Candida: Coffee Alternatives

A modified diet to eliminate Candida can be a strict protocol, forbidding sugar and many other carbohydrate-rich foods. However, dieters often complain that the hardest thing to give up is not the junk food, the fruit, or the alcohol. What many people have the most trouble with is actually reducing their caffeine intake.

There are a number of reasons why you should reduce the amount of coffee and tea that you drink while on the Candida Diet.

Why reduce caffeine?

Caffeine is one of the items that you definitely should cut back on during your Candida diet. As you know, sugar is the one thing especially to avoid on the Candida Diet – it feeds the yeast in your gut and contributes to Candida overgrowth. Coffee, or specifically caffeine, complicates the dependence on sugar you’re trying to break.

1. First & most importantly, caffeine can cause spikes in your blood sugar that feed the Candida overgrowth. A 2008 study found that caffeine increased glucose levels in the blood by as much as eight percent.
2. Secondly, Caffeine can destroy vitamin B-1, inositol, biotin, potassium and zinc, and it can hinder the assimilation of calcium and iron. These are vital prebiotics & supporting nutrients that feed healthy bacteria, which in turn fight off the bad candida.
3. Finally, Caffeine affects the central nervous system as a stimulant and can overstimulate the nervous system, resulting in a rush of hormones that may compromise the immune system. How does caffeine drain your immune system? By stressing your adrenal glands. Every time you drink coffee you are stimulating your adrenals to produce adrenaline and cortisol. If you do this several times a day for a few years, your adrenal glands and HPA axis may become off-balance, leaving you worn out and fatigued. Why? The off-balance HPA axis fails to do its regular job properly… regulating hormone levels in your body. And when hormones are out of balance, people experience symptoms like mood disorders, weight gain, and disrupted sleep. Important related to Candida, it also weakens your immune system response, which drops your defenses against Candida overgrowth.

Alternatives to Caffeine in the Morning:

Read here for more on Candida treatment and diagnosis