In the blink of an eye (seriously, it was like 4 months), Shea is transitioning to the Primary room at her Montessori. Her teachers starting talking about her readiness to transition a few weeks ago and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Yes, I knew this day was coming…but she’s not even 3 yet. Having her last stop before kindergarten set in stone was an emotional wrecking ball for me. There were quite literally tears on my way to work and more so than any other “milestone” to date, this is the one that has me craving her to just STOP. GROWING. UP.
So on Monday morning, she will be in a Primary room that does not nap. She will be marked “tardy” if she arrives past 8:10am (WHAT?) and she’s going to be learning alongside kids twice her age – the room is 3 to 6-year-olds. It’s so bittersweet.
With this transition, the Shea-isms are free-flowing. A few that come to mind…
As I was strapping Shea in her car seat, heading home for the day, I asked her if she had napped that day at daycare. “Nope,” she said. “I’m getting too big for naps.” She was totally serious and proceeded to then pop her thumb in her mouth and bat her gorgeous, long, dark eyelashes for just a split second. This girl… <3
I’ve been asking her if she’s my baby lately. I am promptly told, “NO. I’m a big girl. I’m going to Primary.” And with that, “I’m getting too big for diapers” (she’s potty trained but wears them at nap and bedtime).
My most favorite funny was just last night. She was goofing off and I said jokingly, “You turkey!” She looked at me and with a very serious look informed me, “I’m not food!” I roared.
I’m so glad she still sucks her thumb, asks to cuddle, and needs help getting dressed and putting on her shoes. My BABY is growing up so fast and it’s really tough and at the same time, so, so wonderful to see her soar.
On a completely unrelated note, I’ve been motivated by my amazing team to add resistance training into my workout regimen. I’m ashamed to say I have done NO resistance training since before Shea was born and that is sad, pathetic, and not okay! I have been committed to running, tennis, and hockey, but I lack strength, toning, and flexibility. I was introduced to Shelly Dose workouts and she’s awesome! I’ve been aiming for 2 per week and the nice part is she offers workouts that are super short, or up to an hour…and everything in between. It’s been a fun and challenging addition to my workout regimen and I encourage anyone who might benefit from HIIT or resistance training to check her out!
I was also encouraged to check out Millionare Hoy – but this workout had me nearly stroking out after 5 minutes and I quickly resorted back to Shelly
Have a great weekend – we’re celebrating lots of birthday and have the whole family in to celebrate!
Be well,
from Prevention RD http://preventionrd.com/2017/09/family-friday-vol-57-transitions-and-youtube-workouts/
via Heart Based Marketing
Worldwide, nearly one out of every hundred children is born with a congenital heart disease, which can vary from defective vessels and leaky valves, to holes in the heart. Dr. Franz Freudenthal (TED Talk: A new way to heal hearts without surgery) deals in the latter as a pediatric cardiologist who has developed a better, invasive surgery-free alternative to close these life-threatening cavities.
So, when a baby is born with a hole in its heart, what happens and how do you fix it?
For a hole in the heart to develop, prematurity and genetic conditions tend to be the leading cause. A baby in the womb does not breathe and relies on the mother until it takes first breaths at birth, which signals major changes to take place in the body — especially within the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Breathing, a new experience for the baby, stimulates some vessels in the heart to close. However, this is not always the case, and abnormal communication between atria can leave passages underdeveloped and gaping.
“When you look at patients with this condition, they seem desperate to breathe,” says Freudenthal. “To close the hole, major surgery used to be the only solution.”
Decades of research reveals that lack of oxygen can also be to blame. In high-altitude locations where air is thin, such as the mountainous regions of Freudenthal’s native Bolivia, the frequency of this kind of heart defect increases dramatically. For high-altitude patients, the holes tend to be more severe due to a larger gap between arteries.
The first of many breakthroughs for a non-invasive mechanism to solve these kinds of heart defects came to Freudenthal during his time in medical school, brainstorming with a classmate while they camped in the Amazon. As they were building their fire, adding kindling to feed the flames, he noticed something that piqued his scientific curiosity.
