Oxalate is in sesame seeds and Candida makes oxalate - oh, good to know.
The Body Ecology Diet by Donna Gates is designed to fight chronic Candida yeast infections. It starves them of carbs and adds fermented raw veggies and kefir drinks.
Sesame seeds “just don't work and we don't know why” on the Body Ecology Diet for healing the gut from Candida yeast overgrowth. That intrigued me and I wondered why. Sesame seeds are anti-inflammatory and promote Nrf2. Research turned up showing that sesame seeds were ineffective against Candida but sesame oil in larger amounts was effective - two different links.
The Body Ecology Diet: Recovering Your Health and Rebuilding Your Immunity, Donna Gates, with Linda Schatz, 2011, (Amazon)
Donna Gates’ website: bodyecology.com
My own tummy troubles have informed me that sesame seeds are high oxalate and the oxalate food lists confirm that. Black sesame seeds have even more - personal experience. Yet I love sesame seeds and tend to feel 😊 good when I eat a serving sized amount - 3 spoonfuls. Halva fudge like candy is also a favorite and can be enjoyed in tiny pieces. It is a strong bitter flavor for a candy so it is easier to stop eating after a small piece.
I wondered what effect high oxalate have in yeast? They probably like it okay because they also produce it. (barrcenter.com/oxalate-crystals-and-pain) Oh.
“Basically, there are at least three reasons why people have oxalate issues and some people have all three:
High oxalate diet — think ‘healthy’ green smoothies, spinach, nuts, etc.
Candida (yeast) overgrowth in the gut, resulting in high oxalates
Hereditary hyperoxaluria — kidney stones” (barrcenter.com)
The Body Ecology Diet does not take into account the oxalate content of the food recommendations. Buckwheat is particularly high in oxalate too and almonds are the only nuts allowed. She does instruct on presoaking almonds and/or sprouting them but never says to take off the peels after soaking the almonds.
It is a bit time consuming but easy after the presoaking. The oxalate and salicylate would be more concentrated in the peels. Blanched almond products are available if you look for them but they would have been boiled briefly and the skin is mechanically removed then the almonds are dried. I tend to use them still moist and store the soaked almonds or other nuts in the fridge. Moisture makes them spoilable - use within a couple weeks or less. Mold risk is greater for some nuts than others but any moistened food becomes fair game for other organisms to feast.
We are warned on the book that people with type B blood should avoid buckwheat - it must have lectins that in particular clump/bind with type B antigen on blood cells. The Blood type diet info is based on work by Dr. Peter D’Adamo, author of the book Eat Right 4 Your Type. (dadamo.com/overview)
Donna Gates supports his work which helps guide an individual’s lectin sensitivities - which plant lectins might be beneficial versus harmful based on whether it clumps with the antigens on our blood cells. I have also found his food lists helpful - some of the avoids for my type O blood were already foods that I didn’t like but I didn’t know why - blackberries, and eggplant which I did notice made my tongue feel allergy like - prickly or itchy or swelling/tightening the throat. I used the lists to fine tune which legumes I used regularly (black beans *high oxalate I learned later, red and Mung lentils) and which I cut out (brown/green lentils, kidney and red beans).
Because of the lectins in milk, Cow’s milk is really only ideal for people with blood type B. It would clump or bind with type O or A or AB blood cells. Interestingly, the people of India, where the cow is worshipped, tend to have blood type B.
The Body Ecology Diet is a helpful and interesting book but if you have histamine intolerance than the fermented foods wouldn’t be possible and those are a major recommendation for restoring a healthy gut microbiome balance. Bacteria and being more alkaline within the body helps keep yeast in check. Worse case scenario is when gut yeast becomes systemic - throughout the body. It can be very difficult to get rid of. Starving the yeast of sugars and a majority of carbohydrate foods is the main strategy. Probiotic supplements likely could be taken by someone with histamine issues and other aspects of the anti-yeast diet could still be helpful.
Really interesting but esoteric dietary principle - it likely has to do with the structured water aspect of our body fluids
Ancient Oriental philosophers introduced the concept of yin/yang to explain how the universe works over 5000 years ago. From the larger study of yin and yang, the aspects applying to health make up Donna’s first dietary principle to learn and it may be a big step for Western trained minds to take. The Ki / Chi / Qi energy represented by Yin and Yang is expansive or contractive and works in balance with each other. Hot plus cold equals warmth. One is not necessarily better or worse than the other, but imbalance is worse within our bodies or elsewhere.
Some types of foods are described as expansive (raw vegetable juices, teas, yogurt or kefir) - increasing flow within the body seems to be the theme and they would be more alkalizing. Other food’s are described as more contracting (salt, meats, eggs, fish, dairy, aged cheese) - decreasing flow, and increasing mucus buildup, edema, or constipation seems to be the theme. Animal proteins are more acidifying to the body and salt in excess can cause water retention - less flow, more storage, and more constipation risk. Lifestyle can affect this concept of our health too, not just food, as riding on an airplane is mentioned as being “contracting”. Too much contracting food, then might make us crave sugar as it can be expansive, and give us a quick increase in energy - but that is temporary and can lead to a later blood sugar drop and more craving for sugar.
Aside: The yeast also makes us crave sugar and carbohydrates. Maybe it makes us crave oxalate foods too. Kulreet Chaudhary also mentioned that gut dysbiosis can make us crave foods and to eat in excess in her book The Prime (recent post). Donna’s book has a variety of craving busting ideas - something sour like kefir drinks, or crunchy veg. I would add bitter tastes can quench a craving - my Wormwood tea works or swishing with pomegranate extract as a mouthwash after eating.
