My theory concerning candida, yeast and skin problems, fat and fungus.

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Permalink Reply by DaSaint on July 29, 2009 at 6:49am

I just did some snooping around and you are largely right. I found one article where they say:

There is even less certainty about the role diet plays in oily skin than there is about diet's role in acne. Although most people are convinced that foods such as chocolate, seafood, and fried foods make skin oilier, there's no concrete proof for this idea. It may very well be that some people's skin does become oily after eating these foods, but there are probably other factors that originally made their skin oily. At most, certain foods may make an already oily skin somewhat oilier, but they are never the sole reason for this type of skin. Although it probably doesn't hurt to avoid these foods, over reliance on diet can lead one to ignore the more important causes and treatments for oily skin.

So maybe a hole in my theory. Maybe fat could still have an effect on your skin.

Or maybe it's not in the skin that this problem originates?
Maybe it's in the blood. Or the intestines?

Anyone who can help further this theory?

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Permalink Reply by Kerrymac on July 29, 2009 at 11:54pm

I don't know - certainly this might not be true for everyone but I found that my skin was breaking out worse than usual on the raw diet when I first changed over. I thought it was just a detox thing for ages and ages until it eventually occurred to me that it might be the increased fat from all the nuts I was eating. It was a massive increase because I used to just eat the way your average raw fooder would.

So I stopped the fat and found my skin went back to normal. Because of this I did some research into the subject and found that a lot of people and scientists do think there's a link. However, I think it might be one of those links that affects you only if you're susceptible.

So I don't know - I think it's definitely a possible factor for some people, but perhaps not for everyone.
xx

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Permalink Reply by Adam on July 31, 2009 at 3:19am

Hey

I think you have perhaps misunderstood the notion that microbes (whether by bacteria, virus or fungus) cause or do not cause disease. When most people state that germs, of whatever kind or subcategory, are not responsible for disease, they misunderstand the difference between cause and effect. Many people state that germs are responsible for a set of symptoms because they have experience of contagion. Whether this comes from picking up warts in a leisure centre/swimming pool area, or kids picking up chicken pox at 'pox parties'. For my mind, we must remember the recant of Louis Pasteur, when he stated that the 'microbe is nothing, the terrain is everything'. A microbe, whether fungus or virus, can only proliferate given specific conditions. These are usually things such as a supply of heat, moisture, mildly acidic pH, sufficient sugar/fuel and a body which is physically stressed.

If the conditions in the body were not present for microbial proliferation, the body would not be able to develop symptoms. The body contains, or is exposed to most microbes, during its life. The problem is proliferation caused by sufficient conditions.

Removing fat does not 'dry out' the fungus. Fungus proliferation is a symptom, often, of a high fat diet combined with a high sugar diet, as you say. Fungi, of a number of varieties, reside in the body as a safety mechanism. They serve to clean up excesses. They, like humans, consume sugar as a primary fuel source. In a natural environment, they would reside in us, to mop up the small amounts of occassional excess sugar intake, and we would not notice any problems. In our modern society, where we often have chronically elevated blood sugar levels, we start to notice proliferation.

Normally, we would consume sugary fruits, and the sugars would rush into our blood stream, and the body would secrete insulin from the pancreas which will usher the sugar out of the bloodstream and into the cells where they can use the sugar for fuel. When we consume too much sugar, the body has to push the pancreas and adrenals to work a little harder to keep those bloodsugar levels down, so we dont fall into a coma. In these occassions of excess sugar intake, the body can also convert some of the sugar into fat, to be stored for later use. And it will also rely on fungi if necessary to consume some of the sugar.

Excess sugar levels can be caused by :

1) Consuming more sugar than our body can actually use. This can occur when we consume juices, smoothies or dried fruits. It can also occur due to lack of activity. Or on a SAD diet, it could occur when we consume cane sugar, honey or syrups like maple/agave/fructose-corn. The processing of these sugary foods tricks the body into being able to accept more than it would normally be able to consume of a whole food in its unprocessed state.

2) Regularly consuming too much fat.When we consume more fat than our body is able to use, it sticks around in the blood stream. The large molecules can block the insulin receptors on cells, preventing the insulin from taking the sugar out of the blood stream and into the cells. So blood sugar levels can stay high, demanding a greater need for fungi to mop up sugar, and promoting proliferation.

By the time we experience externally noticable symptoms, such as dandruff, thrush etc. we usually have a presentation of something which has been building up for a long time.

The solution then to reducing fungi, is not to reduce fat in the hope that the fungi will dry out. It is to do a number of things in the hope of consistently preventing excess blood sugar levels. The lack of food supply will mean that the populations will naturally reduce, since they are only able to consume our excess.

These things include:

1) Exercising before meals, to create a demand for food. This ensures our body is able to efficiently get sugar in and our of the bloodstream quickly.

2) Keep fat intake consistently low. Meet EFA needs, but dont consistently exceed our requirements. This prevents the lipid molecules blocking our insulin receptors.

3) Consume whole foods in their natural, unprocessed state. This prevents us consuming more sugars than our body can handle at a given time. Examples of processed food, include drying/dehydrating, juicing, consuming smoothies, as well as the more obviously processed or naturally refined sugars, including honey, agave, maple syrup or cane sugar.

When we consume whole foods in an unprocessed state, our body is able to regulate its sugar intake through appetite and satiety. This is significantly affected by the amount of room taken up by our stomach. Fibre and water take up a lot of room and naturally prevent us overeating. Time is also an important factor. It takes about 20 minutes to assess and register satiety levels. About the time it would take most of us to eat a meal. This is no coincidence. However if we process a sugar, even if we keep the fibre and water, as with a smoothie, we can consume it pretty quickly. so we could fit in an extra 10 bananas, that we wouldnt be able to eat if we ate them whole, because we would feel full. Blending alters the structure, and means we can eat more before we notice how full we are. Our body has to deal with the effects afterwards.

Hope this helps.

Take care

Adam x

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Permalink Reply by DaSaint on July 31, 2009 at 6:25am

Well yes Adam, this does really help.
Tanks for your clear and detailed explanation.

Do you have any suggestions for people that do have these candida problems / symptoms?

I for one know that with me it started when I was combining large amounts of fruit with large amounts of nuts.

So now I'm avoiding fats but it seems that I'm now very susceptible to problems. And I'm afraid that if I start eating nuts / fats again that I will have problems again.

Would it be best to stay of fats for a while? Until the candida symptoms go away? Will I be able to eat fats again at a later time?

Anyone have an idea? Or experience in this area?

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