Issue 15 – Natural Remedies

Natural Remedies – Letter from the Editor

Natural Remedies for Adrenal Fatigue

How To Lower Your Blood Pressure Quickly and Naturally

Understand Hypothyroidism – Prevention and Natural Remedies

How to Kill Fungal Infections

How to Cure Migraines For Good

Natural Remedies for PMS Mood Swings, Bloating, Cramps, etc

Natural Remedies for Colds, Flus, and Other Common Viruses

Natural Cure for Sinus Infections

Natural Remedies for Chronic Stress

Reversing Erectile Dysfunction Naturally

Natural Remedies for Kidney Stones, Prevention, and What Really Causes Them

Natural Remedies for Anxiety

Natural Hair Loss Baldness Remedies and Cures

Natural Diabetes Cure

Natural Remedies for Acne

Natural Remedies for Canker Sores

Natural Arthritis Remedies

Natural remedies for a Hangover

Natural Cure for Yeast Infection

Natural Remedies for Constipation

Natural Cough and Sore Throat Remedies

Natural Heartburn Remedies

Natural ADHD Treatment

Natural Flea Remedies

How to Cure Candida

Natural Remedies For Migraines

Natural Remedies for Cold Sores

Natural Home Remedies for Ear Infections

Natural Remedies for Depression

Reduce Muscle Soreness



Hypertension – How To Lower Your Blood Pressure Quickly and Naturally

The problem with blood pressure medications is that they do not correct the underlying issue of the problem. Imagine you have a car with a 6-cylinder engine that is running very rough. You find out that two of your six cylinders have the problem, so you remove them or shut them down. Now your car runs smoothly, but it has to put out a lot more effort to get up to speed.

You should have cleaned all of the cylinders, flushed out the engine, and changed the oil, like an automotive detox. Instead, you cut out two of the cylinders completely, and now four are doing the work of six. And because the car was not meant to do this, your gas mileage is terrible, and more problems will develop soon. How long do you think this engine is going to last?

In order to get off of high blood pressure medications, it helps to understand the cause of high blood pressure.

Recommended: Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections

What Causes High Blood Pressure?

The goal is to balance the body’s pH and remove toxins
High blood pressure is almost always caused by thick, toxic blood. Consider that engine analogy, and think of our blood like the car’s motor oil and its gasoline. The cleaner the blood, the easier it is for the heart to pump it through the body. Chronic high blood pressure is a result of the heart working harder to push the blood where it needs to go. Restricting the heart doesn’t seem like the smartest thing to do, does it?

So What Causes This Toxic Thick Blood?

  • Smoking – Smoking anything toxifies the blood, makes it thick, and makes it harder to circulate. This includes marijuana.
  • Toxic Liver – A toxic liver results in dirty, sticky, thick blood full of toxins. And of course, smoking anything makes the whole body very toxic. Junk food, as in refined, processed food, does as well.
  • Kidneys – Kidneys that aren’t at optimum health do a poor job of filtering the blood. Sugary and artificial beverages slow down the kidneys. For non-smokers, getting off of sodas and cheap juices is often enough to lower blood pressure.
  • Candida – Candida seems to be at the foundation of almost everyone’s poor health and with good reason. Almost everyone, even self-proclaimed health experts, eats way too much sugar. Sugar feeds Candida, and Candida thickens the blood as it multiplies, poops, and multiplies some more.
  • pH Balance – Acidic blood is slow, thick, problematic blood because it impedes the kidneys’ ability to function, and causes a host of other problems, many of which also result in higher blood pressure for other reasons.
  • Fibrin – Vascular injury leads to inflammation and damage from free radicals which contributes to fibrin accumulation.
  • Low vitamin D and other vitamin and mineral imbalances.

Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism has also been recognized as a cause of hypertension. Previous studies regarding hypertension in subjects with hypothyroidism have demonstrated elevated blood pressure values. Increased peripheral vascular resistance and low cardiac output, known causes of hypertension, are believed to be the possible link between hypothyroidism and diastolic hypertension.

How To Reduce High Blood Pressure Naturally

If you’re willing to get off the drugs and do right by your body, the good news is that high blood pressure is extremely easy to fix. The bad news is that you’re going to have to change your lifestyle. The habits that got you here will have to go.

Low Blood Pressure Diet

The goal is to balance the body’s pH, remove toxins, and increase enzymatic actions. There are some easy short-term solutions for balancing the pH and achieving these other goals, but a diet with lots of fresh raw produce that is devoid of processed junk food is the best and only way to permanently balance the body’s PH and achieve optimum health. Also, eating in this manner eliminates the other toxic accumulation from junk food.

The foundation of a truly healthy diet is raw, fresh produce – 80% should be raw, fresh, organic produce, more vegetables than fruit. It’s this simple: the more raw fresh vegetables anyone eats, the healthier they become. Eliminate processed foods and increase your raw food intake; there’s nothing else that comes close to the power of raw produce when it comes to eliminating ailments and restoring health. Nothing comes close except…

Cranberry Stevia Lemonade

I drink a gallon of cranberry stevia lemonade a day. The difference in my health that I experienced when I started drinking it is amazing. I ate well and I was very healthy, but this took my body to another level.

For a surprising number of people, high blood pressure is simply dehydration. Soda, Gatorade, sugary juices, and coffee either dehydrate you immediately or they dehydrate you in the long run (for instance, Gatorade and cheap, sugary juices will impeded kidney function). When you don’t have enough fluid in your body, the blood gets thick and harder to move. Cranberry juice will help normalize the kidneys, lemon juice will flush the liver and normalize pH levels of the body, and the stevia, I find, simply goes very well with cranberry and lemon.

If for any reason you can’t do cranberry stevia lemonade, drink a lot of clean water. Distilled or spring water (provided the source is reliable) are the best choices to drink and to make the lemonade.

The Body’s pH

Between diet and the lemonade, your pH should balance quickly. If you need it to balance nearly immediately, or your body is extremely acidic (due to toxic accumulation such as drugs like chemo drugs) then try:

Doc Shillington’s Body Balance Formula Recipe:

  • 1 – cup of Organic Blackstrap Molasses
  • 1 – cup of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

Mix well and take a tablespoon twice a day. I recommend also taking a strong probiotic with this formula as the molasses can feed Candida. This formula tastes horrible in my opinion, but some people actually like the taste, it’s got a lot of benefits, and it’s well worth it.

Other Recipes For Normalizing Blood Pressure

If you want to bring blood pressure down as quickly as possible, especially if you’re coming off medication and/or have a heart problem, the following formulas are an absolute must have to bring the body out of the danger zone quickly and promote long-term healing:

Ginger, Cranberry, Turmeric Tonic

Equal parts:

  • Cranberry juice
  • Ginger juice
  • Turmeric juice

This is an awesome way to start out the morning. Drink a shot of fresh pressed ginger, cranberry, turmeric juice. Ideally, as always, fresh is best. Juice turmeric root with the peel, ginger root with the peel as well, and cranberries. The perfect ratio is equal parts juice. Try to get whole, fresh cranberries if possible. If not, find some organic, unsweetened, un-concentrated/reconstituted cranberry juice with no additives.

Juice a total of  4 to 6 ounces and take the shot on an empty stomach. You should feel the benefits right away.

Doc Shillington’s Brain Tonic Recipe (or purchase here)

Doc Shillington’s Heart Formula Recipe (or purchase here)

Doc Shillington’s Blood Detox Formula Recipe (or purchase here)

Vitamin D

Studies have shown that those with higher levels of vitamin D in their system have lower blood pressure. Unfortunately, studies designed to prove supplementation with vitamin D lowers blood pressure have been inconsistent. Those showing benefits from supplementation have been small studies. But as often happens, the flaw in a large study was easy to spot. In the 7-year double-blind study of 36,282 postmenopausal women no evidence was found to support the idea that vitamin D supplementation reduces blood pressure. However, the dose given was too low (400 IU/day), half of the normal dose (700-800 IU/day) used for clinical purposes.

Coenzyme Q10

While the mechanism by which coenzyme Q10 reduces blood pressure is not fully understood, countless studies have shown significant improvement and reversal of high blood pressure with coenzyme Q10 supplementation.

Magnesium

Magnesium levels are consistently low in those who have hypertension. It’s recommended for most cases to take a mineral supplement that has a balanced range or minerals with magnesium, as opposed to just magnesium alone, especially for long-term supplementation.

Systemic Enzymes

Digestive enzymes break down food. Plant enzymes break down food in the pre-digestive phase of digestion before stomach acid inactivates them. Metabolic enzymes, also known as systemic enzymes, break down foreign proteins and fibrin and clean your blood of impurities. Consider the ramifications of this. Fibrin builds up when the body is damaged. It’s an important part of the healing process. Enzymes eliminate this scar tissue. Enzymes also eliminate viruses.

When a virus contacts a human cell, its external coating connects to the cell and the virus becomes able to contact DNA. This connection to DNA permits the virus to reproduce in a rapid manner. Proteolytic enzymes consume the exterior coating of a virus, rendering the virus permanently inert. They also break up circulating immune complexes in the blood. They enhance the elasticity of erythrocytes and reduce aggregation of blood platelets, increasing blood fluidity and its circulation in tissues. Enzymes are what take out the garbage, and they are the tools to rebuild the body. But the body can only produce so many.

When the body quits, producing proteolytic or protein digesting enzymes responsible for controlling fibrin levels in the body system, the body dies within 24 hours. The more enzymes we supplement the body with and get in our diets, the longer we live. It’s that simple. Heart attack, stroke, somewhere, somehow, the body will cease to function.” – Dr. Tim Kelly

Enzymes are the fountain of youth, if ever there was one. Aging appears to begin between the ages of 27 and 35 when the production of enzymes that dissolve protein begins to diminish. Scars stick around longer and remain more prominent. Aches and pains take longer to fade, injuries become slower to heal, and our body just doesn’t seem to recover like it once did because it doesn’t. We do damage to our body simply by being alive, and the more damage we do, the more enzymes we need to repair the damage.

