The Candida Diet, my experience

[Guest guest]

April 2003. London. Work was waiting and the Candida diet began in

earnest.

 

So, as well as cutting out all sugar, I had also to do something

about killing the bastard belly-fungus. There are anti-fungals

available on prescription, but I had decided that I was never, ever,

going to see another doctor again, if I could help it, so I went the

natural route and stocked up on Pau d'Arco, Micropryl and Grapefruit

Seed Extract. I also ate a shed load of garlic. And, just as an

aside for all women out there who suffer with thrush now and then, a

peeled pod of garlic inserted inside overnight does wonders! And

usually pops out in the shower the next morning if forgotten about.

 

What the hell could I eat? Well, here's a rough idea of my food

options, everything organic please, if possible.

 

Onions and garlic, lots of them

Fresh vegetables, preferably raw, juiced or steamed (watch out for

carrots, lots of sugar)

Salads

Rice cakes, oat cakes, Ryvita, nothing with yeast or wheat

Soya, rice, oat milk products

Herbs & spices, cayenne pepper is great

Almonds, avoid all other nuts

Water and herb teas

Cold pressed oils

Brown rice, lentils, peas, beans

Oats (in moderation)

Organic chicken (wasn't eating red meat at the time)

Wild fish

 

Not a great deal really. God bless Fresh & Wild and a jolly

Australian chappy who brought me a crate of organic veg every week.

I was quick to realise, however, my dinner dating days were over.

Pubs and bars were out of the question too. Thus began the long

years of staying in - or feeling rather out of it, hungry or odd when

out.

 

As well as the dietary restrictions, I had to take elephant-strength

probiotics in order to replenish what little good bacteria, if any,

was left in my gut. I took Biocare Replete, when I could afford it,

but usually just the capsules, morning and night. They made me fart

horribly. In fact, one yoga class I should have really walked out of

because I was stinking worse than Dennis Nielsen's drains.

 

On top of that, I needed to heal the lining of my intestines. As the

Candida died and fell away it left raw and wounded tissue. It hurt

too. I took EnteroGuard, from Biocare again.

 

All these products, potions and specialist food were costing me a

fortune, but I realised I would be spending much more as a piss-head

foodie, so that made me feel better about the whole thing. Anyhow,

at this point of catharsis, money meant little when balanced against

health and I was earning enough to afford it and pay off the debts at

the same time.

 

I was working 7 days a week, 16 hours a day, and the huge credit card

bill I had accumulated was becoming more and more manageable and

easier to look at online. It was more than normal bloody-hard-work

because I had to use the little time I was at home and awake to cook

lunches and dinners that I could bring in to work and eat. I was

soooo serious about it all. And I was getting extremely thin. But,

fuck me, I wasn't going back to the horror of ill health. No way.

 

After about 6 weeks of the diet, I did another fungal pooh. Exactly

the same as the last one, except bigger, with many more filaments.

It was on my 30th birthday as well. A nice birthday present I

thought.

 

The only thing I regularly cheated with was coffee. I would have one

cup of organic coffee per week, usually on a Saturday afternoon. One

was never enough, however, and, jaws clenched, babbling incessantly,

it was only after the third cup I realised I had had more than enough

than I could handle. This was my first experience of Cravings.

 

Every now and then I would experience Die Off. This is when old

symptoms return with a vengeance when a massive clump of the bastard

fungus dies and is reabsorbed by the blood stream. I remember

doubling over with severe stomach cramps now and then, having to sit

them out, and carry on.

 

My friends and family could not believe the sight that beheld them

when they saw me again - only 6 months since seeing off to the other

side of the world a rather fat, miserable, spotty and unpleasant

looking young lady. They were amazed. What did you do? What the

fuck happened to you? I would tell them, and quickly go into the

sugar rant, and I was more than surprised to see the eyes glaze over,

and the incredulity kick in, as if, somehow, they would rather

believe I had met a wizard who had waved a magic wand and turned me

into a beauty queen. Astonishing.

 

Byron Katie was helping with some things. Simple things usually. I

was working at the time under a confirmed misogynist. A very unhappy

man indeed. He was so angry with the world, his wife and his three

daughters, and he took it out on any female underling. To me, this

meant pushing my mental and emotional feminine buttons at every

available opportunity. One day, he was on the phone, and while he

was having a very important conversation with someone, he looked at

me dead in the eye, and said " abortions " , most significantly. He was

hoping for a reaction and if I had have had a gun in my pocket at the

time, he'd have got one.

 

I found out later that his biggest problem was women. and his

relationship to them, in general. This became all too apparent when

a big female boss came in to talk to him and his partner, and he

literally squirmed around in his chair obsequiously, fighting the

required deference, and behaving very much out of his normal

aggressive male character indeed. Poor bastard. Abortions indeed!

A theme definitely needing covering. Anyway, The Work helped, and I

managed to let him get on with it, without getting too attached. It

was difficult though because any sign of weakness from me would mean

he was right about the horrors of the hoards of the oestrogen fuelled

beings from hell that so besieged his existence. And I couldn't let

him be right! Fuck, that's against my genetic code.

