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THE YEAST-FREE FOUR-POINT PLAN

Be prepared in the first few weeks on Points 1 and 2 of the Four-Point Plan that you might feel worse rather than better! This is because when gut ecology is being rebalanced, more toxins are released than before. It can be very unpleasant because it might feel like a flare-up of any of your old symptoms, or it might give rise to flu-type symptoms. The increased symptoms caused by these extra toxins are known as Herxheimer's reaction, or 'die-off'. However, at the end of the first month, most people may be through this initial die-off reaction and able to report that they feel better than they have for years! Even so, they need to understand that this is just the beginning and they still have a long way to go before a healthy gut ecology is fully established.

PART 1. DIET

In order to allow time for initial die-off symptoms to settle, you should follow the diet and your personal supplement programme for at least a month before you start on Points 3 and 4. The diet excludes anything which encourages yeast to thrive, and it cannot be stressed too strongly that it is absolutely crucial to keep strictly to the recommended yeast-free diet whilst you follow the rest of the programme. A craving for sweet things is confirmation that gut ecology needs to be optimised, but if you have a real problem with craving it is possibly because you have an addiction to sugar, a situation which can be expected to improve as you take your personalised supplement programme and faithfully keep to the diet. The amino acid glutamine might help to support your metabolic balance. Once you've got going on the diet, the cravings will gradually decrease.

PART 2. PERSONAL SUPPLEMENT PROGRAMME

Just as important as the diet is the need to support immune function, using food supplements at levels which have been formulated to meet your personal optimum daily requirement. These levels of vitamins and minerals have been calculated by analysing the symptoms in your on-line questionnaire. The supplements you are advised to take are at therapeutic levels, and a review of the situation after three months will frequently show a reduction in requirements. The supplement programme may then be reduced, and will eventually reach just maintenance levels. Your supplement programme should be started at the same time as the diet, usually a month before Points 3 and 4 of the four-point plan. Some people try to skip this second part of the plan, but it really is as essential as the other three parts.

PART 3. PROMOTING GUT ECOLOGY (A)

At the end of a month on the yeast-free diet and supplement programme, you will hopefully feel ready to start on Points 3 and 4 of the four-point plan. Very often, the first Point 3 supplement to be recommended contains caprylic acid, a natural fatty acid product derived from coconuts. There are other types which might be advised for specific reasons, but caprylic acid is effective in the gastrointestinal tract and has the advantage of being available in three strengths, 250mg, 400mg, and 680mg. The 250mg capsule is used mainly for children, but also for some adults who have a strong reaction to optimising gut ecology. It is usual to start with 400mg, taking just one capsule daily and gradually increasing to six daily (two with each meal). The word 'gradually' is extremely important, because of potential die-off reaction. Quite often this will happen before even starting on Points 3 and 4, because of the effects of the yeast-free diet and supplement programme. This is the main reason why you need to wait at least a month before introducing Points 3 and 4 of the four-point plan.

When you start on Point 3, the die-off effect may largely be avoided if the supplements are increased carefully. If, after five days on one capsule, you are not experiencing any unpleasant die-off symptoms, it is safe to increase to two capsules daily, taking one at breakfast and one at supper. After another five days, this can be increased to three capsules daily, taking one at each meal - and so on, until eventually you are taking two at each meal, i.e., six capsules daily. At some stage you might find that you get a sudden surge of die-off symptoms. If so, you certainly should not increase your intake after five days, and you might even need to decrease it for a few days. This will give your body a chance to eliminate accumulated toxins. If die-off symptoms become very unpleasant (possibly due to ignoring the advice not to increase when die-off symptoms are present!) it might be necessary to stop Point 3 completely for a while, possibly a full month. This is not a retrograde step. You may begin to increase the level once more when you are feeling on more of an even keel.

When you have eventually been taking six capsules daily for about a month without any die-off reaction, it may be helpful to change to a different Point 3 supplement either to a stronger strength of caprylic acid or to totally a different supplement. As it is likely to take at least three months for you to reach this stage, you can receive advice about the next step if you log in for an on-line review analysis report.

Grapefruit seed extract is sometimes recommended instead of caprylic acid as the first Point 3 product to take as it is more gentle in situations where there is a history of intestinal ulcers or inflammation. (Where current ulceration, colitis or gastritis is involved, you should take no antifungals until the inflammation or ulceration is no longer present, after which you may possibly try taking grapefruit seed extract.) As with caprylic acid, grapefruit seed extract should be started at a low level, i.e. 75mg capsule x 1 daily, and then increased after five days (if die-off symptoms allow) to x 2 daily, and so on up to x 6 daily, when it might be beneficial to transfer to a stronger strength (150mg), which can be introduced at x 3 daily and again increased to x 6 daily. When starting on grapefruit seed extract, if even one capsule is too much to cope with initially, you might like to know that it is available in a liquid form, so that it can be introduced in much lower and more controlled quantities than is possible with capsules. Start with one drop daily and increase gradually (morning and evening) as symptoms allow until you are comfortable with 10 drops twice daily. It may also be diluted and used as a gargle and mouthwash.

Whether or not you have a history of gastrointestinal symptoms such as ulceration, colitis or gastritis, if you experience the onset of any of these symptoms while taking supplements such as caprylic acid or grapefruit seed extract to promote gut ecology, you should stop taking those supplements and you are advised to speak to a Nutritionhelp associate nutritionist for advice.

PART 4. PROMOTING GUT ECOLOGY (B)

This supplement plays a positive role in redressing the balance of gut ecology by encouraging the microflora of the gastrointestinal tract. Point 4 supplements should be taken twice daily, one with breakfast and one with supper, all the time you are taking Point 3 supplements. (Occasionally, you might benefit from taking them at an increased level of x 6 daily if, for instance, you have a bout of diarrhoea, or following antibiotics.)

Possible causes of severe die-off reaction

If you have difficulty taking Point 3 supplements or increasing the dose, this is probably because your body would benefit from supporting your natural detoxification and elimination pathways. In this event, you need to stay off Point 3 for a month. This should then make it easier to reintroduce this supplement without suffering unduly unpleasant die-off reaction. Your recommended supplement programme includes the herbs milk thistle and dandelion, which might help to support your body's detoxification and elimination processes. If you still experience problems, you might like to discuss the situation with one of our associate nutritionists (see Action Menu in your report).

Sometimes an effect of die-off reaction is 'feeling low'. A seasonal complex supplement may be helpful.

A note on allergies

Many people in need of optimised gut ecology also have a reaction to certain foods due to 'leaky gut syndrome'. Having achieved a healthy gut ecology, it might be necessary to take steps to promote tolerance to various ranges of food groups.

Inhaled allergens might also be a problem. A vegetable-derived supplement providing the enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase might be helpful.

The way forward

When you are virtually symptom-free, you will need to check your score for gut ecology to see if it is lower than 10. You can then try a carefully-controlled, one-month diet-relax experiment. If the month goes well, you can be fairly certain that you have established a healthy gut ecology. Even so, it is then essential that you tighten up again on the yeast-free diet for a further follow-on year in order to consolidate the newly-established healthy balance which will just have been achieved in your gastrointestinal tract. The closer you stay to the diet during the follow-on year, the more you can be sure that you will be 'home and dry' at the end of it. You will almost certainly find as many others have done - that your taste buds have changed so much, and that you appreciate your health so much, that you will have no problem in staying on the yeast-free diet for the follow-on year.

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