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Why Pau d’Arco is the best anti-candida herb and how to use it to get back on track with healthy diet after consuming too many sweets on vacation or holidays.
At no time during the year is the herb Pau d’arco needed more than during vacation or the holidays!
Having an awesome time while on break is wonderful and fine. However, the risk of off-the-wagon eating during this time is quite sneaky. Bad habits can make their way into our regular routine almost without us realizing what happened.
Have you ever experienced this yourself?
A week or two after the vacation has ended, you may still find yourself eating like you did on break! This can domino into candida overgrowth symptoms like waking up with brain fog, eating midafternoon candy bars or donuts for breakfast, and suffering from stiff or painful joints.
Has this has ever happened to you? Then, you know that the first day or two back on the wagon eating 100% healthy is definitely the hardest.
Those little critters known as gut pathogens which are normally in the minority in a healthy, balanced gut had a heyday while you were eating with abandon. They likely multiplied quickly and have increased greatly in proportion to the beneficial flora.
Pau d’Arco Inhibits Candida
The typical pathogen that overgrows during a period of off the wagon eating is Candida. This term refers to a large family of yeasts comprising 150+ species. Six of these are normally responsible for the bulk of human fungal infections.
Under normal circumstances, these one-celled fungi harmlessly inhabit the tissues of humans.
A balanced intestinal tract from mouth to colon easily keeps pathogenic yeasts in check. In other words, the good guys keep candida overgrowth from taking hold.
When not enough beneficial bacteria are present in a given body tissue to keep Candida under control, pathogenic strains can transform from a harmless state into an invasive species.
Candida overgrowth can occur in many tissues of the body. For example, pathogenic yeasts can take hold in the mouth as oral candidiasis known as thrush.
It can also occur in the scalp as dandruff, in the feet as fungus toenails, or internally as stubborn vaginal yeast infections and UTIs.
Cutting off Candida’s goodies and protective biofilms by eliminating the dietary junk allows the beneficial microbes to re-exert their authority and bring gut pathogens back into subjection. Hopefully, this occurs before they start causing health issues.
Once given a foothold, pathogenic yeast won’t go away easily!
It takes about 24-72 hours of perfect eating to get over the hump in my experience. After that, you will likely find healthy eating comfortable again. You won’t be craving treats or junk all day long. This means blood sugar will stabilize back into a normal steady routine without excessive peaks or valleys.
The good news is that herbs can provide much-needed assistance during those initial difficult hours when the gut pathogens like Candida are clamoring for their sugar fix and you are struggling to put an end to the feeding frenzy.
The best herb to use for this purpose is Pau d’Arco, also known as Tabebuia.
The Pau d’Arco herb is derived from the inner bark of a beautiful, large tree that is native to the rainforests of Central and South America. It will grow in any warm, humid clime. I am fortunate to have two of these beautiful trees, Tabebuia impetiginosa, growing in my front yard.
Candida Diet Recommends Pau d’Arco
I first learned about Pau d’Arco while on the Candida Diet over 30 years ago.
Although the Candida Diet failed miserably to improve the health either of myself or my husband (we eventually realized that eating traditionally was the way to healing and health, not fad diet silver bullets), we found this powerful herb highly effective at repressing Candida and significantly reducing sugar cravings.
Pau d’Arco has been used as a medicine to counteract fungal overgrowth for centuries. Science is validating these anecdotal observations with solid research.
For example, the Brazilian Journal of Biology found that Tabebuia avellanedae, one tree species that is the source of the Pau d’Arco herb, does indeed exert an inhibitory effect on yeasts. (1)
What Form is Best?
Pau d’Arco is most often consumed as a medicinal herbal tea (this is the brand I use).
Warning…it is an acquired taste at best! Even after drinking it as needed for the past 2 decades, I still don’t like it much!
The good news is that the taste isn’t so terrible that you can’t drink a cup or two for a few days. This practice will help you get back into the routine of healthy eating with far less agony.
If you absolutely cannot stand the bitter taste, try using a Pau d’Arco tincture instead (this is a good brand to try).
How much sugar is too much? The definition of sugar moderation is less than 36 grams (3 tablespoons) per day. Most importantly, this includes fruit and fruit juice.
