I had just about reached my wit's end when I happened to be shopping in a little Asian convenience store and randomly picked out a bottle of GT's cranberry flavored Kombucha tea to drink. I knew it had a very strong flavor, but also knew it was supposed to be super healthy. So I drank that entire bottle in one night and thought nothing of it. The next day I happened to be in a health food store and spotted another bottle, this time in a different flavor- ginger. So I decided to splurge again and get another one. (These drinks run about $4 a bottle. Normally, I wouldn't spend that much on a drink. But for some reason I didn't mind this time.) Despite their vinegary flavor, these drinks were almost addictive!
The day after that, I was ordering food at a nearby health food restaurant for an eco-friendly potluck I was going to and saw they were selling it too. So for the third day in a row, I drank Kombucha tea. And wouldn't you know it... my Candida symptoms were gone!!! I didn't even drink the whole bottle on day 3, since I noticed it said one serving was just half a bottle. I saved it for day 4, which was Friday and I decided that since I felt so awesome, I could ease up a little and eat some of the foods I normally wouldn't, and even have a few alcoholic drinks at a party. I continued to feel so good, I began telling everyone about this tea! I went online and researched it some more, finding out it's many benefits, including:
In short: it revitalizes the bowel flora, helps the circulation and helps to ease stress.
In more detail:
- Its regular consumption lengthens the lifespan.
- Reduces the formation of wrinkles, makes mottles (liver-spots) on skin less visible.
- Discourages the formation of cancer; combined with pawpaw it heals cancer.
- Heals the inflammations of the joints; reduces muscle pain.
- It is a remedy against high blood pressure as it stabilizes the blood pressure at a normal level. It provides a general good state of health and relieves sleeping disorders. It reduces stress.
- Heals constipation, stops contagious diarrhea, heals hemorrhoids, heals the inflammation of the large intestine, heals a nervous stomach, heals a disordered stomach and heals the inflammation of the small and large intestines.
- Purifies blood, helps the kidneys work more efficiently, helps the liver and the gall-bladder work more efficiently, dissolves gall bladder and kidney stones.
- Helps to pass uric acid, heals gout.
- Reduces the cholesterol level, makes the veins and arteries elastic, cures the blockage of arteries, reduces the pain of blood-vessel inflammation.
- Helps slimming, helps in fat burning, helps body builders and sportsmen increase their muscles and slim at the same time, and is highly recommended for those who are very active in doing sports.
- Heals prostate inflammation, enhances the sexual drive.
- Helps to stabilize the glucose level, slows down the dramatic fall of blood sugar.
- Heals illnesses that develop due to weakness of the immune system -- heals allergy for instance.
- Lengthens the life of AIDS sufferers.
- Heals sore throats and eases asthma.
- Reduces menopause, relieves heat flashes.
- Heals sweaty feet.
- Heals cataracts and other illnesses of the eye.
- Heals eczema, and is also a healthy remedy against chickenpox and shingles. It should be applied externally for rashes. Heals boils and infectious blisters.
- Has a natural antibiotic effect.
- It is a detoxifier. It dissolves and chemically binds toxins released from the liver and other body fluids.
- Enhances the resistance against chemicals.
- Heals edema and swollen legs.
- Heals and prevents candida albicans.
- Eradicates parasites from the body.
- Ensures a general good state of health, greater mental achievement and more physical power for healthy people.
- It has a surprising effect on the scalp: it improves baldness, helps the growth of stronger hair, helps restore the color to grey hair and makes hair grow faster.
- Helps bone formation, soothes the pain of fractures and bruises. As a side effect it increases the growth of nails and strengthens them.
Decreases the level of alcohol in the blood. Relieves hangovers, and helps cure alcohol addiction.
And here you can find info specifically about Candida and Kombucha yeast: http://www.kombu.de/candida.htm
Tons more general Info from Gunther Frank: http://www.kombu.de/english.htm
Needless to say, I'm fully sold on the benefits of drinking Kombucha tea. I want everyone to try it, since it seems to be helpful with sooooo many different problems. After my experience with it, I feel like a whole new person. I do think it will need to be an ongoing part of my health routine, however. I skipped drinking it for one day yesterday, and symptoms returned immediately, although they seemed less intense than before.
And the neat part is, not only was I somehow divinely guided to drink Kombucha, but I also met another nutrition coach at the potluck on Friday who is growing her own Kombucha cultures and wants to share them with me and teach me how to grow them myself! How cool is that!?!? I'm so excited! They're even the original pure strain from which GT's Kombucha brand sold in stores originally came.
You can check GT's website for locations that sell Kombucha near you: http://www.gtskombucha.com/(This is not an official endorsement of any particular brand... just wanna make sure everyone can access this miraculous health drink!)
