Candida and Diabetes

Common symptoms associated with candida infections include hypoglycemia and insulin resistance. These often occur together in many people. Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar and insulin resistance is high blood sugar. Left alone long enough in the body, they can develop into diabetes. So what’s the connection with candida?

To discover this, we need to know more about how candida functions in the body. Candida has an amazing ability to adapt to the various environments found in the body’s many organs and tissues. When sugar is absent, it switches to burning fat as it’s main fuel source. So much for all of the candida diets that heavily restrict sugar. More about that in another post. Candida can thrive on sugar however and uses whatever is at hand, as well as creating conditions that serve it’s ability to continue to grow and spread.

The main mechanism by which candida causes tissue destruction in the human body is via a group of protease enzymes called Secteted Aspartyl Proteases (SAPs). Protease enzymes are responsible for breaking down protein and protein structures. SAPs are also considered to be candida’s main mechanism of virulence or pathogenicity – how it spreads in the body and causes damage.
Researchers at UCSD discovered that protease enzymes can lead to diabetes, hypertension, and immune system suppression (3 common symptoms of candida infections). They create diabetes by destroying the receptors on cells that insulin binds to. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas gland. It works like a key in that it attaches to a receptor site on cells, which then opens gates in the cell wall that allow sugar to enter the cell and be used as a fuel. Without insulin or the receptors, sugar stays in the blood stream and continues to build up, leading to problems in regulating blood sugar.

Through SAPs, candida can destroy the protein-based receptors on the cell walls, leading to higher levels of sugar circulating in the body. These same SAP enzymes can destroy attachment sites on white blood cells that enable the ability of white blood cells to leave the blood stream and enter tissues where an infection is taking place. The mechanism of how they create hypertension is still not clear.

http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=744.

 

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Blood Sugar Balance Protocol

Do you have a blood sugar imbalance? 

For balancing the ecosystem of the intestinal tract and the body, I recommend doing the Candida Plan. If you have blood sugar imbalances, you should address these also at the same time.

If you get tired, irritable, sleepy, or moody when you go too long without food, you most likely have a low blood sugar issue (hypoglycemia).

Hypoglycemia can affect the following:

• estrogen
• progesterone
• testosterone
• and thyroid hormones
• suppress the immune system
• cause adrenal fatigue
• sugar cravings
• promote inflammation
• cause various disturbances in the nervous system
• such as anxiety
• depression
• nervousness
• brain fog, etc.

Many people will have both hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia/insulin resistance (tired after meals) during the day. This protocol helps with both.

Blood Sugar Balance Protocol

You’ll need to eat at least a small handful of food every 45-60 minutes (60 minutes usually works). That can be 1/3 of a celery stick or carrot, ¼ of an apple, ½ of an avocado, a rice cake, a meal, some veggies, etc., to keep your blood sugar balanced.

Keep snacks handy at all times

It is very important that you follow this strictly, as almost doesn’t work. Anyone with problems handling fruit, should stick to celery, meats, avocado, etc., for snacks. Celery is very easy to prepare and carry with you and can supply 10% of your body’s energy for the day.

Plan your day around having enough snacks with you at all times. As an example – if you wake up at 7am, eat a piece of celery right away, then get ready for the day and eat breakfast at 8am, then snack at 9, 10, 11; lunch at 12; snack at 1, 2, 3, 4; dinner at 5; snack at 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; bedtime. Snack all the way up to bedtime. Have a snack as soon as you get up, then go about getting ready for your day and making breakfast. If you wake up in the middle of the night, keep a piece of celery on the nightstand and have it before going back to sleep.

It is important to do this for at least 4 months. Additionally, it’s important to start the day with protein and have protein at every meal. Visit my website for meal planning tips and healthy recipes.

If you have questions about the Blood Sugar Balance Protocol, click here to contact me through my website.