Bloodwork for Unknown Causes (Systemic Candida?)

A friend from the UK is having extreme health issues, most of which clearly are food reactions on foods that he previously ate with joy. His issues are very similar to what mine were - absolute confusion about what is going on and unable to get answers.

In trying to get answers he keeps trimming foods but the symptoms rage on. So he decided to undergo a serious bloodwork battery from a healthcare practitioner who recognizes systemic candida as a problem and looks for dietary alterations to control symptoms. The practitioner does not diagnose, but he/she is licensed to advise on diet and nutritional intake to control symptoms. With permission my friend has allowed me to publish his bloodwork. The bloodwork and dietary suggestions are specific to my friend's needs and are not to be used to treat others. However, others may benefit from ideas in how a healthcare practitioner advises his/her clients so as to mask symptoms and regain control of one's diet, health, and perhaps life.

Bloodwork [click to enlarge]

Revised Dietary Programme

Your programme is an individually tailored programme and should not be used by anyone else without supervision of a qualified nutritional therapist. Your prescription is not intended to be a lifelong guide to eating habits, unless otherwise indicated and will be subject to review and alteration as your treatment progresses.

Cooking Methods
Steaming, baking and stir frying are the most beneficial cooking methods. Heat destroys vitamins and other nutrients, so minimal cooking times and temperatures. Boiling leads to loss of vital minerals in the fluid. Please avoid fried food. Avoid microwaving.
To make the best success from your nutritional therapy programme it is important that you eat plenty of nutritious foods on a daily basis in their most natural form.

Preparation for Changing Your Diet
In many cases people find it easier to implement changes slowly over the next few weeks rather than trying to change everything at once. If for example your programme recommends excluding both wheat and dairy, you will probably find it easier to tackle one at a time, rather than both at once. If you are excluding foods, then do make sure you have plenty of the alternatives to hand first to optimise your likelihood of making successful long-term changes.

Planning is also an important part of success with this programme. It will probably take you a while to get used to the changes in your cookery regime. I find it helpful to plan before shopping which meals I will be eating. Then I make sure that I buy in all the foods I will need.

Do buy some recipe books that support your new dietary regime.
It is useful to have healthy “quick grab” snacks etc.. so that you have something healthy to eat if you are hungry.

Cooking everything from basics is more time consuming (but the rewards are great!). The way that I manage this is to plan ahead – if I know I am going to have a busy day, I will try and make the basics of meal the day before – so it just needs cooking or re-heating. I often eat the same meal two nights on the trot to reduce cooking times. You could also batch cook and freeze meals for easy use at a later date. I also have a repertoire of meals that are very easy / quick to prepare i.e. baked potato / salad and meat or fish. Pasta (Gluten free if needed) and Pesto with stir fried veggies etc...

Please include a power drink daily:

Power Drink -

Daily - great as a snack between meals or with breakfast to get you going Preparation: Blast seeds in the blender in the water they were soaking in Add the other ingredients and blend

Handful of mixed Berries (frozen is fine) or fresh fruit for your list Handful of watercress 1 tablespoon of mixed seeds (Pumpkin, Sunflower, Flax, chai etc...) soak overnight in water with nuts 1 tablespoon of nuts (Almond, Hazelnut) soak overnight in water with seeds If you don’t want to use nuts you could use ImmunoPro Pure Whey Protein (Allergy Research Product) 30g serving of Higher Nature Hemp Protein Powder 1 tsp coconut oil 1 tablespoon Lecithin granules Raw Egg 1⁄4-1⁄2 Avocado A cup of Kefir (see instructions below) or live soya / nut based yoghurt 1 tablespoon E-Lyte Electrolyte concentrate A green Superfood such as Dr Schulze www.superfoodplus.co.uk would also be a good addition NB you don’t need to use all the ingredients every day i.e. but I would definitely use frozen fruits, pre soaked nuts and seeds each day.