Everybody can use more enzymes. We cannot get an optimal amount in our food unless we grow most of our own food with best practices to produce the most nutrient dense crops. Even then, we could still use more. Our body produces enzymes, but only a finite amount. The more foods we consume that are void of enzymes, the more we use up our finite supply.

Enzyme supplements fall under two categories: digestive and systemic. Digestive enzymes are taken with food to help digestion. There are also enzymes in raw foods that make it easier to absorb and properly assimilate nutrition.

Systemic enzymes (pancreatic enzymes, proteolytic enzymes, metabolic enzymes) are a bit more complicated. Getting enzymes from the digestive tract into the bloodstream isn’t easy. Enzymes released in the stomach will help digest food but will not survive the stomach acid. This is why systemic enzymes are typically offered in an acid-resistant capsule. The capsule is designed to release in the more alkaline environment of the intestinal tract. As long as the enzymes are taken on an empty stomach, the results have been shown to be spectacular.

Systemic enzymes have been used to treat problems and successfully eliminate ailments ranging from physical injuries, arthritis, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, autism, herpes, HIV, (seems to work against any virus) fibromyalgia, asthma, and so much more. Most of the research has been published in non-English language journals. This systemic use of oral enzyme supplementation is just beginning to take off in the United States.

There are no reported side effects with systemic enzymes. Massive doses do not cause any problems or side effects, unlike high doses of pharmaceutical drugs or extremely high doses of supplements and herbs. The initial dosage, which is often one potent enzyme pill taken three times daily, 45 minutes before or 45 minutes after a meal, can be raised by three tablets daily every few days until the desired therapeutic response develops. A person given more than 3700 enzyme tablets in one day experienced diarrhea, but this was attributed to the capsules, not the content. The only side-effects from the enzymes themselves will be reduced inflammation and reduction of damaged and decaying cells, fibrin, viruses, and other proteins that have been introduced from a leaky gut or the body’s own mutated proteins (which happens under stress).

Enzyme supplementation is not a quick fix, but over time, they do produce amazing results. Consider systemic enzyme supplementation for repairing the damage done to the body from vaccines, infections, toxins, poor diet or lifestyle choices, breathing the air we breathe, or anything that would cause any damage. Enzymes can help the body to reverse its age. What is age if not accumulated damage?

Conclusion

For those suffering from high blood pressure for a very long time, or those who have any other heart conditions, we also highly recommend Shillington’s Heart Formula and large doses of systemic enzymes right away. And do read Understand Hypothyroidism – Prevention and Natural Remedies if you suffer from hypothyroidism.

Be sure to check out How to Make A Tincture if you plan to make one of the aforementioned formulas, and see the cranberry lemonade recipe here. High blood pressure is something you can eliminate very quickly. You just need to let go of conventional wisdom, embrace natural health, and clean your blood to that your heart can do its job.

Recommended Supplements:
Further Reading:

Sources:



Make Your Immune System Bulletproof with These Natural Remedies

You don’t have to catch the next flu. You can stop the next cold before it gets started. All you need is the right diet and a strong, healthy immune system.

Contents:

Yes, I know. We have all met one or more people who eat crap and still never get sick. Chances are they were born with a good, healthy immune system and their parents fed them right. Now they are tearing down their immune systems. Their luck won’t last forever.

There are also people who don’t get sick because they take such good care of themselves that their body is not a suitable host for infection. Bacteria and viruses can’t get a foothold. When pathogens invade the body, the immune system kills them so quickly that very healthy people aren’t even aware the battle took place.

Then there are people who eat pretty well and usually get enough sleep, but sometimes, every now and then, they still get sick.

With the right combination of supplements, in most cases, you can knock out, or radically lessen the severity of an infection. If an illness is caught early enough, even people who eat a lousy diet can treat it with the right supplements before they feel really sick.

Before we get into infection remedies, let’s be clear that we are talking about viruses, bacteria, fungus, and most of the parasites that make us sick. Believe it or not, candida (a type of fungus) can give us the same symptoms as a bacterial or viral infection, and many times people have multiple infections at once causing flu-like symptoms. The only way to properly prepare your immune system to be as strong as possible is to have a diet and supplement regimen to address not just viruses, but all the other infectious organisms as well. The good news is that there are many different herbs and foods that none of these invaders and pathogens like.

Recommended: How To Heal Your Gut

The Foundation – Foods, Herbs, and Diet for the Immune System

Infection wants an easy host. An easy host does not eat a healthy diet filled with lots of raw, fresh, organic produce, full of enzymes and vitamins. To be healthy, eat a salad every day with raw garlic. If garlic makes your breath stink, it’s time to detox and get yourself healthy. Toxic body = garlic breath. Don’t eat processed foods, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, or GMO foods. Don’t eat any food with artificial colors, flavorings, or preservatives or MSG.

Recommended:

If you can’t grow your own ultra healthy produce at home, and you don’t have access to the best nutrient dense produce year around, take a really good whole food multivitamin with lots of easily assimilated vitamin C. It’s not important how much of any one vitamin there is, what matters is that the nutrients can be properly and easily assimilated. Take a separate vitamin D supplement, too.

Check out Make Your Own Nutrition Formula and Homemade Vitamin C.

Also see Total Nutrition Formula, vitamin D, and vitamin C (Total Nutrition Formula is a better source of vitamin C than any pills we know of).

If your throat gets itchy at all, your breath smells stale, or your sinuses feel overly sensitive, sip on apple cider vinegar all day. If you need to speak to anyone up close, stop sipping for ten minutes or so beforehand. The vinegar will make your breath smell like an old shoe, for just a bit.

Drink plenty of fluids. Stevia-sweetened cranberry lemonade with cayenne will help detoxify and flush the system while making the body extremely inhospitable to infection (cayenne, cranberry, and lemonade are all very good at fighting off sickness).

If there is any sign of a cold or infection coming on, don’t use cough drops, or nasal spray, or any over the counter medications. Stay away from anything sweet, even fruit (besides stevia, green apples, berries, and watermelon).

That’s the foundation. With good sleep habits and a nearly perfect diet, there’s no getting sick.

Stepping It Up a Notch With the Real Flu Shots

If you have access to a juice press, the best flu shots in the world are available to you. If you are making sure your immune system is combat ready, it is not time to juice carrots, beets, or apples. They have too much sugar. Juice ginger, turmeric, lemon, wheat grass, and cranberry (if you can’t get fresh cranberries, get organic not-from-concentrate), 2 ounces each. Take them all as individual shots. You could mix them up and chug it all down at once, but my tummy revolted when I tried this. Sometimes I will juice a granny smith apple with these tonics for palatability, but only one apple.

Do these shots in the morning on an empty stomach for a multitude of benefits, including a stronger immune system. Make sure it’s all organic of course. Nothing I know of sets the day off better. Well… okay, almost nothing.

The Big Guns – Bulletproof Your Immune System with the Most Powerful Herbs

Good echinacea, the pure, clean, and potent kind that makes your tongue feel as fuzzy as a shag carpet, will help knock out a viral infection all by itself in some cases. When you combine echinacea with vitamin C and elderberry, flu and colds don’t stand a chance. Echinacea strengthens the entire immune system, but it’s better not to take it for more than a week at a time, as it loses its effectiveness if you take it for more than 7 days straight. Wait at least 5 days before taking it again.

Goldenseal is antiviral and anti-parasitic. It’s also a powerful blood cleanser. Coptis chinensis, also known as goldenthread, is a very powerful aid to detoxification. It helps keep the lymph glands clean and running smoothly, and it’s antibacterial, antiviral, antiparasitic, and antifungal. I get these supplements into my system by taking, Shillington’s Blood Detox, MicroDefense, black cumin seed oil, coptis chinensis, elderberry, and I also recommend Shillington’s Total Tonic formula which you can make it yourself pretty easily. Here’s the recipe for total tonic:

Doc Shillington’s Total Tonic Recipe (or purchase here)

  • 1 handful of garlic cloves
  • 1 handful of chopped onions
  • 1 handful of chopped ginger
  • 1 handful of chopped horseradish
  • 1/2 handful of chopped habanero peppers
  • Raw apple cider vinegar

Throw in a blender and cover with an inch or two of organic raw apple cider vinegar. All ingredients should be organic, but don’t let that stop you from making this great formula (as long as the garlic is not from China). You can use the mash right away or wait two weeks and allow it to turn into a tincture.

Update: We recently started selling Mother Earth Organic Root Cider. I like this much better than Total Tonic. It’s harsh, it’s potent, it’s not my idea of a delicious refreshing drink, but if you sip throughout the day the results are truly amazing. This cider really helps keep the sinuses and throat from getting infected. Here’s my review.

Kill the Bastards

If I feel like I am coming down with something I add oil of oregano and I increase the dosage for Blood Detox and MicroDefense. I also increase my garlic intake substantially and make sure I’m eating a salad like this every day. This will pretty much kill anything we don’t want in our gut (and some stuff we do want), as well as aid in killing any microorganisms anywhere in the body. It pretty much makes the body totally inhospitable to foreign invaders.

And last, but certainly not least, if you have a chronic sinus infection, consider Shillington’s Herbal Snuff. This is the herbal remedy that proves Doc Shillington is a sadist.

Doc Shillington’s Herbal Snuff Recipe (or purchase here)

A part is a measurement by volume (cups, tbsp, etc.)

  • 7 parts goldenseal root powder
  • 7 parts bayberry bark powder
  • 1 part cayenne pepper powder
  • 1 part garlic powder

All the above must be ground up very finely. It is best to use habanero cayenne as it is the hottest. Mix it very well as a clump of cayenne could keep your eyes in tears for an hour. It won’t hurt you, though.

