“I give you bitter pills in sugar coating. The pills are harmless.
The poison is in the sugar”.
Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

For several years when I was a little girl, I would experience episodes of dehydration for no apparent reason: I would fall asleep and would simply not wake up. Not being prone to hysteria and dotted of a solid common sense, my mother, in the absence of any fever, would automatically diagnose dehydration and immediately replenish the lost water by “pushing fluid” in every orifice of my body requiring it. Afterwards, and for several days, she would give me unrefined sea salt to suck on. Eventually, I outgrew it and kept an intense liking for its taste. However, because salt made me thirsty, I never became addicted to it: a little salt forced me to drink enough water not to dehydrate but did not cause me to drink so much that I would have been bloated and uncomfortable.

In my adolescence, I developed a different metabolic imbalance, which was discovered by accident: while practicing any kind of sport, it was not uncommon for gym teachers to carry sugar cubes, which they would generously dispense to students before any competition. Sugar was said to “boost the energy”. They simply doped us to obtain a better performance from the team. Interestingly, the few times when I ate the sugar cubes, I would feel immediately drained physically: instead of boosting my energy, the sugar appeared to sap it. I got into the habit of refusing it and ran my races without much difficulty. Although considered an oddity, no one thought much of it or even looked into it. As time went by, I experienced increasing dizziness and would even fall when getting up from a chair too quickly. Alarmed, my mother took me to the doctor’s and, after several tests, I was diagnosed with being hypoglycemic, hence hypotensive. His advice? Suck on hard candy. Not a bad medicine for a 14-year old to swallow… except that, over time, I realized that I was becoming increasingly tired.

Even though I am not a scientist, I found it rather strange that I would be especially exhausted shortly after eating candy. Being always tired wasn’t pleasant and I decided to make my own experiment: what would happen if I completely stop eating sugar for a while? I had recently learned in biology class that, as soon as one ingested sugar, the pancreas released insulin to process it digestion. What if my pancreas was so much out of whack that it released a quantity of insulin disproportionate with the quantity of sugar absorbed, which depleted my body of all my sugar reserves? Would it, in fact, reestablish its own balance if suddenly deprived of it? Was my pancreas simply in need of a rest? At the age of 14, I quit putting sugar in anything overnight: cereals, yoghourts, coffee. I wasn’t in charge of cooking, so I still ate my mother’s dishes but, in fairness to her, she was parsimonious with starchy foods known to transform into sugar once eaten. In a very short time, all episodes of dizziness and faintness stopped. Interestingly, following through with my decision had not required any insurmountable effort: I felt bad, I didn’t like it and no longer wanted to, and feeling good again was its own reward. Eventually and after several months, I was able to resume eating sweets but, by then, I had lost most of my taste for them. By the time my daughter was born, sugar was the farthest thing from my mind and the kid grew up deprived of sodas, ice cream and the likes. I would venture to guess that it played a part, however small, in her becoming such a social and prized human being: she liked her friends’ fridge much better than mine…

Anyone who ever ate a meal too salty knows that it does cause thirst (which is exactly why bars offer free salty snacks and peanuts during happy hours: it guarantees that parched patrons will consume enough liquor to make up for that minute investment…) Although salt exists in industrial food in greater quantity than ever before, most people instinctively curtail their intake after a certain point.

Sugar does not provoke the same kind of immediate effect: people can easily munch on sweets for hours without feeling overly thirsty. And in fact, it is a snack of choice because of its ability to relieve quickly any pang of hunger. Just because there is no immediate effect does not mean however, that sugar is harmless, far from it.

There is an increasing body of scientific evidence concerning the long-term dangers of excessive sugar. One of them is the chronic candida albicans infection most people suffer from nowadays. Turn on the TV any day and you’ll see countless advertising for prescriptions and products for yeast infections, in every possible form or shape: pills, gelcaps, liquids, powders, you name it.

With my research cap on, I looked extensively into information currently available about candida albicans. In one of the most interesting articles by Dr. Lawrence Wilson, M.D., which can be found on http://www.drlwilson.com/Articles/candida.htm, I learned, among other things, that :”Yeasts, molds and funguses are one-celled organisms. Beneficial ones include brewers and nutritional yeast, and lactobacillus acidophilus. Candida albicans is not among them. It produces poisons including alcohol. Candida is found in the air, water and food but not normally in our bodies. Slow metabolism, deficient acid in the stomach, an over-alkaline intestinal tract and copper imbalance allow candida to flourish in the body. Weak adrenals, improper bowel flora, diets high in sugar and taking antibiotics, antacids, birth control pills and steroid hormones contribute to candida infection.