Food Group	Frequency	What to Use
Proteins
Meat	Up to x 1 daily	Use fresh or frozen poultry, game & lamb with lean beef used occasionally only. Avoid pig products and processed meat products such as sausages, burgers, luncheon meat and canned produce. Meat particularly should preferably be organic, as is preferable for as much of your food as you can manage. Try to ensure meat is a fresh as possible to reduce histamine content. i.e. freeze on day of purchase until you require it, avoid leftovers etc.. and avoid smoked meats
Fish	4 x 125g per week	Use fresh/tinned in spring water/frozen oily fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring, tuna) and white fish. Avoid shellfish, salted, smoked, breaded, battered fish products.
Eggs	None	Food intolerance results
Pulses (Beans & Lentils)	60g per day	All types of canned and dried pulses are included (chickpeas, lentils, beans, peas etc) No red kidney or pea
Seeds	30g per day	Use pumpkin, linseed, sesame, sunflower.

Nuts	Ideally I would like you to have 1-2 portions per day, but it really depends upon whether they impact on your symptoms or not	Nuts can be sprinkled onto salads, used as the basis of main meals (e.g. nut roast, nut rissoles etc.) or turned into ‘milk’. Note the order of preference (in descending order): (1) Almonds, (2) Hazels. Only these two should ever be used as the main base of a meal, or for milks or spreads. Other nuts, e.g. Brazil’s / pistachio, pine, pecan, are acceptable in small amounts in cakes (if any of these are included in the Diet) or in small amounts to chew as kernels. Chestnuts are fully acceptable, but protein content is negligible. Limit walnuts and cashews re histamine content; caution nut content generally to assess if Tyramine an issue Caution nuts - cashew, pine and pistachio very close to tolerance level on test
Sprouted pulses & grains	Use x 2-3 weekly	See table below – use wide variety
Carbohydrates
Potatoes – white & sweet	4 per week	Cut off any sprouts or green areas. Preferably eat the potato skin.
Cereal Grains	2 portions per day	The cereal grains should be used with each meal, and can be used as snacks. Always use wholemeal / wholegrain cereals. Please use short grain brown rice or millet at least once daily, oats (one portion daily only), and quinoa, buckwheat, corn / maize (small amounts only), or barley.
Wheat & Rye	None	Wheat & Rye may be used as wholemeal bread, wholemeal or spelt pasta, wholemeal flour or as a wholegrain breakfast cereal. Replace with other grains.
Fats
Dairy Produce	Remove all animal sourced dairy	Milk: replace cow’s milk with Nut, Soya (unsweetened) Oat, or Rice milks. Replace sugary desserts and yogurts with plain live Soya or nut based yoghurt (I have recipes if you would like). Avoid cheese, cream, crème fraiche, milk based desserts, ice cream and chocolate. Cows milk showed strongly on your food intolerance test
Fats & Oils	Maximum 4 tsp (20g) per day	Use olive or coconut oil, butter or ghee only in heated dishes. Olive, linseed / flax oil can be used for salad dressings. Butter or non hydrogenated dairy free spread / olive oil based margarine for spreading & baking.
Vegetables
Vegetables	50% of 2 meals per day of wide variety	Use a wide range of all vegetables with at least 2 meals per day. Include each day – one portion salad / raw as well as cooked vegetables. Vegetable crudités make great snacks. Where blood sugar is an issue, root vegetables should be avoided or eaten in small quantities only.
Sea Vegetables	Include at least x 2-3 weekly	These are a rich source of minerals, vitamins, amino acids and chlorophyll and help to build up the blood. Available in health shops or www.seagreens.com

