11 Overlook Rd., Suite 140, Summit, NJ 07901
53 Kossuth St., 1st floor, Somerset, NJ 08873
Phone: (908) 273-7770

The Podell Medical Practice - Providing Personalized Integrative Medical Care

Candida/Yeast Infections

In the late 1970's Orion Truss, M.D. proposed that Candida Yeast, which normally lives in the human intestine, can also secrete toxins. Truss believed that these toxins can disrupt normal metabolism, causing or worsening a vast range of health problems. All physicians agree that yeast infection treatments can help vaginal candida infections. However Dr. Truss argued that candida diets and yeast infection treatments can also help many other health conditions.

Conditions That May Respond to Candida Diets and Candida Treatments

Candida yeast vaginitis

In the early 1980's William Crook, M.D., himself a Candida patient, popularized Candida diets and treatments through a series of books, including The Yeast Connection. In contrast, mainstream physicians felt that Candida diets and yeast infection treatments were nonsense, or worse. After all, they argued, Candida yeast normally lives in our intestines and on the skin. So how could it harm us? Surely, Truss' and Crook's wonderful Candida diets and yeast infection treatments had to be just placebos.

Despite this skepticism, alternative, holistically-minded physicians continue to report that Candida diets and yeast infection treatments really do help their patients, just as Truss and Crook claimed. Recent scientific research makes these claims plausible. For example: Candida has been shown to suppress one branch of the immune system, the part that helps fights infections. Yet it stimulates another, the immune system branch that makes allergies worse. So, it's not a great leap to suppose that Candida yeast products, absorbed through the intestine, might cause harm to the body. Still, the question remains controversial and unanswered: Are Candida diets and medical Candida treatments placebo, or, do they really work?

Dr. Podell has added Candida diets and Candida treatments to the medical therapy for over a thousand persons since he first worked with Dr. Truss and Dr. Crook in the early 1980's. The excellent results that so many patients report has convinced Dr. Podell that the Candida Yeast Theory is real, and that adding this therapy can help many people.Fortunately, adding Candida treatment is inexpensive, not too difficult, and relatively safe, providing that it's done and monitored with modest good sense.

▶back to top

What Are Yeast Infection Treatments and Candida Diets?

The most important Candida treatment is moderately reducing the carbohydrates in your diet. Candida diets sharply restrict “empty calorie” sugar products, grains, and alcoholic beverages. They may also restrict foods that are high in yeast such as mushrooms, stinky cheese, vinegar, olives, soy sauce and pickles.

Dr. Podell finds that a slightly more liberal Candida diet usually works just as well as the extremely strict ones. Dr. Podell's Candida diet encourages vegetables and allows moderate intake of fruit and berries, nuts, seeds, legumes, non-sweetened yogurt, cottage cheese and plain cheeses. Dr. Podell's Candida diet usually allows up to two slices of bread daily OR one serving of pasta OR one serving of cereal. Like other Candida diets, Dr. Podell strictly limits sugar, honey, molasses and “empty calorie” junk foods.

If a Candida diet alone is not enough, Dr. Podell’s Candida treatments select from among natural supplements and/or medication for yeast infection treatments. Among these are high dose probioitics, and the medicines Nystatin and Diflucan.

Do you Need Candida Treatment?

Dr. Billy Crook proposed the following Candida Yeast Infection Treatment Questionnaire as a first screening test. If your answer is “yes” to any of the questions below, circle the number in the right hand column. When you’ve completed the questionnaire, add up the points.

Candida Treatment Questions Candida Score
Have you taken repeated or prolonged courses of antibacterial drugs?4
Have you been bothered by recurrent candida vaginitis, or prostate or urinary tract infection? 3
Do you feel "sick all over," yet the cause hasn't been found?2
Are you bothered by hormone disturbances, including PMS, menstrual irregularities, sexual dysfunction, sugar craving, low body temperature or fatigue? 2
Are you unusually sensitive to tobacco smoke, perfumes, colognes and other chemical odors?2
Are you bothered by memory or concentration problems? Do you sometimes feel "spaced out"?2
Have you taken prolonged courses of prednisone or other steroids; or have you taken "the pill" for more than 3 years? 2
Do some foods disagree with you or trigger your symptoms?1
Do you suffer with constipation, diarrhea, bloating or abdominal pain? 1
Does your skin itch, tingle or burn; or is it unusually dry; or are you bothered by rashes?1

CandidaTreatment Scoring Scale for women: If your Candida treatment score is 9 or more, Dr. Crook infers that your health problems are probably Candida yeast-connected. If your score is 12 or more, Dr. Crook infers that your health problems are almost certainly yeast-connected.

CandidaTreatment Scoring Scale for men: Dr. Crook says: If your Candida yeast infection treatment score is 7 or more, your health problems are probably yeast-connected. If your Candida Yeast Infection Treatment Score is 10 or more your health problems are almost certainly yeast-connected.

Please understand: Dr. Crook's Candida Treatment Questionnaire is only a screening tool. It does not actually diagnose Candida yeast infection or tell you that a Candida diet or Candida yeast infection treatment is definitely what you need. For more information please visit: The Yeast Connection.

A Holistic Approach to Candida Diets and Candida Infection Treatments

Dr. Podell’s Opinion is that Candida Treatment works with many patients, in that using the Truss/Crook Candida Treatment protocols often helps people feel better. However, Candida develops within a web of interactions among all of the body's natural healing systems. Thus, the full range of health problems needs to be recognized and treated.

We discuss this holistic interactive model throughout this website, such as on Vicious Cycles That Interrupt Healing. The Candida vicious cycle is just one of several important ones that should be paid attention.

Note that Dr. Marjorie Crandall has a useful website on Yeast Consulting Services.

▶back to top