Gelatin, even compared to other proteins, is quite sticky and has a tendency to absorb a lot of water (5-6 times its volume). I'm not personally experienced with it so I can't offer definite advice, but I'd suggest just keeping the dose low or use alternative protein sources

Also, milk (like Mittir mentioned) and cream, and ghee have all helped me stay much more regular. I think the good fats keep the GI tract lubed if you will

 

[FunkOdyssey]

Lincoln, I have had similar digestive problems for years (constipation, bloating, general feeling of GI tract stasis, heartburn) and have been moderately successful at eliminating them. Here's what I've found helpful:

Forgetting about candida. If you have oral thrush or some other obvious yeast infection, then yeah, take anti-fungal measures as necessary. Otherwise, neither Ray Peat, nor mainstream medicine, take candida seriously in the manner it is spoken of in alternative health circles, as some kind of chronic and universal cause of what ails you. Barking up the candida tree usually bears no fruit.

Eliminating starch. When your digestion is poor this is the first thing to cause trouble, as undigested starch feeds bacteria in the small intestine (SIBO), causing inflammation that further impedes digestion in a vicious cycle. SCD/GAPS and Ray Peat are in agreement on this. Even Paul Jaminet, the internet's biggest pusher of starch, admits that people with impaired digestion may not tolerate it.

Reducing fiber as much as possible, for the same reason as starch. That means vegetables and high-fiber fruits. Your best sources of carbohydrates are low-fiber sugars, including milk (lactose-free may be necessary, it was for me), fruit juices, refined sugar, and well-ripened fruits with a high sugar/fiber ratio. Some dried fruits meet these criteria: check out dried papaya, with only 0.5g fiber per 24g of sugar.

Most people aren't surprised that undigested starch can grind your GI tract to a halt. However, the role fiber plays in constipation is often a surprise because it's supposed to TREAT constipation. All I can say is keep an open mind and experiment. For myself and many others, fiber hurts far more than it helps. Check out the book Fiber Menace for more on this.

What should be left is a diet of easily digested sugar/fat/protein (in that order of quantity) and I think you will find this moves through your digestive system with minimal drama. I'm eating lots of lactose-free milk and cheese, fruit juice, low fiber fruit, couple eggs a day in coconut oil, some beef (4oz day), hydrolyzed gelatin (far more easily assimilated compared to regular gelatin), and white sugar, and I'm doing better than any diet I've tried previously.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

Also, watch the glucose/fructose ratio in your fruits. Fructose is most easily assimilated when glucose is present in equal or greater quantities, so strive for a 1:1 glucose:fructose ratio or higher. You can also combine a higher fructose fruit with milk, which will supply glucose and galactose to help absorb the fructose.

This is important to consider because excess undigested fructose will feed bacteria with similar results as undigested starch or fiber (check out fructose malabsorption and its symptoms).

 

[Beebop]

I agree with you here:

Barking up the candida tree usually bears no fruit.

lol at this. I barked up the candida tree for a long time. I ate an 'anti-candida' diet for about two years and it did absolutely sod all. Actually it did one thing - scare me off sugar

I've found the thing that has had the most impact on my digestion is getting enough thyroid medication. There may be other things that have helped as well, but I can't always identify them in the same way.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

I agree with you here:

Barking up the candida tree usually bears no fruit.

lol at this. I barked up the candida tree for a long time. I ate an 'anti-candida' diet for about two years and it did absolutely sod all. Actually it did one thing - scare me off sugar

I've found the thing that has had the most impact on my digestion is getting enough thyroid medication. There may be other things that have helped as well, but I can't always identify them in the same way.

I definitely agree optimizing thyroid function / hormone levels is important, and metabolic rate overall. Digestive function requires alot of energy, which of course results in another vicious cycle: you aren't absorbing enough nutrients and especially carbohydrate to generate energy, so your digestion suffers, leading to even less absorbed nutrition, and so on. Anything that reduces metabolic rate can cause constipation as a symptom, from hypothyroidism, to low carb diets, and etc.

 

[Beebop]

Yes. I've noticed that the first symptom to change when I either reduce or raise my thyroid meds is constipation/loosening of stools. It happens the very next day after I make a thyroid change.

 

[Dutchie]

I agree with Mittir about the detox myths...if you have a reaction to something, its almost always to something you ate that day or the day before and it is acting itself, not 'detoxing old things'...that's just what they say so people keep buying things that cause GI disturbance, and don't make the association that its the product itself causing the reaction.

