The fungi family belongs to the parasitic category, which Dr. Morse's Detox Miracle Sourcebook defines as “An organism that lives and feeds upon the weaknesses and toxicity of another organism,” and extends, “Within the human body parasites can invade weakened cells or live in a toxic lymph system.”
Whether we’re dealing with bacterial overgrowths, fungal overgrowths, a viral surge, or internal worm/fluke infestations, we should first take a step back and reflect for a moment.
Consider what the role of each of these parasites is, the etiology of their proliferation, and the steps to take to restore microbial homeostasis or expelling the parasite(s) through natural means.
The most common symptoms related to fungal overgrowth that Dr. Morse recognizes to be true, are:
- uncontrollable cravings for starch, sugary foods and fermented food (but generally never fruit)
- brain fog (sometimes severe)
- listlessness (lethargy; unmotivated to engage in activity)
- fatigue (periodic and chronic)
- itching (especially following carbohydrate meals) (note: acids can also cause itching)
- uric acid crystal formation in joints
- moles (and “beauty marks”) appearing liberally on skin
It's important to understand that fungi are involved in the process of [food] fermentation and decomposition. Basically, this is when proper digestion (and metabolism) of carbohydrates by your own enzymatic-rich digestive juices is disrupted, for various reasons, leading to fermentation.
Fermentation is when fungi takes over to clean up the mess when we aren't digesting carbohydrates properly. Generally, the primary issue is we either keep causing pouring gasoline on the fire with poor diet choices, or we fail to address and reverse the specific tissue weaknesses that in turn lead to inefficient digestion and metabolism of any carbohydrates we consume.
“Most people live on fermentation.” ~ Robert Morse, N.D.
Fermentation can occur in multiple ways which are outlined below.
Consumption of Starches
Complex carbohydrates, or starch, are carbohydrates consisting of polysaccharides.
Poly = multiple or many. Saccharide = sugar.
Almost everywhere you go around the world, starches are a staple food. Rice, pasta, bread, cakes, potatoes, and so on.
Dr. Morse considers starches to be suboptimal foods for human consumption mainly because they’re complex sugars (vs. simple sugars in fruit and most vegetables) while the body deals best with simple constituents, in other words, monosaccharides (mono = one or single).
The same goes for fats (in its un-metabolized, complex state) vs. fatty acids (simple and absorbable state) and proteins (complex state) vs. amino acids (simple state).
Starches tax the pancreas and adrenal glands due to the high enzyme and glucocorticoid steroid production that starches require to be broken down (and then as much of the sugar metabolized as possible).
The problem is that the body doesn’t cope well with metabolizing this influx of excess sugar. So, much of it ends up fermenting instead.
This on-going demand for fungal activity to help ferment and decompose carbohydrates creates high fungal loads in many people; but especially in those with already-existing pancreatic and/or adrenal gland weaknesses. Circumstances get worse, too, in the presence of inorganic, bioaccumulated sulfur.
Pancreatic Weakness
When the exocrine portion of the pancreas is compromised, the pancreas is unable to produce the sufficient enzymatic-rich digestive juices needed to facilitate efficient carbohydrate digestion.
This doesn’t translate into “stay away from fruits and vegetables,” but abstaining from starch is absolutely encouraged.
Adrenal Gland Weakness
The outer (cortex) portion of the adrenal glands produce, among others, a class of steroids known as glucocorticoids, which play multiple essential roles in the body including carbohydrate metabolism.
Inability to metabolize sugars properly results not only in fermentation – and thereby fungal problems – but also blood sugar issues (irrespective of pancreatic function) and is what Dr. Morse considers to be at the root of both hyperglycemia (type 2 diabetes) and hypoglycemia in most cases.
Thyroid Weakness and Food Metabolism
The thyroid has numerous functions within the body, one of them being to influence the efficiency of the digestive system. This translates into how fast you’ll be able to digest and transit the food you eat (note: the adrenal glands also influence peristalsis).
