Q: if candida overgrows as a result of an improperly functioning immune system, what casued the problem with the immune system in the 1st place? does this mean that we have to stay on a candida problem forever as our immune system isn’t functioning properly?

A: Things that compromise your immune system include drugs (over-the-counter and prescription), chemical exposure (everything from cleaning products to treated fabrics to hygeine products), vaccines, and physical and emotional stress. Poor nutrition plays a huge part too. When we’re not getting all the right nutrients (and we’re eating lots of sugar and refined carbohydrate), we cause our bodies serious issues.

No, you don’t have to follow the strict candida protocol forever, but if you want to keep your immune system functioning in an optimal fashion, it’s important that you eat well, supplement well, get adequate rest, water, and exercise, refrain (as much as possible) from using drugs, and limit your chemical exposure as much as possible. Once you’ve built a strong immune system, it’ll just be a matter of maintenance, and you’ll know when your immune system isn’t functioning at its best. Then you may have to restrict your diet again and take more drastic steps to support healing.

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 certainly appreciate the input, but that kind of eating would NEVER work for me. Right now while I’m pregnant, my blood sugar is not as easily controlled as I’d like it to be, and if I have even one serving of something that I don’t normally eat (like a bit of pineapple or some grapes, for instance), my fasting blood sugars are higher for about 24 hours.

Since I’m not only eating the way I do to try and deal with Candida but also to ward off diabetes, control my blood pressure, and deal with food addiction, I’ve learned that higher-sugar fruit, grain, starchy veggies and legumes just do NOT work for me.

There aren’t any nutrients in grain, legumes, and starchy veggies that I can’t get from other foods that work better for me. I feel a TINY bit differently about fruit, but I don’t NEED fruit to be healthy, and I certainly can’t tolerate much (if any) while trying to address the Candida issue. Heck, even too many cooked onions give me issues. *sigh*

I wish this wasn’t true for me. I wish I could eat whatever I wanted and be healthy. I wish I didn’t have to limit my diet the way I know I have to in order to get healthy. That’s a “head” issue that I still have to work on though — accepting the fact that I’m probably never going to be able to eat certain foods and stay healthy.

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.

Q: I was just on a website, and came across red palm oil. I don’t know very much about this fat. Is it an antifungal,like coconut oil? It is said to be rich in cartenoids and vitamin e. Have you ever tried it?

A: Palm oil is a healthy oil, but it doesn’t taste very good, so that’s why I don’t recommend it. You’ll get all the nutrients you require with just the diet and supplements we recommend, so it is not necessary.

Here’s a question I’ve received from a reader:
Q: Since Vitamin D isn’t even a vitamin and acts as a steroid hormone in the body ( much like prednisone ), wouldn’t that mean it suppresses the immune system instead of boosting it?
The reason I ask is, I met someone who had terrible psoriasis and had been put on every med imaginable for the condition. This went on for years and it never got better….until she met a functional medicine doctor who told her to stop ingesting vitamin D and stay out of the sun. Then like magic, the psoriasis started to disappear. This doctor told her the Vitamin D was suppressing her immune system and not allowing it to fight off a bacteria in her system.
I thought psoriasis was caused by an overactive immune system, but if vitamin D was suppressing it, why did the psoriasis clear up when she lowered her D levels in her body?

A: Psoriasis and all other kinds of skin diseases, eruptions, moles, etc. are caused by toxins coming out through the skin, which is one of the body’s best ways to detoxify since it protects vital inner organs. “True” vitamin D from fish liver oils and foods helps the body’s entire detoxification processes, working along with other nutrients and “good” fats I recommend – no nutrients work in isolation of many others. In fact many readers have cured all kinds of skin problems using our program, including getting rid of skin tags, rashes, rosacea, moles, psoriasis, etc.