In my last article, I started to outline some of the steps to beating candida and here I give you some more steps towards beating it!
Step 3 – Drop the drugs and yeast promoting foods
Avoid broad spectrum anti-biotics and immuno-suppressant drugs like cortisone, prednisone and inhaled steroids, birth control or hormone replacement therapy pills whenever possible.
Today’s powerful antibiotics are able to suppress good micro flora and cause candida overgrowth in just a few days. But wait, there’s more, in NZ, we are feeding around 70 million chickens per year low doses of antibiotic every day of their lives. Green Party’s Sue Kedgley found out that there were several strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria in 2002 in the very first chicken that was tested.
Do you eat supermarket chicken? Chances are that you will also be consuming antibiotics in a very low dose, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that very long-term low dose antibiotics is the same as short term high dose. The solution? Look for clean, preferably free-range chicken and eggs and avoid the well known commercial brands which almost always contain traces of antibiotics. Some of these companies are clever, and while they promote themselves as “our chicken contains no growth hormones”, yeah right – they do contain traces of antibiotic residues. How else can you keep thousands of birds healthy when you stuff them in cages, keep them in the dark and give them a totally unnatural lifestyle?
It is preferable to eat organic meats whenever possible, and this includes beef, lamb and pork. Venison and ocean fish are probably your best protein choices because they haven’t been “fiddled with”. Your grandparents probably had a few chickens and grew some vegetables; remember how expensive chicken used to be? Now it is cheap and plentiful and commercially produced like pink salmon – and of dubious quality.
Just look next time how much fat is even laced finely through the chicken breast and then imagine what chemicals are lurking in that meat, and particularly the fat which is where most drugs and chemicals go in an animal’s body.
Step 4 – Rest your immune system – avoid allergy promoting foods
Food sensitivities are common with candida. The things you crave are frequently what the yeast itself craves. Try to identify any possible sensitivities and weed them out. This can help a lot.
Steer clear of milk products, baked foods made with wheat flour, and all foods to which you suspect you might be allergic or sensitive to. Reducing the workload on your immune system enables it to have sufficient energy to kill candida. I have found this to be a key but often overlooked factor to a complete recovery. The immune system is the one that finishes off the job, but only if it has the energy to do so. Eating foods that have a high allergy potential or typical yeast promoting foods like bread and alcohol tires out your immune system since it is forced to “shadow box” any antibodies it has built up that mimic candida.
The foods I would like to see you avoid for several months (and if you do you may avoid them entirely for a long time because you will feel great) include: all “risen” breads (bread containing yeast), all soft cheeses, wine, beer and spirits and vinegar, chocolate, peanuts, grapes and sweets. In this category I would also place bananas, oranges, mandarins, dried fruits, but limes and lemons are fine.
Ask yourself how sweet your treats are, if you simply”must” have something sweet then have a fresh pear for example. Don’t kid yourself that “one small square of chocolate occasionally” is ok. This is not the way to tackle this beast called yeast; just say no and learn to discipline your discipline.
You will feel fantastic in time and the healthier you get, the stronger your self esteem and resolve to never go there again. I have seen this in many patients over the years; they eventually become the best advocates for living a naturally healthy lifestyle.
Step 5 – Identify and avoid chemicals and toxins
To further reduce load on your immune system, avoid as much as possible car fumes; chemical pollutants; insecticides, sprays, colours; preservatives, emulsifiers, food allergens, as well as inhaled allergens. Do you have amalgam fillings and can’t seem to shake recurrent yeast infections? Take a look at what mercury does to your gut; every time you swallow you ingest a tiny amount of methylated mercury in your bowel on which candida can potentially thrive.
Step 6 – Avoidance of yeast spores
Do you live in a cold, damp or wet environment? I had a bad candida problem in my twenties when I lived by myself for a few years in a small cottage which flooded regularly when it rained for more than two days. It was a damp house with a musty smell in the bedroom and I simply had no idea why I always felt sick and dizzy until I read Dr. Crook’s book about candida and then I moved out to a sunnier place, changed my diet and made all the right choices.
Use a dehumidifier if necessary and frequently air out your house. Mould spores are released invisibly by the millions into the air by mould in areas such as bathroom, kitchen and around leaking pipes in walls. Remove the mould or move out to a dry sunny spot. This is a much overlooked but incredibly important point. Remember the “leaky building syndrome”; it is very real in NZ. Don’t kid yourself, moulds can kill people.
Step 7 – Eric’s Candida Diet Program
1. Please avoid ALL “junk food” (white sugar, white flour, soft drinks).
2. Include liberal amounts of nutritious food from a wide variety of sources.
3. Avoid ALL sugars, chocolate, honey, molasses, and maple syrup.
4. Avoid ALL fruits and fruit juices – and – definitely no dried fruits of any kind.
5. Try not to eat the same foods every day, rotate.
6. Feature low carbohydrate vegetables, seafood, lean meats, and eggs. Try to include one serving of high carbohydrate vegetable OR a single portion of a whole grain at each meal.
7. Focus on fresh, natural and healthy choices. If it came out of a packet, bottle, bag or box it may not be the wisest choice. When you shop at the supermarket, buy the foods on the outside perimeter – these will be the fresh foods like meat and veg. Most of the stuff in the aisles is full of preservatives, sugars and colours. I tend to buy my fruit and vegetables from growers markets when I can or grow my own.