When allergies are starting, or a sinus infection is trying to set in (or both), perfumes and sugary odors can make you nauseated or cause unusually intense cravings. Things that normally wouldn’t bother can smell very stale and overpowering. This is a sign that it’s time for Herbal Snuff. You snort it. Just a tiny bit. Get it up both nostrils quick before you change your mind. It hurts. It sucks. But it clears out the sinuses like nothing else.

When using oil of oregano and garlic to balance the gut, or Herbal Snuff to eliminate sinus infections, the diet needs to be clean and at least some of the aforementioned practices should be utilized. If someone uses herbal snuff to prevent a sinus infection or a sore throat (sore throats are typically caused by sinus infections), while eating food that promotes infection, it is likely that lung infections like pneumonia will set in very quickly. Eating poor quality food can wreak havoc on the intestines of someone that has taken antibiotics, and oil of oregano and garlic are pretty strong, all natural, antibiotics.

If you don’t get sick, are you healthy? Some people have a genetically gifted immune system, and some people may have emotional makeups that help keep them from getting sick (mind over matter is powerful medicine). This doesn’t necessarily mean these people are healthy. Anyone who doesn’t eat extremely well would benefit from regular detoxification, which is something your body does at all times on its own when it’s healthy and is fed a truly healthy diet.

For those who don’t take care of themselves, getting sick is a very good way to detoxify. For someone who doesn’t eat as well as they should, and/or doesn’t get enough sleep, getting sick is a way of taking out the garbage. Parasites, viruses, bacteria, and candida need weak cells to feed off of and to make a home. A poor diet, lack of sleep, and habits like drinking or smoking cause malfunctioning cells to develop. To use the methods that prevent infection, and to do so repeatedly, without taking care of oneself, can lead to serious illness such as cancer, or autoimmune disease.

Disease suppression is dangerous in the long run, even with all natural, perfectly safe remedies. With that in mind, if you need to make it through a stressful situation when the weather is changing and you know you won’t get enough sleep for a while, and the food situation won’t be ideal for periods (this certainly happens to me with business from time to time) without getting sick under any circumstances, then this protocol is what you need. On the other hand, these practices can also be used while detoxifying to strengthen the detox and to lessen the side effects and reduce the likelihood of a weakened immune system and getting sick.

Recommended Products:
Further Reading:
Sources:


Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid

Thyroid conditions generally fall into two categories: hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. The most common thyroid problem is hypothyroidism, an underactive thyroid, which leads to a slow metabolism, hormonal imbalances, a weak immune system, muscle pain, weight gain, fatigue, dry skin, hair loss, heart problems, and much more.

Contents

The Thyroid and The Whole Endocrine System

Hormones are liquid chemical messengers that regulate many activities of the body.

The endocrine system secretes hormones directly into the bloodstream. The primary glands of this system include:

  • Hypothalamus
  • Pineal gland
  • Pituitary gland
  • Thyroid gland
  • Parathyroid glands
  • Adrenal glands
  • Pancreas
  • Ovaries
  • Testes

These organs are not the only organs that secrete endocrine hormones; the digestive system, the kidneys, the liver and bone also excrete endocrine hormones. In addition, hormones are secreted by the exocrine system. Cells throughout the body use hormones to communicate.

The thyroid, like every other gland, relies on other hormones to properly regulate its hormone production. When one gland or an organ is not working, the whole endocrine system becomes stressed.

The follicular cells of the thyroid gland produce T3 and T4, and the pituitary gland produces TSH to regulate the thyroid hormone production.

Hypothyroidism typically (but not always) shows higher levels of the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and low levels of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4. So the pituitary gland is pumping out TSH, telling the thyroid to work harder, but the thyroid is still unable to produce enough T3 and T4. While this is the typical model of hypothyroidism, a slow thyroid can present with low T3 or low T4 (rather than both), or perfectly normal TSH levels, or with normal (or seemingly normal) levels of all three.

…the body is all connected in so many fascinating ways.

Hyperthyroidism is an overactive thyroid. The gland can’t maintain such a pace and will eventually revert to hypothyroidism.

Autoimmune disorders such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, which cause inflammation of the thyroid gland, can have an effect similar to hyperthyroidism–over-activity. This is often followed by burnout, leading to underactivity.

How To Tell If Your Thyroid Is Slow

There are various testing methods for poor thyroid function, but the testing is problematic. Most physicians use outdated reference ranges when testing thyroid function. Also, studies have demonstrated that standard thyroid tests do not correlate well with tissue thyroid levels, which causes inaccurate diagnoses.

Most physicians and endocrinologists believe TSH is the best indicator of the thyroid function of an individual. However, someone can suffer from a significantly slow thyroid despite having a normal TSH, free T3, and free T4.

Some will test for T3. People can also have low T3 and show normal T4 and normal TSH. Many practitioners do not realize that this indicates a selenium or zinc deficiency, rather than a problem with the thyroid.

There are other problems with standard testing as well, and many thyroid specialists will tell you that more than 80% of patients with low thyroid function do not show thyroid problems with standard testing.

Naturopaths and many of the more progressive physicians and endocrinologists are using a combination of lab tests and looking at symptoms, while many holistic practitioners recognize the testing is flawed, therefore, they look at the symptoms and the function of the body as a whole.

Some of the most common symptoms of hypothyroidism include a dry, flaky scalp and pain, tightness, or a feeling of joints being “out of place” (in need of a chiropractic adjustment) in the trapezoid muscles including and especially in the back of the neck and shoulders, hip pain, bursitis, elbows, and wrists (carpal tunnel). When any of these symptoms is going on, the thyroid is struggling.

The thyroid becomes swollen and inflamed, as any part of the body should be when it’s hurting, and puts constant pressure on the vertebras in the neck and shoulder area. This causes issues including misalignment that can be temporarily relieved by chiropractic, but the thyroid has to be healed in order for the pain to stop reoccurring. Carpal tunnel also a common symptom. This syndrome is often primarily caused or solely caused by thyroid problems. And last but not least, flat feet are also a sign of hypothyroidism. I know, weird, right? But the body is all connected in so many fascinating ways.

Here’s a comprehensive list of symptoms indicative of hypothyroidism:

List Of Hypothyroidism Symptoms

  • Allergic rhinitis
  • Asthma
  • Angina pectoris
  • Atherosclerosis
  • Bursitis
  • Conditions related to the cardiovascular system
  • Carpal tunnel syndrome
  • Carotenodermia (slight orange tinge to the skin, usually on the palms of the hands and soles of feet)
  • Cold extremities, intolerance to the cold
  • Coarse, dry, or thinning hair
  • Constipation
  • Decreased libido
  • Dry, rough, and/or itchy skin
  • Edema
  • Erectile dysfunction
  • Fallen arches
  • Fatigue
  • Fibrocystic breast changes
  • Fibromyalgia symptoms
  • Headaches
  • Hoarseness
  • Infertility
  • Hypercholesterolemia
  • Hyperhomocysteinemia
  • Hypertension
  • Itchy and/or flaky scalp
  • Memory loss
  • Mood swings, irritability
  • Muscle aches
  • Menstrual irregularities (amenorrhea, oligomenorrhea, menorrhagia)
  • Neck pain, stiffness, aches (especially in the back of the neck)
  • Knee pain (due to fallen arches)
  • Pallor (an unhealthy pale appearance)
  • Pain in the trapezoid and/or neck area
  • Psoriasis
  • Poor mental concentration
  • Polycystic ovary syndrome
  • Postpartum depression
  • Premenstrual syndrome
  • Reactive hypoglycemia
  • Recurrent infections
  • Sluggishness, tiredness
  • Shoulder pain
  • Tinnitus
  • Urticaria
  • Vasomotor rhinitis
  • Vertigo
  • Weakness
  • Weight gain

While weight gain, an inability to lose weight, and increased appetite can be signs of hypothyroidism, in severe cases one can actually lose their appetite and consequently lose weight. This is just a step before myxedema, when one loses brain function as a result of severe, longstanding low level of thyroid functionality.

Causes Of Hypothyroidism

There are many pathways available for the regulation of the production and conversion of thyroid hormones. Consequently, there are a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong. A healthy thyroid relies on many factors, including but not limited to, a healthy endocrine system, hormone levels being stable, healthy and balanced gut flora, a healthy liver, properly functioning adrenals, healthy kidneys, and clean, healthy blood.

Must Read: How To Heal Your Gut

Candida

Candida overgrowth leads to a host of problems and eventually causes autoimmune disease. It also inhibits the body’s ability to properly digest and assimilate nutrition. An overabundance of Candida toxifies the blood in many different ways, which inhibits all gland activity.

Must Read: Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections

Best Supplement for Candida if you could only pick one: SF722

Fungal Supplement Stack – Knock Out Yeast, Candida, Mold, Fungus

Every single person I’ve ever known to get over hypothyroidism (and almost every other chronic disease) fixed the gut first. That means killing fungi and balacing the gut’s ecosystem. Thre first step is to kill the fungi, mold, yeast, Candida.

The first three should be plenty for most people, but for impatient people with really prominent fungal issues and bigger budgets could use all of these:

Autoimmune disease

Many medications contribute to hypothyroidism…

Hashimoto’s disease is a condition where the immune system attacks the thyroid. Autoimmune disorders occur when your immune system produces antibodies that attack your own tissues. This is typically due to a leaky gut as a result of an overabundance of Candida due to poor diet and/or antibiotic use.

Conventional Hypothyroidism Treatments

People with overactive thyroids are often treated with radioactive iodine or anti-thyroid medications intended to normalize thyroid function. Often these treatments result in permanent hypothyroidism (permanent by conventional medical standards).

Thyroid Surgery

Removing a portion of your thyroid gland will diminish or halt hormone production. A person who wants to balance their hormones after thyroid removal surgery (or partial removal) needs to either take hormones for life or grow back their thyroid.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation used to treat cancers of the head and neck can do serious long-term damage to the thyroid gland.