Veggie Juices	1-2 glasses daily	All vegetable juices are encouraged – preferably fresh / homemade so that all the enzymes and nutrients are still intact. A good juicer can be purchased for around £80 (www.ukjuicers.com) use non salted variety such as Eden carrot if you don’t have a juicer. One glass of diluted (50/50) fruit juice daily.
Fruit
Dried Fruit	None	High sugar content can exacerbate candida; caution required re Tyramine content too
Fruit	Max 3 pieces per day	Apple, berries, nectarines, lemon, orange, cherries, plums, apricots, grapefruit, pomegranates & pear only. Some people with candida cannot tolerate any fruit due to sugar content. These fruits are the low glycemic variety which are less likely to cause problems
Drinks
Alcohol	Limit / Avoid	One unit of alcohol is 125ml of wine, 1⁄2 pint of beer / lager or 25ml spirits. If alcohol is taken dry white wine or white spirits are preferable. Avoid sugary mixers. Additional hazard of Histamine / Tyramine content
Beverages	2 litres every day of filtered water	Using largely filtered or mineral water, also a variety of herbal & fruit teas, coffee substitutes (such as Barley cup), green tea, Rooibosch tea & vegetable juices. Black tea can be used twice per day. Coffee (whether regular or decaf) is limited to once per day/removed. No coca cola
Herbs	Use freely	Please use a wide variety of culinary herbs in your cooking. The herbs listed are those which may be particularly beneficial in your case. No gingko
Foods to limit or	exclude from	your diet
Processed Food	Limit / exclude	Includes all pre-made, packaged, boxed products such as microwave meals, sauces, crisps, pizza, made up meat products. No Agar Agar
Salt	Exclude	Remove salt added at table or in cooking. Remove highly salted products such as stock powders, Bisto, gravy, canned products, marmite, soy sauce, packaged products. Marigold Swiss low sodium/wheat/dairy/yeast free stock powder may be used.
Yeast	Remove	Foods high in yeast include bread, leavened dough (pizza, doughnut, breadsticks, and pastries), vinegar, alcoholic drinks, marmite, stock cubes, gravy powder, and soy sauce.
Sugar	Remove refined sugar	Sugar is hidden in many products, please read the labels. Added sugar can be called sucrose, dextrose, lactose, maltose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, concentrated grape juice.
Sweeteners	Try to avoid	3 teaspoons of honey or molasses may be used per day. Avoid the sugar substitute’s aspartame and saccharin. If you need a sweetener, use Xylitol from health food shops.
Exclude		Remove confectionary, sweets, and additives.

Supplements in addition to controlled diet:

I learned a lot from this report. The US alternative lifestyle practitioners and those in the UK look at blood range normalities a bit differently (that is, norms for both countries are viewed differently; usually that of the UK are narrower, which I think is a better view of the norm). Both countries also utilize different herbs, e.g. I've heard of belladonna but never in my research come across its use for people with food reactions, and different brand names that could be beneficial to check out, e.g. High Nature Citricidal and Biocare liquid whatever.

My friend got ideas about dietary care from my research and I got more insights from his holistic practitioner's advice. He allows me to publish this here because his food reaction traumas, like mine, were horrendous. He hopes that even a tiny piece of information could benefit someone who is having sudden food reactions, because just maybe, the person can recognize the need to trim foods to see if an altered diet could be of benefit.

Recognizing the Symptoms of Liver Disease

People with candida (as well as cancer) often have a compromised liver from all the toxins that the liver is trying to eliminate from the body, and from all the toxin killers like grapefruit seed extract, oregano oil, colloidal silver, etc that are used for die-off and the die-off itself. The liver needs to be paid attention to and cared for as a slightly compromised liver can be healed with proper diet but once the liver is scarred (e.g. cirrhosis), the liver is too damaged to heal.

Here is an interesting article on identifying symptoms that could reflect damage to the liver or liver disease itself:

Knowing the Symptoms of Liver Disease Could Save your Life

Knowing how to recognize the symptoms of liver disease can save your life. As with so many illnesses and diseases, liver disease, if spotted early enough, can be arrested, and cured (providing the causes have been identified and are avoided in the future), and your liver can fully recover, growing new healthy tissue to replace any that has been damaged, just as long as the disease has not been allowed to progress too far – hence the importance of knowing what the warning signs to look out for.