Another aside: Toasted fennel seeds are a traditional after dinner treat in India which is bitter and minty-licorice in flavor and helps quench the appetite, freshen breath and improve digestion - also may help prevent osteoporosis. Downside - may be an oxalate source but you only need a pinch and it chews for a while like having a piece of chewing gum. More chewing is better for health and for digestive juices. More chewing may also improve cognitive function and overall health as the teeth are part of our body’s energy network. Ever since I was a baby I have been against being fed baby food. “Smoothies” can be a healing load of plant nutrients with less fiber but chewing and fiber has value too. Donna’s book has some cautions and guidance for how to use modern day juicing techniques for cleansing the gut.
The expansion/contraction principle of Yin/Yang ~ sounds like aether energy and structured water.
“The expansion/contraction principle is useful in understanding energy or Ki (life force within our bodies). Contracting energy or Ki is stored energy, while expanding energy is released energy. Contracting energy is closed and tight while expanding energy is open, relaxed, and active. Expanding energy has a fiery nature, while contracting energy is like the nature of water . . . yielding, accepting, but persistent. The contracting force is soft, dark, surrendering, and intuitive in nature. Expansion indicates strength, brightness, and intense, forceful, potent energy (as in the energy of the sun). […]
Illness therefore, is either extreme constrictive . . . closed and tightened energy, or extreme expansive . . . kinetic, nervous, uncomfortably intense energy. Candida itself is a rapidly growing, expanding fungus that thrives in the impure, dark, moist, contracted areas of the body.” (Gates, pp 25-26, The Body Ecology Diet)
This concept sounds like we are discussing what helps aether to circulate and what might cause it to stop flowing as well. Again returning to Kulreet Chaudhary’s book - the concept of “ama” in ayurveda sounds like too much contracting took place - stagnant, non-moving, more congested with cellular debris and swelling from white blood cells trying to clean things up.
Bringing that ancient jargon of ‘ama’ and ‘yin/yang - expansive/contractive’ into the jargon of modern day alternative labs - “Expansive” sounds like what makes structured water within us more stable and structured - moving at a quantum clip - expansive, instead of more condensed - more “contracted”. Too much acidity causes proteins to condense. If you ever had pickled eggs or egg salad that went a little overboard on vinegar, you will know that it makes the egg white rubbery and harder to chew - would you like to eat a bouncy ball for lunch?
Donna Gates does recommend movement including bouncing on a mini-trampoline - gently if need be.
I am not quite done reading the book but it has a lot of helpful information. My one major critique is with the lack of cautions about histamine intolerance and fermented foods and oxalate risks and food sources. My main disagreement is with her endorsement and use of Xanthum gum - it is not benign for gut health. It is an industrial strength emulsifier used with concrete type mixes and it can be quite harmful, too strong and emulsify our gut lining and cause painful gut symptoms. It is being used in a lot of creamy type foods like frozen desserts or low fat sour cream.
Addition - my bigger concern in reading farther, into the recipes and menus - overall the food combining principle may be recommending meals too low in protein at least for older adults who need protein at each meal.
This post was not a thorough discussion of the diet, I focused on the sesame seeds question which turned up oxalate as a probable yeast comorbid concern; and I discussed the first dietary principle of seven main guidance points.
Regarding other books, not necessarily these two in particular, food variety, or lack of it is a pattern, I’m seeing in diet books. It makes it simpler to give a list of specific foods to go with the specific grocery list being provided in the book and the specific recipes being provided . . . but that is giving someone a fish instead of teaching them how to fish for themselves - how to figure out the healthy diet that their unique body needs. It is training wheels though, for someone new to cooking and meal planning.
The book by Kulreet Chaudhary did a good job at sharing that individuals have different needs which can be opposite from each other’s needs and to modify the recommendations or go slower. Donna's seventh principle is the reminder that we are all unique and to listen to your body.
Both books stress that reversing gut dysbiosis and inflammation takes time - but that it is possible when we stick with it and listen to our body’s preferences. Donna’s book does mention going at your pace. She may have been unaware of the oxalate and histamine risks. Some people could get a lot worse on the Body Ecology Diet.
Disclaimer This information is being provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health guidance.
Excellent article as always Jennifer. As I understand, the Body Ecology Diet is not designed to be a short-term diet—but rather a lifestyle eating pattern. It is based on seven key principles:
Expanding and Contracting Foods: The diet emphasizes the balance between expanding foods (alkaline-forming foods) and contracting foods (acid-forming foods) to maintain a healthy body ecology.
Acid-Alkaline Balance: The diet aims to maintain a slightly alkaline state in the body by consuming more alkaline-forming foods.
Food Combining: The diet suggests that certain foods should be eaten together to aid digestion and nutrient absorption.
80/20 Principle: This principle encourages individuals to stop eating when they are 80% full, leaving the remaining 20% for digestion.
Probiotic-Rich Foods: The diet emphasizes the consumption of fermented foods and drinks to support a healthy gut microbiome.
Limiting Sugar and Sweeteners: The diet recommends limiting sugar and sweeteners to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria in the gut.
Individualized Approach: The diet recognizes that each person is an individual and may respond differently to foods, so it allows for flexibility and customization based on individual needs and preferences.