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Candida

naoise

Senior Member
Messages
287
I've been told I have candida(based on a stool test).
I'm finding it difficult to stick to as I'm not sure fixing it will really help. The diet is so strict I want to know that doing it will help me.

Has anyone done it or do you know if clearing the canids improves ME symptoms at all?
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
I'm battling Candida right now from ABX. Per the website below I also use Thorne SF 722 and for the first time I'm using Caprylic acid. I take probiotics to replace what the caprylic acid is killing.

The first day with the Caprylic Acid I cramped all day. That is hugely better. I am very wiped out, can barely keep my eyes open and feel like I've been running all night. This is not my normal so I'm hoping this is the die off.

I am addicted to carbs. I do not feel good if I don't eat them. With this diet I am eating some carbs, blue tortilla chips, rice pasta. I don't worry too much if I eat a few more chips. I am off sugar, no fruit is hard too.

I am starving a lot and constipated but the last time I used this diet it only took a week on the diet to get cleared up.

Candida can "cure" your ME but it can add to how crap you feel. Might be worth a shot for a week if you can manage it.

The diet I have used is this:

http://candidarecovery.com
 

naoise

Senior Member
Messages
287
@minkeygirl thank you and yeah I'm seriously addicted to both sugar and carbs it's horrible the cravings control my life at this stage!!! I'm expecting the die off to be horrendous but as you said if I can do a week then I can do another and on and on x
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
@naoise One thing I didn't do before I started this was get the food I needed so I'm still making due with what I have.

One thing that I do is save some of my protein from dinner and reheat it for breakfast. I pretty much eat a small dinner for breakfast. I keep hard boiled eggs around to snack on. Celery and almond butter is a good snack.

That diet I posted is different than one others use here but I find it works for me and there really is a lot you can eat. You are just supposed to keep carbs to 50 grams a day. If I don't I don't beat myself up.

I bought some brown rice pasta so have a taste of that. Blue or white tortilla strips are my savior and if you can fill up on salad that helps.

A huge part of this is the psychological aspect of feeling deprived. I'd kill for an apple!
 

naoise

Senior Member
Messages
287
@minkeygirl gyesh I complete get that..I've eaten healthy before but because I wanted to and found it easy but because I HAVE to it's so hard!
I was going to have the following meal plan:
Breakfast: vegetable juice and half avocado or 2 eggs and green veg Or half avocado with green veg
Lunch and dinner: fish with green veg (one carrot)
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
You can eat more than that IMO

For breakfast I had 2 fried eggs with sautéed yellow onion and a few tortilla chips. Lunch I had chicken with a tomato. Dinner I'll have pork chop with green beans and maybe some rice pasta.

Also, I don't think the veggie juice is good. You're better off just opening a can of green beans and eating that. Much more satisfying too.

Snack, not sure, maybe some baby carrots (not so great) or some other veggie. If I had it I'd eat celery or hard boiled eggs. Remember you can eat carbs, just keep the total to under 50 gms. Green veggies are the best.

I'm getting groceries Tuesday. I'm getting celery, almond butter, lettuce. Seriously go over that diet in the link I gave you.

You don't have to starve or be totally deprived. But while you're doing it you have to kill the bad bacteria. If you aren't taking say flagyl or shoot, I forget the other stuff then get some Caprylic acid and Thorne SF722.

I wouldn't start until you have everything you need. You have to make it so you will comply or there's really no point.

Remember you have to have veggies so you don't get completely constipated.

Oh I made salads with protein. So ground turkey with tomatoes on lettuce and some tortillas. Just watch the ingredients. Lots of hidden sugar and vinegar.
 

naoise

Senior Member
Messages
287
My doctor said carrots are fine but I'll limit them and mainly have green veg. Yeah maybe green juices aren't the best but they are so handy ha!

I have everything in my house so am starting tomorrow. Once I start there is no looking back. I never want to eat processed food again!
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
I was on Doxy for a month. I had no problems and my gut felt fine. Right after that i tried something new and it messed up my gut. If I hadn't take that I would not have known.

I eat processed food. I have to because it's too hard for me to keep fresh stuff around and to cook. I just keep the SF 722 around and use that. It was the abx that got me.