“The only thing that would not burn in the fire was a green avocado branch,” he says. “Then came a moment of inspiration. So, we used the branch as a mold for our first invention.”
Filling hearts, one hole at a time
Observing the properties of the green avocado branch as it reacted to the flames was a great place to start. The fact that the branch withstood the heat of the fire allowed Freudenthal to look for a metal that could replicate its properties under similar conditions. He eventually landed on a smart material called Nitinol. Made of a nickel-titanium alloy, Nitinol has two unique properties that are incredibly useful in biomedical applications: It can be worked into unique shapes and retain them; and it’s superelastic, meaning that when it’s stretched or flattened, it needs no heating in order to regain its original form.
“I knew this material was ideal since it keeps its shape,” he says. “This is why the device can be transported into the body inside a tube [implantation catheter]. It can be deployed in the right spot inside the heart, recovering its ‘memorized’ shape.”
From that discovery came thousands of hours of lab work, numerous in-vitro and in-vivo studies, and a persistent enthusiasm to unravel such a complex issue. It was a lengthy, demanding process on the road to creating a prototype, a specialized piece of wire coiled into into the shape of a plug that could be be transferred through a catheter to wherever in the heart it is needed, neatly plugging the hole.
However, an issue arose when Freudenthal and Dr. Alexandra Heath, his wife and partner, realized the device could only service patients below a certain altitude level. Many of their patients lived at 12,000 feet above sea level and had extra-wide gaps in their arteries — larger than the plug of coiled-up wire could cover.
“The first coil could successfully treat only half of the patients in Bolivia,” Freudenthal says. “The search started again. We went back to the drawing board.”
The next generation of device, influenced by past generations
After many trials and several iterations, a key development came from an unlikely source — the loom-weaving technique of the native Andes peoples. Freudenthal’s grandmother, Dr. Ruth Tichauer, a Jewish refugee who resettled in the heart of the Andes mountains, had worked closely — and Freudenthal alongside her, growing up — with remote indigenous communities, and that connection proved ever more fruitful.
For centuries, the women of these communities told stories by weaving complex patterns using looms. With Freudenthal’s vision, instead of fabric yarn, the women carefully weave Nitinol.
“We take this traditional method of weaving and make a design,” Freudenthal says. “The weaving allows us to create a seamless device that doesn’t rust because it’s made of only one piece. It can change by itself into very complex structures.”
From this insight evolved the Nit-Occlud ASD-R system and a way to fix a baby’s heart without major invasive surgery.
As seen above, the device enters the heart through the body’s natural channels via the implantation catheter and expands, placing itself before closing the hole. From start to finish, the entire procedure takes 30 minutes to complete.
After a few days, heart tissue begins to grow over the device — a process called epithelialization — eventually covering it entirely. If the hole is not too large to warrant further surgery, the implant stays as part of the child’s heart for the rest of their life.
“We are so proud that some of our former patients are part of our team,” Freudenthal shares. “We receive strength from our patients — their resilience and courage inspire our creativity.”
Right now, Freudenthal’s company PFM SRL has the Nit-Occlud ASD-R system registered in around 60 countries and estimates it has saved the lives of some 2,500 children.
from TED Blog https://blog.ted.com/healing-hearts-at-the-intersection-of-modern-medicine-and-indigenous-culture/
via Sol Danmeri
Procrastination is a Practice Ground for Life Mastery – I love this reframe. Procrastination is really about avoiding discomfort, but embracing discomfort is the way out of most of your problems. Practice makes perfect. (Zen Habits)
Brain cells that control appetite identified for first time – Super interesting. Two specific amino acids, lysine and arginine (broken down from proteins you eat), are directly detected by satiety neurons in the brain. I predict the tanycyte diet is around the corner. (ScienceDaily)
Vision and Hearing Loss Are Tied to Cognitive Decline – I’ve been seeing more data recently that maintaining adequate vision and hearing (by making sure your glasses and hearing devices are in good working order) is critical to maintaining cognitive (and therefore overall) health. (NY Times)
Our weight tells how we assess food – This article doesn’t explain this very well, but I find the idea fascinating as it may one day help provide strategies for people to adopt a mindset of healthier living. (ScienceDaily)
How Exercise Might Increase Your Self-Control – Again, there isn’t ton to work with here (super small study), but anecdotally many people have told me that their exercise habit is a cornerstone to adopting other healthy habits in their lives. (NY Times)
from Summer Tomato http://www.summertomato.com/for-the-love-of-food-exercise-more-to-maintain-weight-in-middle-age-the-secret-to-getting-motivated-and-how-lysine-and-arginine-increase-satiety
via Holistic Clients
Core strength goes way beyond six pack abs and endless crunches. It’s time to think outside the box.
