Yeast Overgrowth in the Human Body: Natural Helps

If you’ve researched your broken gut and determined that you might have yeast overgrowth, here are some natural helps for healing. From probiotics to herbs, these suggestions will help you holistically rebuild your gut after yeast overgrowth.

How to Heal from Yeast Overgrowth

Before we begin, please remember that this post is for information’s sake only. Do your own research and consult your chosen medical professional for advice. 

This is the third article in this series on yeast overgrowth. If you’re still learning the symptoms of yeast overgrowth and trying to determine whether you have a problem, please

• Click here to read the first post with lots of symptoms and information covered
• Afterwards, go to the next article here and finish reading up and pondering on yeast overgrowth

You will find 101 ways to balance yeast once you go looking for remedies. Here are some of the more simple ways to get yeast in check:

Step 1 – Probiotics/Prebiotics

Probiotics – A note about good bacteria:

As newborns, our large intestines are colonized by beneficial bacteria, like Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacteria bifidum. These bacteria, acquired from our mothers as we pass through the birth canal (one reason why c section babies are more sickly), perform a number of functions in our bodies.

1. They manufacture B vitamins, aid in the digestion and absorption of food, and provide a barrier on the mucosal lining of these various tissues, preventing abnormal bacteria and yeast from entering the system.
2. Besides coexisting peacefully in the colon, beneficial bacteria also reside in the mucous membranes of the throat and in the vagina. These “good bacteria” live within us in a symbiotic, friendly relationship.
3. Take a live, strong probiotic daily, consisting of at least 15 billion active cultures. The more the merrier.
4. Also, look for a probiotic containing at least 15 different strains of beneficial bacteria. Typically, the best ones will be in the refrigerated section of your health food store.
5. Probiotics contain our good bacteria, that coats our internal organs and keeps yeast in check, preventing it from invading our systems through our organ walls.
6. For infants, you want to get a probiotic that specifies that it’s for babies and toddlers, as the molecules are smaller and are more available in their little systems. If you are unable to find infant or toddler specific probiotics, go ahead and use the adult ones.

Prebiotics

These are non-digestible parts of foods that probiotics can use to fuel their growth and activity. The prebiotics work by stimulating the growth of probiotics. However, in order to get to where they are needed, prebiotics must be able to get through the upper part of the intestine without being digested or absorbed by the body.

The top prebiotics are:

• Chicory root
• Dandelion greens
• Garlic
• Leek
• Onion
• Asparagus
• Wheat bran
• Whole grains (including oatmeal)
• Banana
• Flax
• Chia seeds
• Almonds

A Note on Almonds:

Almonds which are well known for their prebiotic properties that improve our digestive health by increasing levels of beneficial gut bacteria. They are also an excellent source of alkaline protein.

Soaking them in water in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours will remove their phytic acid, making the nutrients more bio available. Phytic acid is an enzyme inhibitor that protects the nuts while growing. You may wish to sprinkle sea salt or Redmond salt on them.

To learn more about soaking and sprouting, please visit the Homestead Kitchen chapter of our book, The Do It Yourself Homestead. Click below for more details. For a free sample of that section, please email me at Tessa@homesteadlady.com.

Step 2 Green Supplement

Taking a greens supplement is incredibly helpful when you are balancing yeast. Mold, Fungi and yeast attach on to the greens molecules and helps to sweep them out efficiently.

Step 3 Healing with Herbs and More

Equal parts chaparral, Pau D’arco, olive leaf, and myrrh ground, combined and encapsulated.

Homestead Lady butts in – You can also tincture these herbs, but they taste super nasty. To learn how to encapsulate your own herbal supplements, please click here.

If you are in stage 1, you could try the following regimen for persons 7 years and older:

• 3 pills (or 3 dropperfuls – dropperful equals 25 drops)
• 3 times per day for 14 days – which would equal 120 pills or 4 oz of tincture.

Tips and tricks for treating with herbs:

Once this 14 days is complete, take 3 pills (or 3 dropperfuls) once a day for one month for every year you’ve had a problem, otherwise the yeast is likely to overgrow again quickly.

For many people, this would include exposure to yeast overgrowth in the womb. For instance, if you are 30 years old, and you feel you’ve had yeast overgrowth symptoms all your life, you would take 3 pills a day for 30 months. Add on one more month if you think your mother had yeast overgrowth when she was pregnant with you.

Be sure to take a probiotic, greens and prebiotics with this regimen.

1. Infants and between 4-12 months, doing 1 dropperful per day with a probiotic is sufficient.
2. Children 1-3 years, 2 dropperfuls with a probiotic per day.
3. Kids 4-6 years, 2-3 dropperfuls with a probiotic.

