Showing posts with label finding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finding. Show all posts
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Understanding Candida Finding A Healthy Balance
Today Id like to address Candida, a topic I see bandied about on many raw food blogs and forums. But first, a story. So grab yourself a green smoothie, get comfortable, and gather round.
Once Upon a Time...
It was pretty much always assumed in my family that I would enter into medicine. From the time I was a wee one, anytime I was asked, "What are you going to be when you grow up?" my response was always: A cowgirl and a healer. (Although sometimes I would say, An archeologist.)
After completing my undergrad, I went to work for a large health care system. And rather quickly became disenchanted with allopathic medicine. Surprise.
Enter Hanna Kroeger. Hanna was a 74-year-old spitfire with sparkly eyes and a German accent. She was a master herbalist and a healer, in every sense of the word. Someone had brought her into town and I attended her all-day workshop. She would become my teacher as I traveled back and forth to her Peaceful Meadow Retreat in Boulder, Colorado for further study.
Hanna believed and taught that we are ultimately responsible for our own health and that we each have the ability to heal ourselves given the right tools. I still refer to a number of her books regularly — God Helps Those Who Help Themselves, Ageless Remedies From Mothers Kitchen, Instant Herbal Locator, Heal Your Life With Home Remedies & Herbs. Each one a treasure, if you can get your hands on a copy.
Meeting Hanna was the beginning of a journey that would eventually lead me to study traditional healing methods with indigenous elders on four different continents over a period of twelve years.
Quite an unconventional life path. I guess you could say I grew up to become a cowgirl, an archeologist and a healer. *wink*
So Lets Talk Candida
Candida albicans is a fungus and its present in everybody. In small amounts its harmless, but when its growth increases drastically it can be devastating. The imbalance of excess candida is called candidaisis and its an epidemic in our very SAD (Standard American Diet) culture. Sadly, it often goes unrecognized and untreated.
Candidaisis may be one of the primary causes of ill health and obesity today. It creates a rapidly downward health spiral as it becomes prevalent in the body.
The candida fungus releases wastes into the bloodstream that have a profound effect on both the nervous system and immune system. Common symptoms and complaints include:
- cravings for sweets, alcoholic beverages, carbohydrates
- excessive allergies
- skin rashes
- chronic acne
- vaginal infections
- depression
- food sensitivities
- exhaustion
- headaches
- irritability
- memory loss
- obesity or excessive weight loss
- gas and bloating
- diarrhea or constipation
- tender, swollen breasts
- earaches
- numbness
- multiple chemical sensitivities
- PMS
- leaky gut syndrome
Balancing Act
In a healthy body, the friendly bacteria in the intestines compete against fungi to maintain a healthy balance. Antibiotics, birth control pills, cortisone and foods containing antibiotics – factory farmed meat, poultry, dairy – kill the bacteria population, upsetting the balance and allowing the candida to grow unopposed.
Unfortunately, the typical medical approach to alleviating many of the complaints listed above usually begins with administering more antibiotics, which just makes matters worse.
If any of those symptoms I listed are jumping out at you, you feel addicted to sugar, crave breads or other carbohydrates, chances are youre being affected by candida and it would behoove you to modify your diet.
Sorry to say, candida and fungi thrive on sugar, carbs and fermented foods. So, while trying to cleanse the body, its best to avoid:
- Sugars
- Beer and wine
- Vinegar
- Pickles
- Cheese
- Mushrooms
- Bread
- Coffee
- Dairy products (contain lactose, a milk sugar)
- Acid-forming foods (fungi thrive in an acidic environment)
This change in diet is not simple. Cravings for sugar and carbs are extremely strong in someone with candida overgrowth, and may overpower any controlled approach to eating. This is why when folks write me to say that they "are addicted to cooked foods" and "keep falling off the raw wagon," I tell them that you have to eliminate the refined and processed foods from your diet first.
Youre probably thinking, "So what can I eat?" Foods to include are:
- Fresh vegetables (raw or lightly steamed)
- Leafy greens
- Sea vegetables
- Unprocessed, cold-pressed oils
- Coconut water
- Raw almonds
For you omnivores:
- Wild-caught fish
- Eggs, lean meats and poultry (free of antibiotics and growth hormones)
After a few weeks or so, you may slowly add fresh fruits to your diet. Fruits must be eaten alone and on an empty stomach. You can also add in whole grains like brown rice, millet, amaranth, and yeast-free breads.