Medications

Many medications contribute to hypothyroidism, including but not limited to medications for mental health, sleep medications, painkillers, and allergy medications.

Other Drugs (nicotine, caffeine, marijuana)

Any stimulant will wear out the thyroid and the adrenals. Many people consume a lot of caffeine over a period of time, eventually leading to adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism.

Marijuana disrupts the entire endocrine system, affecting all glandular hormone production. THC, in particular, lowers the immune system’s ability to fight infection, and can, with heavy use, lower thyroid hormonal output. Also, smoking anything causes the blood to become thick and toxic with free radicals and carcinogens that clog glands and hinder hormone production.

Iodine Deficiency

The thyroid gland converts iodine into thyroid hormones. Iodine is a trace mineral found primarily in seafood, seaweed, plants grown in iodine-rich soil, unrefined sea salt, and iodized table salt. Many people do not get enough iodine, and contrary to popular belief, this includes many people in developed countries.

Iodine from iodized salt is poorly absorbed and is not a healthy choice for raising iodine levels in the diet. Refined table salt contributes to a host of health problems. Iodine is absolutely necessary for thyroid function, but too much iodine (especially iodine outside of food) can impair thyroid function as well.

Genetically Modified Foods

Eating genetically modified foods can trigger autoimmune conditions like Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. GMOs destroy the gut lining and lead to a host of problems.

Vaccines

Vaccines can wreck havoc on the endocrine system and cause autoimmune issues that can end up attacking the thyroid. Formaldehyde and heavy metal toxins such as mercury and aluminum are huge contributors to the hypothyroidism epidemic. Many studies have concluded that the ingredients in vaccines harm thyroid function.

Mercury Amalgam Fillings

A mouth full of mercury is usually synonymous with a problematic thyroid. Mercury wrecks havoc on the endocrine system, the nervous system, the brain, and well, the whole body. Amalgam fillings absolutely must be removed to restore normal, healthy thyroid function.

Fluoride

Even small amounts of fluoride lessen the pituitary gland’s ability to function, which in turn slows thyroid production. Larger amounts of fluoride, which most people do consume from tap water, disrupt the whole endocrine system and wreck havoc on hormone production. Fluoride consumption over time essentially slows the whole body down, including the brain.

Environmental Toxins

The thyroid is quite vulnerable to environmental toxins including, but not limited to, pesticides, herbicides, BPAs, jet fuel, perchlorates, thiocyanates, PCBs, lead, chlorine, fluorine, bromine, and many other chemicals we come in contact with that have been proven to cause hypothyroidism. We are bombarded with these chemicals due to the way we construct buildings, the way we produce products, the way we travel, and the way we grow food. Our only defense is high quality nutrition and avoiding toxin exposure through diet, chemical exposure in our environment, and the products we use for personal care.

Less Often…

Less often, hypothyroidism may result from congenital disease, a pituitary disorder, and pregnancy (due to lack of nutrition while pregnant).

Thyroid, Adrenals, and the Body’s Hormones

Weakened adrenal glands lead to the development of thyroid disorders. Adrenal fatigue is often, perhaps usually, the root cause of hypothyroidism.

Vitamin B12 is found in every cell of the body.

What causes adrenal fatigue? Pretty much the same things that cause low thyroid output. When the adrenals are constantly being worked (due to stress, stimulants, and lack of sleep), an overabundance of cortisol produced by the adrenals will cause a host of problems and completely unbalance the hormone levels of the body. For instance, cortisol can also inhibit proper T3 utilization. When the adrenal glands are performing poorly for a long enough period of time, the body ends up in a state of catabolism; the body begins to break down. Eventually the adrenals will “crash” and cortisol levels well below optimum levels. This is adrenal fatigue.

Truly healing the thyroid typically requires healing the adrenals and/or the entire endocrine system.

Foods That Inhibit the Thyroid

If you have hypothyroidism, you may have read that certain vegetables need to be avoided or at least cooked, such as broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, spinach, turnips, soy, peanuts, linseed, pine nuts, millet, cassava, mustard greens, asparagus, and sweet potatoes. This is a narrow-minded approach to a complicated problem. By all means, avoid soy like the plague (unless it is organic, and properly fermented). If you have a thyroid disorder and are not properly addressing it with nutritional healing, or you continue to smoke and/or drink coffee, kale smoothies are likely to make an underperforming thyroid much worse. On the other hand, a varied diet consisting primarily of fresh raw organic vegetables can cure almost anything (given enough time), including an adverse reaction to the foods themselves.

So what foods actually cause the problem with the thyroid in the first place? Refined, processed, homogenized, pasteurized, genetically modified, fortified, artificially flavored (or colored or preserved) “foods.” The key to fixing the body, not just covering up ailments or shifting symptoms, but truly fixing the body, is produce. The key to deteriorating your health is refined, processed foods.

In addition, you must avoid gluten. I know, suddenly everyone is allergic to gluten, but there are reasons for this sudden rise in gluten sensitivity. The gut has to be in proper working order to properly digest gluten; otherwise it’s toxic to us. People are eating more and more sugar, which consequently feeds Candida and other bad guys that tear up the gut. You cannot heal hypothyroidism, or any other disease for that matter, without healing the gut. It will not work. You could fix the thyroid and wreck the kidneys. You could have a toxic liver and a healthy heart (to a degree, for a while). But you cannot have an intestinal tract that is seriously damaged and have any major organ or gland work properly. Things may go unnoticed, but nothing is working right, and more importantly, nothing will heal unless the gut is at least in decent working order. Most people’s guts today are not in decent working order.

When gluten molecules escape the gut:

Immune cross-reactivity happens when the immune system mistakes one protein for another. The gluten protein is similar to protein structures in the nervous system and the thyroid tissue. When the body creates antibodies for gluten, it may also produce antibodies to the body’s own nervous tissue or thyroid.9 This cross-reactive effect leads to damage to the brain, thyroid, and other neurological tissue when the individual consumes anything with even the slightest bit of gluten.” – Gluten & Neurological Disorders, David Jockers

Foods That Heal the Thyroid

Fresh, raw, organic produce heals. Produce heals everything. Other than that, foods high in iodine and foods that are high in selenium are known to aid in thyroid function.

The thyroid gland requires iodine to function. Iodine taken by itself or ingested through fortified salt can be problematic. Good food sources include the usual: meat, seafood, yogurt, milk, and eggs, but there are vegan sources as well:

Vegan Food Sources of Iodine

  • Blackstrap molasses
  • Seaweed
  • Himalayan sea salt
  • Navy beans
  • Cranberries

Selenium is required for the body to convert T4 into T3. Without enough selenium in the diet, the thyroid suffers. Seafood and meat are high in selenium, but there are also some vegan choices:

Vegan Food Sources of Selenium

  • Brazil nuts
  • Shiitake/white button mushrooms
  • Lima/pinto beans
  • Chia seeds
  • Brown rice
  • Seeds (sunflower, sesame, and flax)
  • Broccoli
  • Cabbage
  • Spinach

Supplements For Hypothyroidism

A number of vitamins and minerals are critical to thyroid health, and many herbs can help boost thyroid function as well. Due to the fact that thyroid conditions are associated with inflammation, anti-inflammatory herbs can aid in thyroid healing as well.

B Vitamins

Vitamin B12 is found in every cell of the body. It is required for cellular metabolism and energy production, so obviously, without B12, the thyroid can’t function optimally. B12 deficiencies are very common with hypothyroidism. A lack of B12 can cause and worsen hypothyroidism. Even though most people actually consume enough vitamin B12 in their diets, a deficiency occurs in many due to an inability to absorb the nutrient in the blood. This goes back to gut health. The body cannot absorb and assimilate nutrients properly with a poorly functioning digestive system.

In addition, if the liver is not up to par, this radically inhibits the body’s ability to utilize B12. Unless a knowledgeable naturopath recommends it for a limited amount of time, do not take vitamin B12 alone. We recommend a B vitamin complex with extra B12.

Vitamin D

Over a billion people worldwide do not get enough vitamin D. A recent study showed that vitamin D levels were significantly lower in people suffering from hypothyroidism than the general population. While vitamin D deficiencies and hypothyroidism do tend to take place together, a lack of vitamin D and pretty much every other disease coincide as well. It’s unlikely anyone’s hypothyroidism is primarily caused by a lack of vitamin D, but it’s a certainty that the body will not fully heal without enough vitamin D.

Vitamin A

We all know vitamin A is required for good vision. We also need vitamin A for the immune system, hormone synthesis, and the production of T3. Without enough vitamin A, thyroid hormone levels drop quickly.

Bromelain

Bromelain is the enzyme that makes pineapple the superfood that it is. Bromelain helps reduce inflammation.

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is an adaptogenic herb that has many benefits, including the ability to significantly improve liver function, and it can help stabilize cortisol levels. This helps stimulate T3 and T4 hormone synthesis.

Licorice Root

Licorice root can benefit the thyroid and adrenal glands for people who have low cortisol (adrenal fatigue).

Reishi Mushroom

Reishi mushroom is a good source of selenium, and it has a ton of other benefits including boosting the immune system.

Schisandra chinensis

This is another adaptogenic herb that helps the thyroid and has many other health benefits.

Ginseng

There are many varieties of ginseng, all with their different strengths, but Siberian ginseng root, Brazilian ginseng root, Korean or Asian ginseng, American ginseng, and Chinese ginseng all benefit the endocrine system, and therefore the thyroid.

Selenium

Selenium is the major cofactor for the key thyroid enzyme 5’deiodinase. This enzyme converts T4 into T3 and can help normalize the thyroid hormone balance.

Zinc

A zinc deficiency has been shown to inhibit T3 production. Zinc also contributes to immune modulation, which may reduce thyroid antibody levels. Additionally, like selenium, zinc also contributes to 5’deiodinase activity.

