When people test positive for parasites, bacteria, or Candida…the most common question is “What should I do?”.
The honest answer is that “It depends”. But what I can gather from clinicians and personal experience, is these are the 5 ideas that people use to build effective protocols.
Some of these ideas may cause harm to the wrong person at the wrong time. You need to work with your nutritionist or doctor before trying what worked for me.
Table of Contents
The 5 ideas behind this approach
Starve the bugs
- Water fast to give the bugs no calories to grow with
- Minimize sugar, fruit, processed food, starches, legumes, and grains (these are quick sources of food for microbes, so skip these)
Support the immune system
- Eat lots of cruciferous veg + garlic + onions (to add immune support)
- Eat organic / grass fed when possible
Take antimicrobial herbs or drugs to kill the microbes
- Maybe also take a biofilm disruptor (if a bacteria with biofilm production is suspected, for example, Klebsiella sp. Coming up on a stool culture)
Aggressively investigate external stressors
- E.g., life events (divorce, moving, death, birth, new job, etc.)
- Mold in the home/at work
- Chemical exposure (e.g. pesticides without proper PPE)
Get a safety check from healthcare providers
- Make sure your doctors consider your full health situation along with the cleansing plan – this can prevent serious medical problems!
When Should You Be Concerned about Doing a Water Fast / Low Carb Diet?
(These apply to doing a water fast –OR– Low to a no-carb diet)
- May not be compatible with demanding mental activity because the brain needs glucose to function properly.
- May cause too much weight loss, so if you have a low body weight to begin with, this is important to do under a doctor’s guidance.
- May not be possible in those who have diabetes, especially if a person has brittle diabetes.
- It can cause electrolyte abnormalities similar to those who suffer from water toxicity (low sodium and potassium levels).
- May be incompatible with moderate to heavy exercise, and cause performance issues in athletes.
Areas of Concern when Taking Antimicrobial Herbs
- May need liver or kidney support when taking certain antimicrobial herbs (depending on your baseline health)
- May thin the blood, which can increase bleeding after surgery, or might be problematic if occult red blood cells of unknown origin are found in the stool
- May cause die-off reactions if the organisms die and release toxins into your gut or bloodstream
- May be incompatible with ulcers, gastritis, etc.
- Herbs may interact with drugs. Check with your doctor
Remember, there may be risks to fixing microbial infections in a DIY fashion – by not seeing a doctor or naturopath. They can help you avoid mistakes or risks in your unique health situation.
The Extremely Aggressive Cleanse That Evan Did (which you shouldn’t copy without medical approval from your doctor)
When I came up with Klebsiella + Candida dividing positive tests on my 48 Gut Invaders test, these are the exact steps I took on my cleanse.
Even though my approach was “natural”. I used intense things like fasting, enzymes, and concentrated herbs. To prevent drug interactions or blood sugar issues, please check with your doctor to see if any part of this cleanse approach might be appropriate for your unique health situation.
The “Prep”: Water fast (medically supervised; it should last for at least 72 hours). I was able to tolerate a longer fast; however, I wouldn’t recommend it for others to try this 3 day fast without supervision.
I only drank water during this portion of the water fast. But, your doctor may want you to add in some electrolytes, drink tea, or add in some other adjustments.After Water Fast: Slowly reintroduce food starting with a day of bone broth:
- Starting Day 1: Bone broth every meal (starting with bone broth only the day after finishing water fasting). Bone broth is has some collagen. It has numerous micronutrients you need and good fatty acids for calories you also need.
- Starting Day 2: Then I added steamed cruciferous veggies + garlic/onion to every meal (starting with steamed veg + bone broth only 2nd day after fasting). I cooked the veggies fresh every day, and constantly rotated veggies each day. These veggies help enhance the immune system.
- Starting Day 3: Then a day of eggs (eating along with steamed veg + bone broth)
- Starting Day 4: Then a day eating light chicken (eating along with steamed veg + bone broth). White chicken is easy on the gut and is fairly digestible).
- Starting Day 5: Then a day eating light turkey (eating along with steamed veg + bone broth)
- Starting Day 6: Then a day eating beef OR lamb (just choose one) along with steamed veg + bone broth)
- Starting Day 7: Then continue having 1 protein per day, for another week.
- Starting Day 14: Take Freedom Cleanse or equivalent for 10 days (while still rotating a protein each day)
- Starting Day 24: Go off Freedom Cleanse, take Interface Plus for 10 days (keep eating the same)
- Starting Day 34: Go back on Freedom Cleanse for 80 days (start introducing new foods)
- Starting Day 34: Start introducing 1 cooked food about every 3 days – only 1 food at a time – while on the extended Freedom Cleanse program.
- Pay attention to any reactions you have when introducing a new food – it may take a day or 2 to show up from the time you eat the food until you have a reaction.
- If you do notice a negative symptom after introducing a new food, note it, wait 3 days after you have no reaction, then go back to introducing a different new food. I would personally avoid that food that caused a reaction if that is possible.
- Mid afternoon each day, start having raw carrot juice + a juiced glove of garlic + cinnamon. This helped with going really really low carb for so long. It gave me more energy.
As you can tell, these diet / fasting / supplements may be dangerous for some people. You need to work very closely with a doctor to make this safe for you. You may need to do something differently than I did it. We are all equal, but we are not the same.
A Modification to Consider
Water fasting can be dangerous for some. But eating just bone broth for a day is relatively safe and easier. If you are interested in the cleanse I did, but don’t want to water fast, you can just skip the preparation water fast and start by eating simple and clean food (just protein / bone broth / steamed veggies).
You could even skip the herbal part of the cleanse if you are short on funds, or just want to keep things simple. Just eating simple, whole food can do wonders! I was 100% symptom free just from water fasting for 5 days and then eating simple food for 2 weeks.
But as always, simple doesn’t mean safe. Be careful out there, and experiment responsibly my friends!