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Candida and Pregnancy

When Your Sweet Tooth and Cravings Spell Trouble

By Laura Cone

While the word "candida" may sound like candy, the overgrowth of this naturally occurring yeast in your body can lead to more than just cravings for candy. During pregnancy, when your body has all kinds of odd cravings, it's difficult to tell whether your cravings for carbohydrates are a sign of a more serious health issue.

Candida overgrowth is a major factor in the development of leaky gut syndrome, a condition that occurs when food penetrates the bowel walls, entering the blood stream. Many experts link leaky gut syndrome with food allergies and autoimmune diseases such as lupus, diabetes, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease.

Anne Khoury, a certified colon hygienist at Health Connections Center, the oldest holistic center in Philadelphia, Pa., says the most frequently occurring species is candida albicans, which can crowd out beneficial bacteria. In addition to changing their diet, she says pregnant women may take probiotics such as acidophilus strains, which are friendly bacteria.

Women may cleanse their bodies of candida by changing their diet and choosing more foods and drinks that cause an alkaline rather than acidic response in the body, according to experts.

"We work with a lot of people who have candida," Khoury says. "Basically what we do is get them on a diet that does not feed the candida, which means taking away yeast products [and] sugar products. They should not eat anything fermented. They should not have any fruit juice or anything with a lot of sugar in it. It feeds the candida."

Khoury says a person's colon should have 85 percent friendly bacteria and just 15 percent "opportunistic bacteria."

Women who have used birth-control pills are more at risk for having candida, but the average American's high-sugar diet can put most anyone at risk. "We eat so badly [including] too much acidic-forming foods," Khoury says. "That kills the friendly bacteria, which gives opportunity for the other bacteria to grow. It's very difficult to get rid of that. You really have to cut out your sugar like you would not believe. It's hard because when you get pregnant, you have these strong desires for certain kinds of food."

Want to see more?

• Pregnancy Nutrition From A to Z: A Comprehensive List of Nutrition Issues for Moms-to-be
• Food Facts, Cravings and Cautions: The Formula for a Healthy Diet During Pregnancy
• Don't Blow a Fuse: Dealing With Fibromyalgia During Pregnancy
• Talk about it!

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