 

Byron Katie wasn't so helpful with mother, who continued to be her

usual boorish, Calvinist, difficult self. I was so attached to her

at the time, I found myself becoming inextricably bound up in the

lies and denials, over and over. I couldn't wait to leave again.

 

Mother is a strange fish. She had total control over me for so many

years that whenever it started to slip she would behave irrationally

and wrathfully, more so than usual. I remember during the " sugar

obsession " sitting in the kitchen with her, ranting away about diet

and nutrition, pointing out to her that whole cream cakes for dinner

were really not a good idea, and she spat " When you're my age you

just won't want to cook at all! " I rebounded, " Don't presume to know

what I'll want and not want to do when I'm your age " . And. The

woman lost it. Completely! She went entirely mad. She was rage

personified, exploding like an atom bomb. I could see droplets of

sweat flicking out of her facial skin in to the environment.

 

I cried. 30 years old and she upset me so. She saw my tears and

smiled. She'd won, again, the battle for supremacy in her tiny world

with nobody in it apart from her and her children. Nice woman. I

know she's my mother, but that doesn't necessarily make her a nice

person does it? Fuck, I'm so like her sometimes.

 

As a gesture to the unseen, I decided to initiate into Reiki. It had

helped me before, relaxed and calmed me, so I went back to Sandra in

West London and took the first initiation. I felt like I was doing

something extremely nutty, as if I was entering the world of orange

flowing hippy bullshit, never to return. I was scared and asked many

difficult questions the whole way along. But, at the same time, I

was happy to do it, if hugely cynical and disbelieving at the same

time. I came away, initiated, and spent time healing myself

continuously, in bed, on the tube, at my desk, whilst listening to

singing bowl meditation music and feeling very, very hungry indeed.

 

Read more at kaetiekalfou.eponym.com

[Guest guest]

On the candidiasis group we go for a much more carb-restrictive diet

to cure our dysbiosis and candida; we don't use soy, whole grains,

brown rice, rice cakes, oats oat milk. We also avoid lentils, peas

and beans because the sulfide-prioducing bacteria that irritate the

bowel lining and mobilize mercury back out of the stool into the

bowel lining thrive on the particular sugars in them. We also don't

use most cold-pressed oils as most are highly inflammatory due to the

high LA omega-6 content.

 

We DO use cold-pressed olive and coconut oils, and butter. We also

use supplemental inulin to feed our probiotic organisms, and we use

undenatured whey and selenium for protein plus glutathione production.

 

It's a big, active group:

candidiasis/

 

Bonnie

 

> " kaetiekalfou " <kaetiekalfou wrote:

>

> April 2003. London. Work was waiting and the Candida diet began

in

> earnest.

>

> So, as well as cutting out all sugar, I had also to do something

> about killing the bastard belly-fungus. There are anti-fungals

> available on prescription, but I had decided that I was never,

ever,

> going to see another doctor again, if I could help it, so I went

the

> natural route and stocked up on Pau d'Arco, Micropryl and

Grapefruit

> Seed Extract. I also ate a shed load of garlic. And, just as an

> aside for all women out there who suffer with thrush now and then,

a

> peeled pod of garlic inserted inside overnight does wonders! And

> usually pops out in the shower the next morning if forgotten about.

>

> What the hell could I eat? Well, here's a rough idea of my food

> options, everything organic please, if possible.

>

> Onions and garlic, lots of them

> Fresh vegetables, preferably raw, juiced or steamed (watch out for

> carrots, lots of sugar)

> Salads

> Rice cakes, oat cakes, Ryvita, nothing with yeast or wheat

> Soya, rice, oat milk products

> Herbs & spices, cayenne pepper is great

> Almonds, avoid all other nuts

> Water and herb teas

> Cold pressed oils

> Brown rice, lentils, peas, beans

> Oats (in moderation)

> Organic chicken (wasn't eating red meat at the time)

> Wild fish

>

> Not a great deal really. God bless Fresh & Wild and a jolly

> Australian chappy who brought me a crate of organic veg every

week.

> I was quick to realise, however, my dinner dating days were over.

> Pubs and bars were out of the question too. Thus began the long

> years of staying in - or feeling rather out of it, hungry or odd

when

> out.

>

> As well as the dietary restrictions, I had to take elephant-

strength

> probiotics in order to replenish what little good bacteria, if any,

> was left in my gut. I took Biocare Replete, when I could afford

it,

> but usually just the capsules, morning and night. They made me

fart

> horribly. In fact, one yoga class I should have really walked out

of

> because I was stinking worse than Dennis Nielsen's drains.

>

> On top of that, I needed to heal the lining of my intestines. As

the

> Candida died and fell away it left raw and wounded tissue. It hurt

> too. I took EnteroGuard, from Biocare again.

