This entire blog post comes from Noelle Thomas, N.D. and also Dan Jackowiak NC, HHP. None of this information is my own material. Nothing here may be printed out or reproduced in any way. There are no permissions granted. Of course, you may direct people to this blog post should you choose to.
Grains Are Not Suggested on the Candida Diet and there is a Good Reason Why
Let’s be direct here, people are addicted to grains. We will get to that in a minute. People often want to know why it is recommended that they avoid eating grains. They are especially curious about wheat. The reason why it is a great idea to avoid grains is because there is a direct connection between grains and Candida yeast infections. We will be addressing this matter here. The goal here is clarity and understanding. Because so many patients want to know about other grains besides just wheat, we will be addressing these other grains also. In addition, we will also talk about beans.
A little bit more than 10,000 years ago we lived as hunter-gatherers killing our food and gathering plant foods that we were able to eat. We ate plenty of meat. In fact, our diets were primarily composed of meat.
At this time, our plant foods were fresh and we ate about 150 different kinds of plants. There is a great book called, “Wild Edible Plants of the Western United States.” There are 302 plants listed in this book that are edible. This gives one an idea of the extraordinary variety of “produce” available to eat in ancient times. Fresh plant foods are dense in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Today we only call certain types of produce organic but at that time everything was organic. These plants greatly nourished our bodies. We were well nourished and did not have most of the chronic diseases that people now suffer from today. In fact, there is no record of any bone disease prior to 10,000 years ago. The plants were high in fiber and we mostly ate the plants raw. We picked them every few days as needed. Some of them we may have cooked and some of them we didn’t. We ate plants in this fashion for about 2 million years. In fact, some cultures continue to consume plants in this fashion to this day. Our digestive systems adapted to this meat and plant diet. Everything changed 10,000 years ago when a few civilizations appeared as if from nowhere. The Egyptians, the Mayans, the Incas, Babylon, and civilizations in China all began at about this time.
With the advent of these cities came the practice of modern day agriculture or it could be the other way around. Which came first? It is difficult to say which came first but along with agriculture came cities and along with cities came agriculture.
Through selective pollination and cultivation, we figured out how to genetically engineer the wheat plant so it ended up with a soft-shell and would not fall off the stalk until we harvested it. Previously, it had a hard shell and fell off the stalk on its own making it a waste of time to try to eat or harvest.
If you have ever seen the little baby corn on the cob you’re looking at ancient corn. We figured out how to engineer it to grow bigger so we could harvest it as well. A bout the same story occurred with other grains around the world including rice in China. All of them went through this same process of genetic engineering.
About 6000 years ago pottery was invented and we figured out we could store these grains until a later time during a colder season when they could then be eaten. This is when civilization really took off and cities started popping up all over the world because of modern agriculture. Agriculture literally allowed the birth of modern day civilization and things would be much different today if agriculture had not been introduced.
![omag_200701_potato_chip-949x534[1]](https://triadofhealth.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/omag_200701_potato_chip-949x5341-e1409727341231.jpg)
However, we were never designed to eat the way that we do now. Our modern day practice of agriculture and modern diet filled with sugars and carbs such as potatoes, strawberries and watermelon are very new development in our 2 million-year history. In fact, it is about .02 % of the time that we have been on the planet that we have had our diets the way that they are today. The greatest amount of dietary change when it comes to the consumption of grains, baked goods, and complex carbohydrates that are high in sugar has taken place during the last 100 years. That this has led to the decline of our health is not controversial in any way. As a matter of fact, Dr. Westin Price used to travel to the Australian outback and all over the world, documenting the effects of modern day consumption of sugar (processed carbohydrates, potatoes, Quinoa, etc…) on human health.
Today over 95% of these grains are highly processed and bad fats and chemicals are added to almost all of them. The effects of consuming chemicals is devastating to our health.
Agricultural man from 6000 years ago consumed whole organic grains and even this resulted in a reduced lifespan and stature. Did you know that presently the Chinese are beginning to eat more meat? Today adults who grew up mostly on grains are now consuming more meat and these adults are having their children eat more meat. These Chinese children are on average 2 inches taller than their parents when they reach adulthood. Interesting fact isn’t it? A meat based diet would seem to provide more nutritional benefits allowing the body to grow taller and stronger.
