Last week, I showed you a simple and very effective way to knock out your digestive problems.
What I didn’t show you was what could be the most common cause of digestive problems – and how to solve it within three months. I’ll tell you about it today.
Have you ever noticed that as you age, more and more foods just don’t agree with you? It’s a very common problem.
For example, some people simply can’t tolerate carbohydrates anymore. They had no problem eating them as a child. But as an adult, the carbs really cause problems. In fact, when I put patients on a low-carb diet to help them lose weight, they notice that their heartburn, gas, bloating, and stomach cramps go away almost instantly.
The reasons we see such responses is that we develop food sensitivities as we age. The most common sensitivities are dairy, eggs, wheat and/or gluten, corn, and soy. Notice that many carbohydrates, particularly breads, pastas, and processed foods will contain several of these. Bread, for instance, has dairy, eggs, and wheat with gluten. So it’s no wonder a low-carb diet fixes so many people’s digestive problems.
And the same is true for other offending foods. When you stop eating them, your symptoms go away very quickly — usually within a day or two. Does that mean you have to avoid these foods for the rest of your life? The answer is no!
In most cases, you can get rid of the food sensitivity simply by avoiding the food completely for just three months.
Please note that there’s a big difference between a food sensitivity and a food allergy. Food allergies are caused by an abnormal immune system response. While there are ways to treat many of them, some allergies are quite severe and will never go away. These severe allergies can even be life threatening — the most common being a peanut allergy. Of course, no one with a true food allergy should ever try reintroducing such a food to their diet, except under the careful supervision of their doctor.
Another difference between food allergies and sensitivities is the reaction. Most allergies will produce an immune response, which is evident in the sinuses, eyes, throat, and/or lungs. Food sensitivities typically will affect the digestive tract.
Do You Have a Serious Health Issue?
However, what happens when your problem isn’t a food sensitivity/allergy or low stomach acid (like we discussed last week)? Then the solutions I’ve given you may not work. What’s more, if none of those solutions clears up your digestive problem, it’s possible you have a serious health issue. At least, that’s what your doctor will tell you. Many doctors will tell patients who don’t respond to treatment that they have colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or even Crohn’s disease.
While this is true in a few cases, far too many doctors jump to these diagnoses without considering another extremely common cause of discomfort — a yeast infection called Candida albicans. Symptoms of a candida overgrowth include changes in your stool, constipation or diarrhea, heartburn, bloating, gas, and stomach or intestinal cramps. And sufferers find they can’t eat certain foods.
These symptoms are similar to symptoms of colitis, IBS, and Crohn’s disease, so it’s easy to understand why doctors would misdiagnose it.
If someone comes to me and tells me their doctor says they have colitis or IBS, I’ll first treat them for a yeast overgrowth. And for most patients, this works.
How Do You Treat a Chronic Yeast Overgrowth?
There’s no standard regimen recommended for a chronic yeast overgrowth, because it’s not a recognized medical condition. That’s why your doctor will often overlook it. And, unfortunately, the solutions offered by most alternative-minded doctors don’t work very fast. Solutions such as garlic and caprylic acid can take months to kill the yeast.
But you can easily kill the yeast in just two to three weeks. It might take a bit longer to ensure the yeast will stay away once it’s gone, but it’s nothing like the months other natural remedies require to clear up the problem. And it’s a whole lot easier than a lifetime commitment to “manage” the colitis or IBS that you probably don’t even have!
The first step is to eliminate all carbohydrates. And I mean literally no starches, sugars, grains, beans, or fruits for the first two weeks. This is tough at first. But you’ll eventually get used to it. And since it’s for only two weeks, most patients can make it.
The second step is to take a prescription antifungal — my favorite is a medication called terniafiine. I recommend terbinafine because I have found that Candida has become resistant to the other antifungals. When you look up the side effect profile of terbinafine you will find that it can be toxic to the liver. But, this only happens when the drug is used for months on end. When it’s used for only a three-week period, there’s no negative effect on the liver, and it’s well tolerated. I have been using this approach for two decades. Most doctors will gladly give you a prescription for terbinafine. The dose is 250 mg once a day for three weeks.
Your final step is to re-promote normal bacteria that will permanently hold the yeast in check. I give people a high-quality, multi-strain lactobacillus supplement. One of my favorites is Advanced Probiotic Formula offered by Advanced Bionutritionals.
In addition, I tell people to take the capsule form of saccaromyces boulardii – a beneficial yeast. Take four capsules twice a day for six weeks. This three-step program is so effective that any symptoms should be completely cleared up within two weeks.
Even Better Than a Cure — Prevention
Of course, one thing that’s better than curing chronic gastric distress is keeping it from ever happening. And there’s one preventative that works against all the issues I’ve discussed in this report: the regular ingestion of coconut oil.
Coconut oil? You may have heard that “tropical oils” are bad for your health because they contain triglycerides.
Well, the truth is that coconut oil contains something called medium-chain triglycerides. These aren’t the same as other triglycerides, which are long-chain fatty acids.
Study after study has proven the health benefits of the medium-chain triglycerides found in coconut oil.
For example, coconut oil has anti-microbial and anti-viral properties. It kills both Candida albicans and helicobacter pylori. Coconut oil also contributes to healing of the stomach lining.
Worried that your heart may suffer for your stomach’s good? Don’t be. Medium-chain triglycerides lower the risk of both atherosclerosis and heart disease. And they have no negative impact on cholesterol levels.
In addition to taking some coconut oil, do your best to avoid sugars, junk food, processed foods, GMO foods, and steroids and antibiotics. All of these cause an overgrowth of Candida.
So, if you don’t already suffer from stomach trouble, now you know a simple and safe way to prevent it.
But if it’s too late for prevention, there’s still no need to suffer with chronic gastric distress. Relief can be simple, inexpensive, and permanent. You just have to know how to find and treat its root causes.
This can be tricky, so don’t give up. It’s possible you do have a serious health condition. But even then, it’s possible to find the help you need. Next week, I’ll show you what I did for a special case of Crohn’s disease.