Diet Ideas to Prevent and Treat Yeast Infections
Filed under Alternative Medicines
Many people are plagued with yeast infections around the world. For treatment and prevention of further yeast infections, it’s important to understand the correlation between food and yeast. Basically, what goes in must come out. Your body takes everything you feed it, processes it and then eliminates what it doesn’t use. If your diet consists of sugary foods, the sugar the body doesn’t absorb and use will be eliminated in urine. Yeast, a normally beneficial fungus, can explode when combined with sugar. Everyone has yeast, but controlling the amount is important. If the yeast fungus is allowed to grow, most commonly we end up with yeast infections.
Foods that “feed” yeast should be removed from your diet. Prepackaged sweets with sweeteners should be cut back or avoided all together. If you’re following a strict diet, grains should be eliminated as well, even the whole grains we typically associate with a healthier lifestyle. White breads are bad news. Pastas, tortillas and sourdough are just as bad. Mushrooms are a fungus themselves and carry yeast. Essentially, stay away from yeast-containing foods.
Dairy-based foods should be reconsidered as well. Cheeses, milk and flavored yogurt cups are now added to the “do not eat” list. Water is the best to drink and alcoholic beverages are the worst. Coffee, sugar laden fruit juices and carbonated drinks are now your enemy.
Foods rich in vinegar are also no-no’s. Salsas, tomato based sauces and sauerkraut should be avoided. Pickles and relishes are saturated in vinegar – stay away from them as well. Potatoes, legumes (beans) and other starchy foods tend to convert mostly to sugar which is a yeast breeding ground.
What’s Left?
Don’t fret, there’s plenty of foods left for you to enjoy that will not only help treat a yeast infection, but prevent the next one from festering and coming to a full blown infection. Dark green vegetables are especially good for yeast infections. Incorporate more green beans, spinach and Brussel sprouts into your diet.
Garlic is nature’s cure, and for yeast infections it’s also a bonus. A bonus with garlic is the varieties you can purchase it. Take oral garlic pills, add some fresh garlic in your recipes or even eat it raw. A little known treatment is garlic placed directly in the vagina. It acts as nature’s yeast killer. Seaweed is another great alternative. It inhibits the expansion of the explosive quality in yeast. Seaweed can be eaten raw or you might prefer to add it to your favorite recipes, such as soups and stews. You can add it to basically any crock pot meal for a knock-out yeast effect.
Raw nuts are another good food. Most raw nuts, with the exception of peanuts, aid in treatment and prevention of yeast infection eruption. Herbal teas and fresh lemonade can also add some flavor and a bit of variety to your list of good foods as well.
Unpasteurized apple cider vinegar and olive oil can spice up your salads. Plain yogurt, high in acidophilus, is an excellent source of good bacteria that rids your body of excess yeast. By eating good yeast-free foods, and refraining from the yeast causing foods, you will gain much better control of your body. Treating a yeast infection is important, but fueling your body with the foods that can prevent another outbreak is just as crucial. For more information read our review on a natural yeast infection cure.
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