Bought a book on Candida today - The Candida Cure - Yeast, Fungus and Your Health by Ann Boroch.
I'm looking forward to reading it especially the 90-day program and will post a review when done. (I'm a bit discouraged by the fact that she says corn should not be included in this diet - I've been living on corn thins - these crackers which are actually quite nice - for weeks. Damn.
I should've remembered my new adage - that if I like something enough, it's going to be bad for me. :(
Tuesday 19 October 2010
Monday 18 October 2010
Getting obsessed with home cooking
Since my soup debacle last week, for some reason I've become really obsessed with the idea that I want to make my own soups now, so I can take them to work and satisfy my hot food cravings.
So late last week I started looking up soup recipes online and discovered the apparent wonders of what's known as a slow cooker, (called a "crockpot" in the states). I never knew this thing existed!
I also discovered the ability to make your own chicken stock to freeze for future meals, something I, as a complete non-cook, didn't know anything about. I therefore decided to make my own chicken stock as I've noticed that nearly all ready-made stock contains some form of sugar in, or yeast extract, or something else I can't eat, which is very frustrating.
So yesterday I went and bought a load of ingredients, a fresh free-range whole chicken and a Breville slow cooker (£15 from Argos - bargain!). Last night I made a roast chicken for the very first time, flavoured with sage and rosemary. I picked off nearly all the meat, some of which I had for dinner, and some I saved for use in a soup today. I put the bones in the slow cooker along with some other ingredients and cooked it literally all night on low. The beauty of a slow cooker is that you don't have to watch it. (Though I did get up at 2am to check it hadn't boiled over or anything, never having used one before!)
Today, when the stock was drained and cooled, I filled three ice cube bags full (72 cubes!) for the freezer. When I tasted a bit it was genuinely quite delicious (even if I say so myself!) which no doubt is a testament to the benefits of slow cooking, and the use of fresh herbs. There was still some stock left over to make the soup, which I made today for dinner (Chicken soup with noodles, herbs and veg) with a bowl to take to work tomorrow. The stock really helped the soup to come out well.
Considering I NEVER cook normally, I'm quite proud of myself for having made three new things in one weekend - roast chicken, chicken stock and chicken soup! It's great to make something and know exactly what goes into it. You can read my soup recipe here.
Am planning to make a vegetable soup later in the week, to use up my veg and herbs, once I find the right recipe. I did find a Yeast-Free vegetable stock cube made by Kallo in Holland and Barratts, which seems ok by my standards, so I've bought a couple of packs as I don't think I can deal with all the palava again of making my own stock if I could buy an appropriate ready-made version.
So late last week I started looking up soup recipes online and discovered the apparent wonders of what's known as a slow cooker, (called a "crockpot" in the states). I never knew this thing existed!
I also discovered the ability to make your own chicken stock to freeze for future meals, something I, as a complete non-cook, didn't know anything about. I therefore decided to make my own chicken stock as I've noticed that nearly all ready-made stock contains some form of sugar in, or yeast extract, or something else I can't eat, which is very frustrating.
So yesterday I went and bought a load of ingredients, a fresh free-range whole chicken and a Breville slow cooker (£15 from Argos - bargain!). Last night I made a roast chicken for the very first time, flavoured with sage and rosemary. I picked off nearly all the meat, some of which I had for dinner, and some I saved for use in a soup today. I put the bones in the slow cooker along with some other ingredients and cooked it literally all night on low. The beauty of a slow cooker is that you don't have to watch it. (Though I did get up at 2am to check it hadn't boiled over or anything, never having used one before!)
Today, when the stock was drained and cooled, I filled three ice cube bags full (72 cubes!) for the freezer. When I tasted a bit it was genuinely quite delicious (even if I say so myself!) which no doubt is a testament to the benefits of slow cooking, and the use of fresh herbs. There was still some stock left over to make the soup, which I made today for dinner (Chicken soup with noodles, herbs and veg) with a bowl to take to work tomorrow. The stock really helped the soup to come out well.
Considering I NEVER cook normally, I'm quite proud of myself for having made three new things in one weekend - roast chicken, chicken stock and chicken soup! It's great to make something and know exactly what goes into it. You can read my soup recipe here.
Am planning to make a vegetable soup later in the week, to use up my veg and herbs, once I find the right recipe. I did find a Yeast-Free vegetable stock cube made by Kallo in Holland and Barratts, which seems ok by my standards, so I've bought a couple of packs as I don't think I can deal with all the palava again of making my own stock if I could buy an appropriate ready-made version.
The dangers of giving in to temptation
Since the weather turned cold I've been wanting to have hot food for lunch at work. In the Before Candida Awareness (BCA) period (as I call it), I thought nothing of going to the shops in my lunch-hour and grabbing a hot jacket potato with garlic and mushrooms, or a microwavable ready meal (not realising now it was contributing to my illness). Of course the potato and mushrooms are out now and most ready-meals often contain sugar and/or lots of other things I have to avoid now.
So lately I've been tempted into buying soups from Pret even if they are bad news for me. So far I've had the chicken and mushroom soup (completely delish!), the classic tomato (risky due to the inclusion of white wine) and on Friday I gave in to the biggest temptation of all - Pret's Mushroom Risotto (usually one of my absolute faves). Ordinarily I would kill for this (as it is even more delicious than the chicken and mushroom) but I knew it was bad of me to have it due to all that white rice just waiting to turn to sugar in my stomach. And boy did it.
