Candida overgrowth and its' effect on weight loss

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/post/new/763937-candida-overgrowth-and-its-effect-on-weight-loss?
Topic: Candida overgrowth and its' effect on weight loss

Actually in the holistic world it's widely recognized that Candida overgrowth can make weight loss next to impossible.

I've read / heard that the question of Candida overgrowth is not that of calories in vs calories out per se... but more the fact that the body fat is trying to protect you against toxins in this instance -- in particular ethanol that grows rapidly when yeast has a food source (sugar). Too much ethanol production can cause liver detox function overloading. Acetaldehyde (related to formaldehyde) is another by-product of Candida causes a variety of malfunctions in the body.

Also -- Candida can produce a type of false estrogen and thyroid hormone, which leads to hormone imbalance and receptor malfunction. And we all know that hormones will definitely affect your weight loss no matter what simple math we apply to calories in calories out.

Overview of Candida and fat loss:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUpuQsuruz8

Toxins and Fat Loss:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/detox-tips_b_1289488.html
(or read jillian michaels master your metabolism)

THANK YOU FOR A RESEARCHED AND EDUCATED ANSWERS, ITS REFRESHING TO SEE.

I HAVE A SEVERE CASE OF CANDIDA AND IT CAN BE A PAINFUL AND FRUSTRATING CONDITION. AND IT CAN DEFIANTLY EFFECT YOUR WEIGHT AND YOUR OVERALL HEALTH. ITS ALWAYS THERE LINGERING IN THE BACK GROUND, WAITING TO ATTACK. I WAS ATTACKED AFTER A SERIES OF ANTIBIOTICS THIS PAST WINTER AND HAVE BEEN FIGHTING IT FOR YEAR.

YOU HAVE TO BE DILIGENT AND VERY CAREFUL HOW YOU APPROACH AND KILL OFF THE CANDIDA WITH MEDICATION, HOLISTIC REMEDIES, HYGIENE, YOUR ACIDOSIS PH AND DIET, AS IT CAN MAKE YOU VERY SICK. ( I TRIED TO DO IT TOO FAST) CANDIDA CAN ALSO EFFECT YOUR SKIN CAUSING LONG TERM SEVERE ITCHING (SIMILAR TO POISON OAK) AND LESIONS THAT ARE SLOW HEALING. THAT WAS HOW I FOUND OUT I HAD CANDIDA ABOUT 3 MONTHS AFTER I TOOK THE MEDS AND SEVERAL DOCTORS LATER, FROM DERMATOLOGIST TO GI DOCTORS. CANDIDA ISN'T EASY TO GET RID OF OR TO CONTROL. AND YES I NOW SEE A TEAM OF DOCTORS AT OHSU WHO ARE VERY MUCH UP TO DATE ON RESEARCH, TREATMENT AND THE EFFECTS THAT CANDIDA HAS ON WEIGHT. AND I KNOW FIRST HAND THAT WHEN IM HAVING FLARE-UPS THAT MY WEIGHT LOST STALLS OR I EVEN GAIN BACK SOME WEIGH, AND YES SOME OF IT HAS DO TO THE HORRIBLE AND SOMETIMES UNCONTROLLABLE CRAVINGS FOR SUGAR AND STARCHES, ALL IT TAKES IS A LITTLE BIT TO GET IT FLARED UP LIKE A VENGEANCE. THAT CANDIDA NEEDS TO SURVIVE AND FEEDS OFF. ITS BEEN A VERY SLOW PROCESS TO GET IT UNDER CONTROL. AND BECAUSE IM NOT AS DILIGENT WITH MY DIET AS I SHOULD BE , IM HAVING A FLARE-UP NOW AS WE SPEAK.

MAY THE GOOD LORD KEEP YOU SAFE FROM CANDIDA, :flowerforyou:

HUGS, GG

bcweisen I have candida and if I eat sugar I cannot lose weight no matter what I do. I was working out lots and eating healthy but would have a snack with sugar here and there or would eat pasta or lots of fruit. If I follow the candida diet that my naturopath has given me I lose weight at a fantastic speed! Because you are very limited in the carbs department on a candida diet I had to actually cut back on my workouts to make sure I didn't lose too much too fast. For life reasons I got sidetracked on my candida diet but now back on it. It's not easy to follow but it's worth it

Suddenly it all becomes clear. There's someone out there with a licence to make up utter garbage, isn't there.

Systemic candida. What bull**** ideas with your favourite snake oil salesmen sell you all next?

.

Wow this thread sure stirred up some grumpy cats!

I had chronic candida. It would turn up in the form of thrush, athletes foot, a ductal yeast infection while I was breastfeeding (pain! Oh so much pain!).

Met my SO, who is suseptible to athletes foot, and we both got full body insatiable itchiness! Three trips to my doctor later, we'd plastered ourselves with every cream and ointment imaginable, had STD tests (negative, incase you were wondering), stopped using soap, shampoo, washing powder and we were still itchy!

I tried a holistic practitioner as a last resort. She fixed us both first pop with Pau D'Arco (your healthfood shop will have it).

