First I'll give you some background into why you should care in th efirst place. Beneficial bacteria (certain strains of acidophilus, bifidus, lacto bacillus...) help us digest our food and help us form nice healthy bowel movements. Good bacteria basically eat the undigested food (mostly fiber) that gets to our lower intestines and create beneficial byproducts for us (one example is vitamin K). Good bacteria also help us to create soft airy well formed poop. Bad bugs also eat our undigested food, but they create byproducts that that can cause excess gas and bloating, and can disrupt the quality of your poop. The bad bugs can include many forms of yeast, candida, parasites, molds, or fungii.
We all have a mix of beneficial and harmful bugs in our bodies. Every person is affected differently by different bugs. The general idea though for a healthy digestive tract is to have abundantly more beneficial than bad. The main causes of dysbiosis (abnormal ratio of good/bad bacteria) are varied. They include the use of antibiotics, caffeine, alcohol, eating refined foods, eating unsanitary foods (contaminated with a bug of some sort...you really don't want to know what actually winds up in our food supply on a regular basis) and even high emotional stress.
The number one offender in my opinion is the use of antibiotics. The use of antibiotics is necessary at times and the benefits may outweigh the risks on occasion. We should understand though that antibiotics that help to kill off bad infections can also kill off the beneficial bacteria in our gut. That is why every time you take an antibiotic you should also take a probiotic. A probiotic is a supplement with certain strains of beneficial bacteria in them. There are many probiotics to choose from so do your research. I personally recommend a 'live' bacteria blend that needs to stay refrigerated over the 'Freezedried' form. I have seen benefits in using both types but the live bacteria make more sense to me. A general reccommendation is to look for a refrigerated mix of strains including acidophilus and bifidobacterium. In my office I use a few different Metagenics brand probiotics. Take the probiotic of choice as prescribed on the supplement's label or as prescribed by your health practitioner. The typical course of treatment with no symptoms but merely as precautionary after taking antibiotics is 30 days.
Getting back to the yeast free diet. Now that you have a basic understanding that there may be some 'bad' bugs living in your belly, you can take one of the steps to eliminate some of them. By no means is a Yeast free diet a cure-all it is merely a safe diet to try out if you are having digestive symptoms. The best results will probably be for people with symptoms of lower abdominal bloating and constipation. Results will vary from person to person, that is why the best reccomendation is to be under the care of a health practioner. If a yeast free diet is not working for you for some reason a good doctor will find out why and recommend a change in your diet and can recommend the right supplements/medication for you or in some cases will know to refer you out to a specialist.
The basics of the yeast free diet are simple, don't eat anything white and don't eat anything that has been fermented. So what does that leave you? Plenty! If you are eating a healthy diet a yeast free diet should not be too difficult to follow. You are allowed to eat all the animal proteins you want (except dairy and deli meats) , you can have all the vegetables you want, there is no limitations on oils, you can use rice as a form of starch. There are plenty of other internet resources and books that give you yeast free recipes. Just google yeast free diet. There are some very strict versions out there but the following list of foods are the foods I have sucessfully used in my office for many years. If there are ever any questions regarding the information posted please feel free to conatct our office at any time.
Cut out all of the following Foods:
sugar, all types, syrup, molasses etc...
yeast products, breads, pizza, buns, bagels etc...
white flour products, cakes, biscuits etc.
all prepared breakfast cereals (unless you find one without sugar)
cured products: bacon, deli meats, kippers etc.
fermented products, vinegar, pickles, chutney, tofu, soy sauce
alcohol
tea (herbal is OK)
coffee
ovaltine, or any sugary drinks etc.
all malted products
cow’s cheese -limit dairy produce or cut out completely
dried fruit, dried herbs
limit fresh fruit (cut out completely in the first three weeks) Apples and berries if you must have something
canned foods
mushrooms
peanuts and peanut products
To reduce the strain on the immune system and to allow the maximum absorption of the nutrients you are advised to combine your foods properly and to rotate them. A simple explanation of food combining is not to eat proteins and starchy foods at the same meal because they are digested in different acidic environments. See the Food Combining Thread on this blog.
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