If I've ever had any doubt that I have candida then these three soups are proof. The first two soups gave me a right stomach ache that same afternoon at work. I think it was some sort of indigestion that sugar-free Rennies didn't help. I also felt an accompanying rise in my asthma symptoms in that I started to wheeze a bit and had to reach for my ventolin a few times more than usual. (I've noticed this before recently).
I thought with the first soup that maybe it was the mushrooms that were causing it, so I looked up the ingredients on Pret's website which stated that it was dairy free, egg free and wheat free. This is brilliant news for someone like me ordinarily, but I wonder now if sugar was included too? Their ingredients list doesn't break down the details of what's included. Even a pinch of sugar would probably cause me problems, as it doesn't take much for the candida to double in size in an hour, once it feeds on a bit of sugar. The tomato soup also gave me a stomach ache and I worried also about the inclusion of white wine, but I wonder if it was any sugar they used too, or both? I guess I need to go into the shop and ask for more details but I hate having to ask stuff.
The third soup, the mushroom risotto, I knew I shouldn't have had, but maybe it's because I am due on my period I really felt the craving for it and it's hard to resist. If you're a woman you'll understand what I mean!
Anyway, the risotto gave me the worst problems of all three as it seemed that some of my old and worst symptoms came back almost straightaway - wind, bloating, fbo etc, that day and the next. I know I've not written about my own story yet (something I plan to do later) but to me there was no doubt that the candida had fed on the sugar from the risotto rice and had "woken up" in my stomach so to speak. It was probably having a right old party in my guts!
I was careful after that on what I ate, and took a couple of glasses of grapefruit seed extract, and on Saturday night I think I experienced a mini-die-off. I felt extremely tired (almost like I used to) and just wanted to curl up on my bed and sleep forever. I also felt extremely irritable and could feel my temper rising over the smallest thing. When I used to have candida and not know it, I was always irritable and angry but never realised that this could be due to an illness. I thought it was just me! (Or my period or something). Now I'm wondering who I really am, and how much of my past behaviour was due to me or this illness?
I remember also, that a few weeks ago, I had some alcohol at an event, and it instantly gave me a migraine for the rest of the week. It really doesn't take much to destroy my life does it. :/
I believe that even after doing this diet for the past three months, the candida is still just about alive inside me, just waiting for when I fail again. I don't think it has ever really "died-off" as it were. I think need to step up my detoxing process and maybe do a colonic to clear the gut out completely and start over. Hopefully I'll get round to doing this before christmas!
So lately I've been tempted into buying soups from Pret even if they are bad news for me. So far I've had the chicken and mushroom soup (completely delish!), the classic tomato (risky due to the inclusion of white wine) and on Friday I gave in to the biggest temptation of all - Pret's Mushroom Risotto (usually one of my absolute faves). Ordinarily I would kill for this (as it is even more delicious than the chicken and mushroom) but I knew it was bad of me to have it due to all that white rice just waiting to turn to sugar in my stomach. And boy did it.
If I've ever had any doubt that I have candida then these three soups are proof. The first two soups gave me a right stomach ache that same afternoon at work. I think it was some sort of indigestion that sugar-free Rennies didn't help. I also felt an accompanying rise in my asthma symptoms in that I started to wheeze a bit and had to reach for my ventolin a few times more than usual. (I've noticed this before recently).
I thought with the first soup that maybe it was the mushrooms that were causing it, so I looked up the ingredients on Pret's website which stated that it was dairy free, egg free and wheat free. This is brilliant news for someone like me ordinarily, but I wonder now if sugar was included too? Their ingredients list doesn't break down the details of what's included. Even a pinch of sugar would probably cause me problems, as it doesn't take much for the candida to double in size in an hour, once it feeds on a bit of sugar. The tomato soup also gave me a stomach ache and I worried also about the inclusion of white wine, but I wonder if it was any sugar they used too, or both? I guess I need to go into the shop and ask for more details but I hate having to ask stuff.
The third soup, the mushroom risotto, I knew I shouldn't have had, but maybe it's because I am due on my period I really felt the craving for it and it's hard to resist. If you're a woman you'll understand what I mean!
Anyway, the risotto gave me the worst problems of all three as it seemed that some of my old and worst symptoms came back almost straightaway - wind, bloating, fbo etc, that day and the next. I know I've not written about my own story yet (something I plan to do later) but to me there was no doubt that the candida had fed on the sugar from the risotto rice and had "woken up" in my stomach so to speak. It was probably having a right old party in my guts!
I was careful after that on what I ate, and took a couple of glasses of grapefruit seed extract, and on Saturday night I think I experienced a mini-die-off. I felt extremely tired (almost like I used to) and just wanted to curl up on my bed and sleep forever. I also felt extremely irritable and could feel my temper rising over the smallest thing. When I used to have candida and not know it, I was always irritable and angry but never realised that this could be due to an illness. I thought it was just me! (Or my period or something). Now I'm wondering who I really am, and how much of my past behaviour was due to me or this illness?
I remember also, that a few weeks ago, I had some alcohol at an event, and it instantly gave me a migraine for the rest of the week. It really doesn't take much to destroy my life does it. :/
I believe that even after doing this diet for the past three months, the candida is still just about alive inside me, just waiting for when I fail again. I don't think it has ever really "died-off" as it were. I think need to step up my detoxing process and maybe do a colonic to clear the gut out completely and start over. Hopefully I'll get round to doing this before christmas!
Candida campaign?
Following on from my last post, I'm starting to think there is room for a candida-raising awareness campaign here. After all, I've seen many campaigns in the media for some of the most obscure health problems, so why not candida?
