The Candida Diet

“Die Off” versus “New Candida Symptoms” Checklist

I know from my own experience that it can be very hard to differentiate between symptoms that are caused by Candida being killed (good sign), from new candida symptoms that indicate a relapse or standstill of the treatment. I have put together this checklist to help you analyse what went wrong. So you can quickly get back on track.

1. Symptom Check

How are you feeling? Are there any new signs of candida?

2. Number of Symptoms

Where exactly are the symptoms? Do they appear in one or several parts of your body? (Say first you feel it in your tummy, then your skin starts itching, then your eyes are irritable all within 40 mins from taking anti-fungals – this is an indicator that it’s a die off reaction)

3. History

Have you had this before?

4. Diet Sins

Have you eaten anything that was not allowed on the Candida Diet? (if your answer is yes chances are it is likely  to be a sign of a yeast overgrowth – can show up 1 or 2 days after you’ve eaten the suspect food)

Have you perhaps eaten something that might have caused an allergic response like a food intolerance? Typical culprits are wheat, nuts, eggs and milk.

5. Higher Dose of Antifungals

Have you taken a higher dose of antifungals? (if yes, this indicates your symptoms could be die-off reactions. Bear in mind that even natural antifungals like garlic or coconut oil and even probiotic yoghurt can cause strong reactions that look just like candida symptoms)

6. Stress Factors

Were you stressed?

7. Weather

Was it raining outside? (More mould spores in the air – more Candida)

8. Lack of Sleep

Did you sleep badly? (Your body can only heal when you have rests)

9. Lack of Exercise

Were you sitting all day and had no movement/ exercise?

Candida doesn’t need oxygen. But your healthy cells do otherwise they cannot fight candida off. So make sure that you’re working up a sweat in the gym or dancing to your favourite song at home. You want to flush the baddies out of your system. Out from  every little corner.

If you keep moving, your body has a better chance of transporting all the candida by-products out of your body via the lymph system.

This system is only working when you’re moving.
If you’re just sitting, the veins in your legs have real trouble transporting old blood back to your heart to replace it.

Help your body. Become active. Get some fresh air. Breathe deeply.

10. Lifestyle

If you did do some exercise. Was it exhausting or quite late in the day?

Physically strenuous exercise leads to lactic acid in your muscles (muscle ache). Try massaging this away afterwards or body brushing to alleviate the already existing symptoms from the candida toxins that are stored in your muscle tissues and joints.

Exercise also creates more dead candida in your bloodstream. If you go to the gym in the evening there might still be an overload of toxins in your system overnight as your body shuts down for the night. This might for instance lead to a blocked nose in the morning.

So it’s best to exercise early, massage your legs or put them up high to encourage lymph drainage.

11. Lack of Oxygen

Were you in a stuffy environment and had no fresh air all day?

12. Bad Mood

Were you worried or unhappy?

Stress creates tension and an acidic cell environment that inhibits healing and fosters candida symptoms. But the more you try not to be stressed the more hectic you’ll get.

Learn to direct your thoughts to something that creates a warm feeling in your belly or makes you feel happy or at least safe.
If you are stuck in a negativity loop or simply feeling rough following a guided meditation is best. This will give your subconscious mind a breathing space to kick-start your healing. There are some fantastic short guided meditations available to download on Itunes to get you started. A lot of them are free.

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There is one particular meditation that I recommend you try. It is the first one I ever listened to and it’s brilliant.  It really takes your mind of things. It’s from Meditation Oasis and it’s called “Deep Relaxation”. It lasts for 20-25 minutes. Just a friendly female voice talking to you with soft music in the background. Not what you’d expect if you hear the word “meditation”.

And when you try things like exercise or meditation – always remember that the benefits might not be noticeable straight away. Don’t let that dishearten you.

Only after regular relaxation/ meditation will you generally notice a relief in your symptoms.

If you answered “yes” to one or multiple of the questions above chances are your symptoms are a bit more than just die-off. Or perhaps you just created an extra burden for your body to heal the existing symptoms. So your progress with the Candida Diet is stagnating.

Everyone goes through periods of stress or occasions where you overindulge on foods that promote Candida. You’ve just got to realise that. And when you notice that you have reached a plateaux where you feel especially run down and panicky just give yourself a rest.

If you do encounter strong die-off symptoms – Focus on how you can make it better from that moment onwards.

Try not to analyse too much what you might have done wrong. Instead view this incident as a positive sign that your body is booting up your immune system. You only need to work on fine-tuning it.

Believe me, not giving into thinking “that it will never heal” and learning to let go is the hardest thing to do. I’ve slowed my own recovery down myself no end – involuntarily – because I was so stressed with my job and even when I was at home I felt I was running out of time. It was only after I learned to manage my stress levels better that I managed to get my Candida under control.

If you feel you don’t have the time to do relaxing things challenge your beliefs. What is the worst thing that can happen if you stopped for 30 minutes to lie down with closed eyes listening to calming music instead of rushing around?

It only takes a few more positively healthy choices in your life to tilt the scales and help you heal. If I can heal, so can you – I can assure you of that! If even going to festivals, changing jobs and eating the odd slice of gateaux cake didn’t permanently sabotage the recovery from candida for me; it can’t do for you either – regardless how hopeless you might feel right now.

I believe you have already read the 10 simple tips to Get Rid of Your Candida Die Off Symptoms on my website. If not here is a link to it (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Remind yourself when you hit rock bottom that you cannot think clearly when you have an acute candida infection – it really plays havoc with your emotions. So trying to make sense of it all in that situation is bound to fail. Just keep working at it, a day at a time and you will combat candida once and for all.