Millions of Americans each year suffer from splitting headaches and migraines that can take a serious toll on overall quality of life.  Many are told that they must live with this condition and that there is no solution.  Doctors typically recommend drinking more water in order to combat headaches and migraines caused by dehydration, but this usually is not effective for most.

This is because headaches are not only sign of dehydration, but also a sign of poor gut health.  When the gut is in a state of dysbiosis, there is a greater likelihood that an individual will suffer from a fungal overgrowth such as candida.  Candida is an extremely difficult fungus to get rid of and can cause several different unwanted symptoms in the body.

In fact, we’ve covered candida fully before on this website and we highly recommend if you have not done so already, please go to our candida homepage for full details.  Once established, this fungus can be extremely difficult to eradicate from the body.  However, through proper diet, the growth of this fungus can naturally be inhibited.

Before, we go into details on how to inhibit the growth of candida in the body, let’s first discuss some basics.

Why Do I Have Candida?

Those who are suffering from intense headaches may be asking why they are suffering from a candida overgrowth in the first place.  Unfortunately, those who follow a standard American diet will almost always suffer from both bacterial and fungal overgrowth’s in the body.

This is because modern diets are extremely high in both carbohydrates and sugar.  Sugar is the main fuel source of candida.  When an individual’s diet contains high amounts of sugar, the development of candida becomes highly likely.

With that said, it’s important to understand that candida is just doing its job.  Sugar was never designed to be part of the human diet and when we consume such foods, the body needs help eliminating it from the body;  this is where candida comes into play.

In its non-pathogenic form, candida is a harmless yeast that is present in the guts of all healthy human beings.  However, when high amounts of sugar and starchy carbohydrates are present in the diet, candida morphs into its fungal form and acts like a garbage man.  Unfortunately, when candida begins to take over the gut, this can lead to a whole host of health problems.

The Overuse of Antibiotics

Another contributing factor when comes to candida overgrowth in the gut is the overuse of antibiotics.  This is because antibiotics can kill off all the good bacteria in the gut and can allow pathogenic fungus such as candida take over.  When antibiotic overuse is coupled with poor diet, this can be a recipe for disaster.

Also, research has shown that the majority of our immune system is dependent on the health and integrity of our gut (1).  Those with fungal overgrowth’s such as candida will inevitably suffer from poor immune system health.  When the immune system becomes imbalanced, this can lead to various food allergies and hypersensitivity.  In fact, many headaches can actually be triggered by individuals eating foods in which they have developed an allergy to. 

Interestingly, many headaches can be triggered by a histamine intolerance.  This intolerance to histamine is usually a direct result of candida overgrowth in the body. This is because candida stimulates the body’s mast cells and causes them to release histamine (2).  This histamine is then used to help the immune system fight against the candida overgrowth.  In short, the body releases histamine in order to help fight against infection in the body.

Unfortunately, this constant stimulation of mast cells can cause a buildup of histamine in the to the point where the individual becomes hypersensitivity to this otherwise harmless compound .  If you suffer from food allergies and you also suffer from headaches, we highly recommend you view our candida and histamine post.

How Candida can Cause Headaches

Those suffering from splitting headaches should know that an overgrowth of candida in the gut can cause such symptoms.  This is mainly due to the high amount of toxins that candida releases into the body.  In fact, it’s been shown that candida can release over 70 different toxic substances into the body.  These toxic substances can wreak havoc on the body and are more than capable of causing headaches.

These toxic substances can put high amounts of stress on the body’s natural elimination systems, and as a result, can cause intense headaches.  The best way to stop the production of these toxic substances in the body is to inhibit the growth of candida.  That means cutting out the main fuel source of candida; SUGAR.

Candida operates on a sugar metabolism and requires it in large amounts into order to thrive and multiply.  Diets high in processed foods, sugar, and starchy carbohydrates are the biggest culprits when it comes to candida overgrowth in the body.  In fact, candida ferments these sugars in the gut and then releases these toxic byproducts.

Liver Congestion, Candida, and Headaches

Those with a candida overgrowth and who suffer from intense headaches often have some form of liver congestion.  As mentioned before, candida can release up to 70 different toxic substances in the body.  In particular, it releases one toxic called gliotoxin which can be extremely damaging to the liver.

Research has shown that gliotoxin can effectively kill liver cells and stop its normal functioning (3).  For those unaware, the liver is responsible for filtering the blood from the stomach and then releasing it to all other parts of the body.  However, when the liver is not properly working, its ability to properly filter blood decreases dramatically.

This can result in toxic substances to easily pass into the bloodstream.  When this occurs, the immune system sees these toxic substances as a threat which can cause hypersensitivity of the immune system.  It’s not uncommon for these toxic substances to lead to chronic headaches and migraines in the body.  This is because anything toxic to the body will produce an inflammatory effect.  In fact, headaches and migraines can be a direct cause of inflammation in the body.

How to Stop Headaches

Many will opt for anti-inflammatory drugs in order to combat their headaches.  Yet, they totally disregard that fact that taking such drugs can cause long term health consequences in the body.  In fact, its well known that anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin can lead to intestinal bleeding (4).

Also, drugs never correct the problem, they only mask symptoms.  Symptoms are the body’s way of telling the individual that something they are doing is wrong and needs to be fixed.  In this case, those who suffer from chronic headaches due to candida need to correct their gut.

In order to do this, a proper diet must be consumed.  Luckily, we have created an easy to follow candida diet protocol that can help correct gut issues and inhibit the growth of candida in the body. This protocol is broken down into three easy to follow phases and takes around a month to complete.

With that said, the quickest way to naturally inhibit the growth of candida is to stop consuming all forms of sugar, processed foods, and starch.  This alone can significantly lower candida levels in the body. 

Also, if you follow our candida diet protocol, we highly recommend you check out our Crush Candida Recipe Cook Book as well.  This cook book is full of delicious meals that can help make the transition from diets extremely simply.  All the recipes in the cook book were designed to inhibit the growth of candida and improve the health of the microbiome.

Magnesium and Candida

A long term magnesium deficiency in the body can also contribute to splitting headaches.  This is because magnesium is needed for over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body and plays an extremely important role in both our mental and physical health (5).  One of the symptoms of being deficient in magnesium are headaches.

Diets high in sugar naturally rob the body of minerals such as magnesium.  This is because the body will use it’s stored minerals in order to deal with the toxic effects of sugar.  As a result, this can lead to a magnesium deficiency in the body.

Also, fungal overgrowth’s such as candida can naturally cause inflammation in the intestines and hinder the absorption of nutrients from food.  When the gut is inflamed, the ability to extract and assimilate nutrients from foods decreases dramatically.

Again, following our candida diet protocol can help correct this issue and was designed to promote optimal health in the body.