I went to a day spa for a relaxing massage and I also received what was called the Aok Ion Detox Foot Bath.

This is what is said about this miracle foot bath: “The foot bath is widely used to increase both physical and mental energy, vitality, and stamina. At the same time it also purges the body of toxins, chemicals, radiation, pollution, synthetics, and other foreign material clogging up the  skin, an essential part of the body’s systems of elimination. The internal cleansing promoted by an ionic foot bath also  includes parasite cleansing and liver and kidney cleansing.”*

Sounds good to me, detoxing is one of the key points in getting rid of Candida and keeping it away.

So how does the Aok Ion Detox Foot Bath actually work?

The Ion Cleanse  is a system that generates and emits a stream of positive and negative Ions, and through the processes of Electrolysis and Osmosis supports the body’s natural equilibrium. It is a pain-free, rapid and effective way to detox the body.

During an Ion Cleanse treatment the Aok Ion Detox unit delivers a small amount of low level, electrical current into the array (electrode), which results in a reaction between the array, the water and salt (added to help conductivity and increase the ionization effect), to generate positively and negatively charged ions.

When the feet are placed in the water the interaction of the positive and negative ions re-energizes, revitalizes and supports the body’s innate ability to re-balance and achieve a higher state of well being.

The ionic technique of cleansing thru the pores of the feet provides a full body purge of all vital organs, apparently resulting in a reduction of  menstrual cramps, skin problems, acne, sleep problems, restlessness, stress, toothaches, vaginal dryness, wrinkles, candida and yeast infections.

 Here’s what happened to me:

I put my feet into the warm water and after a few minutes the water started to turn orange. The lady at the spa said that orange water means that ions are bringing out waste from my joints. Then white flakes started pouring and this is a sign of yeast. It felt good to know that at least some of the yeast is leaving my body, but at the same time it just proved that I still have excess yeast in me. After a while came the bubbles, more on the left side than right. This was toxins from my lymphatic system. In about 10 minutest to the treatment the water started to turn brown, ugly looking muddy water. Brown water means waste from liver area. Finally some dark green colour was forming on top of the brown bubbles. I heard this was a sign that toxins from my gallbladder were being released. Obviously all those colours did not come from my body, but the machine interpreted the wastes being carried out by the ions by the colours and texture.  At least this is how the spa attendant explained it to me.

Here is the colour chart explaining the meaning of colours:

This experience was very interesting, nice to relax about 30 minutes with a foot bath but a bit gross after the water turned into sloth. Luckily they washed my feet there on the spot after the treatment!

The Results of My Aok Ion Detox Foot Bath

I think it must have done some real detoxing on me, because during the night after the treatment I felt pain on my left side. It was exactly the same kind of pain that I had felt during my juice fasting, when I began my initial Candida detox routine. Also I had horrible nightmares, which I don’t usually do. The detox must have put all kinds of wastes, physical and mental, on the move!

They said that for a good lasting detox with the Aok Ion Detox Foot Bath you should do about 10 cleanses once a week. I think I am going to leave it to this one for now, but I do believe that it actually had some detoxing benefits.

*Source: www.torontocounselling.com/ion_cell_cleanse_foot_bath.htm

My Green Smoothie Breakfast

Ingredients:

Big punch spinach leaves
1 small banana
1 C frozen raspberries
1 Tbs Chia seeds
2 tsp Maca powder
1 tsp raw Cacao
1 Tbs Coconut oil
Big glass of water

Mix all these ingredients in a blender, adjust water to wanted thickness, and voila – the perfect nutritious green smoothie full of vitamins, minerals, protein and good fats. Delicious!
This makes about 750 ml and I actually added a tiny bit of stevia into my second glass to get more sweetness to it.

With Candida it is best to leave banana out and add more berries and stevia. My Candida is in control at the moment so I thought that I’ll have my first banana in 6 months today. And it was good!

Here you can watch the Green Smoothie made by Leisa, maybe you’ll be inspired to make one too:

We already know that there are many causes for yeast overgrowth and Candida, such as built up toxins in the body, diet of refined foods, sugars and nutrient deficient white flour and processed meats. Also loss of good bacteria and genetic tendencies may trigger Candida. But there are still other factors that may aggravate yeast infections. These I call Lifestyle Choices.

Ninth Step: Lifestyle Choices

Lifestyle choices don’t usually cause Candida by themselves but they can definitely add to the mix of triggers causing yeast overgrowth. These triggers include lack of exercise, insomnia or lack of sleep, stress, bad hygiene and even unprotected or increased sexual activity.

The following lifestyle choices will help fighting against Candida:

1. Exercising regularly improves digestion and helps the body
   to remove toxins quickly.
2. Good sleeping patterns and adequate sleep speed up
   the toxic elimination process.
3. Reducing stress with relaxation techniques such as
   meditation and breathing exercises.
4. Practicing good hygiene and using non-toxic shampoos,
   soaps and  washing detergents.
5. Using protection when having sex, washing up afterwards
   and changing bed sheets often.

I’ll be talking about these lifestyle choices in more detail in future posts.

Full recommendations and a very helpful Sleep Optimization Plan can be read from Linda Allen’s comprehensive book: “Yeast Infection No More”.
Click here to see what others say about it!

