So, having spent the whole bloody day at the V.A. Hospital in San Juan (all results as perfect as perfect can be ) I have come home to help William do a little research on Candidiasis. Edit ~ My trip to the V.A hospital is unrelated to William's quest to combat Candida. Just wanna' make sure that was clear. Candidiasis is a systemic overgrowth of the yeast Candida which is blamed for everything from weight gain and fatigue to stock market crashes and global warming. He wants me to find good ways to combat and control Candida because of a comment made to him by a whispy, hippy-dippy, prone-to-spouting-metaphysical-stuff friend of his who put it into his head that Candida is the root of all evil, and most definitely the cause of his recent (slight) weight gain. I'm trying to be supportive, but everything I find as support for why Candida is bad is: 1) Aimed at women, who have their own reasons to be concerned with Candida. 2) More Western approach articles explaining that unless you have a damaged immune system or have eradicated your intestinal flora with heavy antibiotics, then Candida is a false enemy. 3) Articles with little to no scientific verbiage written by Barley and Bran Silverstien (husband and wife homeopaths) giving quasimetaphysical explanations about how we are all energy and there is good and bad energy and Candida is bad ju-ju which you need to combat with a wholistic blah blah blah. What's a good, supportive boyfriend to do??
Personally, I would support him to the point of eating healthy fruits and veg and any other 'health concious' habits he may want to take up. But if he wants to start any weird 'colon cleansing' and its ilk proposed by some of these nuts--I would put my foot down, hard.
I agree with Garmar, plus I've never liked the 'alternative' medicines. It's basically what Europe used during the dark ages and you can just see how long their life expectancy was.
It's a fad. It will "pass"...no pun intended. Tell him the truth. You don't agree with the "science" supporting the premise, but you will not stand in his way if he chooses to engage in non-dangerous "treatments". Make it clear that YOU will not be changing your daily activities because you have thrived in recent years, and "If it ain't broke; don't fix it."
I'm not sure I actually understand your question; there was a lot of information. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're asking about how to support your boyfriend through his sudden weight gain? If that's the case, I have a wealth of information to unload! I struggled with eating (too much, too little, etc, etc) and gathered quite a bit of knowledge over the years, so trust me when I give you this information. A popular 'new' way of eating (it's definitely not new) is grazing. Instead of the traditional three meals a day, you should eat every few hours in much smaller portions. Why? It keeps your metabolism very high. It fools your body into thinking it's getting more than enough food, and it's constantly burning the food you put in. It's the perfect way for me to maintain my weight, even if I eat cookies and pizza and nothing else in one day, because my body just keeps burning it off (though I do not recommend this ). Necessary foodstuffs: Fruits. Bananas. Apples. Oranges. Grapefruit (known as a natural metabolism booster). Any fruit, really. I suggest you eat fruit only by itself. Mixing fruit with another food group causes your metabolism to slow every so slightly, and, plus, since it slows down, it just sits there, rotting, in your body. Yuck. Vegetables. You need these. Dark, leafy greens. Carrots. Honestly, anything that's a vegetable is good for you, but be wary. Veggies like potatoes do have a lot of carbs. Good for you, but not in large amounts if you're looking to lose weight. Fruits and vegetables have a lot of 'negative calorie' foods in their groups, meaning it takes more energy to digest the food than it has in it. Celery is negligible, asparagus is damned close, carrots are negligible. Any melon is negligible... You can look these up by using a simple Google search. YOGURT. I hate yogurt. Hate it. I'm even 'scared' of it, a little bit (very long story). But I eat it every day. Why? Yogurt has bacteria in it, bacteria that you cannot get from any other food source OR pill no matter what they tell you! Eat your yogurt. I suggest YoPlait YoPlus in Vanilla or Raspberry. Fiber. Makes ya' poop. Cleanses your colon. It's mostly just sendentary waste you've got 'clogged' up in there, but it looks great when you step on the scale! Honestly, it is good for you, too. Found in whole grain breads and cereals. I suggest FiberOne. On a 2000 calorie diet, you can get up to 57% of your fiber intake in one serving. Meat. Humans are omnivores, after all. I dont eat meat, however, so I'll not say much. But it does tend to keep the body a little better functioning. As for frequency and size of meals? Depends on height / weight. I eat 1000 calories a day, but then again, I'm 115 pounds and 4'11" (59 inches). Any lower than 1000 and you will be clinically starving yourself; dont do that. I eat 200 calorie mini-meals 5 times a day. Your boy should try 200-400 (depending again on height and weight) mini-meals five to six times a day. I usually eat every three hours, and stop any eating past 7PM --that's three hours before I normally head to bed. Your body runs on a biological clock and will slow down metabollically. Eating much later could cause weight gain. Phew! That's about it as far as nutrition goes. I suggest you both try it; whether you're overweight or not, it's definitely the healthiest and biologically best thing for the human body. I dont care what the FDA says (in my opinion, I think they're sleeping with the sugar industry, but that's for another post). --They're in it for the money; I'm not. As for exercise? No more than an hour every day, and try to get both cardio and strength in. Basic is fine; go for a walk or jog for about thirty minutes and then do some sit ups and push ups together. You can see a dramatic weight loss very quickly depending on how your body reacts. I've been known to lose five pounds in one day, at my heaviest (which isnt that much; 135 pounds), but I've also gained eating like this. What would be alarming is if you lose more than 10-15 pounds in a month. Good Luck! ...And, sorry about the essay. :redface: I love this stuff. -Mercurial
If you can find a method of dealing with this thing and you can find no reason to believe it will cause any problems, go for it. If he wants to do it, and there is no harm in it, why not? Alternative medicine is not what people did in the middle ages just because they didn't no any better. The reason people had short life spans back were not a result of curing diseases. It was because they had bad, overly fattening diets, poor hygiene practices, and no way to fight infection or boost immune systems but eating cetain foods, which they didn't eat anyway. How much fruit do you see them eating? Reputable alternative medicine may not always be genuinely helpful in a scientific sense, but there is no harm in it. It can also has a placebo effect if there is no real medicinal value to it. My pharmacology teacher used to give patients saline all the time, telling them it was a powerful pain medication or sleep aid, and it worked. On the other hand, in the long run, if he is concerned with things like weight and his energy level, the standard stuff is your best bet. Why take a pill or drink a special tea when you can simply adjust your diet a little bit and walk a little more?
Should you be supportive? Yes. Should you blindly go along with anything he says? No. Present him with the information you have found. Express your concerns. Encourage him to explore other reasons he might be experiencing weight gain and loss of energy. There might be something actually medical going on. If changing diet and excercise and whatever holistic treatment he is using do not work, encourage him to see a medical doctor.
I'm a great supporter of science rather than 'alternative' medicine but I did find that when I had a similar problem, cutting out anything with yeast and wheat flour in it, ie bread in particular, made a huge difference. The doctor advised me to cut it out of my diet for a week and then very slowly I was allowed it again. I still eat it only rarely (never cereals for breakfast, apart from oats) and feel much better although I miss it. Hope your friend recovers his health soon.