The grain consuming ancient man also showed more infant mortalities, more deaths from infectious disease, nutritional deficiencies, and lowered immune function after adopting this diet. The sugar from these “whole” grains, which they are when digested, impairs your white blood cell function and white blood cells are a major part of your immune system. How do we know all this? Fossil records! This is not pure conjecture on my part, its scientific fact. References Below.
This is also the reason for the obesity epidemic you see in the world today. These grains cause a spike in your blood sugar levels which in turn causes a spike in your insulin level. The insulin gathers up this blood glucose and stores it on the body as fat for use at a later date if needed.
Vegetables on the other hand are complex carbs that slowly release their sugars into the body without creating a spike in blood sugar levels. This in turn does not cause insulin levels to spike. Plus, they are loaded with antioxidants, mineral and vitamins the body needs to survive.
Ancient man needed this fat storage function before the advent of farming to help him survive the winter. This is what would happen. In the fall, fruit sources would become ripe and ready to pick and eat and I assure you ancient man pigged out on these foods. They would also go to any length in the fall to gather honey as the ‘sweet tooth’ has been with us a long time. The consumption of these foods at this time of year lead to a little weight gain, just in time for winter, because excess blood sugar is stored as fat by insulin.
Today we consume this sugar year round to the tune of about 75 pounds per human and 95% of the grains we have been eating in the last 100 years are highly refined. I assure you we have not adapted to this garbage in the last 6000 years much less the last 100! These grains don’t even resemble what ancient man was eating when farming started along with the resulting health problems. So imagine the compounded health effects from our diets versus theirs. Is it any wonder cancer, heart disease and diabetes for starters are out of control?
This over consumption of sugar leads to chronic high insulin levels, which also lead to reduced growth hormone and glucagon levels. These hormones are responsible for burning fat and promoting muscle development. So in other words, the affects of the sugar from grains not only makes you fat but also prevents you from burning fat and developing muscle. In addition to that, insulin usually knocks down the high sugar levels created by grains to levels that are too low in a couple hours. The result is you are now hungry again because of this low blood sugar, and what do you think you crave? That’s right, more simple carbs and sugar from the very source that is causing this problem to start with. It is a viscous circle that is repeated over and over again.
Consider this, without milling and cooking all grains are simply inedible. So they grind them and they simply become fiber and flour, just add water and you have paper mache. When digested they will cause severe digestive problems in any primate. Any elementary school teacher should be able to tell you that. Wheat, soy and corn are also highly genetic engineered. Corn for instance cannot survive in the wild, it must have mans assistance and fertilizer to grow. Wheat is no longer the same plant that your ancestors ate as late as 1940. There’s more about wheat, but that will be addressed in later Newsletters. In addition to the above, grains, because they are simple carbs, have been found to:
Lower HDL cholesterol, the good cholesterol, and raise triglycerides. They raise insulin levels, which makes you fat and leads to diabetes. They have been associated with increased risk of breast cancer. They turn LDL cholesterol into lipoprotein(a), the really really bad cholesterol. They definitely contribute to yeast overgrowth, toxic bowel, and impair the liver’s ability to detoxify the body. Pregnant women on high carb diets form small placentas while pregnant. This limits the ability to transfer nutrients to the fetus.
Grains and legumes reduce the absorption of nutrients like calcium, iron and zinc.
They weaken the immune system and accelerate aging.
Potatoes and the Candida Diet
Most people are aware that there are poisons in the eye of potatoes but many aren’t aware that the poisons solanine and chaconine, are found throughout the entire potato. Wild potatoes of course have a much higher level because we have slowly genetically engineered these poisons out of the potato over the years, yet they are still there.
Solanine and chaconine are glycoalkaloid poisons found in species of the nightshade family, such as potatoes. They can occur naturally in any part of the plant, including the leaves, fruit, and tubers. It is very toxic even in small quantities. Both have fungicidal and pesticidal properties and are part of the plant’s natural defenses.
Even with these poisons naturally found in the potato it still has a high rate of fungal breakouts so they are treated heavily with fungicides. The Incas figured out that if they freeze-dried the potato it would prevent fungal breakouts. We still produce instant potatoes this very way today.
However, the Incas did not eat potatoes. They would instead feed them to those they conquered because they will go farther than normal foods. This left more of the spoils of the conquered peoples for themselves. Pretty smart huh? Feed the conquered slaves the trash food and save the best for yourself.
A diet high in potatoes will lead to severe vitamin A deficiency and can cause blindness in children.
