Erica White
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Erica White (born in 1935) is a British nutritionist specializing in candidiasis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, author of three books on nutrition and health, and founder and director of Nutritionhelp.
Erica suffered from extremely poor health as a child. She left school at seventeen, and took a one-year secretarial course at the City of London College. She married Robin White in 1959 and had three children over the next ten years, while continuing to suffer from chronic weakness and allergies.
In 1985, she read about candidiasis, and became convinced that an overgrowth of yeast known as Candida albicans was at the root of her problems. The information she read stated that to bring this yeast under control, it would be necessary to maintain a strict diet with no sugar and no refined grains, and also to take the drug Nystatin. At that time, candidiasis was not generally recognized by the medical profession, and her doctor refused to prescribe Nystatin. She kept strictly to the recommended diet, and eventually changed practice to another doctor, who agreed to prescribe Nystatin, and gave her a stricter diet to follow. Eighteen months later, she was no better.
Around April 1988, Erica found an out-of-date copy of a health magazine with an appeal from diploma students at the Institute of Optimum Nutrition in London. These students were looking for volunteers to test the effectiveness of a natural substance called caprylic acid in treating candidiasis. Erica volunteered immediately, but received a reply to say that she was too late to take part in the experiment.
Erica then began to make enquiries about obtaining caprylic acid herself, and eventually tracked it down. She claims in her writings that this substance kills yeast, but may produce extremely unpleasant side effects (known as die-off or Herxheimer's Reaction ) in the meantime, as the dead yeast releases toxins into the bloodstream. In her own case, she suffered enormous bouts of depression and anxiety, severe earaches, and thrush, while continuing this treatment without qualified supervision. After a few months, the pain disappeared, and she felt more energy than she had ever felt before. In her books, she claims that, having never driven more than twenty miles before because of fatigue, she drove 200 miles to collect her daughter in Wales, stopping several times to walk along the beach.
With her new-found health, she applied to the Institute of Optimum Nutrition to see if they would accept her, a fifty-three-year-old grandmother with no formal qualifications, for the diploma course in Nutritional Therapy. They accepted her, on account of her obvious interest, and her existing knowledge of candidiasis, but specified that she would have to take a science foundation course before starting the diploma. Her husband, who was a science teacher, helped her to reach the required entrance standard. After studying at the Institute with Patrick Holford, and gaining a distinction in the diploma, she founded Nutritionhelp, and set up her own practice in Essex. She also remained at the Institute of Optimum Nutrition as a tutor for some years, but resigned in order to give more time to her clients, whom she treated either in face-to-face sessions or by telephone and e-mail. The number of clients increased, and her husband eventually gave up his teaching career in order to manage her practice.
In 1991, she wrote and self-published the Beat Candida Cookbook, initially to help her clients. It sold over 11,000 copies in its original home-spun formula, and was translated into Norwegian in 1998. In 1999, she rewrote it for publication by Thorsons, to enable it to reach readers worldwide. Her other books are Doughnuts and Temples: Be Nice to the Body God Gave You (2000), and Beat Fatigue Handbook (2000), which was originally published in 1996 as M.E. Sailing Free.
Erica White retired as a nutritionist in May 2005. She continues to lecture throughout the United Kingdom and internationally.
