Q: If you have any suggestions on how to get started, feel free to let me know.
I am using coconut oil and butter and am trying real hard to be good on the candida diet. Sometimes I cheat, I’m not going to lie.

A: Very strict eating plans are hard for us all, my dear. I’m far from perfect right this moment myself because I’ve been having dairy off and on (heavy cream, cottage cheese, and cream cheese). These things clearly don’t agree with me, but for a number of reasons, I keep having them. The biggest factor for me right this moment is money, but I admit that if I had more money to get other good protein/fat foods, I’d still want a bit of cream cheese or heavy cream (even though I’d have a lot less of it than what I’ve been having recently.)

I find it harder to stay on the “straight and narrow” when I’m having even these small indulgences. I find that I’m most successful once I’ve gotten everything eliminated that affects me and feeds my candida. Then, I don’t need willpower because I’m not feeding those darned yeasties (and my food addiction) anymore.

Starting with a MOVE diet IS overwhelming! That’s why we suggest taking things slowly if you’ve never done anything like this before. That way, you can get used to making the changes gradually, and it seems a whole lot less

To start, I’d bet a more liberal low-carb program (like Atkins) would work nicely. Then as you start to see results and starts to feel better, you might be willing to brainstorm ways to eliminate the foods that feed yeast (dairy, fruit, nuts) to see even better results.

The only problem when you don’t cook for yourself much is that you end up getting a lot of food with unknown ingredients. For people with ANY kinds of sensitivities, this can be a real issue. The added salt, sugar, and MSG alone can cause real problems, but you may already be getting that now
(depending on how you’re eating.)

Keep some boiled eggs and roasted meatandchicken in the fridge. I like to have a roast in the fridge. (I love roasted chicken, but I can’t stand it cold!) I’m fine eating pork or beef cold from the fridge. I can just grab it and go.

Here’s another small tip – try to remember what you can eat by the acronym MOVE:

Meats – unprocessed, preferablly free range
Oils – Healthy like olive, animal, butter and coconut
Veggies – No potatoes, corn – try to stick with green
Eggs – preferabally organic or free range.

Start by searching the net for some candida recipes that use only these allowed foods, and make yourself a lot of food.

Make sure you add fat to everything as it will help with cravings.

I’d just like to add a couple comments to the great weight loss tips post.

> – Calories should be 10-12 times your body weight. So for instance if you weigh 200 pounds your calories should be 2000-2400.

Many people don’t seem to understand that when you’re eating a high-healthy-fat, low-carb, moderate protein diet, calories don’t count like they do when you’re eating a low-fat, high-carb diet. I’ll post an interesting article shortly that describes why “a calorie isn’t just a calorie” when you’re following a low-carb, high-fat diet.

I bring this up because the calorie issue can be just as important for people who’re underweight (or of average weight.) If you have trouble keeping weight on, remember that you may need more calories than you think are necessary because your body is using the nutrients you provide it quite efficiently.

> – Avoid eating 3 hours before bed time. If you get hungry before bed, have 1-2 tbsp plain coconut oil. Also you can always bring coconut oil with you to eat in emergencies.

If you’re pre-diabetic or diabetic though, you may need to eat a high-fat snack (which can include a bit of protein too) right before bed to combat the “dawn effect”. Personally, I can’t stomach plain coconut oil, but I have been known to have a shake before bed that includes 1 egg, 1T butter, and 1T coconut oil (along with some stevia and a cup of water.) That fat/protein snack is really easy to digest AND it keeps my liver from thinking that it needs to make glucose overnight. When I have something like this right before bed, my morning fasting glucose is always much better than it is if I eat at 6:00pm and then don’t eat again ’til the next morning.

> – Eat your largest meal in the morning, and break your food down into 4-5 smaller meals (unless you have digestion issues).

Again, if you’re pre-diabetic or diabetic, it’s wise to eat your largest meal (which presumably contains the most carbs and protein) in the middle of the day. Blood sugars can run higher in the AM because of the dawn effect, so you don’t want to go and dump more protein/carbs into your system when your body’s already struggling to deal. And if you have too many carbs (or too much protein) with your evening meal, you don’t have a lot of time to mediate your blood sugar through activity. Again, you’ll head into night time with higher blood sugars and then your liver can compound the problem by thinking it needs to make even MORE glucose.