I believe the campaign needs to be two-fold:
1) There needs to be more awareness raising of the high-levels of sugar in packaged and processed foods these days, (even in supposedly fresh and healthy items). This needs to include a call for a assessment or inquiry into the food industry to find out why they put so much sugar in their items and to look into the health benefits and risks of this (not just obesity). After all, excess sugar has an impact on other diseases too, such as arthritis etc. If the food industry can respond to calls for low salt in foods, or gluten-free items, then surely they can respond to a need to reduce sugar in foods too.
2) There is also a need to raise awareness of candidia illness in the general medical profession too. It needs to be taken more seriously with proper research and funding into the causes and treatment of candida; GPs/frontline staff need to be more aware of how to ensure patients take preventative action when being prescribed antibiotics; and doctors/NHS need to take patients seriously if they feel they might have a problem with candida, in terms of providing the right hospital testing services.
Candida can be an underlying symptom of a wide range of health problems which is probably costing the NHS billions to treat individually. A lot of illnesses are also inadequately treated with pills etc (eg IBS) because doctors don't know how to treat them properly.
If the profession could get to grips with the candida problem it could have a big impact on the health and happiness of the general population, as well as NHS health budgets. It could also lead to an increased general body of knowledge of this strangely neglected disease. Research would also help with stats and facts to see just how endemic this issue is.
It might even make the food/sugar industry take notice as well. But I guess they have a vested interest in keeping us unaware of the impact excessive sugar can have on our health and wellbeing.
I believe the campaign needs to be two-fold:
1) There needs to be more awareness raising of the high-levels of sugar in packaged and processed foods these days, (even in supposedly fresh and healthy items). This needs to include a call for a assessment or inquiry into the food industry to find out why they put so much sugar in their items and to look into the health benefits and risks of this (not just obesity). After all, excess sugar has an impact on other diseases too, such as arthritis etc. If the food industry can respond to calls for low salt in foods, or gluten-free items, then surely they can respond to a need to reduce sugar in foods too.
2) There is also a need to raise awareness of candidia illness in the general medical profession too. It needs to be taken more seriously with proper research and funding into the causes and treatment of candida; GPs/frontline staff need to be more aware of how to ensure patients take preventative action when being prescribed antibiotics; and doctors/NHS need to take patients seriously if they feel they might have a problem with candida, in terms of providing the right hospital testing services.
Candida can be an underlying symptom of a wide range of health problems which is probably costing the NHS billions to treat individually. A lot of illnesses are also inadequately treated with pills etc (eg IBS) because doctors don't know how to treat them properly.
If the profession could get to grips with the candida problem it could have a big impact on the health and happiness of the general population, as well as NHS health budgets. It could also lead to an increased general body of knowledge of this strangely neglected disease. Research would also help with stats and facts to see just how endemic this issue is.
It might even make the food/sugar industry take notice as well. But I guess they have a vested interest in keeping us unaware of the impact excessive sugar can have on our health and wellbeing.
A quick rant...or two
So I'm back and ready to continue with this blog. I couldn't type for a while as I'd fractured my elbow being thrown off a bike so had to put up with a cast for a while and a lot of pain!
But I'm well enough now to try and get some things off my chest. I've been wanting to write this little rant for a while now as some of the issues around candida are really starting to annoy me.
1) The high levels of sugar found in a wide range of food products on supermarket shelves
2) The lack of seriousness towards candida problems by the medical profession.
3) Doctors who prescribe antibiotics but don't tell people about the risks
1) Sugar in foods
Sugar has no real nutritional health benefits to humans. It's simply a sweet flavouring. It does make life taste sweeter because believe me if you can't eat it (but you could before), life does feel a little greyer without this little pick-me-up to look forward to now and then.
But since starting the candida diet, I have been very surprised at just how much sugar is in nearly EVERYTHING. This includes the majority of sauces, ready-meals, breads, stocks, canned food, processed meat products, some dairy such as yogurts. Even a pro-biotic yogurt like Activia (which in theory should be a good option for a candida sufferer), has sugar added to it.
I recently went to buy a three-bean salad with tuna from Marks and Spencers, thinking it was a safe option but guess what, sugar is listed as an ingredient! WHY? What possible reason would have sugar included in a healthy-seeming three-bean salad with tuna? Is it just to provide a richer "caramelised" look or something? Sigh.
2) Doctors 1
From what I gather, doctors, and the medical profession in general, don't really acknowledge the existence of candida yeast overgrowth (except in patients with terminal diseases such as AIDS or cancer). This means that people with non-terminal illnesses don't get the testing or treatment they deserve which could impact on their overall health and other seemingly-unrelated diseases they might be suffering from.
I don't really understand this lack of acknowledgement, or the motives behind it (if any) but I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the sugar industry?
3) Doctors 2
Since I found out that antibiotics can be one of the main causes of candida outbreak, I've realised that of all the times I've ever been prescribed them by a doctor, NOT ONE has ever advised me to maybe take a course of probiotics afterwards in case the antibiotics destroyed my good gut bacteria. This simple measure could help with a lot of awareness raising amongst potential sufferers, and maybe prevent a lot of problems for people who are (probably) suffering from a range of complaints (as I was) and have no idea of the real cause.
Why doctors don't choose to advise this I'll never know but I guess it's symptomatic of the general approach by the medical sector.
.
But I'm well enough now to try and get some things off my chest. I've been wanting to write this little rant for a while now as some of the issues around candida are really starting to annoy me.
1) The high levels of sugar found in a wide range of food products on supermarket shelves
2) The lack of seriousness towards candida problems by the medical profession.
