Love Your Gut

Ep. 79: The Truth About Candida: Why Diets and Antifungals Alone Don’t Work

• Heather Finley

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Have you ever tried a “Candida diet” or an antifungal supplement only to find yourself right back where you started? You’re not alone.

In this episode, I’m breaking down the truth about Candida overgrowth and why diet or antifungals alone don’t solve the problem. Candida isn’t something you can just starve or kill into submission, the real key is fixing the terrain that allowed it to grow in the first place.

In this episode I cover: 

  • Why Candida is part of a normal gut microbiome (and when it becomes a problem)
  • Myths that keep people stuck like “starving Candida” with diet or relying on antifungals
  • The real root causes of Candida overgrowth, including blood sugar imbalances and depleted commensals
  • Why Candida is so hard to detect on stool testing and other testing options
  • Practical strategies to support digestion, motility, and minerals so Candida doesn’t keep coming back

Whether you’ve struggled with Candida symptoms for years or you’re a practitioner supporting clients, this episode will help you shift from the endless Candida-killing cycle to building a resilient gut terrain.

💡 Resources & Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Dr. Heather Finley:

Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Heather Finley, registered dietitian and gut health specialist. I understand the frustration of dealing with GI issues because I've been there and I spent over two decades searching for answers for my own gut issues of constipation, bloating, and stomach pain. I've dedicated my life to understanding and solving my own gut issues. And now I'm here to guide you. On this podcast, I'll help you identify the true root causes of your discomfort. So you can finally ditch your symptoms for good. My goal is to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need so that you can love your gut and it will love you right back. So if you're ready to learn a lot, gain a deeper understanding of your gut and find lasting relief. You are in the right place. Welcome to the love your gut podcast. Hello, and welcome back to the next episode of the Love Your Gut podcast. I'm so excited to jump in today to chat with you about all things candida. I had so much fun the last couple of weeks doing a SIBO series, so I hope you enjoyed it as well. But we are moving on to other topics today and one that actually really goes along with SIBO because sometimes SIBO and Candida can go together. You might even have sifo, small intestinal fungal overgrowth. So first I wanna start out by just talking about kind of the narrative around Candida. If you've had candida. Or maybe you've suspected that you've had candida, you've probably been told that you were supposed to do a candida cleanse, whatever that means which may entail cutting out sugar or carbs or even all fruits. Maybe you even took an antifungal supplement that was promised to. Kill Candida for good. And maybe you were told even that your gut issues were from Candida. And while that certainly can be the case, I wanna flip the script a little bit on Candida today to focus on why Candida is really a consequence of other issues and how if you're just zoomed in on Candida similarly to sibo, that you're gonna end up just. Trying to treat it, and then it comes back and trying to treat it and then it comes back. So it's not that your gut is broken or it's not that your gut is not fixable. It's just that you don't have the full story. So candida is real, um, but you cannot starve it out with diet and you cannot just kill it off with antifungals alone. So today we're gonna cover why Candida keeps coming back, what's really driving it, and how to actually address the root of it so that you can finally feel better. We have a lot of clients that come to us having previously done candida cleanses or candida diets, and. Have a lot of food fear because they're scared to eat carbs. They're scared to eat fruit, and they're scared of candida because of the symptoms that they've had as well. So just wanna validate that. Candida can be really tough and it can be tricky, especially when you're using the wrong strategy. So let's first start out by talking through what Candida actually is. So candida is a yeast or a fungus that actually lives in your gut. And not all candida is necessarily bad. It's not an in invader that just snuck in one day. It's just part of your gut ecosystem. So. Most people are gonna have some level of candida. But the problem becomes when candida gets too much room. So you can think of your microbiome like a target parking lot on a Saturday. If you go to Target on a Saturday, it's probably gonna be really packed, right? All the shoppers are there. People are getting groceries, they're getting all the things from the dollar section and all the things that Target tells them that they need, right. When the parking lot empties because maybe somebody took antibiotics or restrictive diets, or stress has wiped out the bacteria for this analogy purposes, or maybe all the shoppers have gone home. Candida is kind of like that party bus that pulls in and takes over. So candida isn't necessarily really the