With a slow digestion, chances are that your breakfast won’t have finished digesting before you have lunch – and your lunch won’t have finished digesting by the time you have dinner (not to mention all the snacks you may be having in-between). This also contributes to fermentation when carbohydrates are involved.
Improper Food Combining
Understanding just a small handful of the food combining rules goes a long way in helping to maintain good health. The average person, however, breaks these rules at just about every meal they have.
The two most common ways to do poor food combining are (1) mixing protein-rich foods with starches and (2) having liquid and solid food together during a meal.
Meat, fish, poultry, nuts, seeds, [some] legumes, eggs and dairy all shouldn't be mixed with potatoes, rice, bread, grains, pasta, wheat, etc.
When you consume carbohydrates, the digestive enzyme, ptyalin, is secreted with saliva in the mouth to moisten the food and facilitate enzymatic carbohydrate digestion alongside mechanical digestion (chewing). For our purpose here, let's say you mixed your starchy food with a protein food during your meal. So far, so good.
When your food has entered the “pouch” (stomach) from the esophagus, hydrochloric acid (HCL; stomach acid) and pepsinogen are ready to initiate the break-down of complex protein chains into amino acids.
But that's where the first problem occurs. Your protein food is mixed with carbohydrates, and your carbohydrates cease to digest until they enter the duodenum, because the acidic environment of the stomach neutralizes alkaline digestive enzymes.
Depending on various factors, proteins can take a couple of hours to digest in the acid environment of the stomach before entering the duodenum. But being mixed with carbohydrates will delay digestion for both macronutrients. Fermentation and putrefaction is the outcome.
Keep in mind this hasn't yet factored in the water or liquid beverage you’re likely having with your meal, which'll dilute digestive juices and further disrupt proper digestion.
So, here are a few basic rules to go by for a more optimal digestion experience:
- Separate proteins from starches
- Don’t mix fresh fruit with anything else (dried fruit can be mixed with nuts/seeds)
- Eat melons by themselves (can squeeze fresh lemon or lime juice to enhance flavor of watermelon)
- Separate solid food and liquid (for soups, prepare then as you normally would, then add to a blender to liquefy the solid items; the soup will be a thicker consistency)
There's a lot more information available to be found concerning food combining. ‘Food Combining Made Easy‘ by Herbert Shelton is a good place to start. Or refer to the chapter on food combining in Dr. Morse's Detox Miracle Sourcebook.
Additionally, you may read the following document:
PDF: Food Combining & Fruit Categories
Sulfur
Dr. Morse sees bioaccumulated sulfur as a fungal proliferant. In his experience, people with a lot of sulfur are typically heavily burdened with fungal problems (including candida) and also have a more difficult time getting the fungal activity under control, particularly due to the suppressive effect sulfur has on the lymphatic system.
When you experience a fungal-related symptom, keep in mind that the fungi isn’t only present in the location of your body where you’re experiencing symptoms. It’s systemic and all throughout.
Attempting to solve this by only using antimicrobial herbs or some type of “anti-candida” diet or cleanse is unlikely to be successful if you consider the tissue weaknesses, sulfur accumulation and – most importantly – the lymphatic system. Antimicrobial herbs won’t address any of the above either but can still be very helpful in keeping microbial activity under control.
Fruit
Many people are understandably concerned with fruit because we're always told fruit feeds fungi.
Let’s talk about this for a moment and put it into perspective.
First off, recognize that most fruits are highly nutritive, antioxidant-rich and helpful in facilitating lymph flow. It takes energy and astringents (but also deep breathing) to move the lymphatic system, and that's exactly what fruit provides.
Stirring up the lymphatic system can stir up the fungi within your body, and that's what fruit and aggressive lymphatic herbs can and often will do. Yes, symptoms can be experienced from this, and if that so happens – and it’s too intense for you to handle – then by all means slow down.