An organ and a gland

Your liver is the largest internal organ (and also the largest internal gland) that you have in your body. In a healthy adult, a normal liver will weigh somewhere between 3 - 3.5 pounds and it plays a crucial role in a number of body system functions.

The functions of the liver

The key functions of the liver are to detoxify your blood, and to enhance your digestive system by creating bile, which helps to break down the fats that you consume into small pieces, making them easier for your small intestine to absorb. But that’s not all. Here is a quick summary of what your liver does for you:

• detoxes the blood, filtering out any harmful and unwanted substances like drugs and alcohol

• produces bile to aid digestion

• stores some of the body’s vitamins and iron

• stores glucose

• converts glucose into sugar that the body can use when the body’s sugar levels become depleted

• processes hemoglobin, insulin and a variety of other hormones

• converts ammonia into urea, an essential ingredient for healthy metabolism

• eliminates old red blood cells, which produce fecal matter which is normally brown in color. This is why when your stools are discolored (i.e. not brown); it can be an indication there is something wrong with your liver function.

Without a healthy liver, any holistic health lifestyle will become severely compromised, and depending on the nature and severity of disease, could prove fatal, which is why it’s so important to be able to detect and interpret the early symptoms of liver disease.

Hepatic disease

Liver disease is also sometimes referred to as hepatic disease. When any type of hepatic disease affects up to three quarters of your liver tissue, that’s when a significant increase in liver function can be detected.

The causes of liver disease

Liver disease can be brought about in a number of different ways:

• its cells may be inflamed, as with hepatitis

• the passage of bile may become obstructed, as in cholestasis

• a build-up of cholesterol may occur

• the flow of blood to the liver can be damaged

• the tissue of the liver may be attacked and damaged by toxins

Alcohol abuse and cirrhosis of the liver

The most common cause of liver disease in North America is alcohol abuse. The final stage of liver disease (when the liver sustains severe scarring and cannot regenerate replacement tissue) is known as cirrhosis of the liver, and this is responsible for approximately 25,000 deaths per annum here in North America.

The classic symptoms of liver disease

The most frequent and common symptoms of liver disease include:

• bad breath

• black circles beneath the eyes

• bad body odor

• brown blemishes on the skin

• coated tongue

• discolored stools

• flushed facial appearance

• inflamed palms and soles of feet

• swollen eyeballs

• jaundice, the yellowing of the skin which can often also be evidenced in the whites of the eyes

• nausea

• pain, which is felt in the uppermost right hand quadrant of the abdomen

• increased tendency to perspire excessively

Some people also suffer from fatigue and weight loss.

These symptoms of liver disease relate to hepatic disease in general, but there are also many different, specific, illnesses or diseases that affect the liver, and each of these has its own specific symptoms.

Gallstones

The symptoms of liver disease that are associated with gallstones, include pain in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen, vomiting (from having eaten a fatty or greasy meal), and if the gallbladder itself becomes infected, this may also bring about a fever.

Cirrhosis of the liver

As hepatic disease progresses and reaches the stage of cirrhosis, the following symptoms of liver disease may often appear.

• a tendency to bruise more easily - because the liver is no longer able to efficiently clot the blood

• itchiness - the result of bile salts being deposited in the skin can cause itching

• enlarged male breasts - a condition known as gynecomatia and can be brought about by upsetting the balance of sex hormones, and an increase in the hormone estradiol in particular

• erectile dysfunction - the upsetting of the balance of sex hormones can also bring about a reduction in sex drive and cause the testicles to shrink.

• feeling confused - feelings of confusion arise when the levels of ammonia in the bloodstream become too high. This ammonia is normally removed from the bloodstream by a healthy liver, but when liver health is compromised, the sufferer may experience feelings of confusion.

• feelings of lethargy - also potentially brought about by the increase in blood ammonia.

• decrease in muscle tissue - a compromised liver will also reduce its production of proteins, and this can lead to the wasting of muscle.

