The Candida diet is a
pre-formed menu in many ways and individualized to some extent.
For most people it usually feels rigid and difficult to follow, as it
is a drastic change from the standard American menu. It takes a
great deal of determination and self-discipline to adhere to.
However, once you begin to see changes in your symptoms and experience
relief, you'll become more motivated and it won't be quite as difficult.
As your taste buds become accustomed to healthier food and your blood
sugar begins to stabilize over time, your cravings for the really bad
food will diminish. In time you train your body, learn new eating
behaviors and see the Candida diet in a new light. Eventually you'll begin to see that part of
loving yourself is not doing something destructive.
The purpose of the Candida diet is to deprive the Candida yeast of its food
sources. Candida thrives on sugar and carbohydrates. When it
doesn't have food, it can't proliferate. But this is easier said
than done because the candida makes you crave the foods that it
wants. These cravings are usually very intense and can be
completely overpowering.
It is very common for individuals following the Candida diet to cheat
from time to time or even fall of the Candida wagon completely.
This is just part of the process and requires that you be loving and
forgiving of yourself when it occurs and start over again. You may find
some of these
holistic diet tips to be helpful.
Certain individualized factors must be taken into consideration when
designing your Candida diet, however the basics must be incorporated as
strictly as possible.
The Number One Enemy
The worse thing you can give your body in regard to the Candida Diet and in
regard to health in general is sugar. It weakens the immune
system and gives yeast a spectacular feast.
Sugar is Candida's favorite food. If you remove nothing else from your
diet, it must be sugar.
You may think that you don't eat much sugar, but you eat sugar
unknowingly many times a day, because sugar is added to almost every
food on the market in the traditional store and is even common place in
the health food stores. The health food stores usually carry
items that contain organic sugar, but sugar is sugar when it comes to
Candida and immune function.
To
remove sugar from your diet you must read labels very
carefully. All forms of sugar should be removed from the diet.
Forms of Sugar
-Beet Sugar
-Maple Sugar
-Date Sugar
-Organic Cane Syrup
-Organic Cane Juice
-Organic Cane Sugar
-Dextrose
-Maltose
-Lactose
-Maltodextrin
-Fructose
-High Fructose Corn Syrup
-Brown Sugar
-Powdered Sugar
-Honey
-Molasses
Now granted, if you really must eat sugar, organic sugar is definitely
a better choice, because it doesn't have pesticides in it and it hasn't
been stripped of its nutritional value, unlike refined white
sugar. But in regard to Candida, sugar is sugar. It doesn't
distinguish between organic or inorganic. It will be quite happy
to eat either one of them and proliferate equally.
The Candida Diet Basics
These Candida diet basics are essential to be successful in reducing or eliminating
symptoms.
-No sugar
-No alcohol
-No wheat
-No yeast
-No caffeine
-No preservatives and additives
-No refined and processed foods
-No moldy foods
-No dairy (except yogurt and butter)
Cheese and milk contain lactose (milk sugar) which the yeast
will feed on.
(some people can do small amounts of cottage cheese)
-Low in Carbohydrates
Foods to Eat
-Low Carbs
-High in Protein and Vegetables
-Small amounts of complex carbohydrates
The basic and most successful anti Candida diet should consist of meat, low carbohydrate
vegetables, a very small amount of complex carbohydrates. It may
also contain yogurt and eggs.
Meats to Include
-buffalo (is lower in fat and cholesterol than chicken or turkey)
-chicken
-beef
-turkey
-lamb
-ostrich
-fish.( be careful because fish is contaminated with mercury and other
pollutants)
-No processed meats like lunch meat, spam, etc.
Low Carb Vegetables to
Include
-cabbage
-kale
-lettuce
-cucumbers
-zucchinis
-cauliflower
-green beans
-spinach
-any green leafy vegetable is low in carbohydrates
-onions
-garlic
-green peppers
-avocados (are excellent because they are also very good for stabilizing
-blood sugar)
High Carb Foods to Avoid
or Eat Sparingly
-potatoes
-carrots
-sweet potatoes
-yams
-corn
-beans
-winter squash
Grains
For most people, grains should be avoided or eaten in very small
amounts when following the Candida diet as they are highly allergenic and high in carbohydrates.
Some people do fairly well with grains, while others can't eat any at
all.
-rice
-wheat
-oats
-barley
-spelt
-rye
Alternate Grains
-Kamut
-Quinoa
Dairy and Eggs
-Yogurt is good because it contains healthy bacteria.
-Cheese or cottage cheese may be eaten once in a while.
