Module One:Understanding Your Inner Ecology
In this module, you will explore the microbiome. You will learn about the wildlife of your body so that you can balance your Candida flora, and restore vibrant health. You will also learn the basic tools you need to support a healthy microbiome for the long term.
Audio Lesson: Your Inner Ecosystem
THE IMPORTANCE OF A HEALTHY MICROBIOME
You, right now, are a living ecosystem. We call this particular living ecosystem the microbiome. Understanding the microbiome is the first step to achieve the regeneration of wildlife in your body. Fungi, and possibly other foreign entities like Lyme, coinfections, viruses, and more also inhabit the body. The microbiome houses most of these living entities, which live on your skin and in your body. The microbiome, besides being your body’s living ecosystem, has a symbiotic relationship with you, whether you know it or not. The microbiome helps control critical factors of your health like your immunity and digestion. In digestion, the microbes help break down your food, and in many cases use the food to survive. It ultimately helps you with your digestive wellness. In regards to your immunity, the microbiome helps to balance out the good and bad bacteria ratio. If the bad bacteria, virus, or pathogen holds a higher ratio, it can take over the microbiome’s systems.
In the modern world, microbial imbalances are not just likely, they pose an epidemic on our health and our internal ecosystem at large. With the rise of chronic illness, autoimmune conditions, mystery illnesses, and staggering rates of digestion concerns, it is impossible not to look to the microbiome for answers.
The modern world has made itself comfortable thinking that with modern technology and medicine, we have all of the answers. Unfortunately, we have forgotten that we are just as much human as we are bacteria. We have neglected this fact by abusing the power of antibiotics, harsh antimicrobials, and common toxins.
How can we heal in the modern world? We have to think macro and micro. We must rebalance our flora, rethink the overuse of antibacterials, and tend to our delicate ecosystem. This is our goal in this course.
The most important aspect for you to consider as you proceed through this course is that you are just as many cells as you are bacteria. The health of your inner ecosystem is a large factor in the health of your body.
I like to think about micro and macro. The health of your body is also determined by your environment, yes? On the macro level: pollution, pandemics, stressors, and bacteria… this list goes on. Take that same concept and look inward on the micro-level. They mirror each other. Unfortunately, microbial health is one of the most underlooked areas in health.
Probiotics, in their own right, are essentially disposable microbes that should be integrated into our diet on a daily basis. Here is why: up until modern agriculture, there were soil-based microbes that would appear on our food sources and even in our drinking water. Our bodies adapted to behave with these microbes as a part of our inner ecosystem and immune system.
As humans, we have adapted over time to our body attaining these microbes through foods (and also parasites). Then, after modern agriculture, there was a rise in autoimmunity and chronic illness. This came from a sudden change in our external environment that turned inward on our microbiome.
So, probiotics are a minor segment of rewilding the gut. But they are not the whole story. What is the whole story?
YOUR INNER ECOSYSTEM
Your body is swirling with bacteria and fungi: 10 trillion of them to be precise. They make up about 3-5 pounds of your body weight! Your fungi have a complex history. They adapted to live in the human body, and you adapted to them. There are many forms of fungi and bacteria, including yeast, Candida, molds, hookworms, parasites, etc.
Humans have adapted to earth, animals, fungi, and plants. Humans have used plants for 60,000 recorded years as a form of medicine. We have used animals always, but of course, the domestication of them changed everything, including our relationship with plants, fungi, and the earth. We have integrated with fungi in more ways than you may know.
Fungi are primary decomposers. Candida is a form of pathogenic fungi. Many types also serve as adaptogens, food, and medicine. There are even some variations of fungi found today that breaks down plastic (seriously). We have been adapting with fungi for a very, very long time. Without them, we wouldn’t have trees, plants, and animals (thank you, mycelium)— or maybe even consciousness. It’s a theory. Yeast, another type of fungi, is used to make bread— which for many of us was a way of surviving through times of plague and destitution. Many of our favorite foods are high in mold— another variation fungus (see high mold foods sheet); and of course, mold serves as a way of composting, making more lively plants possible for most of the human experience, and the earth!
Fungi are fantastic. When it comes to fungi— integration is critical.
Your microbiome, of course, is more diverse: it includes pathogens, bacteria, and viruses. Please note: the topic of viruses and pathogens is not a topic that we will be discussing in this course.
The main concept that needs to be grasped is the idea that the gut serves as a primary immune response and is a building block that is essential to health.
Now, what can we do to balance the body? We can also rewild our good bacteria and fungi.