• swollen stomach veins - because blood pressure becomes increased with a cirrhotic liver, the blood flow to the liver can become compromised, possibly resulting in a swelling to the veins around the stomach area.

The unusual metabolization of fats

Another of the prime symptoms of liver disease is the abnormal metabolization of fats (your metabolism), which can manifest itself in the following ways:

• elevated levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, at the same time as decreased levels of HDL cholesterol.

• hypertension or blood pressure caused by your blood vessels becoming blocked by fatty deposits, potentially leading to stroke and heart attack.

• fatty tumors and lymphomas developing in the skin

• significant weight gain that could lead to obesity

• difficulty in losing weight, even though you may be dieting

• a sluggishly slow metabolism

• bloated stomach

• the appearance of cellulite

• developing a roll of fat around the upper abdomen a.k.a. your own armchair.

Symptoms to look for with your digestive system

The symptoms of liver disease can also be seen in relation to the digestive system and can include things like:

• constipation

• hemorrhoids

• indigestion and/or reflux

• the inability to tolerate alcohol

• the inability to tolerate fatty food

• irritable bowel syndrome

Symptoms relating to blood sugar levels

The symptoms of liver damage that relate to blood sugar include things like:

• developing a craving for sweet things

• unstable levels of sugar in the blood, also known as hypoglycemia

• the onset, in later life, of type II diabetes

Symptoms relating to your immune system

Poor liver health can also affect your immune system in which case the symptoms of liver disease to watch out for include:

• developing new allergies such as asthma, hay fever, and hives

• excessive itching

• developing skin rashes

• an increased incidence of autoimmune disease

• developing fibromyalgia

• an increase in the incidence of viral and bacterial infections

source

Spot the symptoms of liver damage and give your liver the chance to recover

The health of your liver is not only crucial for a continued holistic health lifestyle, but is essential for any type of healthy lifestyle. The power of the liver to heal itself from many diseases brought about by alcoholic or non-alcoholic fatty liver is quite amazing, provided that the disease is spotted early, so knowing what the potential symptoms of liver disease are, as discussed above, and keeping a watchful eye out for them is absolutely crucial.

Teas and Drinks for People with Candida

Most teas are "out" for people with such severe systemic candida - green tea, black tea, red tea, flowered teas (because of their sweetness which feeds candida), teas with fermented leaves (yes, many Asians teas are prepared with a fermentation process), and teas of course with flavorings like citric acid (the killer of people with candida), orange rind, nutmeg and a host of other additives that most people wouldn't even wink at. The only two teas that I've seen recommended for people with systemic candida are peppermint and chamomile. I love peppermint and keep several boxes on hand, but unfortunately I have ragweed sensitivities and chamomile is in the ragweed family and so I have difficulties, specifically, I get a bit raspy and sometimes vaguely phlegmy ... both indicators of bacteria being fed!

But there really are so many kinds of teas that are such wonderful possibilities that haven't traditionally been labeled as "candida-friendly", but I'm sleuthing for some diversion. There are also so many delightful ways of preparing teas now ... why do the options for people with candida have to be so limited? I've found other options!!!

crockpot spiced cinnamon and ginseng plus anise, cloves and ginger

cilantro tea made in a French press

pau d'arco - a big time candida killer, boiled in a slow cooker and drunk a couple times of day

Peppermint tea is very nice for people with candida. Also recommended for people with candida is chamomile tea, but since I have an allergy to ragweed which is in the daisy family and related to chamomile, I have a mild reaction so avoid it. Fresh ginger tea is wonderful. Herbs tossed in hot water like rosemary (be careful, it is a flower and might affect sensitive people) and fennel are phenomenal! Avoid all teas with citric acid, and fortunately, many of the manufactured teas have this unpleasant mold-ingredient.

