Candidaiasis – An over acidic / over alkaline condition?

[SanazE]

Therapeutic Nutrition Textbook refers to one of the possible causes of candida overgrowth includes


▶ Excessive alkalinity common in Candida.

Donna Gates in The BED refers to excessive acidity (or eating excess foods that are highly acidic (and thus inflaming) producing – such as refined grains, sugars, meats, etc.) and therefore candida sufferers would benefit from a highly alkaline sourced diet.

Are these two points contradicting in any way or are they two separate points altogether?

I don't think it's contradicting, but I want to make sure I understand.

I know that in the colon we need to have mildly acidic to neutral pH. In the stomach we need to have a very acidic pH (which is where the problems tend to begin).

Thanks!

[Nori]

Sanaz,

Having an alkaline GI tract can allow candida to overgrow, especially the stomach, as you note.

The food residue from the SAD diet will contribute to excessive acidity in the tissues.  This sets the stage for poor alkalinizing mineral reserves in the cells, tissues, and organs.

[SanazE]

Great! Thanks for clarifying.

So eating a "high alkaline" diet will not necessarily contribute to an alkaline GI tract (unless all you're eating are greens/raw foods – dampness in TCM terms), but what seems to set the stage to an alkaline GI tract is not having enough HCl in the stomach (or an unbalanced pH in any part of the digestive tract).