THE WILDLIFE OF YOUR BODY
When we face an imbalance like Candida, it can be quite the wake-up call for our bodies. A foreign invader! However, a balanced body is one with a balanced Candida flora. When we face bacterial and pathogenic struggles in our guts, we are invited to truly work with and understand our microbiome and inner ecosystem as a whole. When we realize we are a living organism, with an inner ecosystem, we realize we are our own microcosmic universe. We are then invited to nurture and care for this universe more deeply.
Bacteria act as the filter in our bodies. Your bacteria determine what bacteria belongs (self), and what bacteria does not belong (nonself). This filtration process acts as a buffer for our immune system both in the virome (the collection of viruses within the body), and the microbiome ( the collection of bacteria and fungi). The other major factors that impact your bacteria are internal imbalances— both caused by antibiotics and diets high in sugar. When a bacteria imbalance is caused by our lifestyle and exterior ecosystem, your body starts to experience imbalances. It filters “self” from “nonself.” Eventually, the balance of the flora will become so overrun by bad microbes (nonself identifying microbes) that it can cause an array of symptoms in the gut, brain, and entire body. This is where autoimmune storms start to appear. As science discovers the mysteries of the microbiome, it is becoming ever more clear that bacteria, parasites, and pathogens play a large role in the immune response of the body, including autoimmune disease.
The external factors, which we will discuss at large in the course that lead to Candida and yeast imbalance are sugar, carbs, and antibiotics. Candida feeds off of sugar (glucose and fructose) to survive. This is why in the “Candida diet” or “mold diet,” you avoid all sugars and carbs (more on this later).
However, with a Candida imbalance, these are not the only things that can contribute to an imbalanced flora. Our microbiome is ancestral. This means that your microbiome was largely given to you by your mother’s seed. The seed is the microflora passed down through breastmilk. Then environmental factors such as prebiotics, time spent in nature, our home environments, the food we consume, and yes, antibiotics, all play a role in balancing your flora.
In the modern world, we face many troubles, and our microbiome (and health) pays the price. So, to combat this, we rewild. We can restore harmony with our Candida strains, bring good bacteria back into our bodies, eat probiotic-rich foods, and introduce fermented foods back into our diet. We introduce strain-specific probiotics into our bodies. We immerse ourselves in diverse environments, we eat diverse foods, and we repeat this on a daily basis.
*Please note antibiotics are important in their own right and should be used when necessary.
CANDIDA + YEAST
Candida yeast and mold imbalances are why we began this journey into gut health and the microbiome together. When faced with the “big picture” of the microbiome, it’s important to bring it back to where we began: your wellness.
At this point, you may be wondering: how can I balance my flora? What can I do to balance Candida?
In this module, you will learn the fundamentals of basic nutrition along with the plant Candida Diet (Phases 1-3). You can begin integrating these practices and in turn, bring your body back to balance. This model is critical in developing the lifestyle changes that lead to balanced Candida. Proper nourishment is fundamental in this protocol.
As mentioned on the welcome page, there is not just ONE place to begin on any protocol or cleanse. This is because we all have widely varying ecosystems and health! However, by this point, we will have discussed some key places to begin on your unique journey. Simply follow along with the guidebook, videos, 1:1 calls, and start to take action in your daily life towards your goals. Remember, this cleanse takes time, patience, and real dedication. In the end, you can look forward to all that comes along with a healthy and thriving microbiome.
Please note— the total eradication of Candida is not helpful. Candida needs to exist in a balanced state in your body. We need these microbes for our immune system. According to Rob Dunn, the modern human has adapted to having foreign microbes; and in theory, without them, we may CAUSE an autoimmune response. Why? The body is left with nothing to attack. No foreign invader. We can thank antibiotics and a bacteria phobic society for that one. The other factor that can cause the same type of negative response is a diet high in sugar.
A HEALTHY GUT + MICROBIOME
There isn’t a universally healthy microbiome. There are no one-size-fits-all models. There are various tried and true methods, carrying data concerning healthy microbiomes of humans across the globe. You will create your own personal journey. Somewhere along the line, your gut (and your heart) will guide you. Diversity is the cornerstone of a healthy gut.
When I say diverse, it doesn’t mean we can’t be specific. In the Candida diet (or in any health protocol), there will be restrictions. In my methodology, we don’t let restrictions become excuses to neglect, bore, or hurt our bodies. They are guidelines meant to support our bodies, even in the hardest health crisis.
If you look at this as a stepping stone for your health, an act of love for your body, and as a way to find diversity even through the thickest borders, you will not go wrong. With this model, there’s room to grow, room to learn, and self-exploration. This is where we find true balance.
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