IMO, do what you want so that you will comply. If you eat something and you start to cramp, then you know that isn't a good thing right now. Find an eating plan that works for you.
 

naoise

Senior Member
Messages
287
@ahmo well then my candida is crazy as I literally crave sugar like a mad woman I hate it!!! But tnoro I'm starting on the candida plan as I want nothing more than to not have these cravings control my life.
 

GONZ0hunter

Senior Member
Messages
131
Location
Fragelle rock, USA
@ahmo well then my candida is crazy as I literally crave sugar like a mad woman I hate it!!! But tnoro I'm starting on the candida plan as I want nothing more than to not have these cravings control my life.

I ate no candida diet for 3 months. My candida was diagnosed on a blood test. It didn't help me, but it may help you.,

Half my Drs were believers and half weren't ha.
 

JPV

ɹǝqɯǝɯ ɹoıuǝs
Messages
858
The current line of thinking is that fungi can adapt to ketones as a food source after a few months. Something like the Perfect Health Diet might be a better approach as it as it encourages a moderate amount of carbs. Apparently Paul Jaminet developed the diet after his experience with dealing with some sort of fungal infection.
 

ebethc

Senior Member
Messages
1,901
The current line of thinking is that fungi can adapt to ketones as a food source after a few months. Something like the Perfect Health Diet might be a better approach as it as it encourages a moderate amount of carbs. Apparently Paul Jaminet developed the diet after his experience with dealing with some sort of fungal infection.

@JPV - what's a moderate amount? 50 grams?

I don't do well on super low carb, and don't particularly believe in it for most ppl as a long term solution... but guidelines very alot..
 

JPV

ɹǝqɯǝɯ ɹoıuǝs
Messages
858
@JPV - what's a moderate amount? 50 grams?
Not sure about grams but he recommends about 600-800 carb calories per day for those suffering from candida...
Chris Kresser Podcast: Episode 15 – Dr. Paul Jaminet on chronic infections, depression & more

Chris: What’s interesting is, as you’re probably aware in the alternative health world there’s a lot of different perceptions about how to deal with fungal infections and the word candida is thrown around a lot, which I think obviously that candida infection is real but I also, in my experience see it kind of slapped on as a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning we can’t figure out what else it is so we’ll just call it candida. But I’m really interested in what you were saying, I read your article when you talked about how fungi can utilize ketones and tend to progress on ketogenic diets because one of the interesting things about how the candida diet is typically administered is people remove fruit, they remove carbohydrates, starchy tubers and grains and I think they end up being on a very low carbohydrate diet in a lot of cases and perhaps not completely ketogenic or not strongly ketogenic but maybe mildly ketogenic and I see a lot of patients who just get worse and worse on those diets so I wonder if it has something to do with this mechanism that you’re talking about.

Paul: Yeah I think it’s very likely. It’s not bad to go low carb by standard American diet standards, I think probably optimal for candida might be 600-800 carb calories a day, the average American gets maybe 1700 so cutting carbs in half for the average American is a good move. But going too low carb definitely risks systemic invasion so the very low carb approach, it’s not bad for a fungal gut infection but it’s not that good either. It doesn’t do that much to promote good bacteria taking over the gut. A lot of plant foods can really help suppress fungi in the gut and promote bacteria. So they can help give you a better gut flora and I think a lot of people who go extremely low carb can end up with a gut dysbiosis of some kind after years on these extreme low carb diets.

Chris: Yeah I agree with that and I’ve definitely seen that to be true in my practice. And what about brain infections Paul, this is something you’ve talked a lot about are the nerves in the brain susceptible to the same pathogens?
 

South

Senior Member
Messages
466
Location
Southeastern United States
Paul Jaminet's book makes a really good case for eating enough of the right kind of carbs to prevent ketosis, and to keep the body balanced in such a way to help fight off candida...yet not eat too many of the wrong kind of carbs..

The book is quite good on this topic in particular - I think it's on Amazon at used prices by now - and the "preview" of it in Amazon might even let you read that chapter. Although I've read it it's hard for me to re-state it as well as he explains it.
 

ebethc

Senior Member
Messages
1,901
Is FOS (fructooligosaccharides) okay for an anti-candida protocol? There's some in my probiotics
 

jepps

Senior Member
Messages
519
Location
Austria
Is FOS (fructooligosaccharides) okay for an anti-candida protocol? There's some in my probiotics

I take high dosage prebiotics incl. FOS as long as other measures for treating candida. I treat candida since one year, the longer treatment lasts, the better I am.