Gelatin, even compared to other proteins, is quite sticky and has a tendency to absorb a lot of water (5-6 times its volume). I'm not personally experienced with it so I can't offer definite advice, but I'd suggest just keeping the dose low or use alternative protein sources

Also, milk (like Mittir mentioned) and cream, and ghee have all helped me stay much more regular. I think the good fats keep the GI tract lubed if you will

You can avoid the Gelatin/water absorption by adding in water when you make something like gummies...and I also think a source with a good sodium/potassium balance. I made mine with maple syrup,but I'm also thinking of experimenting with a batch made of coconutwater so I don't have to add extra water.

 

[Dutchie]

Also, watch the glucose/fructose ratio in your fruits. Fructose is most easily assimilated when glucose is present in equal or greater quantities, so strive for a 1:1 glucose:fructose ratio or higher. You can also combine a higher fructose fruit with milk, which will supply glucose and galactose to help absorb the fructose.

This is important to consider because excess undigested fructose will feed bacteria with similar results as undigested starch or fiber (check out fructose malabsorption and its symptoms).

The sligthest highest bit of higher fructose,even when I had some strawberries a couple days ago, still seems to cause problems in my digestion&especially my mood (get lethargic/down).
Do you perhaps know which fruits and dried fruits are ok regarding this ratio?

 

[FunkOdyssey]

Also, watch the glucose/fructose ratio in your fruits. Fructose is most easily assimilated when glucose is present in equal or greater quantities, so strive for a 1:1 glucose:fructose ratio or higher. You can also combine a higher fructose fruit with milk, which will supply glucose and galactose to help absorb the fructose.

This is important to consider because excess undigested fructose will feed bacteria with similar results as undigested starch or fiber (check out fructose malabsorption and its symptoms).

The sligthest highest bit of higher fructose,even when I had some strawberries a couple days ago, still seems to cause problems in my digestion&especially my mood (get lethargic/down).
Do you perhaps know which fruits and dried fruits are ok regarding this ratio?

I've seen different sources report somewhat different data, but here's one pretty comprehensive table:

http://thepaleodiet.com/fruits-and-sugars/

 

[4peatssake]

Lincoln, I have had similar digestive problems for years (constipation, bloating, general feeling of GI tract stasis, heartburn) and have been moderately successful at eliminating them. Here's what I've found helpful:

Forgetting about candida. If you have oral thrush or some other obvious yeast infection, then yeah, take anti-fungal measures as necessary. Otherwise, neither Ray Peat, nor mainstream medicine, take candida seriously in the manner it is spoken of in alternative health circles, as some kind of chronic and universal cause of what ails you. Barking up the candida tree usually bears no fruit.

Eliminating starch. When your digestion is poor this is the first thing to cause trouble, as undigested starch feeds bacteria in the small intestine (SIBO), causing inflammation that further impedes digestion in a vicious cycle. SCD/GAPS and Ray Peat are in agreement on this. Even Paul Jaminet, the internet's biggest pusher of starch, admits that people with impaired digestion may not tolerate it.

Reducing fiber as much as possible, for the same reason as starch. That means vegetables and high-fiber fruits. Your best sources of carbohydrates are low-fiber sugars, including milk (lactose-free may be necessary, it was for me), fruit juices, refined sugar, and well-ripened fruits with a high sugar/fiber ratio. Some dried fruits meet these criteria: check out dried papaya, with only 0.5g fiber per 24g of sugar.

Most people aren't surprised that undigested starch can grind your GI tract to a halt. However, the role fiber plays in constipation is often a surprise because it's supposed to TREAT constipation. All I can say is keep an open mind and experiment. For myself and many others, fiber hurts far more than it helps. Check out the book Fiber Menace for more on this.

What should be left is a diet of easily digested sugar/fat/protein (in that order of quantity) and I think you will find this moves through your digestive system with minimal drama. I'm eating lots of lactose-free milk and cheese, fruit juice, low fiber fruit, couple eggs a day in coconut oil, some beef (4oz day), hydrolyzed gelatin (far more easily assimilated compared to regular gelatin), and white sugar, and I'm doing better than any diet I've tried previously.

Great post, FunkOdessy. Very insightful. I tend to agree with you, Ray and the others about candida as well.
Do you consume any coffee or chocolate? Or the raw carrot or raw carrot salad?

You mentioned sugar/fat/protein as being the order of quantity - what ratios would you say you are doing? And I'm assuming the majority of your carbs are from the sugar.

Thanks!