3) Doctors who prescribe antibiotics but don't tell people about the risks
1) Sugar in foods
Sugar has no real nutritional health benefits to humans. It's simply a sweet flavouring. It does make life taste sweeter because believe me if you can't eat it (but you could before), life does feel a little greyer without this little pick-me-up to look forward to now and then.
But since starting the candida diet, I have been very surprised at just how much sugar is in nearly EVERYTHING. This includes the majority of sauces, ready-meals, breads, stocks, canned food, processed meat products, some dairy such as yogurts. Even a pro-biotic yogurt like Activia (which in theory should be a good option for a candida sufferer), has sugar added to it.
I recently went to buy a three-bean salad with tuna from Marks and Spencers, thinking it was a safe option but guess what, sugar is listed as an ingredient! WHY? What possible reason would have sugar included in a healthy-seeming three-bean salad with tuna? Is it just to provide a richer "caramelised" look or something? Sigh.
2) Doctors 1
From what I gather, doctors, and the medical profession in general, don't really acknowledge the existence of candida yeast overgrowth (except in patients with terminal diseases such as AIDS or cancer). This means that people with non-terminal illnesses don't get the testing or treatment they deserve which could impact on their overall health and other seemingly-unrelated diseases they might be suffering from.
I don't really understand this lack of acknowledgement, or the motives behind it (if any) but I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the sugar industry?
3) Doctors 2
Since I found out that antibiotics can be one of the main causes of candida outbreak, I've realised that of all the times I've ever been prescribed them by a doctor, NOT ONE has ever advised me to maybe take a course of probiotics afterwards in case the antibiotics destroyed my good gut bacteria. This simple measure could help with a lot of awareness raising amongst potential sufferers, and maybe prevent a lot of problems for people who are (probably) suffering from a range of complaints (as I was) and have no idea of the real cause.
Why doctors don't choose to advise this I'll never know but I guess it's symptomatic of the general approach by the medical sector.
.
Sunday 26 September 2010
Supplements for healing the gut wall
So what supplements should you be taking whilst on the candida diet? There are a number of things to take which can help heal up your gut, kill off candida and improve your overall health.
So based on my research this is what I've decided to take on a daily basis:
I got most of these from Holland and Barrett (dropped around £60 on this bunch when I first started) so it's quite pricey to begin with. The L-glutamine and N-acetyle cysteine are supposed to help heal up the gut wall whilst the caprylic acid (obtained from coconuts), ginger and garlic are supposed to help kill candida. The milk thistle and charcoal helps the liver and gut detoxify and clear out the debris from your system. The magnesium I was taking already as it's supposed to help with migraines.
There are other options you can try such as Pau D'Arco, Goldenseal etc which also help kill candida, but I haven't tried them yet. I also take 1 high-strength Multienzyme digestive tablet with each meal, plus a Superlactase capsule if I have anything dairy.
In addition, I bought something called Citricidal from Amazon which is basically Grapefruit Seed Extract, supposed to be good at killing off the candida beasties. The bottle is small enough to carry to work so I tend to get a bottle of water and stick a few drops in to drink during the day, usually after lunch. You should take some three times a day but I tend to have a bottle once after lunch and once after dinner as I prefer the aloe vera in the morning. Citricidal tastes bloody awful too so I often cheat and stick a sweetener tablet in there as well, even if it feels naughty to do so, as it just makes it a tiny bit more drinkable. However it's so bitter you can barely notice the sweetener anyway!
And finally I take a Boots multivitamin for women capsule just to make sure I don't miss out on any odd vitamins in my crappy limited diet. It would be ironic that in the quest to regain my health I give myself a vitamin deficiency instead. I used to take multibionta and a perfectil everyday but then I cottoned on a few weeks ago that they both contained sucrose, which was a bummer. Despite all my efforts I had been ingesting sugar without even realising it. I have since switched to a boots own brand which doesn't seem to mention sugar (from what I can tell) but I did prefer the other two.
Not sure if I'm even taking the right amounts of each supplement but I guess a little is better than none I suppose.
Another Disclaimer: In case anyone gets the wrong idea. I don't work for Holland and Barrett! I don't have any connection with them or anything else in the health industry (except as a consumer). I'm only posting links to help people who are new to this to see the kind of products I'm using, in case they need to try them also.
So based on my research this is what I've decided to take on a daily basis:
- 1 Caprylic acid tablet 350mg
- 1 L-Glutamine tablet 500mg
- 1 N-Acetyl Cysteine tablet 600mg
- 1 Ginger Root capsule 550mg
- 1 effervescent Milk Thistle tablet 1500mg
- 2-4 Odourless Garlic capsules 1000mg each
- 2 Magnesium Citrate caplets 1000mg each
- 2 probiotic capsules 10billion each
- Handful of charcoal capsules.
- 1 capful of Aloe Vera juice in glass of water
I got most of these from Holland and Barrett (dropped around £60 on this bunch when I first started) so it's quite pricey to begin with. The L-glutamine and N-acetyle cysteine are supposed to help heal up the gut wall whilst the caprylic acid (obtained from coconuts), ginger and garlic are supposed to help kill candida. The milk thistle and charcoal helps the liver and gut detoxify and clear out the debris from your system. The magnesium I was taking already as it's supposed to help with migraines.
There are other options you can try such as Pau D'Arco, Goldenseal etc which also help kill candida, but I haven't tried them yet. I also take 1 high-strength Multienzyme digestive tablet with each meal, plus a Superlactase capsule if I have anything dairy.
