Frequently Asked Questions
Candida
• My doctor says there's no such thing as Candida, and that it's all in my head.
• Is there a reliable laboratory test for Candida?
• How do I know if I have Candida?
Treatment
• Does this program really work?
• Will I ever get Candida under control?
• I’ve tried Candida treatments before and they didn’t work. What’s different about this one?
Reactions and Safety Concerns
• Will I be really sick when I do the Candida program?
• Is there a big die-off reaction?
• Is it safe to do the Candida program during pregnancy?
Diet
• Is the diet really hard to follow?
• Will I be able to do the Candida diet?
• What if I eat one wrong thing? Does that put me back to Square One?
• Will I have to stay on the diet forever?
• What if I don’t cook, or don’t have access to organic food?
Maintenance
• How often do you have to repeat the program?
• What if I go off the program completely? Will I have to start over?
My doctor says there’s no such thing as Candida, and that it’s all in my head.
Obviously many who work in conventional medicine have not yet recognized the nature nor the prevalence of Candida overgrowth. It is not in our standard training. Currently, Candida is on the way to becoming recognized as a true disease state, much like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue were dismissed as psychiatric problems or fantasy in the 1980s, and by the late 1990s both were officially recognized by everyone — simply because the number of people with the symptoms kept growing and wouldn’t go away.
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Is there a reliable laboratory test for Candida?
Many people feel reassured if they see a laboratory test result. However, many diseases (like the common cold, depression and migraine headaches) have no reliable laboratory test; rather, they are diagnosed based on a person’s history, symptoms, and perhaps a physical examination. Candida is one of this type of diseases. While there are tests available to grow a culture of Candida, to measure its production of certain chemicals in the blood or urine, and to evaluate its effect on saliva in water, Dr. Humiston has found that none of these methods is reliable enough to determine how deeply Candida has entrenched itself in the tissues or how much it is affecting a person’s health.
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How do I know if I have Candida?
By reviewing the description of exposures that cause Candida and the symptoms Candida gives you, you can get a really good idea as to whether you have Candida or not, and also how serious your case may be. Although some may look at the list of symptoms and say, “Everyone has these things,” the fact is that none of those symptoms are part of normal health, despite how common some may be.
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Does this program really work?
Dr. Humiston started treating people for Candida in March of 2004, after being diagnosed with Candida himself. After trying the standard approaches, including high-dose Nystatin and Diflucan (fluconazole) and a really good diet, he found the dozens of patients he was treating (as well as himself) were only getting marginal and temporary improvement. Then he was led to the plant-derived antifungals, refined the diet and probiotic approach, and identified unreported Candida-producing exposures (like swimming in chlorinated pools and taking B vitamins), and since the summer of 2004 has treated over 1600 patients (as of July, 2009) with this very comprehensive, well-researched program.
It is life-changing for the majority of patients, and very few stop the program once they have started. No patient has come to Dr. Humiston with even a claim that any other program works nearly as well. If you know of anything promising, let Dr. Humiston know, and he’ll give it a try — we’re always looking for improvement. That’s how we got to where we are!
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Will I ever get Candida under control?
The Candida will never go away completely, nor get down to the level of a person who’s never been exposed to antibiotics and never swam in chlorinated water, etc. Once you have been infected with this, there is no way to completely eradicate it. However, Dr. Humiston's Candida Kit works so well it will make you feel like one of those clean and healthy people, because it will keep the Candida in such good control now and in the future. And not only do you feel much better, but you physically are much better, as evidenced by lower blood sugar, lower blood pressure, weight loss, and other natural indicators that Candida levels are significantly reduced.
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Dr. Humiston's Candida Kit overcomes the problems the other programs have, namely:
1. No effective antifungals. This is the most important part of the protocol (at least 50% of its effectiveness), so without effective antifungals you can’t really hope for a lasting or profound change. The plant-derived antifungal combinations we use are the only medications we know of in the world that reliably control fungus in almost everybody.
2. Errors in the diet. Other diets are not based on nearly as much science or actual observation in patients, so they allow many Candida-promoting foods while prohibiting others that are actually okay. Diet is responsible for about 30% of the effectiveness of the program. The Candida diet guide we provide is based on food science and actual observation of patients with serious yeast problems. We’ve never seen another Candida diet guide that even comes close in accuracy.
3. Faulty probiotics. A number of researchers have found that most probiotics do not contain nearly as many live organisms as is claimed on their labels. The other common problem is that many manufacturers use maltodextrin as the food source for the bacteria in the probiotic, even in some expensive brands. Maltodextrin feeds bacteria, it’s true, but it feeds fungus even better, so there’s no use taking such a product. There are a few brands that don’t make any of these mistakes, and we know that NuFlora is a quality product that is effective in restoring normal bacterial flora.