enemy here. The empty parking lot is, so if you think of your microbiome like a parking lot, I just want you to kind of keep that in your mind as you're listening to this episode and thinking about maybe your case. Because this is what keeps people stuck. You are, you have a lot of different parking spaces in your gut, and we wanna fill them with good bacteria, not necessarily unwanted bacteria or fungus. So there are a couple myths that I think often keep people stuck when it comes to candida. And number one is that you can starve candida with diet. So the truth is that diet alone doesn't kill candida. While you may. Get rid of your symptoms. Typically, when you're cutting lots of sugar, lots of carbs, it might just give you temporary relief. But as soon as you add those foods back in, the symptoms return. And the reason for this is because food was not the cause. The terrain of your gut was the cause, so you were removing the fuel source or the food source. But the second you add it back in. It comes right back. So we've had clients, many, many clients, but one that I can think of specifically who went months without fruit, without grains, wouldn't even eat sweet potatoes and her symptoms, although her candida symptoms were better, she was more exhausted, more constipated, had a lot more cravings, brain fog, and other symptoms, and she was really scared to add foods back in because she didn't want her candida to come back. But what happened was once we rebuilt her digestion and we looked at everything from head to toe, supported her minerals and got her actually eating a normal balanced diet. All these symptoms improved and the candida didn't come back because we had targeted what was actually causing the candida. And I'll get into that a little bit more later on in the episode. Myth number two is that antifungals will fix it. So once again, while that can be helpful, if somebody's motility is sluggish, where they're not clearing their bowels every single day, or their digestion is really weak, where they're not actually breaking down their food. And maybe their microbiome is depleted, candida will come right back because it's the perfect environment. Ideally, when you eat food. You chew your food, you swallow it, your stomach acid starts to break it down. Then your liver and your gallbladder and your pancreas do their job. And food should end up in your Small intestine, very well digested, where it continues to be digested and then transported to your large intestine. If your motility is slow or your digestion isn't working and food isn't broken down properly, or things are sitting there longer, there's more opportunity for fermentation and growth of. Candida or other types of yeast. So we have to address the whole system if we really want to eradicate candida. One client that I worked with years ago had done three rounds of antifungals. We actually have another client that I can think of right now who has recurrent yeast infections and has been on. Antifungals for like ongoing for months and months and can't get rid of the symptoms, so every time this past client felt better. On the antifungal, she would feel better for weeks and then everything would come roaring back. So what actually worked later on was focusing on her constipation, focusing on her motility, supporting her minerals so that her body could actually contract muscles and move things through. So her bowels were moving. So her nervous system was supported, her thyroid was supported, her stomach acid, all the things. Once her bowels were moving daily and we addressed other root causes at play, the antifungals were finally working, and then she didn't have to be on them ongoing. We were able to also repopulate her target parking lot or her microbiome. And then the last myth that I want to mention is that candida is the root cause of everything. So while candida can cause a lot of symptoms, which I'll mention in a little bit. It's usually a sign of something deeper. Sometimes blood sugar imbalances depleted, beneficial bacteria, low stomach acid, stress, antibiotic use, slow motility, poor digestion. So if you're just focusing on killing candida, you're really missing the bigger picture, and that's the case with any digestive issue, right? If you're just focused on what food you're eliminating or. What food you are or you aren't eating, you're really missing the big picture of what's actually going on. So let's hone in on some of the root causes and what if it's actually not just your diet or it's not just antifungals. What is actually driving candida?............ quick pause before we continue. If you are a dietician or a health professional, listening and thinking, this is exactly what my clients are struggling with, but I don't feel confident knowing how to actually address it, that is why I created gut practitioner. This is my four month clinical mentorship where I teach you the exact gut together framework I've used for over a thousand clients so that you can stop guessing, stop handing out another low FODMAP diet or candida diet to your clients, and actually get to the root cause. Even with the trickiest GI cases, inside gut practitioner, you'll get live case consults, 20 plus self-paced modules, a private community where you can post. Cases, anytime and get feedback. And then we have live calls. It is not just education, it's real time support so that you never feel stuck in front of a complex client again. And you have the support from me and my team while you're in the program. So if you've been wanting to feel confident interpreting labs like GI Map, HT MA, or just finally wanna have protocols that actually work. Gut practitioner is exactly what you need. You can learn more and save your spot. Using the link in the show notes, we kick off the first week of September. Number one could be blood sugar imbalances. This one is huge. If your blood sugar is spiking and crashing all day, candida thrives. Think of it as the sugar is fertilizer for the yeast. And so those 3:00 PM energy crashes and sugar cravings or that feeling hangry, that's not willpower, that's unstable blood sugar, that's feeding the terrain. So it's not about cutting out carbs, it's not about cutting out all grains, all fruits. It's about balancing your meals and making sure they have enough protein and enough fat and enough fiber, really mineral rich, potassium, magnesium, sodium. Keeping your blood sugar steady so that candida doesn't get that constant fuel and so that your cortisol is not all over the place. Your stress response isn't all over the place. It's not always about cutting out more. It's about how do we make things more stable. The next one is depleted commensals. So again, back to that target parking lot analogy. Your healthy bacteria or your good bacteria keep candida in check. But when you're on antibiotics or cutting out a million different foods, stress, hormonal, birth control, all the things. That wipes out your beneficial bacteria. So we don't want our commensals to be depleted because then candida has no competition. So this is why adding food variety and sometimes probiotics that are targeted can be way more powerful than restriction because we want a lot of cars in your parking lot, so the party bus cannot come in. Another root cause is low stomach acid or poor digestion. So since stomach acid is kind of your defense mechanism or your defense wall, low acid will let more microbes slip through. And then if you add sluggish bile flow or weak enzyme output, you've got a really open invitation for candida. Your bile is antimicrobial, and so every time you eat. Your bile is surging and coating your small intestine and helping to kill off any microbes there. Next is sluggish motility, which I mentioned earlier, but candida loves stagnation. You can think of this like a pond, right? If the water's not moving it, there's algae, it smells. If you're not pooping daily, this gut is stagnant. That's where things overgrow, and so daily motility and daily bowel movements are really a non-negotiable for healing. The next one is mineral depletion and burnout. Minerals regulate stomach acid. They help with en enzyme production. They help with energy. You are, you need minerals to make energy. You need minerals for immune defense. And so if you're burnt out, if you're low minerals are also contributing to poor stress, resilience, poor sleep, low secretory, IGA. Your body's really depleted. Your body simply can't keep up. And it can't keep Candida in check. And then the last one that I'll mention today, and there's many more, is that birth control, antibiotics and steroids. Certain medications will wipe out protective bacteria. So it's kind of tipping the scales in favor of candida, which is why it is really common to get candida whenever you are taking an antibiotic or some of these other medications. So we have to intentionally rebuild the microbiome and make sure that it's supported. So let's talk testing. How do you know if you have candida? Because we often get this question like, is your stool test that you're gonna do? Is this actually gonna test for candida? And the answer is yes. There's a lot of ways to test for candida. One of the most common tests that we use is GI Map stool, TE stool testing. Now what I will say is while the GI map can pick up candida, the problem is that candida often hides in biofilms. Biofilms are like protective layers that make it hard to detect. I kind of think of it like a Cadbury egg, so like the hard candy coating with the soft middle. Biofilms can be hard to crack through. So we have clients with very obvious candida symptoms and candida history, but their GI map comes back negative, so we often have to aggravate it beforehand. That doesn't mean that it's not there, it just means it's pretty stealthily. It might be a little bit harder to treat. There's probably a lot of root causes. Maybe it's been there a long time. Some other ways that you can test would be an organic acid test. This looks at urine byproducts of that candida produces like arabinose. It's can sometimes be a bit more sensitive than stool. And then honestly, the clinical pictures really important here. Symptoms can tell us a lot more than a lab. So some symptoms that you might have that would point to candida would be chronic bloating, yeast infections, sugar cravings, skin issues like eczema, psoriasis, just other rashes, brain fog. Fatigue, history of antibiotics, all of those can point to a candida imbalance. So don't panic if your stool test doesn't show candida. The real question is, what