Let's talk about yeast...

Today is GF day #11. Yesterday I had a very unpleasant afternoon. I've been keeping up with my food journal and mostly feeling pretty good despite the not nice reaction from the alcohol over the weekend. I was curious as to what caused my reaction yesterday. There were a few factors yesterday that could've caused my issues. First I had cheese in my eggs in the morning. Then I had a Reese's PB cup after lunch, but those two things don't usually cause such a violent reaction. I had also bought a different bag of chips to have with my lunch, the same brand as the other day but this time they were the Hickory Honey BBQ flavor. They are definitely gluten free, but I didn't really look at the other ingredients on the label, and when I did I was surprised to see yeast. Yeast extract and Torula yeast. Hmmm, I thought to myself, I wonder if that could be a contributing factor?

When I was looking into Enterolab for intolerance testing, I read on their website that they test for yeast issues because it is linked to Crohn's disease. So last night I did a little more research on yeast and a lot of little puzzle pieces started to fit together. I've mentioned here many times that I think I'm sensitive to sugar and dairy in addition to gluten, well guess what? Sugar and diary (lactose is a sugar!) are the two major contributing factors in a yeast problem. It's been said that a yeast infection in the digestive system could be the cause or at least one of the major contributing factors to Crohn's disease. I went on to read about the Candida (yeast) detox diet and I noticed that it is very similar to the Specific Carb Diet which I've also mentioned before, as it's the diet that so many Crohn's patients have used to heal themselves. I've avoided the SCD because it's a lot stricter than just going gluten-free but even during my best gluten-free times I'm still having issues and now that I've been keeping a good food journal I can see the patterns. I'm glad to see that I'm on the right path and with a few small adjustments, hopefully I'll be feeling even better very soon.

Comments

Jennifer said…
you are being very researchy - kudos for keeping it up!
Jen said…
wait... didn't I just say that I'm not going to do more researching???? This totally doesn't count, it was just a slight extension to find out more about something I already knew... yeah, that's it!
Mad Doc Mim said…
I like your blog because I just started having digestive problems in Sept/Nov, and started somewhat gluten-free in Nov, and it helped, but not perfectly. Right now, I am doing Dax Moy's Elimination Diet (google search it, it is a free download PDF) which eliminates gluten, dairy, and sugar for 30 days, and I'm doing pretty great on it. It has more lax than the SCD, because you can have starchy vegetables and rice. Maybe that would help. Good luck!
Mike said…
"This totally doesn't count, it was just a slight extension to find out more about something I already knew..."

You should start keeping an internet journal to go with your food journal to see if you're intolerant of certain search queries.

As for the yeast theory, I went down that path a bit as well (it showed up on my sensitivity tests) and started getting a little wary of some of what I was reading -- it goes from "ok, this makes some sense" to "express train to crazytown" faster than you can say "buy my book and/or herbal supplement!" I don't doubt that there's something to it, but I do doubt that there's as much to it as is often claimed.

The specific carbohydrate diet is interesting but does seem drastic. What's interesting to me about it is that when I had my sensitivity panel done the results left me with something pretty close -- basically, if you kill it or find it on the ground/on a tree it was ok for me, but if it was grown on purpose not so much. I hadn't heard of the specific carbohydrate diet at the time though. Coincidentally, I just documented my results here.

The idea that some of us just weren't along for the ride during the agricultural revolution makes some sense to me. Setting aside a chunk of the species to not make a change that drastic when it wasn't necessary would help it survive if things didn't work out. Celiacs, in particular, seem pretty drought-resistant, for whatever that's worth. You all can hang out with your high-tech intestines and dead fields of grain; we'll be over here foraging our way to where the water is.
I just found your blog; don't know your history, but I, too, am going gluten-free. I've had asthma, anxiety, depression, hay fever, etc., etc., for years (I'm 63), and haven't been able to shake the conviction that all these had one cause. Finally found a natural MD (sounds like an oxymoron!) who found that my probs come from inflammation, and the inflammation comes from my digestive system. She put me on a couple herbs to help fight the inflammation, and I take HCl and enzymes for my digestion. I avoid gluten, drink only goat's milk, and prepare my own meals. If I eat out, I order salad, sans crackers/croutons, etc., and drink iced tea with my own stevia.
After about 3 weeks, I no longer have nighttime wheezing and coughing, and can feed my horses their hay without being sick for hours afterward. I only drink coffee, green tea, and club soda (gave up even diet soda, which I craved...)!
It's a pain to always be wary, but the improvement in physical and emotional health is noticeable and welcome.
Hang in there; good luck.
Lynn Barry said…
You go girl! I avoid it too and it all makes sense inside me as well...GOOD LUCK! HUGS

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