MyFeelGoodFoods.com has a regimen with which may people report good success.

(Homestead Lady chimes in – I’ve done this one and I’ve made my own with Amy’s recipe and advice – both were effective but buying it is, of course, easier than putting together your own. FYI, the cookbook from this site is WONDERFUL for families – very hard to find!)

Diet and Other Supplements

You will find a lot of recommendations when it comes to diet and balancing yeast, most of them highly impractical and certainly not doable for a toddler or child. Personally, I am not of the school of thought that eliminating fruits and vegetables from the diet is healthy.

While it is true that yeast can feed off of these foods, I find that treating with the herbs or oils eliminates the`need’ to cut out any healthy food. Additionally, many people are so intimidated by the diet restrictions, that they feel living with the yeast is better than the treatment.

I have found that those with a whole food diet, ones that even include dairy and meat, can see huge success implementing the herbs and oils, but the following are some general diet guidelines that will improve your outcomes.

1. Garlic – Two fresh clove are high in a biologically active compound called allicin. This is a strong anti-fungal.
2. Reducing and/or eliminating refined sugars, refined flours, and refined grains (ie white rice) is the most important step.
3. Vitamin D – Yeast overgrowth produces an immune suppression, or maybe it overgrows because of a lack of it, but either way, when a yeast overgrowth is present, you must increase your vitamin D levels.
4. Before treating with any herbs or essential oils, please refer to Part 4 in this series to avoid negative side effects.

Yeast Overgrowth Die Off

The Herxheimer Reaction

When large numbers of yeast cells die in a short period of time, the body has a difficult time detoxifying them quickly. As a result, yeast toxins enter circulation and can cause symptoms in the mucous membranes that cover the surfaces of most organs in the body, including the mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestine, sexual and urinary organs, sinuses and ears.

Those who are in stage 2 or higher of yeast overgrowth tend to feel worse, not better, when they begin balancing yeast because of die off.

Because most babies and toddlers are still only in stage 1, they tend not to experience negative symptoms of yeast die off. If they do, though this can be a disturbing experience, it is actually a sign that the treatment is working.

These symptoms are the predictable result of yeast die-off, also called the Herxheimer reaction. Each person’s die-off reaction is different. In some, preexisting symptoms are exacerbated; in others, new symptoms appear.

Symptoms of Die-Off

Symptoms can last anywhere from several days to two weeks, usually starting on the third day of balancing yeast.

Typical die-off symptoms are:

• vomiting
• diarrhea
• greasy hair
• stomach upset
• gas
• burping
• vertigo
• fatigue
• brain fog
• low grade fever
• headache
• sore throat
• muscle and/or joint soreness or pain
• feeling as if  coming down with a flu

To Reduce or Eliminate Die-Off Symptoms:

1. Take a strong, daily probiotic.
2. Try an epsom salt bath, or a baking soda bath, to help draw out toxins.
3. Consider performing several enemas.

If you do not effectively rid the yeast as it is dying off and dumping, it can possibly settle in other areas of your body, such as your joints. Yeast die off symptoms are a sign that the system’s eliminatory pathways are overburdened or as oftentimes happens, blocked.

Individuals with elevated heavy metal levels may have special problems with yeast die-off reactions. If you experience yeast die off symptoms and refuse to do an enema, I would recommend backing off of your herbal dosage.

This would mean that your road to yeast balancing will take longer and may be more difficult than had you done enemas.

Healthy Gut Maintenance

Since we are constantly exposed to yeast overgrowth triggers, such as heavy metals and stress to say the least, after you balance out initially, it is highly unlikely that you will never need to rebalance your gut. Taking a probiotics and greens supplement daily, in addition to improving your diet is just the first step to keeping your gut in check.

Just for good measure, you may want to spend at least one month out of the year taking the yeast herbs daily. January is a great time to do this, as it is right after the holidays when we are barraged with sub par foods and stress. Treating for yeast after a particularly stressful event would also be a good idea.

Also, meditating, exercising, laughing and engaging  other stress reducing activities as part of a permanent lifestyle change are in order.

Additionally, consider going off of as many, if not all pharmaceuticals, including birth control pills, would be ideal. Learning how to use `natural antibiotics’ so that you can reduce or eliminate treating with prescription antibiotics would be a high priority.

Resources

My Feel Good Foods/My Yeast Treatment
Herbaologie.com
Mountain Rose Herbs Candida Yeast Cure
 Dr. Hotze
Coconut Diet

Remember to visit Amy Jones, the author of this series of articles, at YayaGuru – click here to go to her site.

Cover image gratefully attributed to this Pexels user.