is your terrain telling us? What are your symptoms telling us as part of our assessment process with clients? Of course, we're gonna dig into some of this, and like I said. We can always try to aggravate the C candida using a biofilm disruptor prior to see if it shows up, and obviously consider the whole client picture in the treatment process. So what actually works, I wanna talk about five steps towards actually getting rid of Candida, and here's the approach that we take with clients. Number one is you have to support digestion, so you have to support stomach acid, bile enzyme output. To put your defense system back online, you're, you need to keep things moving. You need to keep things being killed off, that need to be killed off and the top of the chain working so that the bottom of the chain will work. We also wanna balance blood sugar, so focusing on the framework that we teach our clients is called PFFC. So protein, fat, fiber, color. We wanna use really mineral rich foods. We wanna stabilize energy, we wanna stabilize cravings. We wanna make sure that somebody is getting adequate protein, fat, and carbohydrates and fiber in their diet. Step three is we wanna rebuild commensals. We need to add in prebiotic fibers and food variety and help to get that target parking lot full. Again, you cannot rebuild your gut. By just taking probiotics, you have to give them their fuel in the form of prebiotic fiber, and that is often a huge missing piece because a lot of people have symptoms, they add in prebiotics, onions, garlic, apples, whatever it is, and they get a lot of symptoms, which shows us that there's an issue there, which we need to address first, so then we can start adding in the foods. Step four or number four is to prioritize minerals. We have to make sure that somebody's minerals are supported to regulate digestion. And if the body's depleted, nothing else sticks. We have to make sure that the body has the raw materials to actually do what it needs to do. And then the last piece is to keep motility moving. So daily bowel movements. Emptying the bowels is a non-negotiable. Sometimes we need to use motility support. We have a lot of very constipated clients, and so this is a huge, huge piece along with all the others. So once these foundations are in place. We sometimes add in antifungals or different protocols to address candida, but the difference is now the terrain, and now the gut is actually ready so they actually work. We're not just throwing antifungals at someone who's constipated and can't actually get rid of anything. We're not throwing antifungals at somebody whose minerals are so depleted that their body doesn't even have the energy to actually clear anything. We're not throwing antifungals at someone who doesn't have adequate bile flow, doesn't have adequate stomach acid to actually help the top of the chain of digestion. And so then you don't end up repeating protocol after protocol after protocol. I. So here's the big takeaway. Candida is real. It can cause major symptoms, but you can't just starve it out with diet. You can't just kill it off with antifungals, or at least not for good. So candida will thrive when blood sugar is unstable, when beneficial bacteria are depleted. When your digestion is weak, and the real solution is rebuilding your gut from the ground up. Supporting blood sugar, restoring commensals, supporting minerals, getting motility moving. You can think of any gut intervention like a three-legged stool. We always have to support nutrition. We always have to support lifestyle, and we always have to support using targeted supplementation. Supplements alone. The stool's gonna tip over. If we miss one of those things, it's not gonna be a balanced approach. So I hope that this is helpful in just giving you a little bit of insight into possibly what could be going on with your recurrent candida, or maybe you're just. Curious about possibly having candida and what to do about it? I think that the best way or the best place to start would be to take our free quiz. If you're curious, is it my blood sugar? Is it my stomach acid? Is it my motility? I have a free quiz, it's called, why Am I Bloated? Even if you're not bloated, you can benefit from this quiz'cause it will ask you questions about your root causes. But this will help you whittle down what one of the major root causes that has been unaddressed could possibly be for you. And the nice part is after you take the quiz totally free, you will get a video that walks you through what it means. How to address it. Some resources, some different podcast episodes that I've done and other resources as well. So if you don't know your root causes or are curious, you know, maybe things have changed over the years. I think the quiz is a great place to start. So I. This is kind of a shorter episode, but I hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that this helps maybe clear up a little bit of confusion about Candida and possibly why what you've done in the past hasn't worked. So would love to hear any feedback, and I will see you next week on the next episode of the Love Your Gut podcast. Thanks for tuning in.

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Dr. Heather Finley

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