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 ...

More Deepak is awesome

Mind-Body...we all hear this when we look into Yoga or Pilates classes, right? "Develop your mind-boyd awareness" or "Explore the mind-body connection".

It's soo simple, when you think about it. Specific exercises that alternately soothe and challenge different areas of the body, while you focus your mind to these experiences.

Experienced yoga teachers know to combine specific exercises to enhance/combat effects of the external environment, and bring their students to "center" which is really a way of saying bringing them back into balance from stresses of life such as emotional happenings, daily stress, physical stress, overeating, etc.

With time and enough awareness to your body and mind, you can start to view life in a more objective way and actually choose your reactions (mental and emotional) to different situations in life.
Cultivating the ability to choose your reactions to life situations will lessen the stress on your body and health...

How to cultivate?
Via the right diet (for you), good mental stimulation and relaxation, meditation, and proper exercise.

Woot!

What to eat?

I love and I hate Alternative Health (AH).
On the plus side, the world of AH provides answers to dietary medical problems and muscular medical problems that Medical Doctors, traditional nutritionists, and your average personal trainer cannot provide. Things like:

• Crohn's disease
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Chronic Fatigue
  

But because AH practitioners are on the fringe of the medical world, and are largely unregulated they are scary. Add to that the distrust from traditional medical doctors and the zealot like followings for diets like Atkins, herbal remedies, strange cayenne pepper diets ...and frankly it all looks like a lot of bullshit...and requires some shrewd studying to determine how to proceed.

So as I've been thinking about this Candida experiment, I decided to visit my local health food store and get information.
The lady there recommended a $20 cure that I can take for 30 days...much like the lovely Asian woman I talked to a couple of weeks ago.
She also recommended acidophilus for my unhappy tummies. I decided to take a pass on all that for now, use up my $28-30 day remedy first...THEN see about her stuff.

Instead I bought a book called "Restoring your Digestive Health".
Imagine my sadness and surprise when I opened it to find a program called..."Guts and Glory".

Tomorrow I go with safe, and eat lovely brown rice and whatever doesn't turn my stomach. and I'm going off of liquor and tv all week...until i know what it takes to get "Guts AND Glory".