The percentage of individuals suffering from a candida overgrowth over the last several years has skyrocketed.  This sudden boom can be contributed to a whole host of factors.  Unfortunately, many are unaware that they’re even suffering from a fungal overgrowth such as candida.

When this occurs, those suffering often times get misdiagnosed and begin to treat symptoms rather than the root problem.  Luckily, there a few signs to look out for if you believe you are suffering from a candida overgrowth in the gut and body.

Before we get into how to identify if you have candida, let’s first quickly discuss what causes candida to flourish and thrive in the body.

Why you Have Candida

Those with candida issues are almost always following a high sugar and/or high carbohydrate diet.  Consequently, if you follow a standard American diet, you will automatically be following this style of eating.  However, these types of diets provide the perfect fuel for candida to thrive and multiply.

This is because candida operates on a sugar metabolism.  When large amounts of sugar is present in the body, candida is able to quickly take over the gut microbiome and multiply.  It’s important to understand that everyone has candida in their body.  In fact, in its yeast form, candida is harmless and is actually needed for several different biological functions in the body.

With that said, when given large amounts of sugar to feed on, candida can morph into its yeast form into its pathogenic fungal form.  When this occurs, all types of negative symptoms can occur in the body.  Furthermore, the overuse of antibiotics can kill off the healthy gut flora which can allow candida to easily take over the gut.

The best way to combat candida and inhibit its growth is through diet.  We highly recommend you go to our candida diet protocol page for an in depth eating strategy that can help inhibit the growth of candida and correct the gut microbiome. 

Also, for those new to this style of eating found in our protocol, we highly recommend you check out our Crush Candida Recipe Cook Book for delicious and healthy meals that can help improve the health of the gut and combat against candida naturally.

The Top 5 Signs You Suffer From Candida Overgrowth

1. Bloating After Eating

Bloating after consuming a meal has become the “norm” for most of the general population.  However, this is not normal and is not a sign that your body is full.  In fact, bloating is a sign that fermentation is occurring in the gut.

As mentioned before, candida operates on a sugar metabolism.  When large amounts of sugars and high carbohydrate foods are present in the diet, issues such as fermentation typically occur in the gut.  This is because candida consumes these sugars, ferments them, produces small amounts of alcohol, and then releases over 70 different toxic byproducts in the body.

If bloating is occurring after each meal, there is a good chance the stomach acid levels have become lowered due to candida overgrowth in the gut.  The only true way to combat this issue is to follow a correct anti-candida diet such as the one outlined in our protocol. 

Furthermore, taking anti-acids can actually make the problem worse in the long run.  Lowering stomach acid levels will only make digestive problems worse.

2. Histamine Intolerance and Food Allergies

More and more individuals are suffering from phantom food allergies that seem to have popped up out of the blue.  Foods that were once well tolerated, are no longer being tolerated by individuals.  If this sounds like you, there is a good chance that you are suffering from a histamine intolerance due to candida overgrowth.

Histamine Intolerance is not well known, or talked about among mainstream medicine.  However, more and more individuals who are taking a more holistic approach to health are beginning to wake up to this strange disorder in the body.

Histamine intolerance is simply when your body becomes oversensitive to the compound histamine.  However, this compound is naturally produced by the body and plays an important role in the health of the immune system.  Typically, histamine does no pose any threat to the body when healthy.

However, candida naturally stimulates mast cells which in return release large amounts of histamine in the body (1).  This release in histamine is the body’s way of trying to stimulate the immune system in order fight against candida.  Unfortunately, if you continue to feed candida, this viscous cycle of releasing excess histamine from mast cells will continue until you get candida under control. 

With that said, although there are true histamine intolerance’s that are not related to candida, we’ve found that candida overgrowth and histamine intolerance is extremely common.  Also, if you’ve developed allergies to foods that were once well tolerated, this is a good sign that your histamine intolerance is related to candida.

We highly recommend your check out our post on candida and histamine intolerance for a detailed explanation on the subject and how certain foods naturally high in histamine can trigger symptoms.

3. White Coating on Tongue

White coating on the tongue is also referred to as “oral thrush.”  If you wake up each morning and notice that your tongue is coated in a white, hard to remove film, this is a good indication that you’re suffering from high amounts of candida overgrowth in the body.

In fact, it’s important to understand that you can suffer from a candida overgrowth without ever displaying signs of an oral thrush. An oral thrush only occurs when candida has overgrown to the point where it’s able to leave both the large and small intestines and make its way into the mouth.

If you’re suffering from an oral thrush then you know you’re dealing with extremely high amounts of candida overgrowth in the body.  Trying to brush of this white coating is time wasted since it will continue to return until the growth of candida is inhibited.  It’s highly recommend that you follow an anti-candida diet immediately if you suffer from an oral thrush.

4. Acid Reflux

Acid reflux is seriously misunderstood by modern medicine and is actually contradictory to what is actually going on in the body.  Acid reflux occurs when the body does not have a strong enough stomach acid in order to break down food.  In fact, acid reflux is typically a sign of fermentation occurring in the gut.

This fermentation is not only caused by excess amounts of candida in the gut, but also by chronically low stomach acid levels.  It’s important to understand that the stomach should have a PH of 2.0 and lower.  This strong stomach acid helps in the breakdown of food and allows us to extract and assimilate the vitamins and minerals.

Also, stomach acid helps neutralize pathogenic bacteria and fungus such as candida in the body.  Its low PH naturally inhibits the growth bad bacteria, yeast, and fungus and helps sterilize the gut.  Many pathogenic bacteria and fungus prefer an alkaline environment.  It’s for this reason that candida will actually release ammonia in the stomach in order to raise the PH.

5. Toenail Fungus

Toenail fungus is another indication that an individual may be suffering from a candida overgrowth in the body.  Toenail fungus is a sign that candida has moved from the gut and has reached other parts of the body.  If you notice that you suffer from persistent toenail fungus that only seems to get worse, switching to a proper anti-candida and gut healing diet should be considered.

Unfortunately, many will attempt to treat the fungus externally with different types of anti-fungal creams that do not address the root problem.  Although some of these creams may work, the toenail fungus will soon return shortly after the cream is no longer applied to the area.  This is a clear indication that the problem needs to be addressed internally with diet and not externally with synthetic creams.

As well as changing diet, a simple remedy for reducing toenail fungus is to apply raw apple cider vinegar to the infected toe.  Raw ACV is a natural anti-fungal and can help fight against various types of fungus including candida.  Raw ACV can also be taken internally and can have a positive effect on naturally inhibiting the growth of candida.