Other Drinks:

Although these alternative milks are great for many, I've reacted very badly to the sugars in coconut milk, cow's milk has been out of the question from Day #1 (and actually I have had a mild lactose intolerance most of my life), and soy milk or any soy product I react to in the throat area. That said, almost milk has worked very well. I tried Brazil nut milk but can only tolerate that on rare occasions. Found out that that milk can make a person toxic of drunk very much! I'm not a keener on walnut milk - it just feels chalky in my mouth, so I prefer to eat my walnuts washed and tossed in a salad. Basically, the only nuts I've eaten well are the almonds, walnuts and Brazil nuts. The others I might try on occasion but not as a drink. Just an FYI, people with candida are recommended to principally stick with the almonds and walnuts - they have a milder oil and less mold than other nuts.

What NOT to Drink!!!

People with candida would shock their system if they started dumping soft drinks down their throats! The sugar content in carbonated drinks (to say nothing of other ingredients) is a joyful energy food for the fungus and makes the little buggers prolific!

Some of my favorite drinks

Left to right: the cinnamon-ginseng tea (hot or cold), fresh squeezed lemon in water,
green smoothies, and almond milk

Passing Gas

Mung Bean Sprout Stir-fry

3-4 T. coconut oil
5 cloves garlic, sliced
2"-3" piece of fresh ginger, minced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 cups mung bean sprouts
1/2 carrot, shredded
1 can lotus seed, bamboo shoots, or water chestnuts (optional)
2 cups fresh kale, in large shreds
1/2 t. sea salt

Saute the onion, garlic and ginger on low heat in the coconut oil. Add in the bean sprouts and shredded carrots and lightly sauté. When the bean sprouts and carrots are becoming tender (do not overcook), add in the fresh kale shreds and stir until the kale is a bright green. Serve immediately with brown rice and seaweed laver.

I used lotus seeds ... for the first time. While I love bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, I am not keen on lotus seeds. They are very dry and somewhat bland. But cool, I did try them and it's exciting to eat something different :)

The seaweed laver is particularly complimentary to brown rice and stir-fry.
I eat tons and tons of laver and since being in Korea, the white spots on my nails have disappeared ... but they return when I'm in the States for a few consecutive weeks. I have wondered for a long time if the seaweed has something to do with eliminating the white spots, which supposedly are caused by zinc or calcium (have heard both contribute).


Pretty good, but have to say that my body isn't ready for the starchiness of the lotus seeds. 

Care for Your Liver

Someone sent me these slides via email and I thought the message they contain is very centered on good health, especially for people like me who have systemic candida which can tax the liver with all the fungus in the body and the constant fight to purify the blood and clean out the fungus. Whoever put these slides together, kudos to you and thank you!

(unfortunately didn't receive slide #5)

Dairy-free Veggie Primavera

Gluten-free pasta of your choice  

Veggies: 

2 carrots, sliced

1 large onion, sliced

1 zucchini, angle-sliced

1 yellow squash, angle-sliced

2 scallions, sliced

5-6 cloves garlic, sliced

olive oil

Primavera Sauce: 

3/4 - 1 cup cashews

1 small onion, chopped

2 t. turmeric powder

2-3 cloves garlic

handful of basic leaves, if desired

salt and pepper to taste 

prepare your veggies

first, lightly sauté the garlic and shallots in olive oil

then add in the remaining veggies, and add water to nearly cover them.
cooking at high temps kills enzymes really quickly so simmer, if time permits

When the veggies are tender, pour the sauce made in a high-speed blender over the veggies and cook another 10 or so minutes. Sauce will thicken on its own.

After the sauce and veggies are ready, mix them into the pasta.

I can't eat mushrooms or the marinade, but I made them for others at the table to have a fuller Italian-like meal. 

Homemade almond milk and my meal (minus the marinated mushroom)

I realize that cashews are NOT on my systemic candida diet; however, I was also feeding other people (hence, the marinated mushrooms) and since I've been very careful with my diet, eating cashews once in a low amount probably isn't going to hurt me. I did carefully choose cashews that didn't look discolored though so hopefully with minimal mold that they are known to have.