Anyone successfully use Kefir or Yogurt to combat candida? page

[Primal Woman]

I'm trying to eliminate candida once and for all and am wondering whether taking a small amount of kefir or yogurt on a daily basis would help. Does anyone have experience taking either to combat candida?

Thanks!

[Tina S.]

I am currently following a dietary protocol (called the GAPS diet) to rid my body of candida overgrowth. I have had this problem for almost 30 years, and have tried just about everything over the years, without success. Many of the principles of this diet are aligned to the Primal Blueprint diet. GAPS approaches the problem from many angles (the protocol can be used for many health issues). I am working with a naturopath/GAPS doctor in this process.

To answer your question, yes, daily consumption of yogurt/kefir can certainly help in this process. But that alone won't do the trick. Candida is stubborn, and thrives on a situation of 'gut dysbiosis'. I have been working with GAPS for three months now, and have seen marked improvement, but the process is far from over.

Check out: gaps.me or gapsdiet.com

Good luck!

[Primal Woman]

I'm following the same diet! This is my second day, and I'm excited by how the bone broth soups will help my gut heal . I understand about the yogurt and kefir ... I just wanted to be reassured that it won't make the candida worse! How much do you think is okay? I was thinking of eating 1/2 cup a day to help build the friendly bacteria ...

You're right ... candida is very stubborn. I'd almost gotten rid of it once, then I blew it with one summer of careless indulgence! Ah, well, lesson learned .

[Primal Woman]

Oh, I am adding a teaspoon of kefir to my soups ... I would just like to eat a little bit more kefir or yogurt (and my 2-year-old daughter, who also has candida, loves kefir too!) ...

[Tina S.]

Are you doing the intro? If so, I would just follow what Dr. Natasha says about adding in yogurt/kefir.

I did not do the intro, but this is what my naturopathic doctor had me do:
First, two weeks with no dairy. Just meat, broth, legal veg, lacto-fermented veg, some nuts and minimal fruit.
Then, after two weeks, try a little ghee. If no reaction, continue for a few days. Then slowly add in yogurt (which is easier on the system than kefir).

Well, I had a reaction to the ghee (mucous in stools). So I went off it, and tried again a few days later. Again, I had a reaction. So I went off dairy completely for another couple weeks. Then I tried a little yogurt (homemade, 24 hr ferment, whole organic milk, not ultra-pasteurized). I did not react to this. I started out with a little (1-2 TBSP) and ate it after/with my meal. Now I can eat about a half a cup. (As an aside: I don't understand why you are supposed to add the yog/kefir or fermented veggies to the hot broth - isn't the hot broth going to kill the microbes? That just doesn't make sense to me.)

Anyway, I can now tolerate homemade yogurt and ghee. I made homemade sour cream a couple days ago (creme bulgaire) and am seeing if I react to this.

If you want to try a larger amount of yogurt/kefir, maybe you should try it and see if your body reacts to it. This may take a couple days.
Otherwise, you might want to try a couple weeks without dairy if you aren't doing the intro. This did my body a lot of good.

[ar0e]

I beat candida this spring by doing a candida diet for 2 weeks then using Renew Life's CandiGONE while continuing the diet. I also did a series of 3 colonics while I was doing the cleanse and took TONS of probiotic supplements, the lady who did them knew I had candida before I even told her, she could see all of it coming out. It's six months later and I still take probiotics just to be safe, but I feel better than ever! Good luck!

[Primal Woman]

Hi, Tina, thanks for the advice! One quick question ... how do you know if you can't tolerate the dairy, aside from the mucous in stools? Should I do the skin allergy test?

I think I might eliminate the dairy for a couple of weeks as you suggested ... I have been doing an anti-candida diet forever, and I DID avoid dairy while I was doing the diet. I've been experimenting once again and wondering whether yogurt would help. But perhaps it would be good to focus on the broth soups first, then introduce a little bit of dairy back in. I know kefir is too strong, and I typically avoid it and prefer yogurt anyway.

I was planning on doing the intro, though I'm reconsidering ... I want to eat a lot of brothy soups, but I also like juicing and eating stews, so I think I'll experiment and hopefully get something down that feels right to me .

Thanks again for sharing!

[Primal Woman]

I beat candida this spring by doing a candida diet for 2 weeks then using Renew Life's CandiGONE while continuing the diet. I also did a series of 3 colonics while I was doing the cleanse and took TONS of probiotic supplements, the lady who did them knew I had candida before I even told her, she could see all of it coming out. It's six months later and I still take probiotics just to be safe, but I feel better than ever! Good luck!

Thanks! I'm going to try Candex and hopefully I'll get some results that way . I've done colonics in the past and unfortunately don't have the money to do them now. I might do some enemas though. I've been taking probiotics every day too. I hope I feel better soon, thanks for the encouragement!

[Tina S.]

Hi Primal Woman,

You can do the skin test, but I personally didn't. When I added ghee back in after the two weeks of no dairy, I got a stomach ache. You may also feel different, get extra bloated, or have mucous in your stool. You will be able to tell if you don't feel right - your body will tell you.

After two weeks of no dairy, my body had found a baseline level, also in terms of how I felt. When I added in the ghee, it upset this. When I later added in the yogurt without any problems, I didn't feel any difference.

BTW, I had two food allergy/sensitivity tests from the same draw of blood to test for dairy sensitivity (and other food sensitivities). One of the tests came back as not allergic to dairy, while the other one was off the charts in terms of dairy allergy. These were conflicting, but I have eaten dairy in the past with no problems, so I was pretty convinced that I am not allergic to dairy. I figured I'd find out for sure while doing GAPS.

Also, you mentioned juicing - this doesn't work for me at all. It's too much of a sugar hit at once and totally throws me off balance. So I don't do juicing at all. Just a little bit of whole fruit in season, after a meal.

I didn't do the intro because I had to work, and if I can't eat properly, I can't work. My ND said that we could start off without the intro, and see how it went. You can always go back and do the intro later. A lot of people do this, and it can be very effective.

I don't know if you are on Facebook, but they have a good GAPS page there where you can ask questions and people give a lot of useful answers.

I also take probiotics and a strong anti-yeast supplement (provided by my ND). I looked at the Candex ingredients, and that seems to be similar to what I am taking. My doctor only put me on this after about a month on GAPS, not right at the beginning. He wanted my body to have the benefit of the diet before I added in the strong anti-yeast supplements. I also take Saccharomyces boulardii, a beneficial yeast.

Good luck!

[ErikaE]

Thanks all for the information in this thread...I also believe myself to be a candida sufferer. But, while I may have some overgrowth in my GI tract, I think the worst of it is actually in my throat/esophagus, because whenever I eat/drink anything with sugar, my throat *aches* and feels mucousy (like there is a "lump" in it) for hours afterward. Will a candida diet work for that location also? Just switching to eating primal has helped significantly, mostly because I eat so little sugars now. But I am having trouble finding info on candida in that location specifically as most people talk about the stomach and intestines more.