FOODS YOU CAN EAT FREELY
VEGETABLES:
Most of these vegetables contain lots of fibre and are relatively low in carbohydrates. They can be fresh or frozen and you can eat them cooked, steamed or in some cases raw:
Asparagus, Bean Sprouts, Beets, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage (1 cup/day), Capsicum, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Cucumber, Eggplant, Endive, Greens: spinach, mustard, beet, kale; Garlic, Lettuce, Leeks, Okra, Onions, Parsley, Radishes, Salad Greens, String beans, Tomatoes, Turnips, Okra, Watercress, Zucchini.
FRUITS:
Fresh coconut, avocado (½ per day), strawberries (limit 6-8 per day), lime or lemon juice. Remember to keep fresh fruit intake to a minimum for the first three weeks, and then lighten up. The fruits I generally recommend to be most cautious with are grapes, dried fruits (just avoid) and melons.
MEAT & EGGS:
Chicken, Turkey, Beef, lean cuts, Veal, Pork, Lamb, Venison, Shrimp, Crab, Crayfish, Paua, Tuna, other seafood, Salmon, Mackerel, Cod, Sardines, Eggs, fresh or frozen fish that is not crumbed.
NUTS
Almonds, Brazil nuts, Hazelnuts, Macadamia, Walnuts, Sunflower or Sesame seeds (playful)
Not too many, don’t go nuts here!
BEVERAGES:
Water and non-sweetened herb teas
EAT THESE BUT BE CAUTIOUS FOR THE FIRST THREE WEEKS
HIGH CARBOHYDRATE VEGETABLES:
Sweet corn, Peas. Snow Peas, Squash, Pumpkin, Lima beans, White potatoes (baked — not mashed or any other form), Kumara, Beans and Peas (dried and cooked)
WHOLE GRAINS:
Barley, Corn, Millet, Oats, Rice, Wheat.
BREADS, BISCUITS AND MUFFINS:
All breads, biscuits and muffins should be made with baking powder or baking soda as a leavening agent.
FOODS to AVOID
SUGAR AND SUGAR CONTAINING FOODS:
Sugar and other quick-acting carbohydrates including sucrose, high-glucose corn syrup, fructose, maltose, lactose, glycogen, glucose, mannitol, sorbitol, galactose. Also avoid honey, molasses, maple syrup, maple sugar, and date sugar.
PACKAGED AND PROCESSED FOODS:
Canned, bottled, boxed and other packaged and processed foods usually contain refined sugar products and other hidden ingredients.
BREADS, PASTRIES AND OTHER RAISED BAKERY GOODS, MILK AND CHEESES:
Avoid mouldy cheeses such as Camembert, Brie and Blue Vein. Avoid the “deli” for a while.
ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES:
Wine, beer, whiskey, brandy, gin, rum, vodka and other fermented liquors and beverages such as cider and ginger beer. No if, buts or maybe – you just avoid alcohol entirely.
CONDIMENTS, SAUCES & VINEGAR-CONTAINING FOODS:
Mustard, Tomato sauce, Worcestershire, steak, barbecue, chilli, shrimp and soy sauces; pickles, pickled vegetables, relishes, green olives, sauerkraut, horseradish, mincemeat, Tamara; ANY kind of vinegar and all kinds of vinegar-containing foods such as mayonnaise and salad dressing especially “fat-free” dressings which are often very high in sugars. (Freshly squeezed lemon juice may be used as a substitute for vinegar in salad dressings prepared with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper)
MALT PRODUCTS:
Malted milk drinks like Milo, Oval tine, Hotlinks, cereals. (Malt is sprouted grain that is kiln-dried and used in the preparation of many processed foods and beverages.)
PROCESSED AND SMOKED MEATS:
Pickled and smoked meats and fish including sausages, hot dogs, corned beef, pastrami and pickled tongue.
EDIBLE FUNGI:
All types of mushrooms. Just for three weeks, you should be fine after that.
MELONS:
Watermelon, Honeydew melon and especially Rock melon.
COFFEE AND TEA:
Regular Filtered Coffee, Instant Coffee and Tea if you drink 3 – 5 cups a day then reduce to one cup. If you drink one to two cups then stop, especially the first three weeks; green tea should be fine.
FRUIT JUICES AND SODAS:
Canned, bottled or frozen, including orange juice, grape juice, apple juice, tomato juice, pineapple juice. All Fizzy and “Energy” drinks.
DRIED AND CANDIED FRUITS:
Apricots, Dates, Figs, Pineapple Prunes, Raisins. A big problem here, and many people think that dried fruits are an “important part of a healthy diet”, when what they really want is the sugar. Eat the real thing!
LEFTOVERS:
Don’t make the easy mistake of cooking food for dinner, and then placing it in the refrigerator after covering it with cling-film, or placing it in a container with a lid ready for reheating the next day. Moulds and bacterial spores grow in leftover refrigerated food. Freezing is much better as soon as the food/s cool, then heat to a very high temperature to kill any moulds, spores or bacteria. Better to be safe than sorry.
Conclusion
Above all, be patient. It takes time for nature to rebalance your body from inside out. Candida problems can take a while to remedy. Think of like you are re-establishing your lawn and all you want to do is go out and mow and let the kids play on it, but it can literally takes months before you can even think about doing this. But then the day finally comes and the lawn once again becomes highly functional and a thing of beauty. “Patience and fortitude conquer all things.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