To give you an idea of how little sugar this actually is, one navel orange contains approximately 23 grams of sugar.
More than 36 grams of sugar per day causes significant immune system impairment. This limit is based on the research described in the classical compendium Search for Health by Tom Valentine.
How to Use
Two cautions with regard to consumption of Pau d’Arco tea are to start slow! This avoids uncomfortable Candida die-off symptoms.
Secondly, make sure you get the real thing.
There are Pau d’Arco imposters out there, so make sure the source of your herb is either the Tabebuia avellanedae tree or the Tabebuia impetiginosa tree.
Mahogany bark, for example, apparently has a similar color and aroma to the bark of the Pau d’Arco tree but does not have its beneficial effects when consumed as a tea.
Getting back on the healthy eating wagon is not nearly as tough when you use Pau d’Arco as a helpful herbal tool!
(1) Antimicrobial potential of some plant extracts against Candida species
More Information
Biofilms in treating Candida
The 11 Best Natural Antibiotics and How to Use Them
Can Candida Sufferers Drink Kombucha?
Slippery Elm for Natural Digestive Relief
Rooibus Tea: Delicious and Naturally Caffeine Free
Top 3 Herbs for Fertility
I used Pau D’arco tea as an effective treatment for mono years ago. My Dr. was stunned I was up and running in a week (as opposed to 2 or 3 or more).
Perfect timing!!! I have an overgrowth of yeast in my whole body. I’m struggling with vaginal candida infection right now. I’ve taken out all sugar, grains and starches (full GAPS diet) but it won’t go away. Where do you buy Pau d’Arco tea?
Thanks
For several years, I made tea with the Nature’s Sunshine Bark (Tabebuia heptaphylla) for my husband’s blood disorder, and then, for the convenience for travelling, we switched to Vitacost capsules (Tabebuia spp) and I did not question the source, but neither is the specific trees that you mention. Now I am wondering if they are worth anything at all. Could you please recommend where to by the product that you recommend? I have found that Amazon has Pau d’arco – Tabebuia impetiginosa – Cut & Sifted, Frontier Natural Products brand – would this be good? Thank you so much for your website.
Roma Yorgey
Where can this be found for purchase? The link provided is to Mountain Rose Herbs but when I search for this product there isn’t match
Never mind sorry! I found it by searching Pau d’arco, I was looking for the other 2 names listed. Thank you for this article I am looking forward to trying this for my Candida
Safe to drink while nursing a toddler?
Looked.into this a bit while nursing my first. Had a severe fungal/allergic rash from fingers to elbows and not interested in going the steroid route. Didn’t find much on nursing/pregnancy but some cautioned against using it due to possible die-off and detox toxins being released. Didn’t end up using internally but used Mtn. Rose products to make lotion bars with it. Not sure if that did much but Kombucha and arsenicum album have really helped calm it down for me.
Excellent article! Very helpful tips!
Sarah, I have dandruff, coated tongue, itchy ears (inside) and was wondering about what else to do. I eat a mostly gaps style diet after doing gaps for 2 years. Why did the anticandida diet fail, in your opinion? Because we don’t eat grains honestly we do use honey and fruit as an energy and calorie source. More than what I see is recommended. Yikes! Maybe just adding this herb will help?
Is the low fruit thing temporary while your healing the candida, or do you have to follow it forever to keep it form coming back?
As a young man I suffered from candida yeast overgrowth in my colon for years before an Eastern Medicine doctor diagnosed my condition. Through the use of an extremely low sugar diet, pau d’arco, caprylic acid, and other natural substances, I was able to completely heal my colon. Coconut is a good source of caprylic acid. Nowadays there are OTC products that contain enzymes that help kill yeast cells. These products contain enzymes such as cellulase, hemicellulase, amylase, invertase, glycoamylase and diastase.
Healing myself of this condition changed my life to such a degree that I eventually became a nutritionist who writes books about how people can cure themselves of IBS (or IBD) and similar conditions.
Namaste.
Where can I find the enzymes you’re referring to? I’m trying to get rid of candida and have been fighting it for a year with no luck so far.