Candida is prevalent out there – more than you would guess. Surprisingly, it is possible that 85% of the people in the USA have a candida concern. For most people, candida is not enough of an issue to be a problem, the body can actually handle a small overgrowth. However, there are a few instances where the right set of circumstances come together to create the perfect candida-growing environment and then the body gets overwhelmed and needs help.
You have to keep in mind that candida overgrowth does not occur overnight. Sometimes it may seem that you go to bed one night perfectly healthy and when you wake up in the morning, BAM, there is candida staring you in the face. It doesn’t really happen that way, though. Usually you have been setting the ground work for years, possibly even decades.
In this series, I am going to discuss the different causes of candida. The first of six is the most obvious one – antibiotics. Antibiotics can be lifesaving and they certainly serve a useful purpose. However, every time you have an antibiotic you are setting the stage for candida to take over. You see, antibiotics kill bacteria. They are supposed to do this – the infections that they treat are bad bacteria that can run rampant and cause a lot of harm, even death. However, antibiotics are not smart enough to differentiate between bad and good bacteria. So, for good measure, they kill off ALL of the bacteria. The more doses of antibiotics you take (over your lifetime) the less good bacteria you have in your system.
Back in the day (prior to the late 1800’s), this was not a problem – we could gets lots of good bacteria from the fermented foods that we ate. Fermenting our foods was one way to preserve them; of course, this was quite convenient when you didn’t have a lot of refrigeration. In fact, we used to eat a lot of fermented foods like sauerkraut, and raw dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and sour cream. In the 1860’s, Louis Pasteur invented the pasteurization process which reduced the live bacteria in milk, beer and wine products to minimize souring and prevent disease. This became a federally mandated process and just like that a large source of beneficial bacteria was gone. Now, unless you own your own goat or cow, it is very difficult to find raw milk with all of those wonderful and very needed bacteria.
Since we don’t have that fermented food any more, we need to fill that void purposefully. You must replenish your system after taking antibiotics with a good probiotic (good guy bacteria) – there really isn’t any other convenient way to do it. Unfortunately, most of us don’t do that or even if we do, we probably don’t take enough probiotic to really do the job of getting our digestive system back in balance.
These beneficial bacteria are very important to the body. They help you to digest your food, they create B vitamins, and their presence will not allow pathogenic organisms, like candida, to grow. With a reduced number of bacteria in your digestive tract, you have no protection and candida albicans, a yeast organism which is not affected by antibiotics, can start to overgrow. Even worse, antibiotics will actually cause the candida yeast to morph into a fungal form. This fungal candida will grow small tentacles, called rhizoids, which will burrow into the intestinal wall and hold on. This can lead to leaky gut syndrome, which we will discuss another time.
Antibiotics can be life-saving and, if you need them, you should take them. But, do yourself a favor. Don’t take antibiotics unless you absolutely need them and ALWAYS replenish your “good guy” bacteria after taking even a small dose of antibiotics.
Note: Good probiotics to take for replenishment:
Nature’s Sunshine Probiotic Eleven (6 billion, 11 strains)
Jarrodophilus, EPS (4.4 billion, 8 strains)
For Kids under 4, UDO’s Choice Infant’s Blend (1 billion, 7 strains)
Foods that you can make/eat that are rich in probiotics:
Kombucha Tea, Kefir, Cultured Yogurt, etc.
To your GOOD health!
Leanne