To have a successful candida cleanse, its important to cleanse first and then rebuild healthy flora. Trying to rid the body of fungus and rebuild flora at the same time is counter productive because the bacteria do not stand a chance in the acidic environment the fungi create and the fungi just feed off the bacteria.
Its best to reintroduce and build healthy flora immediately after cleansing. There should be no gap between cleansing and rebuilding, otherwise the candida is likely to come back. One of the best ways you can rebuild healthy bacteria is by eating raw cultured vegetables – and lots of them. I talk about their benefits and how to make them here.
Helpful Herbs
Hanna Kroeger began working on candida in the early seventies, before anyone else acknowledged the issue. Her approach, as with all of her work, stemmed from hands-on experience with many thousands of people.
Realizing that fungi thrive in an acidic environment, Hannas herbal formulations employ the use of bitter herbs to stimulate the production of bile and neutralize the acidity of the digestive system. She also liked to use blood purifying herbs to help clear the blood of toxins from fungi and candida. Hanna felt that it was important to supplement probiotics after cleansing to rebuild flora in the intestines to rebalance the body.
The Kroeger Herb® Candida Kit contains two bottles of Candida Formula #1™ (condurango bark, red clover, yellow dock), two bottles of Candida Formula #2™ (tansy, clay, milkweed, cramp bark, goldenseal leaf, blessed thistle), and one bottle of Taurin Dolphilus™ (acidolphilus, taurine). The Candida Kit addresses candida overgrowth by first cleansing the candida for four weeks to create an environment suitable to rebuilding the friendly bacteria, which keeps candida under control.
A Giveaway!
The lovely folks at Kroeger Herb® have graciously offered to send a Candida Kit to one TWO lucky readers of In The Raw.
So, heres the scoop:
You have until Midnight Sunday (EST), February 28th, to enter. Ill employ Mr. Random Number Generator to choose two winners and Ill announce those fortuitous folks here on Monday.
All you have to do is:
1. Visit Hannas Herb Shop, browse through the many articles listed until you find a topic of interest. Leave a comment on this post, telling me something youve learned. Simple. (Note: if you receive In The Raw by email, please do not respond to me via email. You must leave a comment on this post or your entry will not be counted.)
Extra Entries: If youd like to increase your chances of winning, please leave a separate comment for each extra entry. (If you do not leave a separate comment for each entry, Mr. Random Number Generator will not count you. Hes funny that way.)
2. Follow me on Twitter AND tweet the giveaway with a link to this post (please include your Twitter ID in the comment). You may tweet once each day from now until midnight Sunday, so thats actually 5 additional entries! You may snag these tweets if you like:
- Craving Sugar & Carbs? You May Have Candida - http://twurl.nl/pyvfjk - Win a Kroeger Herb Candida Kit from @rawliving
- Understanding Candida: Finding a Healthy Balance - http://twurl.nl/pyvfjk - Win a Kroeger Herb Candida Kit
- Woot! @HannasHerbShop & @rawliving are teaming up to fight Candida ➤ Win a Kroeger Herb Candida Kit:http://twurl.nl/pyvfjk
3. Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post (please leave the link to your blog post in the comment).
Thanks for entering and good luck!
UPDATED 3-1-10: This giveaway is now closed.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
LIGHT PRODUCTS DIETARY LIGHTWEIGHT 4 TACTICS FOR FINDING
They fill our stores, these foods that are supposed to lose weight: lighter in sugar, cholesterol-free, low-fat, light, dietary ...
But when you do diet, it is not always advisable to rely on manufacturers promise.
4 tactics to find the diet products you need!
Diet products: a definition
A lightweight product, which can also be called light or diet, it is (for consumers) a product that will bring fewer calories than the "traditional" equivalent. This effect is generally obtained by reducing the amount of fat and / or sugar contained in the food.
These products are useful as part of a diet for weight loss. They make it possible to vary the diet, even when counting calories or "points" Weight Watchers, continue to consume foods that, in their non-streamlined shape, might unbalance the whole day.
Manufacturers are well aware of this interest in diet products, and they therefore offer a very wide range in supermarkets.
Still need to know choose them!
Indeed, it is not because a product on its packaging with the "poor", "light" or "lite" it is always good for your health, or even effective as part of a diet ! What happens next?
Four tips to choose their diet products
1) Choosing the allegation
Today, nutrition claims (the "promises" made on food packages) that manufacturers have the right to label their products are very well regulated. But there are many, this can create confusion. So make sorting ...
For example, we can boast a product that has a "low in saturated fat." It is good for health because saturated fats have a detrimental effect on our heart and vessels.