In this post I’m sharing five simple – though challenging – core strengthening moves to build stability and balance.
Sprinkle these exercises into your weekly fitness routine, and watch your core strength skyrocket*.
Oh, and you’ll never have to do a single crunch.
Here’s a preview:
Why Core Strength Matters
First – let’s get this out of the way up front – having a strong core (trunk) is way more important – and functional – than just having a ripped six pack.
A strong core includes your back, glutes, and abdominal muscles, both deep and superficial.
What we typically think of as the six pack – the rectus abodiminus – is only one muscle involved in core strength, and it’s located on the very surface.
Building a strong trunk – one that’s capable of helping you maintain good sitting and standing posture – requires that you go deeper and start thinking of your back and butt, too.
And if you want to add fitness or sport on top of your normal routine, core strength is even more critical.
It makes for better core-to-extremity power transfer, like what you need when doing a clean & jerk, jumping for a layup, or swinging a kettlebell.
And it ensures that your posture stays stable and your spine keeps its integrity as you move through ranges of motion with your bodyweight or an external load.
What Not to Do When You Want a Strong Core
So now that you know why a strong core matters, let’s talk about what not to do.
Everyone’s go-to moves for this is either the sit-up or its more “modern” counterpart, the crunch.
First, the tendency is to yank on your head and strain your neck in these movements. Not good.
Endless sit-ups and crunches won’t effectively work your back or glutes, and now you know that those are key to core strength, too.
Involve your trunk muscles in as many compound movements as you can to take advantage of stability building potential, not just building rounder muscle bellies.
Second, many people’s daily lives of sitting, hunching, and otherwise poor posture means that working your core strength only every so often isn’t enough.
Don’t make the mistake of doing core work once a month, then wondering why your back is chronically sore.
Finally, avoiding core work because of injury past and present isn’t necessarily going to fix your problems and result in less pain.
Yes, listen to your health care practitioner and do your rehab. But if you’re outside of acute care, there are still ways to build core strength that won’t aggravate your injuries. Find a good movement specialist who can help you get back on track.
5 Moves to Build Core Strength
With the above in mind, I’m going to describe the five core strengtheners shown in the video above.
(These moves are just scratching the surface of what’s possible!)
There are ways to scale each move up or down, and though you want to challenge yourself, you don’t want it to be so hard that you can’t maintain good form.
Lie down with your back on the floor. Draw your abdominals in and tuck your ribs down. (Don’t allow your ribs to flare out.)
Extend your arms over your head and with your legs out in front of you, point your toes. Raise your arms and legs slightly off the floor.
The goal is to feel like one solid, rigid, concave shape and not to break the posture.
Start with 15 second intervals and go up from there.
Make it harder: Hollow Rocks
Get into the hollow hold and add a gentle rock forward and backward.
Keep the hollow shape throughout. If you can’t maintain it while rocking, go back down to hollow holds.
Bird Dog
The bird dog move is so great for people with back issues and folks looking to build core strength.
This modification works you balance, too!
Get on your hands and knees. Keep your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders.
You should look like a table from the side.
Tighten your abs and keep your pelvis neutral. (This isn’t a cat-cow from yoga!)
Slowly, raise one arm and the opposite leg until both are straight. Lower down. Alternate sides.
Make it harder: Crunch It
Raise one arm and the opposite leg. Then, carefully draw the elbow and knee into your belly.
The goal is to touch the elbow and knee, then lower. This takes so much balance!
