YEAST & WEIGHT

Marmite! Beer! Bread!

This article is informed by the writings of Dr. Carolyn Dean is a recognized authority in both conventional and alternative medicine.

Yeast and Weight

It is a medical fact that a fungus living in our intestines that produces 180 chemical toxins capable of making you feel dizzy and fatigued, shutting down your thyroid, throwing your hormones off balance, and causing you to crave sugar and alcohol, all of which make you put on weight. Can you believe me? You probably do not. Few doctors have realised the extent of damage caused by yeast overgrowth but the above scenario is all too true and teh medical evidence is overwhelming.

To the great detriment of the health of many of us and to our society, this fungus does exist and it is growing rampant in a large proportion of the population –mostly women. It is one of the acquired diseases of modern life due to a culmination of the side effects of our way of life. The list of chronic diseases that stand side by side in acquired diseases is getting longer and longer: heart disease, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, auto immune disease, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Chronic yeast overgrowth not only worsens all the above conditions but it is in a whole disease category by itself.

The over- use of antibiotics has seen its downside because many of the hospital-acquired diseases like clostridium difficile is now a well-established fact that has to be addressed, when hospital statistics are reviewed. My late aunt, a retired physician was an unfortunate recipient of this bug on three occasions, whilst being hospitalized, so I have first hand and professional knowledge. Therefore, I know all about the reality that hits, when patients go into hospital for something minor and end up dying from medical neglect. Over-using antibiotics and inadequate steps being taken to ensure that patients are not cross infected is a fact of life in all hospitals today, where strenuous steps are either taken or not, depending on the institution, to avoid the serious consequences.

Antibiotic use can also very often cause an overgrowth of yeast. We have all had to take antibiotics sometimes, but we need to be vigilant about the long-term risks. The refining of sugar and wheat has its downside also by creating a simple food source for yeast, which thrives on wheat, wines, and sugars. The tremendous levels of stress hormones that flood our bodies daily, hourly, and every minute in our sped up, makes us prey to yeast also. It is a simple fact, that women, can experience hormonal fluctuations. It is also a fact that women on hormones suffer mood alterations also. With a surge in use of hormone birth control, and IVF, it is not unusual to see patients with skin disorders like pigmentation and acne, which is rooted in a hormonal and yeast root cause. Many patients that I see, both women and men will have an overgrowth of yeast and will present with symptoms that need addressing. In the case of men, diet, lifestyle and over-production of oestrogen (yes; the guys make our hormone and we make theirs also), causing belly fat and skin disruption. “When the fish are sick; we change the water”, is one of our sayings at the practice. Therefore, as necessary, a yeast detoxification is one of the first steps we take in the individual patient’s Dermaplan.

What is Yeast?

Candidiasis (yeast overgrowth) is nothing new; it has been around for decades, ever since we began to use antibiotics in our society. Yeast itself, a cousin to molds, has grown in human bodies since Adam and Eve. Candida albicans is the main yeast in the human body. It lives there happily enough, kept in check by beneficial bacteria in the intestines. These bacteria make vitamins and help digest excess sugar that gets past the small intestine. A very special group of bacteria make lactic acid, which protects the gut and vagina against yeast.

Candida is one of the 400 organisms that live in the mouth, digestive tract, vagina and on human skin. Most of the time patients do not have any problems with this natural growth. When one begins taking antibiotics however, the whole delicate balance is lost. Antibiotics wipe out most of the good and the bad bacteria leaving yeast unharmed. In the absence of any competition, yeast colonies grow into all the empty nooks and crannies of the large intestine and even the small intestine also. Sugar from our diet feeds yeast and with the special lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria wiped out; there is no more production of lactic acid to protect the delicate intestinal and vaginal tissues from what is in effect then, marauding yeast.

This belly beast, Candida albicans, growing wildly inside our bodies is an epidemic out of control. Most people, if they think of it at all, imagine yeast as just an annoying vaginal infection that a treatment of vaginal cream will cure overnight. Unfortunately, that is just not the case for millions of people, especially women who suffer an astonishing array of health complaints from yeast overgrowth, yeast allergy and a build up of yeast toxins.

Leaky Gut: An Open Door To Our Tissues

It is a scientific fact that when yeast cells reach a certain critical mass, they change from a round budding stage to a thread-like tissue invasive stage. They are simply running out of food and looking for more. They pack their bags and emigrate from their main home in the large intestine into the small intestine. In the small intestine, the yeast threads poke holes in the intestinal lining. With this superhighway to the blood stream, there is nothing to stop yeast chemical by-products (all 180 of them), undigested food molecules, bacterial toxins, and other chemicals from taking a one-way ride. The holes are not necessarily big enough to allow yeast to get into the blood stream, so there is no blood infection of yeast, just hundreds of waste products that should be flushed down the toilet that end up causing head to toe symptoms and actually leak into the blood. Yes, indeed, leaky gut happens when toxins leak into the blood stream and into body tissue also.

