POLL: constipation + candida, why?

[jules]

i've really been starting to wonder about my constipation and its cause. there is no way that i can be certain that i have candida. and the constipation seemed to come around right at the very moment i came to thinking that i had it. which was the very moment i stopped eating ALL fruit (i already didnt eat any grains or legumes, as i was raw vegan). only days beforehand, i was having plenty of BMs just fine. so i'm kind of wondering if the constipation is actually the result of a loss of the fiber i was having from fruits (fresh and dried like figs). is it actually the result of candida and a weakened digestive system or...?

Poll Question for Everyone Is:

did you become constipated BEFORE starting the candida diet? or was it only after you 'realized' you had candida and changed your diet that you stopped eliminating? it would be very interesting to hear some responses



i do feel EXTREMELY weak, having a hard time climbing stairs and even walking and keeping my balance...this i have no explanation for

part of this is me really trying to deduce whether i have the candida or not, hopefully the enemas i'll be trying soon will give me more clues...

considering resuming to have carrots, tomatoes, and granny smith apples i think very soon to see what happens with a little sugar, what will i be 'looking for' ?

[shelley]

if you were a raw vegan, eating no grains whatsoever, and have now cut out fruit, of COURSE you're going to feel weak and lousy. Geez! You must have NO CALCIUM, magnesium or chromium in your body.

What are you calling constipation exactly? I mean, if you're eating no fruit and just veggies, of course you won't have much feces to eliminate. Having no feces to eliminate is not constipation. If, however, you can tell that you need to "go" and just can't, it's stuck, that's constipation.

[jules]

shelley: very surprised to hear you say that as i get 100%+ RDA of calcium and magnesium from vegetables, greens, fruits, nuts, and seeds. these are all excellent sources of calcium and magnesium! i have checked this on almost a daily basis using fitday.com to watch my nutrients. i've also spent alot of time researching what are the optimal raw foods to eat to acquire and absorb important nutrients and minerals, keeping in mind my Ca:P ratio, as well as alkalinity. as you know, i also now have added raw egg yolk, homemade kefir, yogurt, and sauerkraut to my diet. quinoa and amaranth are the next step for me.

Check this thread on another forum for information about Calcium and Magnesium from living foods:

What is high in calcium and magnesium?
http://www.rawfoodsupport.com/read.php?f=12&i=61517&t=61429



i feel that i eat a very good quantity of food now just as i did before i cut out the fruit, and back then it was moving at least 1-3 times a day and constipation wasnt a word in my vocabulary. when it doesnt move now at all for days and days, and when something does happen, its very hard and miniscule, i know there is a problem other than your implication that vegetables somehow cause less waste? (which i wouldnt doubt would be true to some degree...but not for 3-5 days of 3+ meals of them!)

i got Naturalax 2 by Nature's Way and have been able to have two BMs in the past five days bystarting slowly and taking two pills before bed. FYI: Naturalax 2 is pretty much the exact same thing as Dr Christophers Lower Bowel Formula with Cascara Sagrada (mentioned elsewhere on the forum...his contract with NW ended in 1998 and now he just sells the formulas under his own name)

[shelley]

eating veggies raw makes the calcium more unavailable than when cooked. The natural acids and the other nutrients that veggies have inhibit calcium absorption. The green leafy veggies that are purported to give you enough calcium are full of natural calcium antagonists, like phosphorous, zinc, iron, oxalic acid, insoluble fiber.

If you're juicing veggies so that you're getting tons of veggies in a glass, you have a better chance of getting enough calcium. Just because it's there in the veggie doesn't mean you're absorbing it! If you combine juicing with lightly-cooked veggies, you get much more of the actual nutrients.

The diet analysis programs don't take antagonists into consideration.

Veggies have fiber, yes, but not a whole lot. We get tons more fiber from fruits and grains.

If the stools are very hard and tend to be round, that's most often a lack of stomach acids, secondary is lack of probiotics.

[jules]

i agree with you on every point and have been aware of all of this including certain vegetables/greens with absorption inhibiting factors, which is why i've begun to lightly steam selected goitrogens such as broccoi, kale, and collards. these goitrogens have always made me feel strange eaten in large quantities raw, which is what caused me to research them. also steaming some roots like turnips and burdock root. i would not like to cook starches or proteins (potato, grains, eggs, fats) however, as it has been proven many times that bringing this substances to high temperatures such as in boiling or baking creates carcinogenic molecules that were not present before heating. it's all in the details.

as a sidenote, the calcium and iron in spinach actually gets worse for absorption when cooked. i've also begun to blend vegetables as recommended. unfortunately some of the best greens for nutrients are not readily available organically in most any health food store and one would have to grow/sprout their own (purslane, dandelion, sunflower greens, etc).

still this all points to the fact that constipation may be due to a lack of the fruit and grain fiber, and not necessarily candida (though i dont doubt thats the case with some). i am very curious to see what the experience with others has been regarding the timing of waste elimination problems and the candida diet.