Dead Bugs
Lie down with your back on the floor. Draw your abdominals in and tuck your ribs down. (Don’t allow your ribs to flare out.)
Engage your glutes, bring your pelvis to neutral, and push your lower back into the floor.
Raise your arms straight up into the air over your shoulders, reaching, and keeping them engaged.
Keep your legs bent at a 90 degree angle, and raise them up off the floor so your knees are above your hips.
Slowly lower one leg down to the floor – can be straight or bent depending on your level – and bring it back to the starting position.
Don’t let your lower back separate from the floor! Work to actively keep your lower back and abs engaged.
Switch legs.
Make it harder: Straight Legs
Keep your legs straight through the entire movement.
Planks
No discussion about core strength would be complete without planks.
They come in a zillion variations, but the key is this:
Create a solid, rigid plank position with your abs activated and your bum squeezed.
I also crunch my ribs down which is something I don’t often see plankers doing.
Start by popping up onto your elbows, neck neutral, butt in line with the spine – no downward dogs or saggy hips!
Squeeze everything and hold. (Oh, and don’t forget to breathe!)
Make it harder: Straight Arms
Plank up onto straight arms. Or, do side planks.
(Note: Straight arm planks form the foundation of push-ups and pull-ups. Click here to read more.)
Lunge to Balance
This core strength move also challenges balance…and gives you some bonus leg work, too.
Start with a solid standing posture:
Feet under hips.
Abs engaged.
Hips slightly tucked under to neutral.
Ribs crunched down.
From there, lunge forward. On the way back, lift your knee and bring it toward your chest so you’re standing on one leg.
Tighten your whole core and hold it. Return your foot to the starting position.
Repeat by lunging to the side and then to the back.
Make it harder: Speed
Change direction faster!
Put It All Together
Core strength is something to work on regularly, every week.
The super convenient thing for you is that none of these moves require weights, and they can all be done at any gym or in your home.
Aim for one or two of these moves a couple times a week to start.
For the Hollow Holds and Planks:
Start with 15 seconds and build up from there.
Try for 3 to 5 sets and adjust as you go.
For the Bird Dogs, Dead Bugs, and Lunge to Balance:
Start with 3 sets of 8 to 10 per side.
*As always, respect your body and don’t do anything that causes pain. (Some mild discomfort, sweating, and breathing hard is normal.) Consult your doctor or healthcare provider before beginning an exercise program.
Pin this Core Strength Workout for later!
Questions about core strength? Leave them in the comments section below.
This fall, treat your feet to a comfortable pair shoes that look as good as they feel. Shoes, shoes, shoes…here’s our Fit Foodie Favs! There is nothing like a pair of shoes to boost your confidence. Am I right ladies (and gentlemen)? Whether you are looking for a great pair of booties this fall or...
Make meal-prep for breakfast, brunch, or snacks easier by baking your eggs in the oven! Here are 10 different ways you can bake eggs that are healthy, fun, and easy! Eggs. Eggs. EGGS. Linley, here! If you’ve read any other posts of mine on FFF, then you know I am a savory breakfast girl. I...
Throw all of the ingredients for this Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats in your slow cooker. Turn it on, and you’ve got a healthy breakfast ready in no time and with little effort! Dear slow cooker, it has been way too long since you’ve last come out to play. I am so glad...
Fall is here and I am transitioning my wardrobe to match the weather! Today I’m chatting about Things I’m Loving Lately: Madewell Fall 2017. You guys, Madewell has stole my heart and I want to sing it from the mountains. I La la la LOVE Madewell. I’m adulting this fall by focusing on quality over...
Today is one of those whirlwind of a days where your team has put countless hours, time, and passion into a giant project and it’s FINALLY LIVE! What’s even better, is I am with team HGC today in Denver celebrating! Without further adieu, I’d love to introduce you to Healthy Glow Co’s new fitness plan–...
Chili season is upon us! Don’t let any of your delicious chili go to waste, and try one of these 4 ways to use leftover chili. Chili for sure makes my top 5 meals. It’s something I’ve been making for myself since college because it’s so amazing for so many reasons: cheap meal-prep leftovers for days ready in...