In addition, I bought something called Citricidal from Amazon which is basically Grapefruit Seed Extract, supposed to be good at killing off the candida beasties. The bottle is small enough to carry to work so I tend to get a bottle of water and stick a few drops in to drink during the day, usually after lunch. You should take some three times a day but I tend to have a bottle once after lunch and once after dinner as I prefer the aloe vera in the morning. Citricidal tastes bloody awful too so I often cheat and stick a sweetener tablet in there as well, even if it feels naughty to do so, as it just makes it a tiny bit more drinkable. However it's so bitter you can barely notice the sweetener anyway!
And finally I take a Boots multivitamin for women capsule just to make sure I don't miss out on any odd vitamins in my crappy limited diet. It would be ironic that in the quest to regain my health I give myself a vitamin deficiency instead. I used to take multibionta and a perfectil everyday but then I cottoned on a few weeks ago that they both contained sucrose, which was a bummer. Despite all my efforts I had been ingesting sugar without even realising it. I have since switched to a boots own brand which doesn't seem to mention sugar (from what I can tell) but I did prefer the other two.
Not sure if I'm even taking the right amounts of each supplement but I guess a little is better than none I suppose.
Another Disclaimer: In case anyone gets the wrong idea. I don't work for Holland and Barrett! I don't have any connection with them or anything else in the health industry (except as a consumer). I'm only posting links to help people who are new to this to see the kind of products I'm using, in case they need to try them also.
What to eat and what to avoid
Ok, now that I've regurgitated everything I know about candida, what it can do to you and how you have to solve it with a specific diet, you're probably wondering what you can and can't eat.
Believe me, it's not easy to do this diet even if you are like me and already used to eliminating certaib foods. Due to my various long-term allergies and intolerances, which include eggs, walnuts, onions, garlic, dairy, wheat and gluten products, checking the ingredients of everything I buy was already second nature to me.
However, having to check and eliminate sugar as well just felt like taking things a step too far! I'd never imagined I'd have to cut that out as well.Anyway
Basically, the list of foods to avoid goes something like this:
When I say "All" I should add that there are some exceptions to some of these foods but it's best to read around the subject as there appears to be no complete definitive list of do's and don'ts. Some people say nuts are ok, or certain nuts, others say no nuts at all. Some say you can use sweetners, others no, (but I use sweeteners as I can't live without it). Also the jury's out on whether candida yeast can eat mould and fungi so it's best to avoid them all as much as possible, just in case, especially in the early stages of the diet (say first two months).
So now you're probably wringing your hands in despair over what's left to eat. So what is left?
Basically, the idea is to return to to a very simple diet free from all of the above. This doesn't leave many options open to you but the following are ok:
Despite this sparse-looking list of acceptable foods, it is possible to make some tasty meals with this limited range. However, I'm not a good cook so I tend to just live on the following:
My typical daily menu:
Breakfast:
1-2 bowls of Ready-Brek oats with water, heated up in the microwave and sprinkled with sweetener
Glass of cold water with aloe vera juice
Supplements
Lunch:
A fresh leafy salad (no dressing of course) with salmon flakes or slices, or chicken pieces. I tend to buy these from M&S or Sainsbury's but if you are more organised you can make your own. (I'm not that organised unfortunately!)
Dinner options:
Brown rice with cooked or steamed vegetables/indian curry or stir-fry etc
A piece of oven-cooked fish or chicken with steamed vegetables on the side such as spinach, green beans and sweetcorn.
Home-cooked indian food with lots of spices, chilis and garlic served with brown rice
Mid-morning/mid-afternoon snacks:
Sunflower/pumpkin seeds
Rice cakes with humous
Corn thins
I don't always stick to the organic meat and fish options as it's not easy to find, especially in ready-to eat options. It can also be expensive, especially if you're having to eat it more regularly than usual.
The worst thing about this diet however, is dealing with the lack of snack options. I'm a constant grazer and snacker in general so the time between meals is especially hard on me. I used to live on chocolate and crisps but now I tend to snack on rice cakes with humous, or sunflower seeds at work. But there's no getting around it, it's bloody BORING. Especially when everyone around you is snacking and sharing round sweets and cakes in the office. No matter how long I've been on this diet (nearly 2.5 months) the constant need for something sweet never really goes away, especially after meals.
It's also difficult for women in general when our periods are due as you tend to want to eat more anyway. Most women consume about 500 calories than normal before their periods so this just means I'm eating more boring rice cakes than usual on those days!
Believe me, it's not easy to do this diet even if you are like me and already used to eliminating certaib foods. Due to my various long-term allergies and intolerances, which include eggs, walnuts, onions, garlic, dairy, wheat and gluten products, checking the ingredients of everything I buy was already second nature to me.
However, having to check and eliminate sugar as well just felt like taking things a step too far! I'd never imagined I'd have to cut that out as well.Anyway
Basically, the list of foods to avoid goes something like this:
- All sugars in general, whether white or brown, refined or unrefined. This includes all foods which include some form of sugar such as glucose, sucrose etc. (often they end with an "ose" at the end). Also maltodextrin which is a starch sugar. (Watch out for sugars in vitamin pills, medicines too).
- All sugary foods - cakes, biscuits, chocolate, pastries etc. Watch out for sugar in sauces too such as ketchup.
- All fruits including fresh fruit, dried fruit, fruit bars, fruit in cereals, fruit juices etc.
- All starchy or carbohydratey foods such as pizza, bread, pasta, potatoes, white rice, as they all turn to sugar in the stomach. (Brown rice is apparently ok though).
- All dairy products as they contain milk sugars such as lactose. I think some soft cheeses are ok in limited amounts but a watch out for hard cheeses as they contain mould.