Remember, detoxification is an art. It’s key to learn how to best adapt your approach to accommodate for whatever weaknesses that may interfere with your ability to handle fruit and then focus on gradually fixing those weaknesses. Rely more on vegetables if you have to; no problem.
Understand that fungi deals in fermentation of carbohydrates, as well as the decomposition thereof. So, fruit wouldn’t “feed” fungi unless something interfered with its proper digestion or the metabolism of sugars.
Let’s look at this from another angle. If monosaccharides (which is what fruit contain) “feed” fungi, then we should expect vegetables (which contain monosaccharides) to do the same. Because many of the same people claiming fruit feeds XYZ are quick to recommend vegetables in place of fruit.
There are even anti-candida programs recommending a starch-predominant diet coupled with an abundant use of olive oil and only permit eating a little bit of fruit if a person's blood sugar is dropping too low.
What You Can Do
Use the Self-Assessment Health Questionnaire and/or any other [necessary] health assessments, techniques and diagnostic modalities to highlight your potential tissue weaknesses; that'll give you a place to start. Where fungi is concerned, this may involve your adrenals, pancreas and/or thyroid gland.
Practice proper food combining, limit starch intake and do your best to remove bioaccumulated sulfur from your body if relevant.
Whatever you do, supporting your lymphatic system is going to be key, not only to clean any excess fungi and other parasites out of the body, but also to create a healing atmosphere within the body where the rebuilding of compromised tissues can take place at an accelerated rate.
Use antimicrobial herbs and/or herbal formulas (such as Dr. Morse’s Parasite M). Another potent way to use certain antimicrobial herbs is through herbal infusions. An example is provided below.
Pau d’Arco Infusion
NOTE: This infusion isn't recommended for children or pregnant females. Make the calendula flower infusion (provided below) instead.
What you’ll need:
- Pint (16 oz.) sealable mason/preserving jar (preferably made of glass)
- 1 ounce of cut & sifted Pau d’Arco Bark
- Something to bring 16 oz. of water to a boil (pot, electric water boiler, etc.)
Instructions:
- Pour plant material into pint jar
- Fill the entire jar up with boiling water (make sure all the plant material is submerged)
- Give the plant material a good stir
- Cap and seal the jar and allow the plant material to infuse/steep for 8 hours
Once ready, the infusion may be consumed within 48 hours.
Start with 16 oz. at first (1-2 days), then double the above recipe and make 32 oz. to be consumed throughout the day for the remainder of the week. Monitor symptoms as you go along. It's common to experience what is referred to as “die-off” symptoms. If reactions are too strong, either consume less of the infusion or take a break.
At the end of the week, evaluate if you need to continue for a few more days, but keep in mind you don’t want to inundate the body with antimicrobial herbs for extended periods of time. You may consider switching over to the calendula flower infusion at this point for a milder antifungal.
If you’re taking something like Parasite M, don’t do the infusion, and vice versa.
Calendula Flower Infusion
What you’ll need:
- Quart (32 oz.), sealable mason/preserving jar (preferably made of glass)
- 1 ounce of Calendula flowers
- 32 fl. oz. of water
- Pot or electric water boiler (with a 32+ fl. oz. capacity)
Instructions:
- Place plant material into quart jar and pour 32 fl. oz. of boiling water into the jar (make sure all plant material is submerged)
- Give content a good stir, then cap and seal the jar
- Allow the Calendula flowers to infuse/steep for 1 hour (internal use) or 2 hours (external use)
- Once finished, strain off the plant material and discard (compost if possible); the infusion is now ready for serving or external application
Standard usage:
- Ages 3-6: 1/4 cup 3 times per day
- Ages 6-10: 1/2 cup 3 times per day
- Ages 10-15: 3/4 cup 3 times per day
- Ages 15+: 1 cup 3-4 times per day
This infusion should be consumed within 36 hours at most.
You can take Parasite M while consuming this infusion.