Candida And Weight Gain

One of the many unwelcome symptoms of Candida overgrowth is weight gain, or the difficulty in losing weight. The imbalance of bad bacteria in the gut caused by Candida yeast can slow down your metabolism and disrupt normal detoxification processes, resulting in stubborn weight gain that refuses to budge. Losing weight can seem like an uphill battle, no matter how little you eat or how much exercise you do each day.

Worst of all, Candida overgrowth can interfere with your appetite, making it difficult to stick to a healthy diet.

There are a number of reasons that Candida overgrowth causes weight gain. The important thing to know is that diet alone is not going to help! To get back in shape, you must first treat the underlying cause of the problem: your Candida overgrowth. Losing weight requires both an efficient metabolism and a healthy gut. Here’s why Candida can sometimes be the biggest obstacle to this.

Candida Toxins

When Candida overgrowth is present in the body, its harmful yeast cells are constantly reproducing and dying. This is a natural part of the yeast’s life cycle, and occurs whether you are treating your Candida or not.

Candida overgrowth means that there’s a constant stream of toxins being released into your bloodstream. This can wreak havoc on your body’s detoxification processes, particularly your liver. The liver is the organ primarily responsible for cleaning the blood and flushing toxins out of your body. When Candida is flourishing, it floods the body with extra toxins, causing a huge amount of extra work for the liver.

If the liver becomes overloaded due to all this extra work, it ends up storing the some of those Candida metabolites until it can process them later. Unfortunately, it does this by sending them to the fat cells in your body. Women store most of their fat around their hips, belly and thighs – so this is where the toxins end up. This typically results in stubborn fat deposits that become harder and harder to shift.

Sugar Cravings

As you probably know, Candida albicans needs sugar to grow and reproduce. A typical symptom Candida overgrowth is a constant craving for sweet, carbohydrate-rich foods. Unfortunately, this craving never seems to be sated, even when you’ve binged on sugar!

While many cravings for certain foods are put down to psychological needs, a Candida-induced craving for sugar is also physical. The Candida yeast feeds on large amounts of sugar and starch, which causes your blood sugar levels to drop. When this happens your brain automatically believes that you need MORE sugar to bring your blood sugar levels back up again. This triggers the production of hormones that cause you to crave sweet foods.

Of course, eating more sweet foods only sets the process in motion again, resulting in a vicious cycle. This is one way that Candida can cause overeating and further compromise weight loss.

Stress On Your Immune System

The toxic byproducts released by Candida overgrowth aren’t just a burden on your metabolism. These nasty chemicals also take a huge toll on your immune system. One toxin in particular is acetaldehyde, which is released by the Candida yeast during its growth and die-off phase. Acetaldehyde disrupts a number of bodily processes, including your metabolism, endocrine system and immune system.

Candida toxins also burden the adrenal glands, which are responsible for producing important hormones required for healthy immune system function and stress response. The adrenal glands are highly vulnerable to the stress placed on the immune system by toxic yeasts.

Stress on the adrenal glands raises cortisol levels, an emergency response which prompts your body to hold on to dietary fats and store them for later use. Unfortunately, this develops in a pattern in which the body stores fat all the time, rather than uses it for energy.

Fatigue

On top of all the ‘weighty’ effects of Candida is the impact it has on your energy levels. The Candida cells release up to 79 different toxins, including the neurotoxin named acetaldehyde mentioned above. This and other toxins can cause symptoms like brain fog, fatigue and depression.

As a result, Candida sufferers often struggle to find both the energy and the motivation to exercise each day. Many find it difficult just to get out of bed in the morning, let alone go for a walk or to the gym!

Of course, a lack of exercise means that you’re burning fewer calories – resulting in even more weight gain.

How To Fight Weight Gain Caused By Candida

While it’s commonly believed that a simple calorie-restriction diet is the only way to lose weight, this may not be the solution for someone battling Candida overgrowth. In this case, dieting may only treat the symptom, rather than the cause of the problem. It’s very easy to become confused by information on the internet that advocates all kinds of ‘miracle diets’ – but rarely address the problems caused by gut imbalances like Candida.

The first step in healthy, sustainable weight loss is to treat the underlying cause of your weight gain. If the cause is Candida overgrowth, then a Candida treatment plan is your best bet. By following a good Candida treatment plan designed to destroy the fungal pathogens in your gut, you’ll be giving your body’s fat-burning mechanisms a head start. Unburdening your liver and nourishing your adrenal glands will also boost your body’s detoxification processes, as well as your motivation to exercise!

You might find it easier than you think to shed stubborn pounds and get back in shape. For lots more information on the symptoms of Candida, take a look at my Ultimate Candida Diet treatment plan. This plan is based on the latest research into Candida Related Complex, and contains everything you need to know to beat your Candida overgrowth.