After I learned that I had Leaky Gut Syndrome as well as Candida I asked some guidance from my naturopath. He told me that the first thing I need to do is get my digestion working properly, getting regular and adding a few kilos since my weight had dropped too much with the candida diet.

He advised me to eat more meat since I am O+ blood type. I know it goes a bit against the acid/alkaline diet with meat causing acids to build up but I guess eating enough green leafy vegetables counteracts this sufficiently. At least I agree that I do need to gain some weight again.

My Naturopath Gave Me These Supplements

These are the supplements my naturopath gave me to boost my digestion:
* DigestRegulation
Ingredients: Inulin, Flaxseed, Soy Fibre, L-glutamine, Ginger, Slippery Elm    Bark, Dandelion, Mixed Carotenes, Bifidus, Lactobacilus Acidophilus and Glucosamine Hydrocloride.
This should also help with my getting regular because it has the slippery elm!

* D.E.F. Digestive Enzyme Formula
Ingredients: Pancreatin (that is equivalent to Protease, Lipase and Amylase)
and Bromelains and Trypsin.
This supplement contains glucose – I hope it will not feed Candida!

* Magnesium Citrate Alkali
This is a supplement with vitamins and minerals, containing all vitamin B’s, A, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, selenium and iodine plus others.

This is the path that I’ve now taken to heal the leaky gut syndrome. Next visit to the naturopath, who is also an acupuncturist, is going to include acupuncture to speed up the healing and my digestion.

I had a live blood analysis done after I learned of the possibility that I have the Leaky Gut Syndrome. It was an easy test; just one drop of blood from my fingertip put under a microscope and the Hemaview program showed my red and white blood cells moving on the computer screen.

Here is the proof of Leaky Gut shown on Hemaview screen:

Here is the interpretation of this screen: “Platelets are small particles within the blood that are responsible for the clotting process. When observed via Hemaview, platelets can produce vesicles (bubbles) containing inflammatory chemicals. This can be a sign of prolonged low-level immune activation, often as a result of “leaky gut syndrome”.

What is Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Leaky Gut Syndrome is a chronic condition that is often undiagnosed by doctors mainly because mainstream medical profession do not acknowledge that the condition exits. Still it is a surprisingly common problem. Leaky gut gets its name from the fact that molecules of food and toxins leak through the lining of the digestive tract because the pores in the lining open too much. This is also called hyperpermeability. These leaked toxins are then absorbed into the bloodstream and on to the liver. This may affect systems throughout the body causing inflammation in joints, skin disorders, triggering allergies, brain fog and hyperactivity, fatigue, abdominal pain, diarrhea, even fevers.

Managing Leaky Gut – hyperpermeability – is preventive medicine. It is not an illness but a condition that may lead to serious illnesses, such as arthritis, chronic fatigue, eczema, food allergies, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Joint problems, malnutrition, liver problems, psoriasis and even symtoms resembling autism and schizophrenia.

I definitely want to heal my digestive tract, leaky gut and candida. Soon I am seeing a naturopath/homeopath who will help me choose the right herbs and supplements to start absorbing all the nutrients in my food and vitamins which is my problem at the moment. Until then I’ll keep following the candida diet which is very similar to the diet for healing the leaky gut syndrome.

I have been on the strict Candida diet for 4 months exactly and taken all the supplements I was instructed to take. Now I am feeling good, the only thing that keeps persisting is my coated tongue. This is why I have a feeling my Candida is not totally cured yet. Therefore I am going to take the blood test called Candia5 from my finger.

Candia5 Test – Second Time

Here is the result of my Candia5 test this time. Have a look:

This result was a bit confusing to me, since positive result is supposed to have 2 lines, one at C and one at T. But the line at T is so thin and pale that I was not sure what it means. So I emailed the manufacturer of the test kit and a naturopath asking for their expert advice.

Here’s what the manufacturer says about the result:

“By looking at the photo, there is a very strong C line and this indicates that the test itself is valid.

“T” line (Test line) line intensity depends on the amount of antibody captured from the blood sample, increase in antibody amount will increase the line intensity and vice versa.

A weak T line showed on the photo indicates that there is a small amount of anti-candida antibody present in the blood that caused a weak or faded red line on the test kit. Therefore, it is a positive test result. ” (Eric Lin, Pathway Biomed)

This is exactly what I thought and was afraid of! Let’s see what the naturopath said:

“It looks like a definite positive result. Although being very faint, the extent of the candida would be fairly low but not altogether absent. The candida diet would be recommended for another 2-3 months. I would also be suspicious of leaky gut syndrome whereby the integrity of your gut wall has been compromised. This would explain why the infection hasn’t completely disappeared even after such discipline with the diet.” (Angela French from Health & Wellness Australia)

There you go. Leaky gut syndrome - that is one of the symptoms that may happen when you have Candida for a longer time. Basically it means that the lining of the digestive tract has been compromised so that its pores, that normally open only for the nutrients to be absorbed from food,  open too wide so that larger food particles and toxins from the gut can flood into the bloodstream.

Now this is the next level of digestive problems and I am going to have to see a specialist to help me heal. I’ll keep you posted! I am going to beat this.