Alternative Health Frustration

I gorged last night...

Not on food, but on information. A while back a cute little woman of chinese heritage running a smoothie shop informed me that I had "the yeast". She said that the overeating i do, and sugar cravings are from something called a Systemic Candida infection. (too much yeast inhabiting your digestive tract, or other areas of your body).

So i search for this off and on, and I'm totally saturated w/ the information that is available on the web and in books that I've taken out of the library.

And...as is usual w/ alt health stuff...I'm confused. Tired of searching for myself, and interested in just fixing this (if it's in fact "the yeast" that I have)

I've come to the conclusion that when anything is extremely complex (like being overweight) you find that a lot of people label themselves as "experts" and will happily give you their opinions.

So what I like to do is to read what the experts say and draw my own non-expert conclusions by looking for the overlap, and the most practical options for me.

Here's the overlap on the yeast...and in stopping sugar cravings...

1. Cut most of the sugar out of your diet. Raw honey is ok, but use it sparingly
2. Limit fruit to 2-3 servings a day...it's better than sugar tho, so if you crave sugar, eat fruit instead
3. Eat more vegetables, preferably those that are lower on the glycemic index
4. Reduce the amount of fat you eat...no fried foods at all.
5. Exercise regularly.
6. Get enough sleep
7. Drink lots of warm and hot water and herbal teas.
8. Use a neti pot/sinus rinsing device at least daily
9. Stop eating vinegar, start using lemon juice instead.
10. Talk to a qualified alt health practitioner and detrmine if you do, indeed, have "the yeast"

#10 kind of freaks me out. Insurance doesn't typically cover alt health practitioners...so i'm going to do some research to find one or more that I can try out. If the woman @ OR Smoothies is right, then I've got a long term problem to solve.

If not, then steps 1-9 are just plain healthy advice.

Too bad i have $50 worth of Girl Scout cookies ...