- All fermented products including mayonnaise, vinegar, ketchup, alcohol etc
- All products with yeast in it such as breads, cakes etc. Also anything with gluten in it.
- All fungi foods such as mushrooms
- All mouldy foods such as hard cheeses but avoid mouldy/unfresh foods in general
- All (or as much as possible) processed foods and things that have high levels of chemicals/e-numbers etc. This includes non-organic meat which has antibiotics and hormones, or non-organic fish which is contaminated with mercury
- All alcoholic drinks and soft sugary drinks, fruit juices, tea and coffee, even herbal tea which could have mould in the bags.
When I say "All" I should add that there are some exceptions to some of these foods but it's best to read around the subject as there appears to be no complete definitive list of do's and don'ts. Some people say nuts are ok, or certain nuts, others say no nuts at all. Some say you can use sweetners, others no, (but I use sweeteners as I can't live without it). Also the jury's out on whether candida yeast can eat mould and fungi so it's best to avoid them all as much as possible, just in case, especially in the early stages of the diet (say first two months).
So now you're probably wringing your hands in despair over what's left to eat. So what is left?
Basically, the idea is to return to to a very simple diet free from all of the above. This doesn't leave many options open to you but the following are ok:
- Eggs
- Fresh meat and fish (organic if possible but avoid overly processed sausages or cured meats)
- All fresh vegetables and salads (but avoid carrots as they have a high sugar content apparently)
- Brown rice / brown rice pasta / brown rice noodles
- Herbs and spices (fresh as much as possible)
- Garlic, ginger, chilis and onions
- Olives, chick peas and sweetcorn (not always sure about corn though)
- Oats
- Some seeds such as pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds etc.
- Brown rice cakes or corn cakes for snacks
- Hummus
- Quinoa
Despite this sparse-looking list of acceptable foods, it is possible to make some tasty meals with this limited range. However, I'm not a good cook so I tend to just live on the following:
My typical daily menu:
Breakfast:
1-2 bowls of Ready-Brek oats with water, heated up in the microwave and sprinkled with sweetener
Glass of cold water with aloe vera juice
Supplements
Lunch:
A fresh leafy salad (no dressing of course) with salmon flakes or slices, or chicken pieces. I tend to buy these from M&S or Sainsbury's but if you are more organised you can make your own. (I'm not that organised unfortunately!)
Dinner options:
Brown rice with cooked or steamed vegetables/indian curry or stir-fry etc
A piece of oven-cooked fish or chicken with steamed vegetables on the side such as spinach, green beans and sweetcorn.
Home-cooked indian food with lots of spices, chilis and garlic served with brown rice
Mid-morning/mid-afternoon snacks:
Sunflower/pumpkin seeds
Rice cakes with humous
Corn thins
I don't always stick to the organic meat and fish options as it's not easy to find, especially in ready-to eat options. It can also be expensive, especially if you're having to eat it more regularly than usual.
The worst thing about this diet however, is dealing with the lack of snack options. I'm a constant grazer and snacker in general so the time between meals is especially hard on me. I used to live on chocolate and crisps but now I tend to snack on rice cakes with humous, or sunflower seeds at work. But there's no getting around it, it's bloody BORING. Especially when everyone around you is snacking and sharing round sweets and cakes in the office. No matter how long I've been on this diet (nearly 2.5 months) the constant need for something sweet never really goes away, especially after meals.
It's also difficult for women in general when our periods are due as you tend to want to eat more anyway. Most women consume about 500 calories than normal before their periods so this just means I'm eating more boring rice cakes than usual on those days!
Saturday 25 September 2010
What do I know about candida?
As I've said before, I'm not an expert on candida but have been doing a lot of learning about the subject recently. I have never been tested for it as it's difficult to convince doctors to test you as they don't tend to take this issue seriously, apparently. And from what I've been reading, although the symptoms are exactly what I've been going through, tests can be inconclusive because candida yeast lives naturally in people's stomachs anyway, as part of our natural gut flora. Therefore it's going to show up in samples regardless.
The following is a basic condensation of everything I've learned over the past few months of what I understand of the candida problem (see Disclaimer below).
Candida yeast lives naturally in the gut but becomes problematic in your system when it has the opportunity to overgrow and take over your body. Antibiotics, stress, the pill etc can all provide opportunities for candida to overgrow, and so can a compromised immune system, as they can disturb or kill off the natural good bacteria in your stomach which usually keep the bad guys, like candida, at bay.
When candida does overgrow it turns from a yeast into a fungus which gives off masses of toxins which enter your bloodstream. They then get into the rest of your organs and cause havoc. I'll write a separate post about my own history and symptoms later but in general, they cause things like:
Conventionally, these all seem like separate illnesses which are treated with separate remedies, and in a lot of cases this is probably true, but in reality they could all stem from the same underlying source, ie: candida, especially if you suffer from nearly all of them at the same time, which I have.
In fact people who are prone to lifelong asthma, eczema and allergies (like myself) could be more prone to developing it as they are more exposed to antibiotics and steroid medication for longer, which can suppress or compromise your immune system. Candida is also something that can be passed by mothers through breast milk apparently so a lot of people might have it without realising.
Some also say that candida can be a factor in causing autism/ADHD/ME type problems in some people, and often rampant overgrowth has been found in patients with cancer, Aids or other serious terminal diseases. At least the conventional doctors agree on its existence in the latter, if not the rest of us.
The other thing candida does when it overgrows is to take over the gut completely. This means that it can somehow "switch off" your normal gut functions, such as your pancreas's ability to produce digestive enzymes, which can cause enormous stomach problems for some, such as bloating and gas. (I expect it does this by creating toxic overload maybe?)