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Will I be really sick when I do the Candida program?
Step One, the first of three steps, works on reducing yeast in the liver. Most people will notice reactions on the second and often on the third day they're on Step One. These reactions can include mild headache, weakness, joint aches and flu-like symptoms. They can last for an hour, or for more than a day. It's fine to take a Tylenol or Motrin for the headache, but most people don't feel they need to. These reactions are all from beneficial changes occuring in the body; they're signs of healing. Once they disappear, most people feel better than they have in a long time. People also feel a welcome sense of calm when taking Step One, which is a great relief from the frequent anxiety and depression Candida patients often experience.
While most people's initial reactions aren't very strong and some have no noticeable reaction at all to Step One, people who are more sick with Candida are more likely to feel a stronger reaction. For this reason some have chosen to start Step One on a Friday morning, so they have Saturday and Sunday to feel a little low. If you're worried about a big reaction, start with smaller doses; take 1 capsule with each meal instead of 3, and work up to a full dose gradually. There's no hurry on this program, and it will work whether you take it slowly or at full speed.
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Ineffective medication will annoy the yeast, which will then seek vengeance and get back at you for trying to kill it. What is really happening in that case is that the yeast, being very industrious, versatile and tenacious due to its large genome and large size (among microbes), perceives that you are trying to kill it (with caprylic acid or oregano or whatever) and also that you’re not feeding it its favorite foods on the usual schedule, and it chemically changes what it’s doing to defend itself. This is what people refer to as a die-off reaction. However, when it goes on for weeks it is not die-off — nothing is dying! It is getting back at you!
Step 1 of the treatment is so much more effective than other approaches that we seldom see the above situation. Most people will experience reactions on the second and third day of the program, when the treatment is doing what I call a “hostile eviction” of the yeast from the liver. By day four or five, people are usually much better, and that’s the only big reaction that most should expect during the program. And even that initial reaction is often not that big.
Occasionally people will struggle with Step 1. This almost always means they have a real struggle going on within the liver. In these cases Dr. Humiston recommends taking 3 capsules of Olive Leaf twice a day. You can purchase Nature’s Way Olive Leaf online or at a health food store.
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Yes. It is safe to do the Candida program during both pregnancy and lactation (breastfeeding). In fact, it is much better for mother and baby when mom does not not have Candida problems during the pregnancy. Dr. Humiston's experience is that women who have done the Candida treatment have less trouble getting pregnant, have less miscarriage, and appear to have fewer complications of pregnancy (preterm contractions, preterm labor, gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia).
He has also seen many cases of babies born to mothers with Candida where the babies have early food allergies, sleep problems, colic and infections. In contrast, when mothers are treated for Candida either before or during pregnancy, the labors seem to go better, and moms and babies seem to come out healthier. Even diaper rash appears to be less frequent in these babies.
Another great help during pregnancy and breastfeeding that must be mentioned is fulvic acid. This is a natural source of microminerals that are essential for the formation of DNA; when a mom takes it during pregnancy, it is easier for her to form new cells (which is what the baby is made of). The results seen in several pregnancies are these:
- Mom tends to be much less tired, and can often skip her mid-day nap altogether. Some moms have temporarily stopped taking the fulvic acid during the pregnancy, have found that they were suddenly much more tired, and have gone right back on it. The logical explanation is that the fulvic acid is providing certain materials to build the baby's body, and when it's not there the baby will pull those materials from mom's body instead.
- Babies appear to be more well-formed. Parents' observation is that these children seem to see more with their eyes at an earlier age than their siblings did. Their bodily seams and parts appear to be a little more tightly formed. And they seem more socially attentive.
Finally, it is very important to use a properly prepared, quality fulvic acid. It is a soil product and must come from the proper type of soil and be thoroughly free from fungal contamination. How to take fulvic acid: One tablespoon once a day is enough. Make sure you don't drink any chlorinated water within an hour of taking fulvic acid.
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Is the diet really hard to follow?
The diet is not hard to follow once one has started taking Step 1 antifungals, because it is so effective at reducing or eliminating cravings. Without that help, the diet would be very difficult, because the Candida organisms in the liver influence the appetite strongly and create those cravings. The second aspect is that the diet has a learning curve, so you should give yourself some time to learn the diet (which is very well-laid out in the instructions and CD that come with Dr. Humiston's Candida Kit). After one week on the program, most people are doing quite well with the diet.
You should try to follow the diet to the letter. However, unless your Candida is severe*, you do not have to be that strict in order for the program to work. Those who do their best to follow all points of the diet usually are being more careful than they have to be, but they get the best results.
*If your Candida is severe, you do indeed have to follow the diet, and everything else in the program, to the letter; otherwise you simply won’t be able to achieve the health you desire.
