Candida Diet

Since my late teens I have continually suffered with Candida. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s a fungus/yeast infection. Candida yeast is a part of the gut flora, a group of microorganisms that live inside your intestine.When the Candida population starts  multiplying, it weakens the intestinal wall, penetrating though into the blood steam, and spreads throughout the body causing many undesirable systems such as fatigue, bloating, weight gain and joint pain, to name a few.

These symptoms are normally a lot worse when you eat foods that contain yeast, such as bread.

For years I went backwards and forwards to my doctor, explaining these systems but there was nothing they could really do about it, one even thought it was depression!! After years of suffering, I finally decided to try alternative therapy and went to see a holistic therapist. We sat down and I went through my symptoms and my day to day eating habits, and she finally said ‘I think you may have Candida’. Her saying those words to me was such a relief I can’t tell you, I thought ‘finally someone understands me and it’s not all in my head’. After a serious of natural test, she told me I did have Candida present in my body.

To combat Candida, she outlined a diet plan for me. I won’t lie it was VERY tough to begin with as you don’t realise how many foods and drinks contain yeast. Furthermore, having a lot of sugar will encourage the growth of yeast in the body so I had to cut out sugar.

The diet works in two stages; the strict Diet, and re-introducing foods.

The strict diet, consisted of eliminating anything that contained yeast or encourage yeast to grow in the body so, for the first 4 weeks you are encouraged to only consume ‘allowed foods’.  As I had this diet written for me so long ago, and it’s part of my daily routine now, I do not have the exact copy for you but a brilliant website has been developed called The Candida Diet, which gives you so much information and has the diet on there for you to follow- this is like a bible for Candida suffers and I refer to it on a daily basis.

To start to diet, refer to the section ‘Foods to avoid’ and ‘Foods to eat’- believe me you will be surprised at how many foods contain yeast-some fruits are a real no no, during the strict diet!

Once you have completed the first stage, you are allowed to re-introduce food. The idea of the diet, is to remove all traces of Candida and start again but no reverting back to a diet that contained yeast and that was high in sugar. This stage will be what your diet should consist of, on a day to day basis.

When I started the diet, about 10 years ago, there was not much out there to help me with it, and I found it hard to substitute products that I loved such as French stick with cheese mmmmm, I still dream about that now! So I thought I might share with you some of my substitute products….

Bread- substitute with Ryvitas, or Tortilla wraps

Cheddar cheese- Soft goats cheese or Mozzarella. Although you are not allowed cheese on the strict diet, you can eat this when you are ‘re-introducing foods’.

Snacks- substitute chocolate cravings for nuts or a Plain Yogurt. I know this may not sound a ‘treat’ but believe me you will have a lot more energy from a handful of nuts compared to a chocolate bar.

I normally have a bowl of plain yogurt with some Linseeds sprinkled over the top. I will do a post on Linseeds soon as they have a variety of health benefits.

Tea/Coffee- substitute for herbal teas, especially green tea. See my post on the benefits of green tea

White rice- substitute for brown or wild rice. Since making this change, I would never go back to white rice as it makes me so bloated, and has much less taste than brown rice.

Alcohol- now you can’t drink alcohol on the strict diet, but when you do re-introduce food, substitute a glass of wine which has so much yeast in it for a vodka and soda water.

Please please please preserver with the diet as it has the most amazing effect on your body and has literally made me a new person. Not only does it eliminate or control (in my case) Candida, but it educates you on eating healthy and really makes you want to eat all natural products. Since the diet, I have not touched a microwavable meal, and only eat natural fresh products.

I know this may all seem very daunting but believe me it’s worth it. By eliminating these foods form my diet, I am no longer bloated, I do not suffer from yeast infections and I have so much more energy it’s unbelievable.

If you decide to give it a go, please get in touch if you have any questions or need some advice as I know how you feel!

Good Luck x