Iodine

A lack of iodine inhibits the body’s natural detoxification, leads to cancer cell growth, and causes hypothyroidism. The thyroid absorbs iodine and, in doing so, replaces other toxins it has accumulated.

It’s also important to avoid excessive iodine intake for anyone with Hashimoto’s or hyperthyroidism. As stated above, we highly recommend that any iodine consumed come from whole food sources.

Traditional Asian Herbs

  • Coleus forskohlii(Indian coleus)
  • Melissa officinalis(lemon balm)
  • Ningpoensis (Chinese figwort)
  • Prunella vulgaris(common selfheal)
  • Radix scrophulariae (xuan shen)

Conventional Hypothyroidism Treatment

A Levothyroxine prescription is the most common treatment for hypothyroidism. It consists synthesized T4 and does not have T3. This can be problematic. Many people cannot properly convert T4 to T3 (which could indicate a zinc and/or selenium deficiency, but it may be a genetic issue). There are synthetic T3 drugs like Cytomel as well.

If your mouth is full of mercury, the thyroid will never fully recover…

Desiccated thyroid from cows or pigs is another option. Armour Thyroid, the most popular prescription for desiccated thyroid, contains both thyroxine (T4) and tri-iodothyronine (T3) extracted from the thyroid gland of pigs. Desiccated porcine (pig) thyroid contains approximately 20% T3 and 80% T4 (1/4 ratio), as well as iodinated compounds diiodotyrosine and monoiodotyrosine. A human has about a 1/14 ratio of T3 to T4.

Some doctors don’t like prescribing desiccated thyroid because the dosage of hormones is not always consistent, whereas synthesized hormones are more exact in dosage. The concern over consistency in understandable, but studies have shown that many do not respond well (likely for various reasons) to the synthesized hormones, but do respond well to desiccated thyroid. It makes sense from a holistic standpoint, considering all of the nutrients you’re getting when you consume the desiccated thyroid that are absent from the synthesized hormones. These nutrients are obviously of significant importance considering that people tend to do very well on desiccated thyroid that has had the hormones removed, which is the only way to legally buy desiccated thyroid in the U.S. without a prescription.

Natural Remedy For Hypothyroidism

My Protocol – Clean Up The Gut, Fix The Endocrine System, Everything Else Will Follow

Here are three articles I put together on diet. This is indicative of how my family eats every single day.

We start off with cranberry lemonade and a huge salad every morning. For lunch, we sometimes do a smoothie or we snack on some nuts and/or fruit or we just finish our massive 11-cup salads. For dinner, we always cook from scratch, which takes preperation and time, but it gets easier. Rice and beans, quinoa, lentils, millet, oatmeal, and amaranth are common staples for our cooked meals. We add lots of raw vegetables and herbs to our dinners as well, for instance, the rice and beans go great with chopped tomatoes and avocado, diced onions and garlic, and shredded turmeric and ginger. Eat raw herbs and cooked herbs together for maximum health benefits.

This is truly a lifestyle, not a diet, and it’s one we live every day. You may not need to go to this extreme to rid your body of disease, but I find that most who are dealing with chronic illness need to take it this far, at least for at least for a few months.

The salads are the most important part of this protocol. More than supplements, more than anything save getting enough water, the salads are imperative. Eat lots of it. Make sure they are diverse with at least 15 different vegetables and herbs. If you could see what packing your gut with salad does to your ecosystem under a microscope, you’d understand why I’m so passionate about them. There is nothing more beneficially life-changing than developing a salad habit when the salads are big and diverse and homemade. They do more than any supplement or any other food to clean the intestinal walls of filth and develop a beneficial gut ecosystem.

The cranberry lemonade helps keep the kidneys and liver working optimally. These organs typically get sluggish quickly when lots of Candida are killed. If salads are #1, this cranberry lemonade is #2, and supplements are a distant #3.

For those with very serious gut issues, legumes and grains will be a no-no for the first few weeks at least, but when enough salad has been consumed, the gut should be able to reap many benefits from cooked foods like the dinner meals aforementioned.

Sweet fruit should be severely limited, and for the very ill, avoided until the gut is working better. Grapefruit, cranberry, avocado, lime, and lemon do not fall under this category.

Juicing with fruits is not much better than refined sugar, so don’t make the common mistake of thinking a fresh-juice fast is going to get you well.

Now that diet is covered, here’s the supplement part:

SF722 – 5 capsules three times a day, once on an empty stomach, the other two times with or without food.

Abzorb – take two capsules with harder to digest meals, and also take two on an empty stomach twice a day, like early morning and late night.

For anyone on a tight budget I recommend putting the money to food, and if affordable, add Abzorb and SF722. That’s enough with the right diet to eliminate fungal overgrowth in almost everyone. There are some who work or live in environments that constitute more environmental stressors on the body, and therefore need a lot more help. There are also many living in areas of the country where the healthy food selection at the local grocery store is sparse. I recommend more supplements and growing your own food in such a case. And I recommend growing your own food for a hundred other reasons as well.

If you’re someone who needs more supplementation or, like me, you just tend to prefer overkill, here’s a step-by-step protocol that includes all of the previously recommended supplements, and a bit more to address Candida die off and healthy defecation.

Each day has two supplement routines that are repeated. Each supplement routine has an objective.

Clean and Populate with Good Guys:

On an empty stomach

Antimicrobials, Kill the Bad Guys:

Usually with food

Nutrtional:

Also, take absorb with any food that is difficult to digest.

Protocol

6am – Clean and Populate With Good Guys

Start with Abzorb and a big glass of cranberry lemonade and the

9am – Antimicrobials, Kill the Bad Guys

Salad time! The MycoPhyto Complex company recommends to take on an empty stomach, but I like it with salads and smoothies too. I recommend taking 1 or 2 of the Thyro Complex at this time as well, depending on how well the thyroid is working.

12pm – Antimicrobials, Kill the Bad Guys

Homemade Smoothie Time! If you’re extremely ill you may need to wait on the smoothies and just double up on the salads for the first week, but I’ve found that many people who were suffering from a plethora of ailments and having trouble recovering responded very well to pineapple smoothies. Pineapple smoothies (made with fresh pineapple), like the ones I have recipes for in the above link, pack a massive amount of enzymes and can help break down a lot of junk in the gut, while delivering large amounts of nutrition. But, smoothies have plenty of sugar, so it’s a good time to repeat the supplements from 9am.

Use pineapple, coconut water, water, cranberry juice, or if you can withstand some sugar try granny smith apple juice, but don’t use sweet fruit juices for smoothies.

3pm -Week 1 – Antimicrobials, Kill the Bad Guys
3pm -Week 2 – Populate With Good Guys
6pm – Antimicrobials, Kill the Bad Guys

Dinner time! Everything from scratch, nothing pre-made in any way, all whole food ingredients. Also, take 1 or 2 Thyro-complex.

9pm – Populate With Good Guys

Finish of the night with probiotic support and leave them alone for the night to do their thing.

Three More Supplements to Consider – Die-0ff, Heavy metal Detox, & Bowel Movements

If Candida die-off is a concern be sure to drink plenty of cranberry lemonade and I also recommend adding Total Nutrition Formula and the Intestinal Detox. Here’s a recipe to make your own Total Nutrition. This way you’ll get bentonite clay, charcoal, chlorella, spirulina, and more, which are all great for mitigating the die-off effects of a Candida detox, and they also chelate heavy metals.

You can take the Total Nutrition Formula with the smoothie or sprinkle it on the salad (or choke it down with water), and take the Intestinal Detox anytime throughout the day as directed.

If you’re not defecating easily and at least twice daily, I also highly recommend the Intestinal Cleanse. It kills parasites and moves the bowels better than anything else on the market that I know of, by far. I recommend taking it with the antimicrobials.

There are many natural treatments for hypothyroidism. Here is what works fast for fixing one’s thyroid in my experience. And the benefit of this protocol is that it works with both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, while it repairs the whole endocrine system, and the entire body. And remember, if you suffer from hypothyroidism, you are dealing with a lot more than just a thyroid problem.

Heavy Metal Toxins

If your mouth is full of mercury, the thyroid will never fully recover until the mercury is removed (though desiccated thyroid and other supplementation will still improve thyroid function, it will need to be taken indefinitely). Vaccinations also weaken the thyroid (mercury, formaldehyde, aluminum, GMOs, and more), so if you’re pro vaccine, and sticking to the schedule, the thyroid will continue to suffer. Click here if you need to detoxify from heavy metals. Also, for tooth and gum health, check out this article.

Detox the Blood

Thick and/or toxic blood makes it very hard for glands to do their job. Use Shillington’s Blood Detox Formula and this cranberry lemonade protocol to quickly detoxify the blood and the whole body, and improve circulation. Improved blood flow will quickly improve thyroid health.

Thyroid Nutrition

You probably won’t need this, but it will speed up healing for most

Desiccated thyroid supplements that are sold without a prescription are void of the thyroid hormones. In order to sell the products without prescription, the manufactures must remove the hormones.

On one hand, it’s not cool that the government restricted the sale of unmolested thyroid gland and called it a drug, which many believe (as do we) was done for the sole purpose of benefitting the synthetic hormone manufacturers. On the other hand, ideally, you want your thyroid to produce its own hormones, and desiccated thyroid supplements lacking in hormones do help kick start the thyroid.

Even better than just taking desiccated thyroid to heal the thyroid, some supplements contain other desiccated glands as well. This is the holistic approach that helps heal the entire endocrine system. As mentioned, iodine supplementation can be problematic when it’s not in whole food. Thyro Complex from Progressive Labs. It has raw thyroid, raw adrenal, raw pituitary, and raw spleen, along with kelp for iodine. This is one of the most potent thyroid supplements I know of. While there are plenty of herbal supplements that help with the thyroid, it’s pretty easy to end up with too much iodine when combining thyroid supplements as most of the other supplements to boost the thyroid have iodine. Thyroid I one from Wise Woman Herbals does not have iodine in it, and this works very well. Combine these two supplements with a vitamin B complex with extra B12, and you’ve got a truly holistic and powerful supplemental approach.