These Sriacha Baked Tofu Brown Rice Bowls are high in plant-based protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals and they taste fantastic. With layers of flavour and texture from hot and spicy tofu, edamame, creamy avocado, fresh carrot, chewy brown rice and crunchy black sesame seeds, you’ll love how these delicious ingredients come together. You can eat... Read More The post Sriracha Baked Tofu Brown Rice Bowls appeared first on Running on Real Food.
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from Running on Real Food http://runningonrealfood.com/sriracha-baked-tofu-brown-rice-bowls/
via Enlightened Marketing
Cinnamon is an herb that practically everyone has heard of (and probably has in the kitchen) but many don’t know its many health benefits and uses. It is an ingredient in my favorite oral health products from OraWellness, and with good reason. This pleasant-tasting herb has a long history both in natural medicine and as a culinary...
Three proposed sketches for the backdrop of the TEDGlobal stage, incorporating characters from many different African languages, are shared here by the designer (and a TED speaker himself) Saki Mafundikwa.
TEDGlobal 2017 was an important homecoming to the African continent, and a ton of work went into creating an authentic experience, from the curation of talks to the music to the graphics and stage design. The TED speaker Saki Mafundikwa, a graphic designer, filmmaker, design teacher and founder of the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts, was commissioned to create an aesthetic for the theatre stage that was as elegant as it was culturally and thematically relevant.
Most people who watch the talks online will see Mafundikwa’s abstract fabric designs on fabric drapes over the stage. But it might be that only those who were actually there in the theater will be able to truly appreciate the true stars of the show: giant symbols, beamed down on the floor and sides of the 600-seater with gobos. “TED loved the idea of gobos,” Mafundikwa says. “It’s one of those rare but beautiful moments when, as a designer, you have an idea and the client loves it!”
All around the theater space, characters from African alphabets were projected using gobos. The characters came from many languages, and were chosen by designer Saki Mafundikwa to match the inspiring theme of the conference: Builders. Truth-Tellers. Catalysts. Photo: Bret Hartman / TED
The symbols are not Klingon (obviously). They are alphabets from ancient African writing systems, of which Mafundikwa is a globally recognized expert.
“Some of the symbols are proverbs, like the Adinkra of the Akan people of Ghana. Those were easier to find in keeping with the theme. But others, like Ethiopic, which are syllabaries — each character stands for a syllable — were not so easy.”
These characters come from the Adinkra of the Akan people of Ghana. Saki chose symbols that matched with the conference’s theme.
Not all parts of Africa produced writing systems, Mafundikwa says, so finding a gamut of symbols that were truly representative proved to be a challenge. Nonetheless, he was ultimately able to present symbols that spanned all four hemispheres of the continent.
“In the end, there were two sets of designs: the symbols projected on the auditorium walls and floor and the stage backdrop. Initially, I just went crazy and produced a bunch of ideas and there was quite some back-and-forth until we settled on what you saw in Arusha.”
Keep an eye out for Mafundikwa’s designs onstage and in camera angles during the TEDGlobal 2017 talks, which have already begun to go live. To learn more about Mafundikwa’s work, watch his own TED Talk about the beauty and ingenuity of ancient African alphabet from 2013.
Characters from the Bantu language, from South Africa, create poetic matches to the conference themes — where “goddess of creation” represents truth-tellers, and the character for “bee” represents builders.
Characters from Angola’s Jokwe language and Nigeria’s Nsibidi, at top, and examples of Ethiopic, Wolof (from Senegal) and Somali.
from TED Blog http://blog.ted.com/symbolic-logic-how-african-alphabets-got-to-the-tedglobal-stage/
via Sol Danmeri
We live in a culture that considers drinking raw milk to be strange and dangerous, but injecting the botulism toxin into our skin (Botox) seems to be a perfectly acceptable way to fight wrinkles. Luckily there are natural ways to fight the signs of aging that don’t involve risky procedures. This rosehip seed oil facial...
I know what you’re thinking … meatloaf cupcakes? Have I finally taken it too far?! Granted, frosted meat cupcakes may not sound like a treat, but this recipe takes plain ol’ meat and potatoes and makes them fun and appealing for kids. If you have a picky eater (more on that topic here), you know you need...
