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#2 Healing Journal Entry: Tracking Food Culprits

#2 Healing Journal Entry: Tracking Food Culprits

Tara Carpenter, NC.

Nutritional support for people healing on The Body Ecology Diet.

Written on September 12, 2010.

I have struggled with digestive upset for a year now and have a difficult time tracking down the foods that bother me most. I was diagnosed with systemic yeast overgrowth 3 days ago which means I have Candida throughout my body system and will use The Body Ecology Diet book to heal myself (instead of anti-fungals).

Part of my being able to properly move forward is better understanding what foods are bothering me. Tracking down food culprits entails keeping a ‘food journal’, doing rotation diets, and of course elimination diets.

For weeks I have made note of every thing I put in my mouth to no avail. While food journaling helps me see some foods causing discomfort, I have not found a pattern by which to connect the dots. For instance, before starting The Body Ecology Diet this week (!!) I noticed that brown rice bloated me, sunflower seeds doubled me over in pain and apples filled my ears with fluid and became terribly itchy.

What could be more harmless than rice, seeds, and apples? All seemingly neutral foods not considered to be common allergens.

Now I know (from reading the B.E.D. book) that these foods, along with others, are high in natural sugars that feed yeast/Candida albicans in my gut. Because I have been diagnosed with systemic yeast infection then this means I have too much yeast throughout my body, not just my vagina also in my mouth, throat, ears, really any opening stemming (I think) from excessive activity called yeast overgrowth. Though we women think of yeast infections being in the vagina this is not unfortunately the only place.

Though my intent to track food sensitivities is well-intentioned and my record keeping impeccable, I can see now that I have been diagnosed with a systemic yeast infection that I have been going about things in a way that aren’t bringing me understanding. Rather then bring focus to activity in my gut, I was in circles locating individual foods and food groups as the source of problem. My mind was set on labeling foods I must be “allergic” or “intolerant” to so I could eliminate them and feel relief. 

Had I continued to not give focused attention to the overgrowth of yeast living in my digestive tract, I might never feel better because the very food I was eating were the ones that yeast (and bacteria) thrive and feed on and contribute to these pathogenic organisms growing in population.

Harmful yeast in particular especially like when the host (in this case, me) eats gluten, sugar, and yeast. Any food with one of these in it is out of the picture for a period of 3 months so says Donna Gates, author of The Body Ecology Diet (B.E.D.). These are the foods that must be avoided to starve out the yeast and allow good gut flora to return to their natural balance (homeostasis) I am learning from reading B.E.D. book cover to cover.

Without looking at the overgrowth going on in gut, the harmful yeast would have continued to crowd out the beneficial flora that should be living in my gut in balanced proportions helping to assimilate and absorb food. When gut flora are allowed to colonize in such great numbers, they burrow small ‘pockets’, or holes, in the small intestine lining.

This condition is called leaky gut syndrome and allows undigested food particles to pass through and into the bloodstream where they can cause uncomfortable symptoms and allergic reactions, both of which only add further confusion to an already tough situation.

Is yeast overgrowth causing you problems? Take quiz to find out.

Now I know that the foods I’ve been eating all this time were feeding excess yeast organisms and helping them to thrive. Though I stopped eating gluten and refined sugar two years ago after my youngest was born, I was eating yeasty food on a daily basis; including tempeh, mushrooms, and tamari. I also ate brown rice, beans, mochi, and fruit which contain natural sugars that the yeast happily devour.

I’ve been eating these foods for years and regarded them as healthy and wholesome. I never thought twice about them being a source of my health problems. Now I understand that any food containing gluten, sugar or yeast is going to cause me, someone with yeast overgrowth problems.  

Half the battle in overcoming a problem is naming its cause.

#1 Healing Journal Entry: My Candida Diagnosis

Understanding Food intolerance

Nutritional Support with Tara, NC.

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May all bellies be happy!

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