And finally, the most important aspect of healing is the diet. A healthy diet consists of 80% or more raw, fresh, organic produce (more vegetables than fruit). Check out the 80% Raw Food Diet.

Get Grounded

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) cause our bodies a lot of problems. Anyone who is having trouble sleeping or for other reasons is feeling sluggish and drained throughout the day, will benefit from spending some time outdoors with skin against the earth. Check out Earthing – Ground Your Body for Optimal Health.

Fitness and Rest For Hypothyroidism

Some say to take it easy with hypothyroidism, as long as you don’t push yourself too hard for too long, exercise can help jump-start your thyroid. I like yoga and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for anyone who’s trying to normalize their energy levels. Yoga offers a host of benefits including improving the body’s flow of energy, but can also be done at a slow pace. HITT training is almost the opposite of yoga. This training method involves alternating between very intense bouts of exercise and low-intensity recovery. A common HIIT workout is done by sprinting for 30 seconds, then walking for 60. Be careful with this, for obvious reasons. It’s good to push ourselves, but for some with severe thyroid problems, this could be dangerous. Once the thyroid is responding to better nutrition and detoxification, HIIT can radically accelerate the thyroid and adrenals’ improvement.

Conclusion

If the gut is healed and the diet is healthy, in most cases, the thyroid will eventually heal. Unfortunately, it can take a very long time, often many months. With desiccated thyroid, the process is much faster, and relief from hypothyroid symptoms are immediate. But again, you must fix the gut! Be sure to check out Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections. Since you’ve read this far, if things are overwhelming and you would like to communicate with me for clarification, feel free to go to Green Lifestyle Market to chat with me anytime.

Recommended Thyroid Supplements:
Further Reading:
Sources:


Natural Remedies for Adrenal Fatigue

We are all aware of adrenaline, the fight or flight hormone that kicks in whenever we find ourselves facing a threat. But did you know adrenalin is only one of the many hormones produced by the adrenal glands?

About the Adrenal Glands

The adrenal glands (also known as the suprarenal glands) sit atop the kidneys. These pyramid-shaped glands have two parts: the outer adrenal cortex and the inner medulla.

The adrenal cortex creates 3 types of hormones:

  • Mineralocorticoids: hormones triggered by the kidneys. These hormones regulate the balance of salt to water within the body and help to maintain blood pressure.
  • Glucocorticoids: hormones triggered by the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. These hormones increase blood glucose levels, regulate the conversion of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates into energy, help to regulate blood pressure, and regulate immune response and inflammatory reactions.
  • Gonadocorticoids: sex hormones. Small amounts of sex hormones are released by the adrenal cortex. After middle age, the adrenals become the primary source of sex hormones.
Related: Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

We would die quickly without the hormones produced by the adrenal cortex.

The adrenal medulla creates two hormones:

  • Epinephrine (also known as adrenaline): Epinephrine is the fight or flight hormone. It increases your heart rate, raises your blood sugar, and rushes blood to the muscles and the brain.
  • Norepinephrine(also known as noradrenaline): Norepinephrine works with epinephrine.

All in all, the adrenals produce nearly 50 hormones.

Major Illnesses Associated with Adrenal Glands

  • Congenital adrenal hyperplasia: a genetic disorder that disrupts hormone levels from the adrenals.
  • Addison’s disease: a rare disorder that disrupts production of the hormones cortisol and aldosterone.
  • Cushing’s syndrome: an uncommon disorder where the adrenals overproduce cortisol.
  • Adrenal cancer: an aggressive rare cancer that causes excess production of hormones.
Related: Best Supplements To Kill Lyme and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Lyme Disease

Adrenal Fatigue

Adrenal fatigue is caused by lack of or poor quality sleep, relentless stress, EMF exposure, heavy metal toxicity, thyroid problems, caffeine, nicotine or other stimulant use, or a chronic or acute infection, especially respiratory infections (influenza, bronchitis, or pneumonia). With most adrenal problems there are many of the aforementioned causes at play, but Candida almost always plays a huge part.

Adrenal fatigue is experienced in two ways: either the sufferer struggles with fatigue throughout the day, using stimulants such as caffeine to make it to an early bedtime, or the sufferer’s day is exactly the same except he gets a second wind around 9-10 at night and buzzes until the wee hours when he can finally go to sleep. Adrenal fatigue can become so severe, it can become difficult to be out of bed for more than a few hours at a time. In addition to loss of energy, adrenal fatigue is also associated with the following:

  • Hypothyroidism
  • Lowered libido
  • Immunity reduction
  • Low blood pressure

The following herbs are used to treat adrenal fatigue:

  • Licorice: Sometimes used alone, sometimes in conjunction with Panax ginseng and Bupleurum falcatum–especially used for people who have damaged adrenal output by long-term steroid use. Warning: licorice can raise blood pressure.
  • Rhodiola: Adaptogen–helps the body adapt to stress.
  • Shisandra: Also an adaptogen–helps the body adapt to stress.
  • Holy Basil: Also an adaptogenic–helps the body adapt to stress.
  • Ashwagandha root: Increases in T3 and T4, supports thyroid and adrenals, balances hormones.
  • Astragalus: Improves immune system, adrenal function, and reduces stress.
  • Ginseng Root: Revitalizes the adrenals and balances hormones.

*Check out the “Recommended Supplements” below for some formulas with these ingredients.

The following vitamins and supplements are helpful in treating adrenal fatigue:

Related: Sugar Leads to Depression – World’s First Trial Proves Gut and Brain are Linked (Protocol Included)

Natural Protocol for Adrenal Fatigue

Candida is the number one cause of poor health in our country and an overabundance of Candida will eventually cause adrenal fatigue (along with many other problems). If you’re experiencing adrenal fatigue, cut out stimulants completely. No more coffee. Read this article to learn how to clean the intestines. Most people with endocrine problems have an excess of Candida.

Fungal Supplement Stack – Knock Out Yeast, Candida, Mold, Fungus

The first three should be plenty for most people, but for really prominent fungal issues or for impatient people with a bigger budget I’d recommend all of these:

I recommend taking the SF722, Berberine, MycoCeutics, and Microdefense with meals, and the Abzorb and Syntol separately, on an empty stomach (like in the morning and before bed). The Abzorb and the Syntol are a bit redundant, but I find good results using both if the budget can afford it. If money is really tight, just get the SF722 and put your money into your diet.

It is also time to un-stress. Get outside and get grounded. Learn how to breathe! And take up yoga or meditation. In fact, doing yoga barefoot outside can facilitate all of those at once!

To speed up the process with a supplement regimen or for those with very serious adrenal problems, we recommend Shillington’s Male Energy and Shillington’s Female Energy for adrenals. Unfortunately, we don’t have the recipe for the female formula, but here’s the male formula below. Also, these are amazing formulas for libido, energy, weight loss, balancing hormones, and more.

Also check out Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included for more on diet. I recommend the cranberry lemonade recipe in that article to help detox. Also, keeping the kidneys healthy is imparative for good adrneal health.

Shillington’s Male Energy Formula Recipe:

  • 2 parts American White Ginseng
  • 2 parts Korean Ginseng
  • 2 parts Chinese Ginseng
  • 3 parts Yohimbe Bark
  • 3 parts Damiana Turneria Aphrodisiaca
  • 3 parts Siberian Ginseng
  • 2 parts Sarsaparilla Root
  • 1 part Saw Palmetto Berry
  • 1 part Oat Seed (Green Immature)
  • 1 part Kola Nut
  • 1 part Ginger Root

For information on Shillington’s female formulas, check out Natural Remedies for PMS Moodswings, Bloating, Cramps, etc.

Parts are by volume. Blend all ingredients together and make into a tincture using a 50 – 50 Blend of Alcohol and distilled water. For more, see How to Make a Tincture.

Recommended Supplements:
Sources:


How Viruses Work and How to Prevent and Eliminate Them Naturally

Nature’s Zombies

We have identified more than 2,000 viruses, though only 10% infect humans. Scientists used to think human viruses do not affect animals and animal viruses do not affect humans, but we now know that viruses not only jump species, sometimes they combine to create new strains. New strains can present a clear threat to human survival.

In 1918 the Spanish flu pandemic was a global killer. Estimates of the dead range from 20-100 million, up to 5% of the population–all within one year. Unlike previous flu pandemics and epidemics, this flu strain killed healthy adults, whereas most flu strains targeted children, the elderly, and the infirmed. More people died in this one-year pandemic than the four years of the bubonic plague.

We often hear that many dangerous strains of influenza begin in China. This belief is based on the dense population of humans living in close proximity to high populations of animals. Many dangerous viral strains have been found to originate in China jumping from birds or pigs to the human population. Birds alone have been found to carry as many as 15 viral strains.

Contents

What is a Virus?

A virus is a pathogenic, parasitic organism that isn’t classified as being alive, since a cell is an essential to our definition of life. A virus has no cell membrane, no metabolism, no respiration and cannot replicate outside of a living cell. A virus is a creepy half-live, single strand or double strand of DNA or RNA or both, looking for a cell to invade. Once inside, it reprograms the cell with its DNA or RNA and multiplies on mass, bursting through the cell with a thousand or more new virus strands seeking new cells to invade. RNA viruses mutate more easily than DNA viruses. (SARS, bird flu, West Nile virus, swine flu, hepatitis, measles, polio, yellow fever, and Ebola are among the many RNA viruses).

If two viruses invade the same cell (a bird virus and a human virus, for instance) their DNA can combine to form a new virus, a potentially virulent one. The same is true if two animal viruses combine and jump species to humans.

Viruses have two life cycles: the lytic cycle and the lysogenic cycle.