But this is not the same as a product with low fat ... at all. To give an exaggerated example, rapeseed oil contains very little saturated fat; it does not mean that without moderation will help you lose weight!
2) Counting calories
In the end, to lose weight, spend more energy that it consumes remains the simplest of solutions. And while counting calories is not a recommended way of life, it is a reflex that remains useful to choose between two versions of a "light" food or lightened. For example, some low-fat yogurts contain as much fat (or more in some cases!) Sugar than their normal counterparts. Consequence: the calories down, but ultimately very little compared to a low fat yogurt and sugar ...
Beware though, the number of calories is often given for a certain amount of product.
Remember to fit your personal consumption: If ice offers only 100 calories for a ball, for example, remember that you will probably take two or three more for dessert!
3) Never settle ahead of the pack
Always return the package and check the label.
It offers indeed indispensable elements when seeking to alleviate its food. The number of calories, of course, but also the nutritional composition which provides information on the presence (or not) with valuable nutrients such as protein, fiber or vitamins.
The label will also allow you to avoid foods that contain harmful additives - wanting to lose weight does not stop to take care of your health!
4) Do not sacrifice taste
Certainly, a lightweight product allows you to enjoy food without drive up the balance-calories for the day. But be careful to maintain a sense of pleasure and satisfaction.
If you have a craving for cheese and lighter than that does not taste you are looking for, frustration will await you. And it is, as everyone knows, mother of meltdowns ...
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Understanding Candida Finding A Healthy Balance
Today Id like to address Candida, a topic I see bandied about on many raw food blogs and forums. But first, a story. So grab yourself a green smoothie, get comfortable, and gather round.
Once Upon a Time...
It was pretty much always assumed in my family that I would enter into medicine. From the time I was a wee one, anytime I was asked, "What are you going to be when you grow up?" my response was always: A cowgirl and a healer. (Although sometimes I would say, An archeologist.)
After completing my undergrad, I went to work for a large health care system. And rather quickly became disenchanted with allopathic medicine. Surprise.
Enter Hanna Kroeger. Hanna was a 74-year-old spitfire with sparkly eyes and a German accent. She was a master herbalist and a healer, in every sense of the word. Someone had brought her into town and I attended her all-day workshop. She would become my teacher as I traveled back and forth to her Peaceful Meadow Retreat in Boulder, Colorado for further study.
Hanna believed and taught that we are ultimately responsible for our own health and that we each have the ability to heal ourselves given the right tools. I still refer to a number of her books regularly — God Helps Those Who Help Themselves, Ageless Remedies From Mothers Kitchen, Instant Herbal Locator, Heal Your Life With Home Remedies & Herbs. Each one a treasure, if you can get your hands on a copy.
Meeting Hanna was the beginning of a journey that would eventually lead me to study traditional healing methods with indigenous elders on four different continents over a period of twelve years.
Quite an unconventional life path. I guess you could say I grew up to become a cowgirl, an archeologist and a healer. *wink*
So Lets Talk Candida
Candida albicans is a fungus and its present in everybody. In small amounts its harmless, but when its growth increases drastically it can be devastating. The imbalance of excess candida is called candidaisis and its an epidemic in our very SAD (Standard American Diet) culture. Sadly, it often goes unrecognized and untreated.
Candidaisis may be one of the primary causes of ill health and obesity today. It creates a rapidly downward health spiral as it becomes prevalent in the body.
The candida fungus releases wastes into the bloodstream that have a profound effect on both the nervous system and immune system. Common symptoms and complaints include:
- cravings for sweets, alcoholic beverages, carbohydrates
- excessive allergies
- skin rashes
- chronic acne
- vaginal infections
- depression
- food sensitivities
- exhaustion
- headaches
- irritability
- memory loss
- obesity or excessive weight loss
- gas and bloating
- diarrhea or constipation
- tender, swollen breasts
- earaches
- numbness
- multiple chemical sensitivities
- PMS
- leaky gut syndrome
Balancing Act
In a healthy body, the friendly bacteria in the intestines compete against fungi to maintain a healthy balance. Antibiotics, birth control pills, cortisone and foods containing antibiotics – factory farmed meat, poultry, dairy – kill the bacteria population, upsetting the balance and allowing the candida to grow unopposed.
Unfortunately, the typical medical approach to alleviating many of the complaints listed above usually begins with administering more antibiotics, which just makes matters worse.
If any of those symptoms I listed are jumping out at you, you feel addicted to sugar, crave breads or other carbohydrates, chances are youre being affected by candida and it would behoove you to modify your diet.