Fall is here and I am transitioning my wardrobe to match the weather! Today I’m chatting about Things I’m Loving Lately: Madewell Fall 2017. You guys, Madewell has stole my heart and I want to sing it from the mountains. I La la la LOVE Madewell. I’m adulting this fall by focusing on quality over...
I’ve known about the benefits of mushrooms for some time but hadn’t started regularly incorporating them into my diet until recently. In comes Four Sigmatic. I’d heard about Four Sigmatic through a few of my favourite podcasts and ever since I tried my first Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee, I was hooked. Now I absolutely love... Read More The post What is Mushroom Coffee: Recipes and Benefits appeared first on Running on Real Food.
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from Running on Real Food http://runningonrealfood.com/what-is-mushroom-coffee/
via Enlightened Marketing
[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/thehealthyskeptic/RHR_Candida_Hidden_Epidemic_or_Fad_Diagnosis.mp3" title="RHR: Candida--Hidden Epidemic or Fad Diagnosis?" artist="Chris Kresser" ] Chris Kresser: Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Revolution Health Radio. I'm Chris Kresser, and this week we have a question from Jacquel. I think I'm pronouncing that right, so let's give it a listen. Jacquel: Hi, Chris. I'm an 80-year-old male in Guyana suffering from what I believe to be as a candida. I've been feeling symptoms for at least a year and a half now, but I've noticed some slight symptoms which could be related to candida. My symptoms are an infection in the groin, jock itch, severe fatigue, severe lack of concentration, severe sweets craving. I also noticed one of those in the neck on the right side as well as over the groin, in general, in the lymph nodes. Since I already said I have jock itch in the groin. Well, where I live, my family in this country near South America, Guyana, the diet is mostly, say, Creole, but my family makes a lot of sugary foods, starchy foods, and I had a bad diet during high school. And I think it's going to contribute to what I'm feeling now, but it's been overbearing, like I have some days I can barely walk or even function. So I don't know what to do. And more symptoms I forgot to mention, constipation, upon just smelling gas I'm not sure if it's candida or something else going on. I'm not sure and the doctors in my country, they're not really that good. I went to the doctor for a fungal infection and he gave me antibiotics. I took antibiotics, I vomited, so I stopped taking them. So I don't really know, and I need your insight. I really appreciate it. Chris: Okay. Sorry if you weren't able to make out some of Jacquel’s question. The audio wasn't great, probably because he's dialing in from South America, but here's the gist. He's suffering from a number of symptoms which he suspects may be related to candida and is wondering what to do about it. This turns out to be a controversial and somewhat complicated question. Let's start with the basics. Candida is a genus of yeast that is the most common cause of fungal infections worldwide. A lot of species have candida, like Candida albicans, which is probably the best known that are found in the gut flora and systemic infections of the bloodstream and major organs, which is referred to as candidemia, or invasive candidiasis, particularly in immunocompromised patients, in fact over 90,000 people a year in the U.S. There's nothing controversial about that, that's just a fact. Candidiasis is well established and recognized in conventional medicine. There's really no issue there. However, the idea that that candida can cause a problem in immune-competent people, people without severe immune dysregulation like HIV and AIDS and other things that impact the immune system in a similar way, it is where the controversy comes in.
Overdiagnosis for non-specific symptoms
On the one hand, you have the conventional medical establishment’s perspective, which is that we all have yeast in the digestive tract, which is true, and that candida only really becomes a problem in people with severe immune dysfunction, as I just mentioned. On the other hand, you've got a subset of the alternative medicine world that blames candida for everything and suggests that you don't need anything more than a list of symptoms to diagnose candida infection or a problem, and as I'm sure many listeners will know, back in the ’90s, candida, and maybe into the aughts, candida really was kind of a fad diagnosis that was a label that was thrown on just about any collection of signs and symptoms that hadn't yet been properly diagnosed.
A wide range of symptoms has been blamed on candida—is it a legitimate diagnosis?