Lytic Cycle

In the lytic cycle, the virus focuses on reproduction. It invades a cell, inserts its DNA and creates thousands of copies of itself, bursts through the cell membrane, killing the cell, and each new viral strand invades new cells replicating the process.

Lysogenic Cycle

In the lysogenic cycle, viruses remain dormant within its host cells. The virus may remain dormant for years. Herpes and chickenpox are good examples. (Chicken pox can cause shingles in later life when the dormant virus reactivates.)

How Does the Body Fight a Virus?

Our bodies fight off invading organisms, including viruses, all the time. Our first line of defense is the skin, mucous, and stomach acid. If we inhale a virus, mucous traps it and tries to expel it. If it is swallowed, stomach acid may kill it. If the virus gets past the first line of defense, the innate immune system comes into play. The phagocytes wage war and release interferon to protect surrounding cells. If they cannot destroy the invading force, the phagocytes call the lymphocytes into play.

Our lymphocytes, T cells and B cells, retain a memory of any previous infection that was serious enough to bring them into the battle. Antibodies were formed and the body knows how to fight any infection it recognizes. (This is how vaccinations work. The body has fought a similar infection). But viruses can mutate, sometimes so much that they body cannot recognize them as a similar infection they fought in the past. They can also be so fast acting, they can kill before the lymphocytes are brought into play.

How Does Conventional Medicine Treat a Virus?

Antiviral medications do not directly kill the virus; they trap it within the cell, keeping it from reproducing. The only catch is that the anti-viral has to be taken with 48 hours of symptom onset or it doesn’t work.

Antibiotics don’t kill viruses. They kill bacteria, not viruses. And they kill good bacteria that we need to keep our gut in balance. Taking antibiotics when you have a viral infection can cause an immediate overgrowth of Candida, giving the immune system an additional system-wide infection to deal with when it needs all of its resources to fight a viral infection.

Conventional treatment is supportive treatment–fluids, medications for symptoms (such as asthma medication), but no medications have ever been developed to kill the virus itself.

How Can You Treat a Virus Naturally?

Trillions Upon Trillions of Viruses Fall From the Sky Each Day” – NY Times

Don’t panic. Most viruses don’t affect us. But still, it brings up a point. Viral infections are a symptom of a weak immune system. Your immune system is wholly dependant on your gut health. A sick gut has an abundance of fungi and other pathogens, and a healthy gut has a wide variety of beneficial bacteria. The supplements listed below are a half measure. A healthy nutrient dense diet, a healthy lifestyle, and a body void of as many toxins as possible is the first and foremost defense. If you want to skip the shortcuts and truly fortify your immune system, read the following articles:

A healthy immune system begins in the gut with a healthy balance of beneficial bacteria. For far too many Americans, Candida overgrowth compromises the immune system, as it is constantly fighting the battle to keep Candida in control.

If you do become ill, DO NOT feed the virus or the Candida with sugar. Yes, you need to drink a lot of fluids, but don’t drink sodas and sugary juices at this time. Cranberry lemonade sweetened with stevia is a good choice. Try it warm or cold.

Gargle. Gargle. Gargle. Gargling lowers the viral load, leaving your body with fewer invaders to replicate. Gargle with organic apple cider vinegar. Even better, sip on this Mother Earth Organic Root Cider. Cold’s and flu often start in the throat or the nasal cavities. At the first sign of a sore throat or sinus infection, sip on the root cider! If you don’t have it, use apple cider vinegar.

Also, remember that a fever is one of nature’s means to fight infection. Of course, you don’t want it to get too high (higher than 102) and drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration.

Herbs, Vitamins, and Natural Anti-virals

Vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin C are all vital nutrients for the immune system. If you take high doses of vitamin C to fight a virus, remember that you should not abruptly stop taking vitamin C. You should titrate down. Vitamin C is needed by the immune system to make interferon, which the immune system produces to protect healthy cells from viral invasion.

Zinc and Selenium

Zinc has been proven to be effective against the common cold and to be effective as a topical treatment for herpes sores. It is believed to be effective due to preventing replication of the virus. The immune system needs selenium to work properly and to build up the white blood cell count.

Berberine

Berberine is an alkaloid compound found in several different plants, including European barberry, goldenseal, goldthread, Oregon grape, Phellodendron, and Coptis chinensis. It has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-parasitic, and immune-enhancing properties. It’s been proven effective against a vast array of bacteria, protozoa, and fungi. It can be used topically on cuts and other wounds, and it’s perhaps most commonly used to treat gastrointestinal issues.

Probiotics

Probiotics are always helpful in maintaining gut health, especially when the body is under a viral attack that involves the digestive system. Probiotic foods and drinks without added sugar can help maintain a healthy balance of bacteria.

Garlic

Garlic is anti-viral, anti-fungal, and antibacterial. You can take garlic in a tonic or if you can handle it, chew raw garlic. It not only will help fight the virus, it will help kill any secondary infections trying to take root.

Echinacea

Echinacea not only supports the immune system, it also has been proven to reduce the severity and duration of viral infections.

Colloidal Silver

Colloidal silver is believed to interfere with the enzymes that allow viruses (bacteria and fungi as well) to utilize oxygen.

Elderberry

A double-blind trail showed elderberry extract’s ability to reduce symptoms of influenza and speed recovery. It also showed elderberry’s ability to enhance immune response with higher levels of antibodies in the blood. It is believed to inhibit a virus’s ability to penetrate healthy cells and protect cells with powerful antioxidant S. Elderberry has also been shown to inhibit replication in four strains of herpes viruses and reduce infectivity of HIV strains.

Green Tea

The flavonoids in green tea are believed to fight viral infections by preventing the virus from entering host cells and by inhibiting replication.

Olive Leaf Extract

Though double-blind clinical trials are needed, olive leaf extract has been shown to inhibit replication of viruses. In one study, 115 of 119 patients had a full and rapid recovery from respiratory tract infections while 120 of 172 had a full and rapid recovery from viral skin infections such as herpes.

Pau d’Arco

Pau d’arco has been used in indigenous medicine for generations. One of its compounds, lapachol, has proven effective against various viruses, including influenza, herpes simplex types I and II and poliovirus. It is believed to inhibit replication.

Licorice Root

Studies have shown that glycyrrhizin, a compound found in licorice root was more effective in fighting samples of coronavirus from SARS patients than four antiviral drugs. It reduces viral replication, cell absorption, and the virus’s ability to penetrate cells. It is also being used to treat HIV.

St. John’s Wort

St. John’s Wort has been proven effective against influenza, herpes simplex, and HIV.

Protocol For Not Getting Sick

If you’re prone to viral infections or are dealing with a chronic infection like HIV, as mentioned above, the first step is to get your gut in shape. This is absolutely imperative. The best article to do that with is Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections & Gut Health. Everyone who is chronically ill has an abundance of Candida. Yes, everyone.

Provided your gut is healthy, or if you just feel the need to skip that part, here are the supplements to take in order to make sure your immune system is able to fight off viruses:

While there are most supplements listed above, the combination of these listed here is more than enough to balance out the body and ward off viral infection.

Further Reading:
Sources:


How to Kill Fungal Infections

Do you suffer from chronic sinus infections? Respiratory infections? Gum disease? Ear infections? Digestive problems? Chances are you are suffering from an overgrowth of Candida, the most prevalent fungal infection.

There are four types of infections we suffer from: bacterial, viral, parasitic, and fungal (though an argument could be made that fungal infections are parasitic). Too often we assume that our bronchial infection is bacterial. We take ineffective antibiotics that kill off more of the beneficial bacteria in our gut and allow Candida to thrive.

We feed yeast with an unhealthy diet filled with sugar and simple carbohydrates. When we start to clean up our diet, we starve Candida which releases toxins into our system. These toxins make us feel terrible. We eat sugar or high carb foods and we feel better because we have fed the Candida. Candida multiplies and we crave more sugar. And thus the cycle begins.

It’s easy to know you have a yeast problem when you have vaginal yeast infections, athlete’s foot, fingernail or toenail infections, or patches of yeast on the skin. If you suffer from these infections, it is highly likely that you have a systemic problem with yeast as well.

Updated: Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections

How to Kill Candida and Other Fungal Infections

First and foremost, the very best supplement I know of to kill any fungal infection is Formula SF722 by Thorne. It really is an amazing yeast killer. Below we have a list of supplement recommendations, but if you can only afford one, trust me, get the SF722. In fact, if you can only afford two, and you are unwilling or able to keep your diet right, get two bottles of SF722. You can also take a lot of them at once if need be. For particularly bad infections of a fungal infection, try taking up to 30 a day for a few days, and them reducing to a maintenance dose. You can also use topically. It hurts (only when there is an infection to kill), but it doesn’t damage the skin. They are the best for Candida or any other fungal infections, and Green Lifestyle Market accepts full refunds, no questions asked if you try and you don’t feel it’s working for you. Full disclosure, Green Lifestyle Market is our sister company.

The first step in eliminating an overgrowth of any fungus is to stop feeding it. Sugar is your worst enemy. This means eliminating all forms of sugar including simple carbohydrates (and alcohol) that the body turns into sugar.

Yeast in foods may also feed a fungal infection. When you are battling an overgrowth of systemic yeast or fighting a localized infection, avoid any foods with yeast–this means leavened breads.

Stop eating any trigger foods that you suspect may be a source of an allergic response. You are going to war. Candida and other fungi are the enemy. If your immune system if engaged in battling other issues, it won’t be 100% available to fight the fungi you are trying to eliminate. Don’t challenge it with any foods that you have ever had an allergic response to in the past. You need all of your resources at their best.