-Eggs are a good protein and no carbs.
Beans
Beans are a good source of protein, however they are also high in
carbohydrates, so should be eliminated or reduced for most
people. Some people do okay on them while others can't eat them
at all.
-lima
-pinto
-navy
-split pea
-black,etc.
Nuts
Some people can include nuts, while other's can't. Nuts are very good
for you, so if you can include them in your diet, you should. However in
the beginning phase of the Candida diet they are best avoided or reduced.
Nuts are moldy. Some of them are also high carbohydrate.
Cashews are high in carbohydrates.
Macadamia, Almond, Walnut, Peanut, Hazelnut are lower in carbohydrates.
Fruits
Most people need to cut down on fruit intake drastically while following the Candida diet. This is
because fruit is high in natural sugar. Some fruits are higher in
sugar than others.
Some people can eat fruit freely and other people can't eat it at
all. On the other hand, some people can only eat fruit that is
lower in sugar.
Fruit High in Sugar
-Oranges (very moldy as well)
-Bananas
-Dates
Fruit Medium level of sugar
-Apples
-Apricots
-Peaches
-Melons (also very moldy)
Fruit Low in sugar
-Strawberries
-Blueberries
-Raspberries
-Blackberries
-Pears
Special Occasions and
Treats
* Please keep in mind that sweets should be extremely limited.
I've found that it's much easier to stay on the Candida diet if you
allow yourself treats from time to time, so you don't feel
deprived. I allow myself to have something sweet, yet healthy
about once a week.
There may also be special occasions and holidays when you would like to
indulge in something tasty and delicious.
More than likely you will experience cravings from time to time that
are uncontrollable and you must have something sweet.
For any of these occurrences it's best to indulge in healthy sweets
that aren't damaging to the immune system and won't make the Candida
proliferate to the same extent as sugar.
Make your own dessert or buy some at the health food store that are
sweetened with these sugar alternatives:
-fruit juice sweetened
-barley malt
-maple syrup
-rice syryp
-agave
-stevia
All of these alternatives are a whole food, rather than a simple sugar,
so they will contain nutritional value and will break down in the body
slower than simple sugars. They also won't skyrocket the blood sugar
levels.
Stevia is a fantastic herbal sweetener. It does not feed the
Candida and it does not upset the blood sugar. However Stevia can
be difficult to use and takes a little getting used to.
Agave is another good source that is fairly new on the market.
I've just started learning about it in the last couple years. It
will feed Candida, but it is much less offensive. It also does
not give you the spike in blood sugar that refined sweeteners do.
I actually find agave to be better for the blood sugar than any of the
other alternative sweeteners.
Candida Diet Phases
There are 3 phases in the Candida diet. We'll call them, Beginning,
Intermediate and Advanced.
Beginning
In the beginning phase you must be much stricter with adherence and
your choices will be more limited.
Intermediate
In time, you'll see some improvement in your symptoms and as that
happens you can bring back more complex carbohydrates and fruit
etc. You can be less strict with adherence.
Advanced
If you've made a lot of progress in reducing Candida symptoms, then you
may move into a Candida diet that consists of more complex carbohydrates and
even less strict guidelines.
It's also common for individuals to alternate back and forth between
phases. For example: You may have reached a point where
your symptoms are really under control and you have a lot more food
choices and can tolerate quite a bit of carbohydrate and then a set
back occurs and you have to go back to the beginning phase again for a
period of time.
A setback can occur in response to stress, hormones, you've overdone
the sweets on a holiday, you've had the flu or some other illness,
you've had to take an antibiotic.
The Candida diet can be very challenging to live with, there's no way
to candy coat it. Pun intended.
It also takes time for your body to adjust. Initially you will
feel tired and hungry as you adjust to the lower level of carbohydrates
and your Candida screams for you to feed it.
If you need support, guidance or education in setting up your diet, you may find a
phone consultation with Cynthia to be very helpful.
Keep in mind that the anti Candida diet is only one aspect of treatment. It's also important to take antifungals and a variety of other steps to enhance effectiveness of the diet. It's vital that your treatment approach be comprehensive or progress in reducing overgrowth will be hindered. You can get all the facts you need about Candida and guidance on which
way to go in this great little Ebook,
"Candida Secrets." It's a quick and easy to read and will put you on the right track from the beginning.
When starting out on the Candida diet remember it's usually a process that takes time to incorporate fully. Be
kind to yourself, don't beat yourself up if you give in. Forgive
and start over. If it feels too overwhelming, begin with baby
steps and work your way up to bigger steps.
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Candida symptoms 
