A good candida program has several characteristics…
It will change your diet, help you heal your gut, fine-tune your exercise routine, and… keep you hydrated. Staying hydrated is so simple, yet foundational! It’s essential to life!
By the way, candida is an overgrowth of yeast that causes an imbalance between beneficial and pathogenic gut flora.
Let’s discuss its relationship with water, and how staying hydrated can help you avoid candida.
What Happens When You’re Dehydrated?
Our body depends on water — without adequate amounts, we suffer. Immediately.
The brain is made up of 85% water. Dr. Batmanghelidj says that the brain “cannot even stand a tiny bit of dehydration before it loses energy.” (Source.)
Water deprivation can not only trigger migraines, but also prolong them (source).
Dehydration is an “unrecognized danger” for drivers. According to Professor Ron Maughan,
There is no question that driving while incapable through drink or drugs increases the risk of accidents, but our findings highlight an unrecognized danger and suggest that drivers should be encouraged to make sure they are properly hydrated. […] Drivers who are not properly hydrated make the same number of errors as people who are over the drink drive limit. (Source.)
Rheumatoid arthritis pain has a strong correlation with dehydration. (Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, page 23.)
So, you can imagine… proper hydration is paramount to kicking candida.
How Staying Hydrated Can Help You Avoid Candida
My father-in-law used to say that “water is for washing”… But, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it’s for much more than that!
Anything that lowers immunity and disrupts normal bodily functions can encourage candida overgrowth.
Remember what happens when you’re dehydrated? Are there any effects of dehydration that would lower immunity or disrupt normal bodily functions?
Um, yes!
Candida is an opportunistic pathogen — it makes its move as soon as resistance is lowered (source). Not staying hydrated is like leaving your front door open in a bad neighborhood. Conversely, staying hydrated promotes an optimally functioning body, and therefore boosts immunity and maintains homeostasis.
How Much Water Is Enough?
While there’s no documented “magic” amount of water to drink every day, a large number of well-respected conventional and alternative doctors all follow this rule of thumb:
Drink half your body weight in ounces.
So, if you weigh 150 pounds, drink 75 ounces of water per day.
That’s a lot of water! It may seem impossible (if you’re anything like me, you’ll be making quite a few trips to the bathroom!), but let me encourage you to make it fun. Here are my favorite tips:
- However much water you need to drink in a day, pour it into a gallon container. Set it in plain sight to remind yourself to drink and to give you extra motivation as you see it start to empty. When it’s all gone, you’re done for the day!
- Add sliced fruit like lemons, limes, strawberries, and even cucumbers to your water to give it a little flavor boost.
- Download an app that reminds you to drink your water. Fun ones are Water Drink Reminder for Androids and Daily Water Free for iPhones.
- Reward yourself with a healthy snack as soon as your water is gone for the day.
My family will be the first to tell you that road trips with me take forever because I need lots of pit stops. But I take advantage of this inconvenience and use it to… exercise. I call them “bathroom exercises”. Yeah, I know. But it was the best name I could come up with. 😉
How To “Bathroom Exercise”
The idea behind bathroom exercises started as a way to sneak exercise into a busy day. Every time I run to the bathroom, I complete an exercise before returning. It might be calf raises, squats, or when I’m in the comfort of my own home, push-ups, jumping rope, or bicep curls.
For instance, when I’m traveling, I often chose calf raises. It’s doesn’t take long at all to complete 25 calf raises in a public restroom stall.
When I’m at home, I love to jump rope. I have to leave our small bathroom for this, but right in my kitchen I’ll jump rope 100 times after each trip to the bathroom. Think about it. If I visit the bathroom 7 times that day, I’ve just completed 700 jump ropes. (Jump rope jumps? Jumping ropes?) 😉
Booyah! Now I’m drinking water, and getting my exercise in! And don’t get me started on the importance of exercising to beat candida… 😉
More Candida Related Articles from TCS:
- 3 Essential Oils That Fight Candida-Related Skin Problems
- Is Your Stubborn Fat Related To Candida? How Does Candida Affect Fat Loss?
- Can I Eat Fermented Foods If I Have Candida? #AskWardee 033
- Candida Diet Pancakes {made with coconut flour!}
- The Connection Between Mental Illness & Candida (+ why you need more than anti-fungals)
Do you drink enough water every day? Try this yummy lemonade water to start your day off the right way!
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I seriously disagree that taking much water will help against candida. Excessive fluid in the digestive tract supports candida overgrowth.
Hi, Rotimi.
I asked Paula about this and she said,
“I agree that water alone isn’t going to stop candida overgrowth. You hear a lot about people going on water fasts thinking that drinking water and not eating will somehow ‘starve’ the candida, but that just isn’t true.
Making sure you’re hydrated is just ONE of several areas that you want to make sure you’re not neglecting. A dehydrated body is a stressed body inside and out – and when it’s struggling to maintain homeostasis and not working optimally, it just gives candida a little more of a foothold.
And I agree, there is such a thing as TOO much water. However, half your body weight is a common recommendation (for instance, it’s recommended by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, author of Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, based on his twenty years of clinical and scientific research into the role of water in the body). If you’re convinced it’s too much, you can always start with 2/3 of your body weight.”
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
I been dealing with sickness my whole life and I just know realize it candida I got a candida cleanse just started scared cause I know I had this a long time hope it doesn’t make real sick any thoughts