Candida what?

Shortly after I stated my plan for waking up at 5:30 every morning I had a visit with my midwife. It was my yearly lady physical and when I showed her the rash on my arms she suggested that I had a problem with yeast overgrowth. I told her that my chiropractor had mentioned the same thing a few weeks earlier and so she recommended I started a Candida Diet for a while until I get my yeast under control.  It has been a nightmare. I did what I do best and started researching this diet and began eating the prescribed items. Which is basically just vegetables. Then I began agonizing over all of the things that I couldn’t eat! I’m trying to have a better attitude but it has been nothing short of torture. Getting up early was not going to be an option for a while.

“It is easier to change a man’s religion than to change his diet.” -Margaret Mead

I don’t know if it’s only a man thing because take away this woman’s chocolate and someone might get hurt. No dairy, no bread, no pasta, no beer, no sweets…pretty much everything that I eat on a typical day is no longer okay for me to have. I like vegetables and I’ve been telling myself that I need to adopt better eating habits. The funny thing about God is when you ask for something He gives it to you even if that means an overgrowth of yeast in your body.

It has been a few months now since I’ve started this Candida Diet, I do allow myself to eat treats occasionally otherwise I end up binging and feeling like crap for about four days. I have noticed a difference, especially when I eat something that I shouldn’t have. Today for example I ate two hot dogs from the gas station, nine hours later and I’m still feeling like crap. I wish I could just throw up and start over but I can’t and now I have to wait this yucky feeling out until tomorrow. Feeling like crap is motivation in itself to eat better.

I know that I have a long way to go because I still have cravings. What I have learned is that when you are having a craving, that craving is your body’s way of telling you that you need something. Have you ever craved a banana? That means you need potassium. Have you ever craved steak? You need iron. When you have a candida overgrowth the yeast craves sugar in a bad way. The sugar feeds the yeast and the cycle goes on and on. Add some stress to the mix, a few doses of antibiotics and now you have an overgrowth of candida yeast.  Then once you start starving the candida you get these horrible “die off” symptoms that make you want to just give up and eat the cupcake. The symptoms that I have felt are fatigue, nausea, body aches, headaches, moodiness, pretty much feeling like shit bad all the time until the yeast dies off. There is a little more to it but that sums it up.

I’ve have found a few different sources of information on the subject but I’ve found the book titled The Candida Cure by Ann Boroch to be the most helpful, along with www.thecandidadiet.com. Also, for some food inspiration (because you can only eat so much chicken, rice and veg) I’ve been following different hashtags on my Instagram account, check out #candidadiet, #candida, #plantbased.

On a different note, anyone who may be following this blog can find me now at www.ismomhome.com. I’m trying to step up my game a little bit and try out this self hosting business. Hopefully everything switches over but I’m not quite sure how to get all of my posts transferred. So far I’ve learned everything by watching videos on YouTube and I really haven’t had much luck in this department!