yeast-fighting foods

Plain yogurt, homemade iced cinnamon tea, salad smothered in olive-oil sauteed garlic cloves

Sometimes our bodies get out of kilter and yeast decides to rear its ugliness and invade our lives.

This is when I say no to

• sugary foods
• bread (even my beloved Wasa crackers have yeast listed as an ingredient)
• beer

And a resounding yes to

• plenty of plain yogurt
  
• whole garlic cloves by the boatloads
• cranberry juice (no sugar added) and cranberry supplements as well
• probiotic acidophilus supplements (refrigerate after opening)
• cinnamon (tea recipe to follow)
  

Years ago my grandma gave me a Reader's Digest booklet called Favorite Remedies from Your Kitchen and it has come in handy on so many occasions. Here's their cinnamon yeast-fighting tea recipe: Add 8 to 10 broken cinnamon sticks (I buy them in bulk from the bin section of the store--it's much cheaper that way) to 4 cups boiling water and let it all simmer for 5 minutes, then take the pot off the burner. It goes on to say that you should let it steep for 45 minutes, but I do it overnight and then refrigerate and serve it with ice.

I think yeast problems are more rampant than we like to think (apparently even men can get them!) and if you'd like more information from a source that's a great help to me, check out The Yeast Infection Homepage, which has super-duper ideas for fighting back!

I hope I haven't grossed anybody out, I just really want to pass on creative and helpful ideas to any of you who might suffer in this way. Here's to your great health! Cheers! (Just make sure you're clanking cranberry-juice glasses--no beer right now, please!)