If I get an overgrowth, I retain water badly, hence the "gaining weight on a deficit" phenomenon that the gurus will tell you is impossible. I lose motivation because I'm working hard and not seeing results, so give up for a few days/weeks/months. Dunno if this sounds like you or not.

My cure is low carb. I'm happy with it being a lifetime thing. No sugar to feed the monsters! If you can't adapt to that, a natural practitioner might help. If you want to stick with your regular doctor, you will probably need some hefty antifungals every now-and-again (hopefully your Doc will prescribe them, rather than deny the existence of candida, as many do, which is often CAUSED by Drs who overprescribe antbiotics). You will need to take probiotics every time you have a course of antifungals or antibiotics (both kill bad bugs and good bugs. Candida can grow faster than all of them and "takeover" the dead spots - a temporary fix, followed by an explosion in the problem). You may have ongoing water retention issues which will make motivation for ongoing healthy eating more difficult for you than others, but definatly not impossible.

I met a lady who had an overgrowth so massive that it started to block her throat. That **** is whack. Took her three years on a super-strict eating plan to tame it. Now it seems like you got it easy

Add me if you like, I'm happy to help.

In your gut

Wow you really don't know much about candida, do you Love? :huh:

The gut is the main habitat of candida in humans. You have candida in you gut right now.

Thrush is an overgrowth of candida in the mouth, throat, genitals. Athletes foot is candida. Candidemia is candida of the blood. Excess candida in the intestines can cause leaky gut.

OP and those following the thread are already having a tough time. Your less-than-helpful opinion is not required :flowerforyou:

Hi. I've got no dog in this fight-never heard of invasive (systemic) Candida before, don't know if this is what is causing the OP's problem or if she just hasn't quite got her TDEE/exercise/measuring right. But that doesn't mean it's something she shouldn't explore.

And geeezzz people-just because you haven't heard of something doesn't mean it isn't true. To the poster that says systemic Candida is a load of bull, how about you do like I do and search the topic. I did an entrez pubmed search (use it a lot for work) and was able to come up with several review articles and papers about it. Typically it affects the immunocompromised, or elderly, but there seem to be articles showing a genetic component that may make people more sensitive to it.

Here is a "cut and paste from one article":
In contrast to mucosal candidiasis which is highly prevalent but does not cause high mortality, systemic infections are life threatening, with mortality rates reaching up to 26–60% (Das et al, 2011). When the organisms enter the blood stream they can invade deep tissues and organs such as brain, heart and kidneys. Considering the number of patients diagnosed each year, Candida has emerged in the recent decades as one of the most important pathogens in sepsis, causing significant morbidity and mortality. Moreover, mortality due to these severe infections has not been significantly changed in the last decade, despite the introduction of potent antifungals such as azoles and echinocandins (Fortún et al, 2012)." EMBO Mol Med. 2013 June; 5(6): 805–813.

So yah, looks like it exists and can be quite dangerous and not simple to cure. May not be what the OP has given how bad it sounds.....

Don't know about its affects on diet and weight loss. While I would agree with one poster that we are machines and energy in and out are important, I would also add that not all machines are equally efficient. You and I could purchase the same exact car, drive the same exact roadways and distances using the same exact gas but not get the same exact milage. I might be a speed demon, driving too fast, slamming on my brakes at a light instead of easing up to it, squealing tires as I take off and waiting way too long to get my regular tuneups. You may drive sedately, observing the speed limit, take great care of your car, etc. Do you really thing we're gonna get the same gas mileage out of those cars? I doubt it, what we have done has affected the efficiency of the vehicles.

We humans are way more complicated than that-we have genetics, disease, infections, and they can all effect the efficiency of our machine. I have insulin resistance and that affects how I process carbs or how my body uses and/or stores them. I do better when I decrease processed carbs from my diet. Some people are not affected at all by eating processed carbs.

So we are all more complicated than just calories in, calories out. Sure we have to be brutally honest with ourselves and not cheat ourselves and measure, weight, exercise, test what works sometimes to find out TDEE, what to eat, etc. So I don't want to give anyone a way to cop out if they're not doing all those things first. But that doesn't mean that there aren't other things that may be affecting us.

Not sure how the OP came up with this as a possible suspect for her, but I'm sure she can discuss it with her doctor if she really wants to find out if it's a problem.

Good luck!

Yikes, sorry it's so long!

I think you are absolutely right servilla. If a candida sufferer can stick at an eating plan for long enough, OF COURSE they will lose weight.

Unfortunately, the water retention skews the scale/measurements, so the dieter feels they are working hard and not getting results. They end up giving up before the water retention "dam" bursts and going back to their old habits. IF they could battle through, yes - the results would eventually show through.

Candida also fuels sugar/carb cravings, so the dieter has a really hard time cutting back in the first place. This, combined with slower-than-average results makes the psychological side of sticking to an eating plan hugely difficult for a severe candida sufferer.

The rules of physics still apply to those with candidiasis! Initial progress is slow, BUT a healthy diet is the first step toward fixing the problem.

Even if candida does make you bloat through water retention, it wouldn't be enough to cancel out weight loss if you're eating at a deficit. You can only retain so much water before you run into serious health problems. I think people are just too gullible and will look for excuses.

^^this!