The Continuing Story

Well, of course, Health Food Stores were a new phenomenon back there in the early 70's, and I was an avid fan, gleaning as much knowledge as I could, and endeavoring to implement as much as I could.

First thing to go was the bread....it just seemed like a filler food, something to fill you up, but with little substance. Sometimes my Dad would bring home these truly hearty and heavy dark brown loaves from some ethnic bakery...ahhh! They had a thick crust that was oh, sooooo satisfying to tear your teeth into! I do not remember seeing any white bread at our house, and once I had children, I began baking my own whole wheat bread for them...and me too, of course. But alas, I always felt fat when I ate bread...any bread. Fat and farty.

Then there was sugar. My Dad never let me drink it, and by the time I finally did at 16, I spat that fizzy stuff out, and never looked back. Not drinking soda of any kind has probably saved me from even more grief than I've alrady had. Anyway, back on the sugar- Every time I ate a lovely dessert, I would relish it like some kind of drug....because for me, that white poison was death, death, death! I could never have "just a little"....sure enough, the next day, I would crave sugar something fierce; and at the same time of day that I had eaten it the day before! Hmmmm. What was that all about? Even today, when I hear folks saying that they can just have "a little" dessert here and there - I just do not get it.

Next thing that I noticed would set me off was dairy. Milk, ice cream, cheese, pudding; sour cream, coffee creamer, it all made me fart! From what I had read, the flatulence meant that I was not digesting something properly. I found that if I ate plain yoghurt, I was fine. After consuming dairy, I ended up with excess mucus, fuzzy thinking, overwhelming weariness and a sluggish constitution. Not too fun.

What I did not know then, was that I was growing my own little yeast colony in my gut...all by myself! Involuntarily, no less! My insides were an ugly science experiment on wheels! Yup, the yeast in the bread, the glucose, sucrose, maltose, and the lactose and every other "ose"  were feeding those little yeasts to the point of overgrowth. Gross! How did it get there, you ask? Well, I found out that the wonderful world of antibiotics, which had kept me from dying of infection from my internal injuries back there in the hospital, had not only killed off the nasty bacteria in my gut, but had effectively destroyed my healthy intestinal flora (the good bacteria) as well. The effect of this was chronic fatigue, sinus infections, weakness in my joints and mental, (yes, I said mental) confusion.All these things also caused me to gain weight easily, too, which I could not afford to do, since even a few pounds brought me more pain. As I aged, I started getting these bad rashes  in my thoracic area and on my shins....how embarrassing! And it itches!

I began to learn the why of all these symptoms only a few years ago, and even upon learning that this was my condition, I pushed the information about CANDIDA ALBICANS, or yeast overgrowth to the very back burner. I took acidophilous capsules to reduce the yeast over growth, but at the same time I would eat the things that fed the yeast. Money down the drain, girls!

Well, just like in any area that I went floating down the River of De Nile in, my boat crashed....and of course it had to crash many a time before I would climb up out of that slimy River of De Nile and face my truth.

Tomorrow I will share my epiphany!

By the way, DENIAL is an acronym for:
Don't
Even
No (sp "know")
I
Am
Lying......to myself!

Recommended reading:

"Diet for a Small Planet" by Francis Moore Lappe

"Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit" by Adelle Davis

"Sugar Blues" by Patrick Duffy

"The Yeast Connection" by William G. Crook M.D.
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