And, if the good bacteria in your stomach become low, which is the front line of defence when it comes to candida overgrowth, then the candida would have made a nice cosy nest for itself in your stomach with very little threat to its existence, as long as there is a regular supply of sugar to gorge on. And who doesn't like sugar?
How does it cause allergies?
One of the things that candida can do is cause allergies and food intolerances in people, something which seems to be on the rise these days. This is because the candida burrows its way into the gut wall and creates holes to latch onto where it lives. (This also makes it very hard to find when hospital tests are done).
The holes cause something called "leaky gut syndrome" which means that your gut wall becomes so porous that large particles of food can get passed undigested into your bloodstream. This causes the blood cells to attack the food particles believing it to be an alien invader, which in turns creates an allergic reaction to the food. For some reason this seems to happen more often with proteins such as eggs and nuts etc, but I'm not sure why.
I think this can also be a cause of "FBO" or faecal body odour that people with IBS and poor gut health can have, where you can literally smell the food you've eaten coming out of your pores. Sometimes it smells of worse things, but I'm guessing it's caused by the bloodstream getting toxic with stuff coming from a leaky gut that's not supposed to be there. Read the IBS forum for more about this if you are a sufferer.
How do you cure yourself of candida?
That is the million-dollar question! I wish there was an easy solution, like a pill you can pop which can kill off the dreaded yeast. There are anti-fungal medications you can take on prescription which can be effective but apparently they don't have an effect in the long-term and often candida can become resistant to them.
My own doctor prescribed me low doses of Flucanozole (50-100mg) for seven days which had very little effect. When I explained I thought I had candida overgrowth he juat looked very sceptical and just seemed to assume I was talking about thrush! He didn't seem aware of what I was trying to explain to him. He also refused to give me a higher dose, even though the leaflet says you need 300-400mg to kill off candida overgrowth. This was disappointing and I realised the only course left to me was the diet.
As I mentioned earlier, candida lives on sugar. It's as much of a sugar addict as you or I. In fact, I wonder sometimes if the constant cravings I used to have for sugar weren't actually the cravings of the candida inside me. It used to feel like my blood was calling for sugar all the time at my worst, when it was probably the candida hardwired into my system that was making me crave it in the first place.
Anyway sugar seems to be its favourite food and it loves all types in all forms including sugar from fruit, sugar from starchy and carby foods and also alcohol too.
The only way to kill the candida is to literally STARVE it of sugar by going on a very strict anti-sugar diet. If you have no sugar in your diet, it won't have anything to eat and will die in a few days or weeks, depending on how well you do. However, this doesn't mean you are cured as you still have to heal the gut wall, and this could take longer. It's a good idea to continue the diet for a few weeks or months (I'm aiming for six months) before re-introducing sugary foods back into your diet (in limited quantities).
Word of warning: Don't overload on sugar/carbs once you think you have healed, as candida can come back! If you have any amount of sugar in your diet, even the smallest, innocent-looking boiled sweet can cause any remaining candida in your system to gorge itself on the sugar and multiply itself rapidly within an HOUR , and before you know it, you are back to square one.
Sorry to be a scaremonger but unfortunately, once you are prone to candida you will probably always be prone to candida, unless you constantly watch out for sugar in your diet. Remember, the only defence is avoiding sugar, taking probiotics and constant vigilance! (As Professor Moody would say in Harry Potter).
The candida diet process - basic steps to take
There is a basic process to undertake when doing the anti-candida diet:
1) start eliminating ALL sugar from your diet (easier said than done)
2) start taking probiotics and supplements to heal your gut - will post more about this later
3) experience "die-off" symptoms when the candida dies - it's worth battling through this to get to the other side - see below
4) continue the diet and supplements for as long as possible
5) regulary use detoxifying methods to rid yourself of toxins and dead yeast to clear your system.
About "die-off"
Die-off is something you will come across a lot if you read around this subject. It's basically the process of the candida literally dying off in your system. When candida dies it apparently gives off far more toxins than it ever did when alive. This can mean that all your symptoms can temporarily get worse than ever, for a while, before gradually getting better. It usually occurs within a few days or a couple of weeks, depending on how strict you are with the diet.
I find that my die-off experience generally included a worsening of my migraines, which lasted for several days or over a week at times. (I've had some setbacks with my diet and had to restart a few times though).
But at least it's a sign that things are going the right way!
---
Disclaimer: All of the above has been summarised by me based on what I've read about the subject on the internet, and my understanding of it, accurate or not. I don't have any medical qualifications so I don't recommend this diet to others unless they really understand what they are doing with it and if it sounds right for them. I understand that to someone who knows about this stuff this is all probably horribly simplistic, and probably inaccurate in places, but I'd be grateful if the reader could keep that in mind while reading this post.
The following is a basic condensation of everything I've learned over the past few months of what I understand of the candida problem (see Disclaimer below).
Candida yeast lives naturally in the gut but becomes problematic in your system when it has the opportunity to overgrow and take over your body. Antibiotics, stress, the pill etc can all provide opportunities for candida to overgrow, and so can a compromised immune system, as they can disturb or kill off the natural good bacteria in your stomach which usually keep the bad guys, like candida, at bay.
- tiredness and fatigue,
- sinus and lung problems,
- stomach digestive disorders such as IBS, bloating, fbo etc
- liver and kidney problems,
- migraines and fuzzy head,
- mood swings, depression etc
- skin problems, eczema, asthma
- bad breath if candida gets in the lungs
- allergies and food intolerances etc.
