Candida Diet Update January 2014 – How What I Ate Affected How I felt

Survived Christmas and my friend’s party, and now…

First Month After the Indulgences –So far so good!

Last Month: Fairly ok diet (stage 3) but hectic, late nights and then ten days with my family and friends over in Germany (like below on the Christmas market with Steffi and Kristina and her two sweeties…and a fair few holiday foods!)

This Month: All the wrong foods on NYE and on my friend’s birthday. Rest of the month clean diet (as in mostly stage two type diet with fish and vegetables plus gluten free breads). My diet was also dairy free except for a bit of feta. I had no alcohol, no sugar, and sweeteners/stevia only at the weekend; meat only once a week.

Biggest Change: I slept better. I felt good most of the time. I stuffed myself on gluten free bread and flax oil.

What I typically ate this month: Tons of Teff bread!

Breakfast:

• Cabbage stir fry accompanied with chilled cucumber and a slice of gluten free Teff bread with coconut butter
• Alternatively ground brown rice pudding with rice milk
• on Saturdays gluten free Oatmeal porridge

Lunch:

• simple veggy soups like Watercress soup, Fennel soup or bone broth; gluten free bread with flax oil and onion salt (bizarre new thing of mine hehe)

Dinner:

• Grilled Salmon, rice pasta with Cauliflower sauce (my latest craze!), Quinoa pizza or gluten free bread with salted butter, prosciutto and a couple of soft boiled eggs and tomatoes

What I snacked on:

• gluten free bread (mostly Teff with Psyllium husks) toasted and dipped in flax oil with onion salt (and no! I am not pregnant ?

• savoy cabbage and green beans cooked in water with a little salt then drizzled with salted butter

• cold cooked potatoes with salted butter and sometimes a bit of Sauerkraut

• on my indulgence days I ate a bite of 70% dark chocolate from a Santa (I wish the Christmas left-overs would go away arrgh!)

and on my lovely friend Michelle’s birthday I ate all sorts of nibbles for instance tons of Corn crisps (I really did try to scrape the cheese, sour cream and bolognese sauce of, but….) and WAIT for it: I also ate a small slice of Baileys Creme Cake brimming with sugar, wheat flour and artificials (but OMG was that delicious – I could sooo eat that ALL the time… *sigh*!)

What I drunk:

Water with apple cider vinegar on awakening, ginger tea with breakfast (be careful not to drink this in the evening – keeps you awake), Volvic still water, sparkling water, dandelion tea after dinner

Lifestyle/ Activities:

Brisk walks morning and evening and once a week fitness class; also bought two fitness dvds – I guess that doesn’t count hehe

Health Issues this month:

Generally ok, just after a few days of eating bits of dark chocolate and perhaps from the cocktails and late night curry I had NYE I had a bit of thrush on one day.

Repercussions from the Baileys Cake & Corn Crisps Extravaganza

• The whole week after my Baileys cake extravaganza I felt sub par, tired, run down. The thrush came back and this time it stayed – it only went away after several days of eating low carb and taking oil of oregano and using yogurt inserts.

• My mood was also affected – I felt totally depressed the day after my overindulgence – thank god that only lasted for a couple of days but still… makes you aware of the horrible side effects of sugar!

What Supplements I took:

• I started taking Vitamin C with Rosehips daily and also temporarily took Echinacea to prevent going down with the flu and for extra immunity

• I took some Ashwagandha to combat stress

• Also took Swedish Bitters after late meals in the evening

• Afterwards I also took slippery elm, l-glutamin and gelatin to heal my leaky gut and for rapid recovery after exercise (rationed it down to a few days because that darn stuff is so expensive!)

• On days after sugar intake oil of oregano or olive leaf capsules once a day, other days no antifungal; soil based probiotics in the morning and the usual multi vit, magnesium, chlorella and Evening Primrose and Fish oil capsules & 1-2 Tbsp Sauerkraut with food mid afternoon

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

• Overall I felt I had more energy and more often than not I felt truly whole again (and for someone who felt broken for the better part of four years that is an incredible feeling that I am grateful for beyond belief). You might not think you’ll ever going to be whole again – but you will – Chin up!

• One of the most profound differences this month was that for the first time since getting Candida I was able to sleep through. I am still not sleeping as deeply as I used to. But it is a noticeable improvement to the previous months. That said my silly neighbours (who work night shifts) are still waking me up every night, but heyho… Sleep is so important – I hope you’re getting enough!

• I also learned the hard way that Ashwagandha capsules not only turn your stress into feeling invigorated and cheerful – no they make you so bouncy that you cannot sleep AT ALL! The last time I felt like this I had overdosed on ginger tea and back in the olden days where I socialized and went to parties – when  I had some vodka red bull ?
  

• This is no news but the more active you are the more resilient you are – since I am going for two brisk walks a day I feel noticeably more positive.

• A short history in how long the recovery takes: One evening of naughty foods had no effect. That one day and several small ways of overstepping the diet boundaries resulted in one Candida symptom for 1-2 days. Another evening of sugary foods, stress and too little sleep then led to a few Candida symptoms that took over a week to get rid off again (hardly seems worth it, huh!)

If you’d like to read some of my other Candida Diet Updates to see how certain things affected 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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