We’ve all heard of candida, also known as a yeast overgrowth or thrush.

It’s a fungus that lives in the mouth, vagina, stomach and skin, and is usually harmless and kept in check with a healthy diet.

But when it becomes unbalanced, it can multiply uncontrollably, affecting many areas of the body and causing:

Stomach bloating, especially right after eating. This can feel like food is swishing around in our stomach instead of moving through.

It can occur in the mouth, causing creamy white patches or sores in the mouth or throat, redness, painful cracks at the corners of the mouth, loss of taste, or pain when eating or swallowing.

It can cause itching, soreness or burning in the vagina, white or yellow discharge, and stinging or burning when urinating.

It can affect our skin, causing a red rash with small, raised bumps (pustules), intense itching, a burning sensation, or a rash in skin folds.

And it can also spread to our heart, brain, eyes, bones, or joints, affecting us in various ways, noticeably in our energy levels or inflammatory response.

In short, it causes us real problems, both now, and even more in the long term. And they can be quite uncomfortable.

And, because of the currently available foods in the US, which are almost tailor-made to feed it, most of us have candida to one degree or another today, often without knowing it and without realizing that certain conditions are caused by it.

So let’s dive in and see what's happening here.