But even now, although I think that trend has shifted a bit, we still have articles on popular websites like one that had a headline, “Five signs you may have a candida problem” or something like that. The article begins with the question, “Do you ever experience any of these health issues? Exhaustion, cravings for sweets, bad breath, white coat on the tongue, brain fog, hormone imbalance, joint pain, loss of sex drive, chronic sinus issues, digestive problems, gas and bloating, weak immune system, or UTI.” And then it follows that list with, “If so, these are just some of the signs that you might have candida.” Well, the problem with this, of course, is that it’s not scientific at all. These symptoms are extremely nonspecific, which means they cannot be attributed to only one problem. They could be caused by any number of problems. I can think off the top of my head of about 10 different possible diagnoses that could cause all of the symptoms that are not candida. Candida is a normal resident of the digestive tract. We all have candida in our gut, and that's not abnormal. That's a fact that often eludes a lot of people in the alternative medicine world. And having candida in your gut is not necessarily a problem. It's also true that in many cases, especially where no lab testing is used, candida is overdiagnosed, and the issue there is that it might mask another problem that needs to be addressed. For example, if a patient is convinced they have candida, they may not seek proper attention to get a diagnosis of SIBO, a parasite infection, or more seriously, something like inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, or Crohn’s that would require a different treatment approach than a presumed candida overgrowth. In Functional Medicine, we often say, “test don't guess,” and the reason for that is that getting the correct diagnosis is the starting place for an effective treatment. All of that said I don't agree with the conventional assessment that yeast is only a problem in immunocompromised individuals. Yeast is a normal resident of the GI tract, but that doesn't mean that it can't become overrepresented or imbalanced. The gut flora is an ecosystem, and like all ecosystems, it can get thrown out of whack. Many aspects of the modern lifestyle, like poor diet, excessive antibiotic use, birth via cesarean section, etc., reduce levels of beneficial bacteria in our gut, and that in turn creates a more hospitable environment in which yeast can proliferate. Not surprisingly, several recent studies have highlighted that candida can be a problem even in people without HIV or AIDS or another similar condition.
Small intestinal fungal overgrowth
One was a recent review paper on SIFO, or small intestinal fungal overgrowth. Yes, you did hear that correctly. This is just like SIBO, but instead of overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine, it's an overgrowth of yeast, and for quite a long time I've suggested that some of our patients with SIBO who don't respond to treatment, don't improve with treatment, either their symptoms don't really improve, or their breath test results don't really improve, or neither improves actually may be suffering from SIFO, perhaps in addition to SIBO, or just SIFO is the main underlying problem, and SIBO is kind of a red herring. This review paper looked at two studies that showed that 26 percent in one paper and 25.3 percent in another paper, which are remarkably similar incidents of patients with unexplained GI symptoms, had SIFO. That's pretty substantial. That's a quarter of people with unexplained GI symptoms had SIFO in both of these studies when they tested for it. That means we may be misdiagnosing or missing up to a quarter of patients with gut problems with something else like SIBO or some other gut problem, when the problem is really yeast overgrowth in the small intestine. Another study found that a yeast that is commonly located in the GI tract worsened the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease in mice, and then a third study out of UCSD found that intestinal fungi or yeast can worsen alcoholic liver disease. When you put all this together, it's still pretty preliminary, but these studies do indicate that even normal intestinal yeast can become problematic in certain situations.
Testing for fungal overgrowth
The challenge is that because the conventional paradigm has denied this for so long, we have very few studies to guide us, and the testing is extremely limited. We can use stool testing from specialty labs like Doctor's Data or BioHealth to diagnose fungal overgrowth in stool. There are also urine organic acid markers like d-arabinitol which can detect fungal overgrowth. D-arabinitol is actually used in some settings in hospitals and other settings as a marker for invasive candidiasis, so there's peer-reviewed research behind that. In some cases, testing antibodies against candida in the blood can be helpful, but the problem there is that those antibodies don't tell you whether there is a current problem or whether it's just picking up on a past problem. The stool testing and the urine testing, I think, can be helpful, but they have issues as well. There's no perfect test that we have for diagnosing fungal overgrowth. It's even worse with SIFO because although we have lactulose and glucose breath testing available to us for testing for SIBO, there are no tests for SIFO outside of a research setting that I'm aware of yet. Even if you came to see me or another Functional Medicine clinician and you wanted to get tested for SIFO, there's nothing that we could do about it because we don't have any tests available.
