Candida Yeast, could you have it? PART 1

For the next few days I am going to cover the who, what, when, where and why of Candida. For those of you that haven't heard of this before, you are not alone. While most of us have or have had yeast overgrowth in our systems in our lifetime, most cases go undiagnosed. Candida is an overgrowth of yeast in the the human body. Our digestive tract contains small amounts of yeast at all times, this is normal. However when a dysbiosis occurs with the good bacteria in the gut (that means an imbalance of bad to good bacteria), yeast organisms are able to overgrow. We run into real problems when the yeast is able to leave the digestive tract and enter the blood stream. This leads to a systemic problem which can affect the vagina, mouth, skin, urinary tract, organs, tissues, finger and toe nails. This is known as Candidiasis and is a considered a medical condition.

There are an alarming number of Canadians dealing with Candida due to the use of broad spectrum antibiotics. These over prescribed drugs disrupt the delicate bacteria balance in the body allowing yeast to proliferate. Other factors that can lead to an overgrowth of yeast in the body are:

• Steroids (such as asthma inhalers)
• Birth Control Pills
• Anti-inflammatory drugs
• A poor diet that is high in sugar and refined carbohydrates
• Stress
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Heavy metal toxicity or parasites

To find out if you may be dealing with Candida overgrowth, please do the attached quiz. At that link you will also find a quiz for children. You may have to cut and paste the link into your Internet window. Take some time to answer the questions, I will dive deeper into Candida in the coming days.

http://www.renewlife.ca/pdfs/condition/pdf2_condition_3_Self%20Test%20-%20Candida.pdf

If you cannot view the above link, please email me and I will email the quiz to you.