>

> All these products, potions and specialist food were costing me a

> fortune, but I realised I would be spending much more as a piss-

head

> foodie, so that made me feel better about the whole thing. Anyhow,

> at this point of catharsis, money meant little when balanced

against

> health and I was earning enough to afford it and pay off the debts

at

> the same time.

>

> I was working 7 days a week, 16 hours a day, and the huge credit

card

> bill I had accumulated was becoming more and more manageable and

> easier to look at online. It was more than normal bloody-hard-work

> because I had to use the little time I was at home and awake to

cook

> lunches and dinners that I could bring in to work and eat. I was

> soooo serious about it all. And I was getting extremely thin.

But,

> fuck me, I wasn't going back to the horror of ill health. No way.

>

> After about 6 weeks of the diet, I did another fungal pooh.

Exactly

> the same as the last one, except bigger, with many more filaments.

> It was on my 30th birthday as well. A nice birthday present I

> thought.

>

> The only thing I regularly cheated with was coffee. I would have

one

> cup of organic coffee per week, usually on a Saturday afternoon.

One

> was never enough, however, and, jaws clenched, babbling

incessantly,

> it was only after the third cup I realised I had had more than

enough

> than I could handle. This was my first experience of Cravings.

>

> Every now and then I would experience Die Off. This is when old

> symptoms return with a vengeance when a massive clump of the

bastard

> fungus dies and is reabsorbed by the blood stream. I remember

> doubling over with severe stomach cramps now and then, having to

sit

> them out, and carry on.

>

> My friends and family could not believe the sight that beheld them

> when they saw me again - only 6 months since seeing off to the

other

> side of the world a rather fat, miserable, spotty and unpleasant

> looking young lady. They were amazed. What did you do? What the

> fuck happened to you? I would tell them, and quickly go into the

> sugar rant, and I was more than surprised to see the eyes glaze

over,

> and the incredulity kick in, as if, somehow, they would rather

> believe I had met a wizard who had waved a magic wand and turned me

> into a beauty queen. Astonishing.

>

> Byron Katie was helping with some things. Simple things usually.

I

> was working at the time under a confirmed misogynist. A very

unhappy

> man indeed. He was so angry with the world, his wife and his three

> daughters, and he took it out on any female underling. To me, this

> meant pushing my mental and emotional feminine buttons at every

> available opportunity. One day, he was on the phone, and while he

> was having a very important conversation with someone, he looked at

> me dead in the eye, and said " abortions " , most significantly. He

was

> hoping for a reaction and if I had have had a gun in my pocket at

the

> time, he'd have got one.

>

> I found out later that his biggest problem was women. and his

> relationship to them, in general. This became all too apparent

when

> a big female boss came in to talk to him and his partner, and he

> literally squirmed around in his chair obsequiously, fighting the

> required deference, and behaving very much out of his normal

> aggressive male character indeed. Poor bastard. Abortions

indeed!

> A theme definitely needing covering. Anyway, The Work helped, and

I

> managed to let him get on with it, without getting too attached.

It

> was difficult though because any sign of weakness from me would

mean

> he was right about the horrors of the hoards of the oestrogen

fuelled

> beings from hell that so besieged his existence. And I couldn't

let

> him be right! Fuck, that's against my genetic code.

>

> Byron Katie wasn't so helpful with mother, who continued to be her

> usual boorish, Calvinist, difficult self. I was so attached to her

> at the time, I found myself becoming inextricably bound up in the

> lies and denials, over and over. I couldn't wait to leave again.

>

> Mother is a strange fish. She had total control over me for so

many

> years that whenever it started to slip she would behave

irrationally

> and wrathfully, more so than usual. I remember during the " sugar

> obsession " sitting in the kitchen with her, ranting away about diet

> and nutrition, pointing out to her that whole cream cakes for

dinner

> were really not a good idea, and she spat " When you're my age you

> just won't want to cook at all! " I rebounded, " Don't presume to

know

> what I'll want and not want to do when I'm your age " . And. The

> woman lost it. Completely! She went entirely mad. She was rage

> personified, exploding like an atom bomb. I could see droplets of

> sweat flicking out of her facial skin in to the environment.

>

> I cried. 30 years old and she upset me so. She saw my tears and

> smiled. She'd won, again, the battle for supremacy in her tiny

world

> with nobody in it apart from her and her children. Nice woman. I

> know she's my mother, but that doesn't necessarily make her a nice

> person does it? Fuck, I'm so like her sometimes.

>

> As a gesture to the unseen, I decided to initiate into Reiki. It

had

> helped me before, relaxed and calmed me, so I went back to Sandra

in

> West London and took the first initiation. I felt like I was doing

> something extremely nutty, as if I was entering the world of orange

> flowing hippy bullshit, never to return. I was scared and asked

many

> difficult questions the whole way along. But, at the same time, I

> was happy to do it, if hugely cynical and disbelieving at the same

> time. I came away, initiated, and spent time healing myself

> continuously, in bed, on the tube, at my desk, whilst listening to

> singing bowl meditation music and feeling very, very hungry indeed.

>

> Read more at kaetiekalfou.eponym.com

>