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Yes. People who have tried diets to control Candida tend to find them too difficult to follow long-term. There are three reasons for this:
- If you don't kill the Candida with effective medicine, it will continue to cause strong food cravings and other symptoms (like irritability) when you deprive it of its favorite foods by going on a Candida diet. Since most medications (natural or synthetic) are not really effective against Candida, this is the common experience.
- When people do get results from being on an anti-Candida diet, they usually find that it only works while they adhere to the diet strictly. If they get at all careless or tired of the program, they find their symptoms rapidly return. This, again, is due to the fact that effective medication is necessary to kill Candida, and diet alone — no matter how strict and well-chosen — can never give you long-term control of Candida. You can reduce it somewhat with diet alone, but it will spring back as soon as it gets the chance.
- Most diet programs contain errors, allowing you to eat things that really are quite fungal (e.g. almonds and other nuts, soy products, cinnamon, apple cider vinegar) and prohibiting things that are tolerable to most people, especially when they have started on Step One (e.g. potatoes, rice, pasta, natural sugars, fresh cheeses).
By combining the only consistently effective treatment for Candida Dr. Humiston has found with a very carefully researched and clinically proven diet put together by a physician with a doctorate in clinical nutrition, Dr. Humiston's Candida Kit takes the difficulty out of following the diet in the following ways:
- Cravings are usually significantly reduced or gone altogether in 2-3 days. You can walk away from chocolate, coffee, bread, vinegar and pickles, fruit and nuts.
- The diet is not a low-carbohydrate, avoid-all-starches diet. It is high in carbohydrates, which are the best source of energy. This works because the antifungal effect of Step One makes carbohydrates much more tolerable for your liver. Other types of foods restricted on other programs are also allowed on this diet.
- The initial diet is more stict during the first 6-8 weeks, in order to get a good kill of the Candida. After that, you are able to bring back many of the foods you were avoiding.
- The diet is very carefully laid out as to exactly what foods and ingredients are allowed and which are not. In addition, foods are prioritized, meaning you are told which ones are real no-nos and which ones are simply best avoided.
- You receive a 2-CD set in which Dr. Humiston carefully reviews the diet food by food. Also, you receive the Candida Food Guide, which gives you shopping lists, instructions on how to make simple or more involved Candida-free meals, and instructions on how to eat out at restaurants without getting into trouble.
We have found that the large majority of people who have done Dr. Humiston's Candida Kit rapidly adapt to the diet program, and after a week of following it really like the way it makes them feel. And because the cravings disappear, they find it's an easy choice to continue the diet as their new lifestyle.
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What if I eat one wrong thing? Does that put me back to Square One?
No. Because the antifungals, diet and probiotics are so well-designed, you truly get control of Candida. If you eat one wrong thing, yes, you will go backward — but only for a few hours, and then you’ll recover. The ability to recover quickly is something many customers notice, and it is a sign of healing. If you follow the diet carefully, and then you do stray from it, the reactions are minimal and short-lived. “Those who follow the program strictly purchase themselves the benefit of feeling and knowing what it’s like to be yeast-free.”
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Yes, but not with the same strictness as at first. The antifungals reduce cravings so well, and also with time you become quite accustomed to following our diet program. In addition, the diet is not a low-carb/high-protein program, but includes lots of carbs that you will be able to eat right away. Finally, the diet approach is much more strict in the first six to eight weeks as you are killing off the Candida, then it is less restrictive thereafter because you have the Candida under control. These are all unique features of our protocol which other programs don’t have.
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The key to the diet is to do your best. Fast food and prepackaged foods have so many added unhealthy ingredients that one cannot be healthy eating them regularly. However, when eating out in restaurants or buying food at the deli or grocery store, one can make the right choices if one knows what to avoid. The Candida Food Guide that comes with the kit gives you a summary of foods to avoid, and also guidance on how to eat at restaurants and what you can buy in the store. If you do your best, regardless of your circumstances or limited cooking skills, it will be good enough for the program to work.
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We have found that by staying indefinitely on a low daily dose of Step 3 antifungals, which keep fungal spores under control, people hardly ever need to repeat the program, as long as they stay on the antifungals with some regularity and stick to a less-restrictive maintenance diet plan.
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Probably not. If you've completed Steps 1-3 and you stop following the Maintenance Program, it is likely that you can simply get back on the program right where you left off and you’ll do fine.
If you go way off the program, eating whatever and getting lots of symptoms back, then you should go back on Step 2 and start the program from there. It’s unusual for people to have to start from the very beginning. Also, you can go through the program faster the second time than the first, because there is simply less yeast to kill. For example, you can do just 12 days of Step 2 and 12 days of Step 3, rather than 16 days of each.
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Updated: June 15, 2010
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Frequently Asked Questions