Symptoms range from chronic fatigue and depression to headaches, bloating, gas and tightness in the shoulders. Candida can also contribute to brain fog, mood swings, memory loss, itching, joint pain, indigestion, ulcers, cancer and many sinus infections. Learning and behavior disorders are often due in part to candida infection, especially in children who eat a lot of sugar. Chronic candida can also contribute to irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, heartburn and gastric acid reflux disease or GERD…

Symptoms are often excellent for detection. If one is tired or spacy after eating sweets or a high-carbohydrate meal, candida is likely. If one gets yeast infections, candida is present in the intestines as well. Gas or bloating that improves when one stops eating sugars and carbohydrates is another simple indicator of possible candida infection.

Alcohol produced by candida can contribute to fatigue, spaciness, impaired judgment, emotional problems (AHA! Body over mind!) and learning and behavior disorders in children. Some people notice they feel tired after eating sugar. Sugar feeds their candida which increases production of alcohol. Alcoholics are often addicted to sugar without understanding the connection. Sugar addiction may occur because depriving candida of their sugar reduces alcohol production. This causes withdrawal symptoms including negative thoughts, anxiety, shakiness and fatigue. This drives many people back to sugar to enhance alcohol output. Hypoglycemia due to weak adrenals is another factor in sugar addiction.” .

If any of the symptoms listed above applies to you, you may wish to look at your diet: how much fiber do you consume daily? How much sugar (or do you know?) Are you on any prescriptions medication?

Although I did not consume an inordinate amount of sugar and was not taking antibiotics, I was experiencing many of the symptoms: depression, tightness in the shoulders, brain fog, mood swings, itching, joint pain and sinus infections. I mentioned previously that I also was drinking more wine than reasonable and, since I had quit cooking and was relying on frozen food, my fiber intake was lacking.

Candida is a living organism: it eats, it creates by-products (alcohol) and it reproduces (although I don’t exactly know how and don’t care to find out.) According to the many articles I read, it feeds exclusively on sugar, which it needs to reproduce. Here is how the cycle begins: we feed our children refined sugar in large amount right from infancy. Candida feeds on it and, rendered strong and healthy, it reproduces at a fast pace in a body already weakened and, therefore, incapable to keep it under control. As it eats, it depletes the reserves of sugar our body needs to produce sustained energy. In turn, our body transmits to our brain a craving for sugar (withdrawal), which requires immediate intake of it. Alcoholism may, in fact, be triggered by an overgrowth of candida. Our overloaded pancreas attempts to process it by producing more insulin. Overtime, the pancreas weakens and fails in its processing role. Overgrown candida then invades our organs, including and not limited to our brain. As we become colonized, illness develops. Some articles make a correlation with our increase sugar intake and the drastic increase in Alzheimer’s cases in the US in an increasingly younger population: 5 to 10% of the 4 million “Old timers’ disease” diagnosed patients are said to be 60 years old and younger (between 200.000 and 400.000!)

To me, learning about candida was an eye-opener. First of all, by explaining the correlation between sugar, candida and alcohol, it allowed me to understand why I took certain actions at certain times in my life: I was colonized by an enemy within and ignorant about it. Bad combination! I did what most of us do: my body was signaling certain cravings and I mindlessly acted upon them, while blaming myself for my lack of willpower. Since my candida did not receive the sugar it needed, it incited me to consume what, inevitably, would transform into sugar: wine. That cured my guilt right there en then! Furthermore, I now know that, were I to go back to drinking too much wine, there would be a reason independent from my willpower. It would no longer mean that I am morally corrupt but that I am rebecoming colonized by candida.

Secondly, it taught me why Colonix had been so effective at restoring my health, both physical and mental: by providing me with needed fiber, it restored an adequate bowel function which, in turn, decreased intestinal transit time and stimulated a better elimination and increased blood circulation, thereby “flushing” the enemy within.

Lastly, it confirmed what I have always known, deep inside: so long as we have one breath left in us, we can improve and even reverse our condition and it doesn’t have to be painful, difficult, time consuming and expensive. And not only that but, if one enemy within is responsible for a bad dietary habit, I can’t wait to arm myself and meet face-to-face the rest of my enemies within, responsible for my other bad habits! Think about the ramifications of such a discovery: which enemy within makes you choose bread, with no particular nutritional value, over bell pepper or garlic, loaded with vitamins et minerals? Which enemy within causes you to smoke?

There is incredible wisdom in the say: “Knowyour enemy.”

Life is Good!

Christine
CBrightlife@aol.com