Fungal Supplement Stack – Knock Out Yeast, Candida, Mold, Fungus

The first three should be plenty for most people, but for really prominent fungal issues or for impatient people with a bigger budget I’d recommend all of these:

Diet

Although your diet must eliminate some of the foods that you will normally eat on a healthy diet, the basis of a healthy diet remains the same. Your diet should consist of 80% fresh, raw, organic produce, more vegetables than fruit. Choose a wide variety of nutrient dense foods. If you eat meat, make sure you choose organic meat. You do not want to eat meat from diseased animals fed hormones and antibiotics. Avoid processed foods, and do not eat any foods with artificial flavorings, colorings, preservatives, MSG, or trans fats. Avoid all GMOs. This is easy to do if all of your food choices are organic.

This is a prebiotic diet. Raw produce is high in fiber, which is essential for gut health. Fiber not only moves toxins through the bowels, it provides the perfect environment for healthy bacteria to thrive. Many conventional sites that talk about a diet for Candida warn against eating fermented foods. Fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, and keifer provide the healthy bacteria needed in the gut–the bacteria that will ultimately crowd out Candida. Foods that kill fungi include onions, leeks, green apples, ginger, pomegranates, and citrus fruits. Along with diet, there is an arsenal of natural herbs and supplements at your disposal to fight Candida and other fungi.

Related:

Herbs and Supplements to Fight Candida and other Fungi

Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera lowers pH levels creating an inhospitable environment for Candida. It also helps detoxify the liver. The liver filters the byproducts of Candida and deals with toxins from the die off process as the Candida is destroyed. Aloe Vera juice can be consumed on a daily basis (no more than 1/4 a cup) or capsules can be taken.

Garlic

Raw garlic is a powerful anti-fungal that does not destroy beneficial bacteria in the gut. It does, however, kill bad bacteria while killing 24 out of 26 strains of Candida. It can also be rubbed on fungal skin infections. It can be eaten raw or taken in softgel capsules. Garlic cloves can be inserted into the vagina to treat vaginal yeast infections. (see link below).

Warning: Garlic can thin the blood. Do not use garlic if you plan to undergo surgery or if otherwise contraindicated due to another health condition or medications.

Clove Oil

Clove oil is a powerful anti-fungal that also boosts the immune system. Use 15-30 drops in water, 3 times daily.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is a strong anti-fungal with many beneficial properties. Take one tablespoon 1-2 times a day. You can eat it plain, add it to smoothies and cook with it.

Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil kills bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Some recommend using internally (take 15-30 drops in a cup of water 3 times daily) but many professionals say to only use topically. Update: Lemongrass works even better than tea tree for topical fungal treatment.

Oil of Oregano

Oil of oregano is a strong anti-fungal and antimicrobial. You can take 5 or more drops under the tongue or dilute in water 2-3 times a day. It can also be taken by capsule or oregano leaves can be steeped for a medicinal tea.

Colloidal Silver

Take 1 teaspoon up to 3 times a day, but do not take it long term. There are many claims that colloidal silver is amazing. We haven’t had any luck with it when treating topical bacteria or fungi and there is a lot of controversy about its use and effectiveness, though there are also many claims that it is very effective.

Olive Leaf

Olive leaf disrupts the reproductive cycle of fungi. It also stabilizes and lowers blood sugars to help starve Candida. It is also an amazing antioxidant that stimulates the immune system. It can be taken in capsule form, as a tonic, or as a tea. See below for teas and tonics.

Undecenoic Acid

Undecenoic acid is a very effective broad-spectrum antiviral that is taken in capsule form. This is the SF722 mentioned above. You can puncture the gelcap and squeeze out the liquid to treat skin infections and vaginal infections. Or you can use the liquid added to 98 ounces of filtered water for a douche. Be forewarned, when it comes into contact with yeast, it burns. But it works amazingly well.

Grapefruit Seed Extract 

Grapefruit seed extract is effective against 100 strains of fungi as well as bacteria, viruses, and parasites. It works well with undecenoic acid and does not harm beneficial bacteria. Add 10 drops to water, 3 times a day.

Diatomaceous Earth

No, we are not talking about eating dirt. Almost, but not quite. Diatomaceous earth is silica (silicon dioxide), a very hard substance from the shells of diatoms, tiny single-celled plants. This provides a needed nutrient and there are amazing claims of restored health and vitality associated with it. Take one teaspoon morning and night. It can be added to any liquid, but tends to settle. It suspends well in smoothies. Diatomaceous earth will help to quickly remove Candida from the intestinal walls and out of the body.

Probiotics

Probiotics will help you rebalance your gut with beneficial bacteria that will crowd out Candida and they will help kill Candida as well. Probiotics foods as well as supplements are recommended.

Please note the warnings for pregnant and lactating women for the following remedies

Black Walnut

Warning: Do not use if pregnant or lactating.

Black walnut has been shown to be more effective against Candida than any antiviral drug. It can be taken in capsule form or as an extract.

Pau D’Arco

Warning: Do not use if pregnant or lactating.

Pau d’arco is highly effective against Candida; it both inhibits and destroys Candida. It also stimulates the immune system as well. Use as a tea, as capsules, or as a tincture.

Barberry, Goldenseal, and Coptis Chinensis

Warning: Do not use if pregnant. And limit use to 7 days for adults–3 days for children.

Barberry, goldenseal, and Coptis Chinensis are all recommended for Candida. Berberine is the alkaloid each contains, which is highly effective in fighting Candida. It also boosts and stimulates the immune system.

Wormwood

Warning: Do not use if pregnant.

Wormwood is an age old remedy for parasites and an aggressive treatment for Candida. Candida is particularly difficult to treat when it takes root in the intestines. Wormwood is considered one of the best remedies when the infection has reached this stage.

Topical Applications

Any of the essential oils used to treat fungal infections can be used topically. Essential oils are very strong and generally are not used full strength. Although many oils can be used as a carrier, it makes sense to use coconut oil since it is also antifungal. Add a few drops to a tablespoon of oil and spread on the affected area (including nails and nail beds if needed).

Although you will find many sites advising the use of corn starch for athlete’s foot or other signs of fungus, DO NOT DO THIS! Corn starch will feed the fungus and make it worse.

Teas and Tinctures

The following herbs can be used as a tea–for external as well as internal use or made into tinctures. (Remember to follow the warnings for pregnant and nursing women. Of this list, only olive leaf and thyme are to be used by pregnant or nursing women. Check for other warnings listed in the text above.)

To make a tea, use 1-2 teaspoons of herb per cup of boiling water. Steep for 15 minutes. Drink 2-3 cups per day. You may also use the tea to wash affected skin, to soak hands and feet (to treat affected nails), or you can add the tea to bath water.

To make a tincture, use a glass bottle or jar. Place one cup of herb in the jar and cover with 2 cups of vodka. Place in a dark space for 3-4 weeks. Shake often. Drain and save liquid, discard leaves.

Candida Die Off or Herxheimer Reaction

When Candida or other yeast cells are killed, they give off toxins. Candida gives off 79 different toxins. These toxins can overwhelm the body, causing allergic reactions and inflammation. These toxins can actually damage the body as well.

Die off symptoms can include nausea, headache, fatigue, fever, an increase in muscle and joint pain, swollen glands, digestive disturbances, sweating, elevated heart rate, itching, hives, rashes, and skin breakouts, as well as “brain fog”. Some also experience sinus, vaginal, and prostate infections.

The first defense against an excessive toxic response is to follow your diet. The fiber included in an 80% raw diet will help quickly move the fungus out of your system. Twice daily doses of diatomaceous earth will also help remove the dying fungus from your body.

It is imperative that you drink a lot of clean water. We recommend cranberry lemonade– as much as a gallon a day, sipped throughout the day. It will give you vitamin C, support the kidneys, and help flush out toxins. (See the link below for the recipe. )

You must move your lymph. Your lymphatic system does not have a pump to help it circulate. Your movement is essential. The best way to assist your lymphatic system is bouncing. Rebounders are great. If you don’t have one, just bounce! Bounce on the balls of your feet! Hop, dance, jump rope, do jumping jacks. If this is too much for you, walk or do yoga. Just move. If you regularly exercise, keep it up. It’s a good time to sweat. It’s a good time to breathe heavily. Intense exercise is good when you are detoxifying from Candida. On the other hand, if your die off symptoms are severe, you need to listen to your body and not push yourself too hard. Use your best judgement.

This is the time to support your immune system. Molybdenum and milk thistle will help your liver expel toxins. If you are having a bad reaction, this support is essential. Candida releases a neurotoxin, acetaldehyde, during die off that is particularly destructive to the body. It attacks red blood cells and kills brain cells. Molybdenum converts acetaldehyde into acetic acid which the body can expel or turn into digestive enzymes.

Your body needs vitamin C (1000 mg 2X a day), vitamin B complex, and a good multivitamin.

Saunas, dry brushing, and hot and cold hydrotherapy will also aid you in releasing toxins.

Cat’s claw and echinacea are herbs that support the immune system. Do not use echinacea long term (no more than 3 weeks at a time with a 1 week break). Both of these herbs can be used as a tea or made into a tincture (see above), or used in capsule form.

If you follow these suggestions but are still experiencing severe symptoms of die off, cut back on your antifungal treatments–but do not stop! These symptoms are a sign that you have a significant overgrowth. Remember the cycle? Are you craving sugar? Pizza? Beer? French bread? As your symptoms abate, continue what you were doing. It was working!

When Do You Stop Taking Antifungal Treatment?

After 7 days with no symptoms of die off and no symptoms of fungal infection, begin adding more fruit to your diet. If you have no problems after another 7 days while eating fruit, you can stop taking your antifungal supplements.

Continue eating fermented foods and taking probiotics. If you wish to discontinue taking vitamin C, titrate down. Do not stop suddenly.

Many people suffering from Candida find that it takes 4-8 weeks or more to successfully eradicate it. Often, when you think it is gone, symptoms reappear. If they do, just repeat the protocol and keep adding probiotic foods to your diet. You will win, and the health benefits will be a welcome reward. If you’re dealing with Candida overgrowth, also check out Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections.

Recommended Supplements:

(Take these all together, except FloraMend, take that separately)

Further Reading:
Sources: