The Anti-candida Diet

I've been on the anti-candida diet for 9 weeks now. I'm following Erica White's 4 point plan. And so far it's been brilliant for me. Firstly I've lost 1 and half stone, and I now I have the ability to start an exercise regime without being exhausted all the time. Things are slowing down at the moment though as I'm on the part of the plan that kills off the candida and getting some dying off symptoms, that's because dead candida releases even more toxins than live candida. But I've been drinking Dr Stuart's liver detox tea, which is helpful, dandelion root coffee works just as well, and plenty of water so not to get constipated.



The diet is quite restrictive, firstly no sugar what so ever. No fruit, no milk as it contains lactose, and obviously no white sugar, no sweeteners either except stevia. As any sugar even fruit sugar will feed the candida. Next no yeast, and it's not just yeast in breads, it hidden in things you would of never thought of, such as vinegar, citric acid, (not fresh lemons though) malt and anything fermented can grow mould. Any fungus, mushrooms and quorn. No smoked meats, no cheese except cottage cheese, no preserved foods. No caffeine, or chocolate or any other stimulant as this causes the release of sugar into the blood. It seems alot but there are still plenty of nice foods to eat.



What I can have is any veg, fruit I can have are tomatoes, lemons and olives, any fresh meats, fish and eggs. Grains, beans, seeds, freshly cracked nuts (as they grow mould quickly once cracked also no peanuts or pistachios) coconuts and legumes, but only whole grains as white refined grains break down to quickly in the blood. Natural yogurt, cottage cheese, unsalted butter (too much salt releases sugar into the blood stream) , rice, oat or soy milk, but I don't eat soy because I believe it bad stuff, I drank soy milk for the first couple of weeks of the diet and felt ill after drinking it. I didn't have soy before. Then after some research I found this site about the dangers of soy. http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/ Carob can be used as a chocolate substitute as long as it's sugar and dairy free, I make my own with carob powder and coconut oil.



In Erica's White anti-candida cook book there are lots of great recipes for breads, cakes, biscuits, pudding, even cheese cake, all sugar and yeast free and delicious. Good alternatives drinks are rooibus (red bush tea) instead of tea and barley cup instead of coffee. Also herbal fruit teas are allowed as long as there is no added sugar. There is such a little amount of sugar in them. Check the label.





When I started on the diet, I had a headache for 3 days. That was because I was withdrawing from the sugar addition I had. After that I felt great. I had energy for the first time in years. I also noticed how delicious food I thought was bland tasted. My diet consists of plenty of fresh and raw vegetables, fish, beans, lots of eggs, whole grains, natural yogurt, cottage cheese and the occasional organic chicken. For breakfast I like muesli base and wheat germ with natural yogurt and water, sprinkled with grated coconut. Coconut has no cholesterol, for the benefits of coconut and coconut oil read this

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/03/24/coconut-oil-part-one.aspx

and this http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/.

For lunch an egg salad. And for tea fish and vegetables, soups and home made yogurt soda bread, ratatouille, wholemeal pasta dishes and many more. I usually have some natural yogurt and home made sugar free carrot cake for dessert. The best desserts I've tired are carrot and lemon cake and squash muffins, they taste really sweet even though there is no sugar or sweeteners in them. I also put much less butter in than the recipe states, and it works just as well. I'm really enjoying eating this way and I feel so much better.

Introduction and the why I started anti-candida diet

I used to be fat. I was getting for 18 stone, and size 26 UK size. That was in May 2008. I felt awful in my health, depressed, lethargic, sick all the time. I put it down to the fact I was over weight, so I joined weight watchers. For the first few weeks I felt great, as I was mostly eating salads and fruits as it was summer. I lost 3 stone. As winter approached I started eating more stodgy food such as bread and whole grains and low fat biscuits, weight watchers sweet treats. I started feeling really ill again and found it really difficult to loose weight even though I was still keeping within my points range.

By December I gave up completely on the points plan and ate nothing but junk food. I just wanted to eat sweets all the time, I'd never eaten so badly. This continues all month. I didn't know what had gone wrong, I felt worse than ever, so in January I decided to start again after I'd put back on 1 and half stone. I was determined not to get out of control again so I tried my very best. I managed to lose more weight I was doing OK until I got to 14 stone, and I could not seem to get past this weight, I tried exercise, but I was exhausted, and I would sleep for hours and not want to get up in the mornings. I was shaky, tired and dizzy all the time, and I was constantly going over my points to stop the shakes. After a month of not being able to fell better I gave up again on the weight watchers plan.

I noticed every time I eat bread, pickles, and many other foods I bloated up. Also when I ate sugar I would want to eat more and more and I would find it hard to stop. I had constant headaches and was tired all the time. I thought I might have an allergy to wheat, so I googled wheat allergies and found that it was nothing like my symptoms, so I thought maybe it was yeast allergy. The symptoms were more in line with what problems I had. Then I came across an article on candida and that seemed to be exactly my problem, as well as that I did have thrush when I was a kid when my Mum got it and it passed on through the towels. Yucky I know. So I started on the anti-candida plan. I will write more about the plan in my next blog and how it affected me.