Treating fungal overgrowth
The question then becomes, “What do you do if you do have fungal overgrowth on one of these stool tests?” Diet. Well, the diet that I found to be most helpful in practice is low-carb Paleo or even keto-type of diet. There is some research suggesting that yeast can thrive on ketones, which I've talked about before, but empirically I question that because what I see in practice is people responding very well to these lower carb and even ketogenic diets when they have a fungal overgrowth problem. Antifungal botanicals. Then there are a lot of herbs and nutrients that are antifungal, like:
undecylenic acid, which is an organic type of fatty acid
lauric acid, which is found in coconut products, and also monolaurin in products like Lauricidin
caprylic acid
uva ursi
cat’s claw
pau d'arco
spice oils like thyme and oregano, which are extremely potent and should really be used with caution and preferably under the supervision of a practitioner, in my opinion
coptis
Oregon grape
Chinese skullcap
berberine
These are all time-tested botanical remedies that are antifungals. Some of them are also antibacterial and antiparasitic, so they can be useful in situations like that. But this despite the fact that these botanicals don't have the same kind of impact on the gut flora as prescription antibiotics or antifungals, and far, far fewer side effects and risks, they still can be quite potent, and especially when used over the long term, I think they can actually deplete the gut flora, so best to work with a practitioner if possible and definitely be judicious with your use of them. Biofilm disruptors. You also might want to consider biofilm disruptors like:
N-acetylcysteine
nattokinase
products like Biofilm Defense
Yeast can form biofilm, which is an extracellular matrix that they can live in that makes it harder for the immune system and for any external antimicrobials that you might take to be effective, so disrupting the biofilm can be helpful. Probiotics. There are probiotics:
soil-based organisms like Prescript-Assist
transient commensals like MegaSporeBiotic
beneficial yeast Saccharomyces boulardii
prebiotics to support the growth of beneficial bacteria
If you think about it, you might question the use of prebiotics because maybe that provides substrate fiber that the yeast can thrive on, but in practice and actually in the research, prebiotics mostly have been shown to be beneficial in these kinds of situations. When you think about the diet that is effective, like a lower-carb Paleo or keto-type of diet, that's a diet that can be very high in fiber because you're eating a lot of non-starchy vegetables. I don't think it's fiber per se that is problematic. I think it's the sugars that make the biggest difference, and the prebiotics of course also support the growth of beneficial bacteria in your gut and any probiotics that you might be taking. I think for those reasons they're going to be beneficial for most people. Prescription antifungals. Sometimes stronger remedies are required all the way up to prescription antifungals, but I think that these are used too liberally and freely, so you need to watch out. Some of the antifungals like Sporanox have pretty severe side effects all the way up to death and liver damage. You have to have your liver function monitored while you're taking them. Others like nystatin are typically much better tolerated because nystatin is sort of like the rifaximin of antifungals in that it's not absorbed systemically and thus it's less likely to cause problems, but I think caution is warranted there as well. This is a big subject, and I just wanted to give you an overview of the considerations, and I hope this is helpful to you, Jacquel, and any others that might be dealing with this stuff. I realize not everyone has access to the kind of testing that can help clarify this, so a prudent approach might be to do the [low-carb Paleo] diet, choose some of the fatty acids like undecylenic acid (Thorne SF722 is a good product there) or lauric acid (like monolaurin or Lauricidin), maybe one or two of the herbs, a biofilm disruptor, and see how that goes. It's always better to do it under the supervision of a practitioner, but I realize that's not always possible. Again, I hope this is helpful, and please keep sending in your questions at chriskresser.com/podcastquestion, and I look forward to talking to you next time. Thanks, everybody.
from Chris Kresser https://chriskresser.com/candida-hidden-epidemic-or-fad-diagnosis/
via Holistic Clients
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