Candida Diet Update for December – Christmas in Germany -with hol snaps!

Ten Days in Germany with Hearty German Food – Christmas time!

Last Month: Strict candida diet (stage 2) because of sudden eczema outbreak then ten days holiday in Lanzarote with not so candida friendly foods

This month: Fairly ok diet (stage 3) but hectic, late nights and then ten days with my family (and holiday foods!)

What I typically ate this month: Rustic Meat Dishes and lots of Sugar free Cake & Cookies

Breakfast:

• Before my holiday: Cabbage stir fry or ground brown rice pudding with rice milk
• In Germany: Homemade gluten free, Spelt and sometimes even wheat sourdough bread – mostly with “Schinken” (a prosciutto style cured bacon), salami and boiled egg. Sometimes with Quark (dairy sour creme) and jam (made one with Stevia and Xylitol but mixed with regular jam as it tasted too sour).

I SO love my family’s breakfasts!!!

And no, not all Germans eat cucumber slices at breakfast haha. That’s a weird habit I got into since starting the Candida Diet – it helps balance out the acidity from the sausage meat and eggs…

I baked my own breads because the choice of gluten free breads is limited and yeast free ones simply don’t exist. The one on the left is a Spelt & fried onion soda bread (Dinkelbrot in German) and the one on the right a gluten free rice bread bought as a mix in a health food shop. I also made a gluten free Teff bread, but that wasn’t so great (called Braunhirse in Germany). I also made a Sourdough bread from wholegrain wheat flour that my dad had asked for and then I ate (nice taste but I was concerned about the wheat causing me problems which thankfully it didn’t).

Lunch:

• At home: gluten free breads with green soups (watercress or spinach) or bone broth. Then beef stew with dumplings
  

•  In Germany: Kale, Sauteed Potatoes and Hearty Pork Sausage or Sea Bream, Potatoes and Green Beans Salad or
  

Desserts:

• at home: nada
•  In Germany: most days none, except at Christmas: Chocolate pudding with cream (dairy and calories alert!)  

and Red currant Vanilla Pudding

Dinner:

• at home: Quinoa pizza, roast chicken, salmon or rice pasta
• In Germany:  Potato Salad and Smoked Salmon or gluten free bread with cured bacon or melted cheese “Kochkaese” (I gave in I confess! I didn’t allow myself any hard cheeses though – which was incredibly hard for me – I love Gouda…!) I also had some herring with cream and onions (my mum’s traditional New Year’s meal) 
  

 What I snacked on:

• at home: Christmas Cookies sweetened with Stevia and Xylitol (so proud some of them turned out alright!)
  
• In Germany: sheep’s yoghurt and Dickmilch (sour dairy product), nuts (brazil and salted macadamia)
  

not to forget the cakes!

Oh just look at the wonderful cakes my mum made! Of the scrumptiousness – Marzipan Cream Gooseberry Cake, Apple Pie and Black Forest Gateaux cake – I only had 1/2 slice of the black forest gateaux cake as all of it was made from traditional recipes utilizing tons of sugar, refined wheat flour and dairy cream.

With the outlook of that me as the long suffering Candida victim had “FEAR” written all over my face and decided to make separate Candida friendly cakes for myself with less fruit and no sugar (just Stevia and Xylitol) and also vanilla whipped cream also sugar free – damage minimisation, hah!

Worked a treat. Ok the sugar free hazelnut cake dough seemed a bit boring so I improved it with a slice of 70% chocolate, uhm… and then made another one the next day because it was so nice ?

and I slapped a layer of vanilla pudding and cream on the stevia sweetened gooseberry cake I made for myself... delicious and yes you were counting correctly – that was three whole cakes for myself

The only cake that wasn’t such a success was my sugar free apple cake – you can see it in the photo above this one. The almond base had a nice flavour but it was super dry… so I ended up having cream with that too. And although it tasted nice with it’s subtly sweet vanilla flavour (no stevia after taste yay!) it was just far too rich to be consumed en masse like I did!

As you can see I ate A LOT of cake over the festive period

What I drunk:

• At home: Volvic still water, ginger tea, dandelion tea and water with apple cider vinegar
• In Germany: sparkling water, ginger tea, water with acv and also the odd cup of coffee (real roasted coffee with dairy milk – no subs and for once no racing heart – result!)  

Lifestyle/ Activities:

• At home: Walks and once a week fitness class
• On hols:  Daily walk and gymnastic

Health Issues this month:

Generally ok, just when I overclocked it again (think working late, eating late and too little sleep) I felt a bit nauseous and run down on two days. I think it might have been to do with the ears as well though. Dropped in some aloe ear drops and was fine again.

Repercussions from the Christmas Foods Yet? Nope!

• In Germany I had no issues from eating all that meat and cream cake – awesome!

On my previous visits it often used not to agree with me – the meat would cause inflammation, the cream would make me feel sick and the coffee used to make me jittery. Or I would have sleep disturbances. This time the only time I felt a bit bloated was when I ate wheat bread with Sourdough and melted cheese in the evening and then had a late evening snack of pudding with lots of dairy cream – my tummy did not appreciate that (oh wonder ? Other than that – mint (as my Bristol friends would say, meaning “fantastic”

• No thrush to speak of, no discomforts, no mood swings, all good. Even my skin was ok, although still sensitive and quick to itch (couldn’t wear wool, only cotton).

• I’m also quite pleased that I didn’t get a cold although there were a lot of sniffing people on the plane and trains… A sign that my immune system seems to be on the mend! Eleven hours public transport each way is nothing to be sniffed at haha!

All in all I have never had so little repercussions from the travel exhaustion and naughty foods. Usually I always felt hungover and knackered and showed symptoms for a few days…

I was “a good girl” on the German Christmas market – no Mulled Wine for me – only tea (what an awesome tea though – called Spacecookie, very good!)

I thought it was quite good to have eaten only 2 sugar christmas cookies and half a slice of a regular cake during the time I spent in Germany. I’m not counting the secret amounts of sugar that my mum hides in innocent looking foods such as salad sauces and stewed red cabbage… *sigh!*

What Supplements I took:

• at home: Oil of oregano once a day, some days no antifungal; soilbased probiotics in the morning and the usual multi vit, chlorella and Evening Primrose and Fishoil capsules
• on hols: soil based probio (Garden of Life – 1x daily) and a mild antigungal (thyme, garlic & Pau darco capsules called Candiclear with every overindulgent meal)

To recap what I learned/ How this Applies to You:

• Once the Candida overgrowth is under control your body gets more and more forgiving. That means you’ll be able to cope with more stress, occasional foods containing sugar, bigger carbs portions without repercussions and you’ll get ill less often. You’ll be able to sleep better, have more energy and a more positive outlook on life.

• You’ll lose your sweet tooth to some extent. When I did try a normal Christmas cookie and cake I found them too sweet. I actually would have preferred it with less sugar. I’m not saying a little sugar isn’t lovely but certainly not the amounts that you see in traditional recipes.

If you’d like to read some of my other Candida Diet Updates to see how certain things effected my recovery then you can view them all at one glance here or just go to the update from last month here.

Leave a comment below the sign up box to tell me how you’re getting on with your diet at the mo. What works for you, what doesn’t? And if you’d like to receive my next candida diet update, health tips or recipes by email, then sign up for updates below.

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