A Basic Rule: If It Tastes Good, Don't Eat It!

Okay, that may be a little extreme. But it seems like most of the food items that I find appealing are no longer on my restricted anti-candida diet.  Luckily, once the vast majority of the candida has been killed off, I will be able to work some of those foods back in.
I am a creature of habit so I know that if I want to be successful on this plan, I have to eat basically the same things every day while I am on the diet.  So, I have been eating a granny smith apple for breakfast, a lettuce and organic grilled chicken salad for lunch with a salad dressing that fits the bill (no sugar, no dairy, non-processed) and just meat and vegetables for dinner (carrots, green beans, something low carb.) It doesn't sound very appealing, and it really isn't but there are a lot more food items that I could be eating if I was willing to step out of my comfort zone.

Basically, as long as it is organic and non-processed, it's okay. Oh, and it can't have any sugar in it. We've already talked about how hard it is to find food with absolutely no sugar whatsoever in it in a previous post, which you can find here.  But most vegetables are fine.  Meat is fine as long as it is organic.  It's hard to avoid dairy altogether but it can be done.  And there are some grains that are allowable, such as quinoa and buckwheat. So, it is possible to live on this diet.
The biggest problem for me is that my body is programmed to crave sugar, especially in the form of soda and chocolate. I'm still constantly battling the urge to eat something I'm not supposed to.  And, honestly, I haven't been perfect on this diet. It's easy for me to find an excuse to make an unhealthy choice.  But all I can do is learn from my mistakes and try again and I've been more successful at forgiving myself lately, which is something I've also had to work on.
After 4 months of physical therapy, I had my body fat remeasured and I've gained 7 pounds of muscle over the coarse of that time.  That's pretty cool.  I also lost 20 inches.  So, what I'm doing is working, even if the scale doesn't always say what I would like for it to say.  I am headed in the right direction and I feel like this diet has made me feel healthier, which is the ultimate goal for me.
I am looking forward to meeting with a new doctor next month.  I really feel like I may have a hormonal imbalance and hopefully she can help me with that. I will keep you posted.
For more information on what you can eat on the anti-candida diet, check this site out.
What is working for you? What are you craving?

Loads of Supplements

When I decided to do the anti-Candida diet, I did a lot of research on supplements. I found a great probiotic called Keybiotics, which is manufactured by Whole Body Research.  I have been extremely happy with the products I have purchased from this company so I thought this would be a good choice. A probiotic is extremely important when fighting candida because you want to replace the bad bacteria (including the candida) in your gut with good bacteria. That's what a probiotic is. And Keybiotics has more live-strands of bacteria than any other probiotic I could find. The reviews were great as well and even though it's a little pricey, I think it's worth it.
I am also taking anti-fungals.  These are the supplements that kill off the candida.  There are several supplements that do this but the ones I am taking are caphylic acid, grape seed extract, cinnamon, and garlic. That may sound like a lot, and it is a lot, but candida can become resistant to anti-fungals so you have to either vary your supplement or take a lot of them at the same time.  Right now, I'm taking all of them.  I won't continue to do that for the rest of my life but until I start to really kill off the candida, I want to throw everything I've got at it.
When candida dies, it releases toxins into your body.  Some of these toxins are pretty nasty and some sites say there are up to 79 different toxins that can be released.  If you kill of the candida too quickly, you can get something called candida die off when you get really sick from the toxins.  Some people feel like they have the flu.  There are some supplements you can take to relieve yourself of these symptoms so I've been taking milk thistle and so far I haven't felt too bad. I have read that it can take up to a month before the die off symptoms really hit though so I am hopeful that I can prevent and avoid this as much as possible.
I also take psyllium and bentonite.  Psyllium is a great source of fiber, which can work as a binding agent, helping to move the dead candida out of your body.  Bentonite works to bind toxins and move those out of your body. I think this may also be contributing to why I haven't gotten many die off effects.
Taking all of these things at the same time is hard and a little bit scary but I really do feel like it is doing me some good.  I am not tired like I was before, cravings are minimal and basically limited to when food I used to eat is right in my face, and I haven't had as much pain from my fibromyalgia and other ailments.  The weight loss has also been beneficial but it hasn't been my primary goal with this.
Some people that I have talked to about this have been skeptical.  They ask me how I even know for sure that I have candida overgrowth, and I guess I really didn't.  But once I decided to go ahead and try the anti-Candida diet and started taking the supplements, it became clear to me that I certainly had a lot of candida in my system. I hate to be too graphic but you can literally see the results of the supplements on the candida as they make their way out of your body.  I don't know how long it will actually take for me to be able to say, "I'm done, I've defeated the candida," but I plan to continue this battle for at least the next 6 weeks.
That isn't to say that I haven't or won't eat anything that has sugar in it because this week I've been traveling for work and I've made some food choices I wouldn't have typically made if I were at home.  It's been pretty difficult to know for sure whether or not I'm eating processed food and I've encountered some carbs.  But I'm very cognizant of my choices and what they do to my body now and I know that avoiding sugar is a necessity if I want this overgrowth to go away.  It's never going to be easy and I have to allow myself to be human sometimes but sugar and carbs are the enemy and I have to remember that.
Is anyone else taking supplements for candida and if so what are you taking and how is it going?