When these toxins hit the blood stream, they trigger widespread inflammatory and allergy reactions. Many of the toxins like aldehyde, alcohol, zymosan, arabinitol, and gliotoxin have been named in evidence-based literature. Those toxins impair the immune system and the central nervous system also. Others block thyroid function, impair female hormones, cause symptoms of PMS, and aggravate menopause. As the research suggests, those have not yet been properly studied. There is a wealth however, of anecdotal evidence, because once the yeast is dealt with, symptoms subside. Inflammation or Silent Inflammation as it is generally referred to, is now seen as the underlying cause of almost every known disease. It is prevalent in heart disease, bowel disease, inflammatory arthritic conditions, and autoimmune disease. It is also intimately involved with weight gain, fatigue, allergies, asthma, headaches, irritability, and dozens of other health complaints. Generally, wellness and a neutralized approach to what is called internal wellness is greatly advised. (See Information on Silent Inflammation).

There are a number of questions that we advise patients to be asked as part of their wellness, anti-ageing or skin assessment.

1. Have you taken several courses of antibiotics in the past?

2. Have you been on the birth control pill?

3. Do you react to the smell of damp mouldy places?

4. Do you crave sugar and bread?

5. Do you feel drained to the point of exhaustion?

6. Do you have symptoms of intestinal gas, bloating, and cramping (IBS)?

7. Are you troubled by constant vaginal infections?

8. Are you bothered by itchy burning eyes?

Yeast and Belly Fat

What does belly fat have in common with beef cattle? The answer is; antibiotics! These drugs are liberally used in the beef industry for the specific purpose of “beefing up” cattle. They can also be widely used in the “production” of chickens, hens and dairy products! It is little recognized that antibiotics can do the same beefing up of humans! For example, yeast can contribute pounds of fluid retention in an attempt by the body to dilute the toxins that yeast produces. Over time, in both cattle and people, tissue toxins and fluid build up lead to cellulite and is one of the reasons that people suffer weight gain.

Belly fat is more than just fat. Yeast causes abdominal bloating that can add an extra 5-7 inches that seems to appear out of nowhere. This can be devastating for someone who is on a diet and trying to lose weight in order to lose inches. I always feel sorry for people in boot camps on television, when an ex SAS exercise guru, endeavouring to help an over-weight person to shed those pounds, yells abusive “facts” in the unfortunate fat subject’s face. If a woman says she has only been eating 1,000 calories, a day for a week yet still gained weight some doctors tends to think she is not being truthful. If most of her diet is carbohydrates and sugar, she may very well be growing yeast. Yeast loves sugar and carbs. As a result, this kind of diet will create a toxic build up and fluid retention to dilute the toxins. It is a completely new way of looking at weight gain, but it is a scientific fact that has gained a lot of ground over the last ten years.

Besides bloating and toxic fluid build up, yeast can decrease thyroid function and lead to lowered metabolism, which is a well-known cause of weight gain. Some yeast toxins can block hormone receptors and block hormone action. Hypothyroidism and PMS can be the direct result of yeast overgrowth. The conditions in addition to diabetes and heart disease, are on the increase in the general population, so we need to be addressing the root cause not just in medical practice, but in anti-ageing and beauty practices also.

When you crave carbs and give into those cravings, you will also experience weight gain as the carbs turn into fat cells. Those food cravings that we think are just a lack of will power can actually be caused by the yeast clamouring for their favourite food.

Yeast overgrowth also causes the immune system to overwork trying to deal with the toxic overload. This places chronic stress on the adrenal glands, which raises cortisol levels. One thing we know about cortisol is that you cannot lose weight when your levels are elevated due to chronic stress. That is because the body perceives stress as an emergency and the worst emergency for the body is starvation. As a result, the body never gives in to giving up an ounce of stored fat that it is programmed to believe it might need!

What’s the Cure?

Unfortunately, the answer does not lie in a pill as many have found out when they go to their doctor. Even if the doctor does recognise yeast overgrowth, and many regretfully don’t keep up, and fail to recognise it, the most common treatment recommended is a week or two or antifungal medications. I would be concerned about taking fluoride compounds like Diflucan, the most well known antifungal medication. Doctors however, are often far too dependent on prescriptive medicines and do not understand that yeast over growth requires a 6-Point Yeast Free Eating Plan. Information on this programme is available from us at Plastic Surgery Associates UK and follows in abbreviated form.

• Diet: avoid any kind of sugar, wheat and dairy as well as fermented foods like Marmite and all alcohol.
• Probiotics (good bacteria): the best ones are acidophilus and bifidus. Obtain products that guarantee 2-10 billion organisms per capsule. They are all available from us also.
• Antifungal supplements: garlic (eat one or preferably two cloves a day chopped with lemon juice and olive oil), oil of oregano (take 2-3 capsules per day) and grapefruit seed extract (take two to three capsules per day) or take a formula that also includes caprylic acid, Pau D’Arco, black walnut, beta carotene, and biotin.
• Exercise to move the lymph circulation that clears toxins from the body. A Fast walk daily will even do.
• Stress release activities reduce the amount of natural cortisol that creates yeast overgrowth.

It is only through diet and lifestyle change that people can overcome yeast overgrowth—but they do overcome it. You can be sure that once you detox, you will feel so much better. The bloating will cease, the sugar cravings and mood swings, will diminish completely, the bad skin will be resolved.