Yes, following a quality candida diet (low-carb, high-healthy-fat, adequate protein) goes a long way toward helping you maintain stable blood sugars, but people often still have trouble as they heal their bodies because of the damage that the candida toxins do to our endocrine systems and cell walls.

> – If you are stalled, make sure your calories are correct and your ratios. Do not go overboard with either protein or fat.

FitDay.com is our friend, everybody! No matter whether you’re overweight or just tracking your diet as you cure your candida, that site is invaluable! It can really let you know where you stand, and if you start to have problems, you can look back at what you’ve eaten to see if you can figure out what’s going on. For instance, some long-time low-carbers will get to the point where they have trouble losing weight. They start entering their food in Fitday and find that they weren’t eating enough or they were eating more carbs than they thought. The same bits of information can be helpful to candida sufferers. For instance, if your symtoms get worse, you can spot-check. Am I getting enough fat? Am I eating too many carbs? Am I feeling poorly because I’m not getting enough calories?

> – Also if you are stalled, consider ditching stevia, dried spices, salt, lemon juice and butter along with your typical candida diet.

Respectfully, I have to disagree on the salt thing. If you use nothing but sea salt, and you use it to taste, AND you’re drinking your water, it’s likely that the salt is not the issue. Nutrient deficiencies as well as the consumption of refined, iodized salt can certainly cause weight loss issues though.

If you suspect salt is a problem for you, look at your diet. Is there refined salt that’s sneaking in? Is your butter salted? What about seasoning blends that you use with protein and veggies? Are you eating any protein or veggies that are hiding extra salt? (Some canned fish and frozen veggies will contain added salt, so you have to look.) A little refined salt can actually do a lot of damage, but if you use SEA salt to taste, you drink your water, and you maintain an adequate mineral balance, you shouldn’t have any trouble with “salt”.

I do believe people should be fine eating small amounts of fruits here and there, and perhaps goat dairy. But I think people should definitely listen to
their bodies. If you start getting symptoms, cravings, or other issues, that’s your body telling you something.

Just like how I suggest you ease into this diet, you should ease out too. If you change one thing at a time, and leave a week in between each change, you can often clearly see which change was the issue.

If you are asking about the order in which to reintroduce foods (from a list of fruit, dairy, alcohol, and coffee.) It’s really hard to say because if you’ve already eliminated coffee, my philosophy is, “Why put back something that’s really not healthy for you?” Same with the alcohol.

One of my biggest beefs with coffee is that addicted people use it as their primary beverage. My husband probably drinks 40oz of coffee a day, and he’s following an anti-candida diet that’s not quite as strict, but it’s not quite as liberal as Atkins’ “Ongoing Weightloss” phase of the Atkins Nutritional Approach.
He still has serious problems with headaches, and a lot of it has to do with dehydration. Caffeine is VERY dehydrating, and it seems to me that it’s almost counter-productive to drink the stuff. That’s my main beef with coffee.

With fruit and dairy, it’s a little harder to say. When a person is HEALTHY, I’m not convinced that small amounts of fruit are bad, and I’m not convinced that the right kinds of dairy are all that bad for people who aren’t sensitive to it.

For me, even if dairy didn’t feed my candida, it’s one of the foods that triggers addictive eating for me. Just because it works that way for me though doesn’t mean that organic, raw dairy works that way for everyone.
I just hate to see people resorting primarily to cheese, cream, and yogurt for their protein/fat. I DON’T think that’s healthy. I really think people miss out on important nutrients when they do that.

And fruit… Well, again, if you’re not going overboard, I don’t really think fruit’s all that bad for HEALTHY people in moderation. The problem is, I’ve seen way too many people follow a restricted diet, then try and add foods back in, and by the end, they’re not eating anything resembling healthy at all because they’re only eating the foods that they reintroduced and NONE of the good foods they were eating before.