Conventionally, these all seem like separate illnesses which are treated with separate remedies, and in a lot of cases this is probably true, but in reality they could all stem from the same underlying source, ie: candida, especially if you suffer from nearly all of them at the same time, which I have.
In fact people who are prone to lifelong asthma, eczema and allergies (like myself) could be more prone to developing it as they are more exposed to antibiotics and steroid medication for longer, which can suppress or compromise your immune system. Candida is also something that can be passed by mothers through breast milk apparently so a lot of people might have it without realising.
One of the things that candida can do is cause allergies and food intolerances in people, something which seems to be on the rise these days. This is because the candida burrows its way into the gut wall and creates holes to latch onto where it lives. (This also makes it very hard to find when hospital tests are done).
The holes cause something called "leaky gut syndrome" which means that your gut wall becomes so porous that large particles of food can get passed undigested into your bloodstream. This causes the blood cells to attack the food particles believing it to be an alien invader, which in turns creates an allergic reaction to the food. For some reason this seems to happen more often with proteins such as eggs and nuts etc, but I'm not sure why.
I think this can also be a cause of "FBO" or faecal body odour that people with IBS and poor gut health can have, where you can literally smell the food you've eaten coming out of your pores. Sometimes it smells of worse things, but I'm guessing it's caused by the bloodstream getting toxic with stuff coming from a leaky gut that's not supposed to be there. Read the IBS forum for more about this if you are a sufferer.
That is the million-dollar question! I wish there was an easy solution, like a pill you can pop which can kill off the dreaded yeast. There are anti-fungal medications you can take on prescription which can be effective but apparently they don't have an effect in the long-term and often candida can become resistant to them.
2) start taking probiotics and supplements to heal your gut - will post more about this later
3) experience "die-off" symptoms when the candida dies - it's worth battling through this to get to the other side - see below
4) continue the diet and supplements for as long as possible
5) regulary use detoxifying methods to rid yourself of toxins and dead yeast to clear your system.
I find that my die-off experience generally included a worsening of my migraines, which lasted for several days or over a week at times. (I've had some setbacks with my diet and had to restart a few times though).
Friday 24 September 2010
Hello
Hello and welcome to my anti-candida diet blog. As you can tell from the title, I have candida and I absolutely HATE it!!
Anyway this blog is about my experiences in dealing with having a candida yeast infection in my stomach and my attempts to try and get rid of it. It's a long-term problem with a long-term solution, which unfortunately is not easy to do.
I probably should have started this blog when I started the diet (way back in late June 2010) but my mind at the time was full of getting to grips with the diet itself and all the new information I was processing, which was all a bit of a revelation to me then. Also, I hadn't really thought of a good name for this blog either, until now. (Don't know why I was trying to come up with something clever when something simple like I Hate Candida pretty much sums it up!)
Anyway, I'm not the best writer in the world and I'm definitely not an expert on this disease. Most of my research has been internet-based, on sites run by holistic practitioners, people posting on health forums and general googling. Therefore my knowledge is probably 50/50 in terms of accuracy. But if the conventional medicine practitioners took candida overgrowth seriously, then us sufferers wouldn't have to rely on finding our own solutions on the internet and elsewhere, which could have good, bad or even dangerous outcomes for some people.
However, I started this diet because the symptoms I was having for the past 15 years closely matched the symptoms of having candida yeast overgrowth. I used to avoid health articles about candida believing, wrongly, that it was all about thrush and therefore not relevant to me. But one day it dawned on me from reading some forums that this could be a reason for why so much was going wrong with me. As I said, it was a bit of a revelation, one that I wish I'd learned about years earlier. So the diet has definitely been worth a try (fun though it is not).
As much as this blog is about providing information and support to others who may be experiencing something similar, it's also going to be a kind of regular log of everything I've been going through with it, the foods I'm eating and/or avoiding, my symptoms, reactions, food suggestions etc.
I hope it will be of some use to someone going through something similar, somewhere out there. :)
Anyway this blog is about my experiences in dealing with having a candida yeast infection in my stomach and my attempts to try and get rid of it. It's a long-term problem with a long-term solution, which unfortunately is not easy to do.
I probably should have started this blog when I started the diet (way back in late June 2010) but my mind at the time was full of getting to grips with the diet itself and all the new information I was processing, which was all a bit of a revelation to me then. Also, I hadn't really thought of a good name for this blog either, until now. (Don't know why I was trying to come up with something clever when something simple like I Hate Candida pretty much sums it up!)
Anyway, I'm not the best writer in the world and I'm definitely not an expert on this disease. Most of my research has been internet-based, on sites run by holistic practitioners, people posting on health forums and general googling. Therefore my knowledge is probably 50/50 in terms of accuracy. But if the conventional medicine practitioners took candida overgrowth seriously, then us sufferers wouldn't have to rely on finding our own solutions on the internet and elsewhere, which could have good, bad or even dangerous outcomes for some people.
However, I started this diet because the symptoms I was having for the past 15 years closely matched the symptoms of having candida yeast overgrowth. I used to avoid health articles about candida believing, wrongly, that it was all about thrush and therefore not relevant to me. But one day it dawned on me from reading some forums that this could be a reason for why so much was going wrong with me. As I said, it was a bit of a revelation, one that I wish I'd learned about years earlier. So the diet has definitely been worth a try (fun though it is not).
As much as this blog is about providing information and support to others who may be experiencing something similar, it's also going to be a kind of regular log of everything I've been going through with it, the foods I'm eating and/or avoiding, my symptoms, reactions, food suggestions etc.
I hope it will be of some use to someone going through something similar, somewhere out there. :)
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