Apple cider vinegar

There are two kinds of apple cider vinegar:

1. The crap you get at the grocery store; and
2. The kind that works.

Most, if not all, of the ACV you'll find at the grocery store is pasteurized. This includes Heinz and Meijer brand ACV. It might help a little, but it's not what you want (if you want to get rid of your Candida overgrowth).

What you want is organic, raw, unfiltered ACV.

Last night I found what I was looking for. I bought two quarts of Bragg ACV from Whole Foods Market. It's pretty expensive--$5.69 per quart, at least where I bought it--but it's an expense you can deal with because you need it.

Here's why I know there's a difference between the two varieties of ACV: I have tonail fungus. The pasteurized stuff I used yesterday didn't do anything visible to my toenails. But today, after adding a little of the Bragg ACV to the other vinegar, then soaking my feet in the mixture, my toenails were different. The most noticeable difference was that some of the crusty outer layer came off of a few nails.

This stuff (the Bragg ACV) is making a difference. The other stuff did not.

--
Aimless: The Adventures of an American Vagabond.
Become a fan of Aimless on Facebook.

Finding the right combination

Almost a couple weeks into my anti-Candida treatment, I've been learning a lot and settling into some behavioral and dietary patterns. Here are the main components that have been helping me fight Candida overgrowth so far, along with my primitive explanations for why these methods have helped me:

• Garlic
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Diet (starving the Candida)
• Exercise
• Water
• NOT CHEATING ON THE DIET!

Garlic
As an integral part of the anti-Candida diet, raw garlic is more a supplement than a cure; it's just part of the fight. Garlic has anti-fungal properties, and Candida, as you should know, is a fungus.

Raw, Organic, Unpasteurized Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
Same as garlic in ways. It's not the cure; just an important part of the fight. From what I've read, ACV is very acidic, but in the stomach it ends up making your body less acidic and more alkaline, which is one of your major objectives when fighting Candida.

In addition to drinking a shot of ACV every morning and evening, I've also been soaking my feet in ACV for at least half an hour a couple times a day, to fight athlete's foot and toenail fungus. It almost immediately fixed the athlete's foot (a few days), and it seems very clearly to be helping the toenail fungus. However, it's going to be at least a few months before I'll know for sure how effectively it works on the nails. (The anti-Candida diet will probably do more than the external application of ACV to help my toenail fungus in the long term.)

Diet (starving the Candida)
NO sugar (not even from sweet fruits). NO carbohydrates. NO dairy products. NO alcohol. This stuff feeds Candida, which makes you miserable. (Read more below in "NOT CHEATING ON THE DIET!")

Exercise
Exercise combats Candida overgrowth in at least two ways. First, it causes you to inhale a lot more oxygen than normal. (Candida doesn't like oxygen.) Second, it makes you sweat out toxins that can't leave your body in any other way (for example, through urination).

Water
Drinking lots of water keeps you hydrated and helps you flush toxins (or bad shit) out of your body. You probably do not hydrate yourself enough. Consequently, your body is unable to expel all the toxic crap you've put into yourself. If you just start drinking lots of water, you will probably begin feeling better just because your body will finally be able to evict the bad shit that's clogging up your whole freaking system.

Do you know why you have to pee so much when you drink beer or coffee? It's not the result of some magical property in these drinks; it's because you're basically poisoning yourself when you drink these beverages, which is why you feel buzzed or energetic afterward. When your body detects the poison, the body's job is to get rid of the poison, which it does by making you urinate. To make sure you expel the poisons ASAP, your body also borrows fluid from elsewhere in the body, which dehydrates you and leaves you with a hangover the next morning.

NOT CHEATING ON THE DIET!
Although it is very important to put the right things into your body in your fight against Candida, it is more important to keep from putting the wrong things into your body. Every time you put sugar or carbohydrates into your body, you feed the Candida. Until you stop feeding the Candida, the Candida will continue using your body as a hospitable host. Unless you starve Candida, it will continue to thrive and reproduce, and it will take over your whole body once again as soon as you revert to your old dietary and behavioral patterns.

You have to kill all the excess Candida by starving it before you can expect to start living how you used to live. Even if you maintain a disciplined routine of consuming plenty of raw garlic and ACV, in addition to exercising and drinking lots of water, Candida will remain a nuisance in your body for as long as you keep feeding it the sugar it needs.

Not cheating on your diet is probably the most important part of the fight against Candida.

Some other things that will help you beat Candida

• Acidophilus
• 35 percent hydrogen peroxide
• An alkaline pH

Acidophilus is a probiotic supplement that helps you return beneficial bacteria to your body, which you probably killed by taking antibiotics. However, until you kill the Candida fungus that moved into the bacteria's homes, these bacteria will have nowhere to live and probably will not help you much.

I don't know much about 35% hydrogen peroxide or pH yet. When I learn more about these things, I'll write about them.

--
Aimless: The Adventures of an American Vagabond.
Become a fan of Aimless on Facebook.

Sinuses AOK

Now about ten days into my anti-Candida diet, I've noticed the last few days that my sinuses are great. No pain and no congestion for the first time in a long time. I don't know if this is from the foods I've been eating (or, more specifically, not eating) or if it's a result of the apple cider vinegar or the tons of raw garlic I've been eating, but my sinuses feel fantastic. No minor pain. Nothing. No trouble swallowing, either.

--
Aimless: The Adventures of an American Vagabond.
Become a fan of Aimless on Facebook.