I have been avoiding this for a year. The midwives first told me about it, then the Lactation Consultant, then the Doctor, the staff at the health food stores...why am I so afraid of doing this diet? Am I afraid of failure? Am I afraid of success? (I've heard a side-effect can be significant weight loss...) You think that would be encouragement to get started....but I feel frozen and unable to act.
Yeast loves sugar and an acidic environment. In the last 3 weeks (including over the Christmas holidays) I have greatly reduced my intake of processed sugars. That means I still have dessert, just much less than I normally would have had. I have stopped drinking milk (sugary and acidic) and limited my breads, cereals and pastas. I switched from fruity yogurts to plain, (yuck! but I've survived by eating it with fresh berries). I've tried to increase my veggies but I still LOVE fruit and have not stopped eating fruit (something everyone says I need to do because they are high in sugar, albeit natural sugar). I have reduced my coffee intake, because it is acidic. I have been adding lemon juice to my water because it turns alkaline in your body (bring on the lemon juice!).
But, alas...it's still not enough. I know I need to do this Candida Diet....everyone knows I need to do it...so...when do I start? I have a bunch of fruit in the fridge (no one else will eat it...so perhaps when it's gone, I just don't buy anymore and that's my start date?
God, Heavenly Father, please give me the wisdom and strength to do this, do it well and right and true.
Candida Diet: January 14 to February 10, 2012
I took the plunge and began on Jan. 14th. I have made a personal commitment to follow the strict diet for 28 days. I am eating veggies, meat, eggs and nuts (almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and pecans).
WHAT TO EAT AND WHAT TO AVOID
I searched online for hours and hours looking for a diet plan/rules to follow and it was hard to find something that seemed legitimate and true (so many sites contradicted each other). I knew the purpose of the CD was to kill yeast and that required cutting out ALL sugar, including carbs because they turn to sugar in your body; cutting out starches, vinegar and obviously anything with yeast. So when some CD websites said fruits and other foods high in sugar or carbs were OK, that was a red flag for me to keep searching. I ended up finding The Candida Diet website which seemed to provide good information: concise lists of foods to eat and foods to avoid; info about probiotics and antifungals; recipe suggestions, and more. Even though they list 5 gluten-free grains as OK to eat during the CD, I chose to avoid them as well since they are still carbs. The only "cheating" I did was the odd brown rice cake (brown rice is one of the grains they listed as OK, and sometimes when I was feeling weak and gross - more in the first week - it helped) and each rice cake is only 7g of carbs compared to a slice of bread which has about 40g of carbs.
This post from Day 24 lists a typical day of food choices for me while on the CD.
SIDE EFFECT: Weight Loss!
I did this diet to get my Candida yeast issue under control, but as a wonderful side effect, I've lost some weight! In the first 2 days I dropped 4 lbs! In the first 8 days I dropped a total of 10 lbs! I've managed to maintain that weight for the remainder of the diet. Now, I am under no illusion that some, if not all, of this weight will return if I begin eating as I used to before I started the CD. But ideally, I would love to keep it off and even lose more if possible. I just have to be careful about my food choices, portions and although I hate to admit it, I need to add some physical activity to my day.
CRAVINGS
Surprisingly, I thought I would crave chocolate the most but I haven't; well sure I'd like some, but it's been rather easy not to have any. I guess that's the power of personal commitment to fixing a problem. Plus, it is said that it's the yeast that gives us the cravings for carbs and sweets and once it's killed off your cravings will diminish. The thing I've missed the most is fruit; I usually live on fruit! It's the first thing I intend to add back into my diet. Of course, I will do it slowly, adding one new fruit every couple of days. (I can't wait to return to a breakfast of fruit and plain yogurt). Plus, fruits raise your body's alkalinity, which creates an environment which yeast cannot thrive in, so once under control, fruit should be a great addition to my diet, even with it's natural sugars.
CHEATING
As mentioned above, brown rice cakes have been my major "cheat" while on the CD (but brown rice is one of the gluten-free grains listed as OK by The Candida Diet website). Sometimes I just needed something other than meat or veggies. To be totally honest, in the last week of my 28 days I started using Kraft Ranch Dressing which has about 3g of carbs and vinegar in the ingredients, but I just got so tired of my homemade dressings and it's more encouraging to keep eating salads if I actually like them!
ONCE THE STRICT DIET IS OVER
I had no really knowledge of what would have to happen once I was done the strict 28 days I committed to, but my research taught me early on that I'd have to slowly reintroduce foods. So, in reality the CD diet is a lengthy commitment, but after the 28 days, it's exciting to be able to add a new food or two every couple of days. The other benefit of this slow reintroduction is that it can pinpoint which food(s) are causing the yeast flourish (i.e. a friend of mine learned that corn made her yeast symptoms return).