Because they are a simple high starchy food they are converted to sugar in the intestine very quickly and cause a spike in blood sugar. This excess sugar feeds yeast and cancer in those that have it. Insulin will then spike and knock down these levels as it picks up the sugar in the body and stores it as fat.
Legumes and Beans
Legumes and beans were never eaten by ancient man for the same reason. They contain poisonous alkaloids that would protect the bean from being eaten in the wild. They also contain cyanogens such as cyanide. Lima beans for instance secrete cyanide gas when boiled.
These toxins are the reason you must soak and cook your beans. The soaking and cooking process neutralizes the toxins so they are safe to eat. But, I highly doubt ancient man ever bothered with this, especially before the advent of iron pots. Therefore, we did not eat and are not designed to eat these beans either, are we?
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Corn and the Candida Diet
Most people think corn is a vegetable, it is not. It is a grain. As a grain, it comes with all of the negative health effects of a grain and then some. But, it is also our biggest cash crop so let’s not get in the way of making a buck shall we?
Its major extract is fructose corn syrup, a simple reducing sugar. It’s most commonly found in soda and the average American consumes 56 gallons of soda a year. It is second only to soybeans as the most genetically engineered food.
Recent research has suggested that corn was responsible for the demise of certain Native American tribes. With the arrival of the Spanish and their discovery of corn, corn subsequently spread throughout the New World. The non corn growing Native Americans’ eating patterns shifted away from a hunter-gatherer society to a diet based mostly on corn. Researchers have studied the bones of these tribes before and after the introduction of corn. They found that after the introduction of corn in their diet, they had a much higher incidence of anemia, osteoarthritis, dental cavities, infections and other health issues not evident earlier.
An article in the Wall St Journal on Feb 23rd 1998, “Corn Crop Peril”, refers to a substance called aflatoxin that infects corn, peanuts, and other crops. Aflatoxin is produced by the fungi aspergillus and is the most toxic substance in the world.
Another article in the Wall St Journal on July 29th 1998, “Texas Journal”, revealed that 62% of the corn crop was contaminated by aflatoxin with levels as high as 1000 ppb. The grain was rejected for human consumption but was approved for animal consumption!
Folks! They feed this stuff to cows and your pets! Any veterinarian will tell you that dogs have a higher cancer rate than humans. I wonder why? Check your labels on your pet foods and if it contains corn put it back on the shelf!
Two new studies found mercury in almost half of the samples tested of high-fructose corn syrup. In addition, almost a third of the products which listed HFCS as the first ingredient contained mercury.
“Mercury is toxic in all forms,” said Dr. David Wallinga of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and co-author of both studies. “Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered.”
The first study found mercury in nine of 20 samples of commercial HFCS. The second study found mercury in almost one-third of 55 brand-name foods. And yeast is an immune system reaction to mercury. Swell huh?
Soy and Your Health
There is a lot of information about soy not being the health food it is claimed to be. There are also tons of studies suggesting it is good for you. All you have to do is do a Google search to find the research from both sides of the ongoing argument. I believe the truth is somewhere in between and soy in moderation is the best way to go if you choose to eat it.
From what I have read and I’ve read a lot from both sides. The fermented soy products are the best soy foods to eat. They reduce the questionable trypsin inhibitors and phytates that can cause negative health effects. They include tempeh, miso and tamari. If you are a soy eater I would keep it to one serving a day of those three types of soy.
However… and this is going to sound like a complete contradiction to everything above, but I know how hard it is to not eat grains. So… after two to four weeks you can add:
Quinoa, basmatti rice, wild rice, hummus, peas, pinto beans, lentils, split peas, baked beans, kidney beans, chick peas and navy beans. But… they can only be eaten with dinner. (This is a general approach and not specific to each patient.)
What you should do is have a fresh salad or other raw greens first. Followed by a cooked vegetable with a serving of quality meat. Then you can have any of the grains or beans from the above list as a desert. By doing so the fiber from the fresh vegetables and the protein and fat from the meat helps bind the carbs in the grains preventing a blood sugar spike that will feed yeast anywhere in the body.
Please be aware that the best diet does not include any grains.
The Bottom Line…the sugar from grains no matter how “whole” feeds Candida yeast and destroys your immune system, plain and simple.
You can learn more about Dan Jackowiak and his work at yeastinfectionadvisor.com
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