[chickpea]

I thought that the carcinogenic substances were created through baking, not boiling (eg potatoes)

My experience is that I had a tendency to get constipated before I got ill with C.F.S. and subsequent candida. My diet did contain fruit and some veggies though it was high in constipating foods like cheese and wheat. Changing to a higher fibre diet that included oats, more water, cutting out cheese, wheat etc and more vegetable fibre and probiotics helped me a lot. Also aloe vera and oils. That was many years ago though, I don't have oats now cos of the gluten, but they are very good for constipation.

Constipation can occur when the body is readjusting itself to a change of diet...perhaps that is contributing too.

Why not just eat a soft pear each day, or a couple of prunes, surely that would OK? Or, have a tablespoon of olive oil or beetroot juice before meals....these can trigger bowel movements too

Anne

[jules]

Thank you for your suggestions! Yes, I much prefer to help things along by working with my diet than with supplements, I had planned on adding in an apple or pear this week to see what happens. Then I will update here... ! I've added one carrot a day back in, and I very seriously feel a little bit better mentally...less depressed.

When people say 'have a tablespoon of olive oil' for this and that, must it be by itself before/after a meal to have an effect? I feel that I use plenty of it on my food, and along with my coconut oil, seeds, nuts, eggs, and kefir...i dont really need any more fat to be taking it 'supplementarily' (for lack of better word)

On cooking my understanding is that it has to do with reaching a particular temperature range where the molecules get altered. I am not quite sure about the specifics enough to tell you that boiling won't reach that temperature. However, I can tell you that boiling is more damaging to the food than is steaming by quite a bit, steaming only leaches 90% of the nutrients from the food while all other methods leach 60% or more. Keep your steaming water, use it for tea, or smoothies, don't throw the vitamins down the drain! :>

Here is a useful easy cooking tip that my friends and i have sucessfully adopted to make your vegetables retain flavor and nutrients:
http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/Cooktip.html

Cooking is chemistry, sometimes a dangerous one.

[chickpea]

Hi Jules, I normally steam anyway, I used the word boil as you had used it! I just hadn't heard that before.

Yes you would take the oil before a meal, though I know what you mean about having too much fat overall. You could try the beetroot juice, again just a tablespoon OR try a tablespoon of olive oil *before* bed, I find that helps with triggering a bowel movement in the morning

I know what you mean about feel very weak though with the constipation *and* being underweight, I had that experience many times in the past....I was very fairly underweight and extremely weak, yet I knew the weakness was mostly if not all due to toxic colon. People kept telling me to eat more bread etc etc. when all I really needed to do was an enema.

I do think complex carbs are very important (at least for me anyway)....I eat rice congee either with an apple or pear (soft pears are better for BMs) in the morning. I find it excellent for energy and hydrating the bowel and thus constipation.

All the best!
Anne

[jules]

More nice advice, thank you!

Quinoa, Amaranth, and Millet are complex carbs correct? Those seem to be the best of the grains from various aspects. Looking forword to sprouting them and eating them raw with an apple or soft pear! If that doesn't work, prunes and beetroot (beets?), here i come...!

(all of this as i swallow 3 cascara sagrada capsules taken with my broccoli steaming water from a few hours ago)

[chickpea]

Yes they are all complex carbs. I don't really eat amaranth as it seems quite difficult to cook. It's very small and just seemed too guey when I cooked it once I do like quinoa and millet , though personally I find congee (well cooked short-grain brown rice) much better for my bowel issues.
Yes cascara, used to have that a LOT!
Anne

[shelley]

Heya Jules, do you have a good reference for calcium being more bio-available in RAW spinach as versus cooked?

Sally Fallon of Nourishing Traditions says it's more bio-available if spinach is cooked, that it takes heat to destroy those acids, but every raw foodist says it's better raw - naturally!

I'd love to find a technical reference source from someone who is unbiased either way but so far all my Googling has only turned up raw food sites.

For now, I'm going by Ayurvedic medicine that says too much green can be debilitating because it's so cleansing - overdosing on anything bitter, like spinach, is not a good thing. Great temporarily for therapeutic purposes, and great to have in small amounts with every meal, but over time imbalanced.

[jules]

i've been meaning to write up a big update for this thread for awhile now as theere have been many changes and will very soon, but i did want to note while i remember it that yes, in my recent searching about calcium absorption and oxalic acid, i have frequently seen the specific recommendation of completely avoiding cooked spinach altogether. i imagine it would run the same for parsley, because parsley has an even higher oxalate/calcium ratio, but most people eat parsley as a seasoning and no a meal. for a long time, however, i would eat a head of parsley and spinach at a time in a salad or blend.

i will post those references again and i come across them. here is one for now: http://www.geocities.com/viktoraslive/reports.htm