Sorry to say, candida and fungi thrive on sugar, carbs and fermented foods. So, while trying to cleanse the body, its best to avoid:
- Sugars
- Beer and wine
- Vinegar
- Pickles
- Cheese
- Mushrooms
- Bread
- Coffee
- Dairy products (contain lactose, a milk sugar)
- Acid-forming foods (fungi thrive in an acidic environment)
This change in diet is not simple. Cravings for sugar and carbs are extremely strong in someone with candida overgrowth, and may overpower any controlled approach to eating. This is why when folks write me to say that they "are addicted to cooked foods" and "keep falling off the raw wagon," I tell them that you have to eliminate the refined and processed foods from your diet first.
Youre probably thinking, "So what can I eat?" Foods to include are:
- Fresh vegetables (raw or lightly steamed)
- Leafy greens
- Sea vegetables
- Unprocessed, cold-pressed oils
- Coconut water
- Raw almonds
For you omnivores:
- Wild-caught fish
- Eggs, lean meats and poultry (free of antibiotics and growth hormones)
After a few weeks or so, you may slowly add fresh fruits to your diet. Fruits must be eaten alone and on an empty stomach. You can also add in whole grains like brown rice, millet, amaranth, and yeast-free breads.
To have a successful candida cleanse, its important to cleanse first and then rebuild healthy flora. Trying to rid the body of fungus and rebuild flora at the same time is counter productive because the bacteria do not stand a chance in the acidic environment the fungi create and the fungi just feed off the bacteria.
Its best to reintroduce and build healthy flora immediately after cleansing. There should be no gap between cleansing and rebuilding, otherwise the candida is likely to come back. One of the best ways you can rebuild healthy bacteria is by eating raw cultured vegetables – and lots of them. I talk about their benefits and how to make them here.
Helpful Herbs
Hanna Kroeger began working on candida in the early seventies, before anyone else acknowledged the issue. Her approach, as with all of her work, stemmed from hands-on experience with many thousands of people.
Realizing that fungi thrive in an acidic environment, Hannas herbal formulations employ the use of bitter herbs to stimulate the production of bile and neutralize the acidity of the digestive system. She also liked to use blood purifying herbs to help clear the blood of toxins from fungi and candida. Hanna felt that it was important to supplement probiotics after cleansing to rebuild flora in the intestines to rebalance the body.
The Kroeger Herb® Candida Kit contains two bottles of Candida Formula #1™ (condurango bark, red clover, yellow dock), two bottles of Candida Formula #2™ (tansy, clay, milkweed, cramp bark, goldenseal leaf, blessed thistle), and one bottle of Taurin Dolphilus™ (acidolphilus, taurine). The Candida Kit addresses candida overgrowth by first cleansing the candida for four weeks to create an environment suitable to rebuilding the friendly bacteria, which keeps candida under control.
A Giveaway!
The lovely folks at Kroeger Herb® have graciously offered to send a Candida Kit to one TWO lucky readers of In The Raw.
So, heres the scoop:
You have until Midnight Sunday (EST), February 28th, to enter. Ill employ Mr. Random Number Generator to choose two winners and Ill announce those fortuitous folks here on Monday.
All you have to do is:
1. Visit Hannas Herb Shop, browse through the many articles listed until you find a topic of interest. Leave a comment on this post, telling me something youve learned. Simple. (Note: if you receive In The Raw by email, please do not respond to me via email. You must leave a comment on this post or your entry will not be counted.)
Extra Entries: If youd like to increase your chances of winning, please leave a separate comment for each extra entry. (If you do not leave a separate comment for each entry, Mr. Random Number Generator will not count you. Hes funny that way.)
2. Follow me on Twitter AND tweet the giveaway with a link to this post (please include your Twitter ID in the comment). You may tweet once each day from now until midnight Sunday, so thats actually 5 additional entries! You may snag these tweets if you like:
- Craving Sugar & Carbs? You May Have Candida - http://twurl.nl/pyvfjk - Win a Kroeger Herb Candida Kit from @rawliving
- Understanding Candida: Finding a Healthy Balance - http://twurl.nl/pyvfjk - Win a Kroeger Herb Candida Kit
- Woot! @HannasHerbShop & @rawliving are teaming up to fight Candida ➤ Win a Kroeger Herb Candida Kit:http://twurl.nl/pyvfjk
3. Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post (please leave the link to your blog post in the comment).
Thanks for entering and good luck!
UPDATED 3-1-10: This giveaway is now closed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)