You can find the previous parts here:
A Candida Infestation: In The Beginning Part 1
A Candida Infestation: What Exactly Am I Dealing With? Part 2
Candida Infestation: Treatment Blog, Part 3
A Candida Infestation: The Blog, Part 4
and the last part, part 6:
Candida Treatment: Blog Part 6 Updated 1 year
December, 2011
At this point I’ve been Candida symptom-free for a little over six months, but I’ve remained very close to the Candida diet during this time. My diet for the period has consisted of mainly green vegetables, organic eggs, and a mixture of Bob’s Red Mill oat bran, Bob’s Red Mill Rice Bran flour and coconut flour in the coconut flour bread recipe. Also I’ve been eating Unsweetened Plain Greek Yogurt (only half a cup a day because this is commercial yogurt), lots of homemade kefir, coconut cream (coconut manna), fish or chicken about three times a week; no pork and the only beef I have is about once a month when I have beef chili with beans, and I have dried beans when I leave fish and chicken out of a daily meal plan. I have continued to drink only water, chicory coffee (as a prebiotic), and lemon juice occasionally with no sugar, but I do use Stevia nearly every day. I have one small Granny smith apple four or five days a week and once or twice a week I add blueberries to my yogurt.
For oils I used olive oil and coconut oil; by the way, after being symptom free for six months, I’m still taking 3 tablespoons of coconut oil a day as maintenance for the environment of the beneficial bacteria, and I eat garlic a few times a week, but I don’t overdo it with the garlic since it also contains antibacterial properties. I’ve continued to eat basically no sugar other than the amounts I receive in the apple, yogurt, kefir and what few there are in the vegetables. I also take CFort10 for the benefit of the beneficial flora.
I significantly decreased the antifungals around 3-4 months ago; at that time I was taking a maintenance dose of oil of oregano every day. At this time I take about five drops of oregano oil two to three times a week at the most – or when I remember to, and I’m still taking around 200 billion CFU’s in a probiotic capsule. I also use the HMF Neuro by Genestra probiotic at least every other month, and occasionally several months in a row. Remember that this human strain probiotic is the only one that will colonize in the intestines other than possibly some of the bacteria in homemade kefir.
According to research reported by the College of Science and Mathematics at California Polytechnic State University, Human Micro Flora are very capable of colonizing in the gut, and this is exactly what you need during and after a Candida infestation.
Seeking Professional Help?
I should add that I only mentioned this condition to my doctor one time during the entire treatment, and I only mentioned the fact that I had obtained an “allergy” as being the reason for the diet to my doctor during a yearly checkup. This was only because she was questioning the sudden weight loss I had experienced, but I never consulted my doctor as far as a treatment for the Candida overgrowth simply because I knew I would be wasting my time by doing so. I am by no means suggesting that this is what anyone else should do as I believe that seeking the aid of a professional during a Candida overgrowth should be an individual decision for everyone to make on his own.
Christmas 2011
About seven days before Christmas arrived, I decided that if I were ever going to give myself a real test, then the Christmas season would be the perfect time to do so. My Christmas celebration started the Thursday before Christmas with a large Christmas dinner and party in my office. The food included all types of desserts, eggnog, various fresh vegetables and dips, and even wine; all foods were in abundance for anyone and everyone to share, so this is where my test began.
On that day I had six or seven Italian meat balls (beef), and a small glass of eggnog containing possibly half an ounce of wine. Of course I ate portions of nearly all the green vegetables that were available as well, a few jalapeno poppers stuffed with cream cheese, and a small sugar cookie that I didn’t enjoy at all (actually I didn’t even finish it), and I was certainly not tempted at all to eat another one, in fact, I preferred to enjoy another round of the fresh vegetables with an avocado dip. I’m sure this dislike of the decorated sugar cookie was because of the huge taste change between real sugar and simple carbohydrates which were both totally different from the foods I had grown accustomed to while on the Candida diet. This may not sound like a very big change to some of you, but trust me, after over a year on the strict Candida diet which included none of these items; this was a huge change for me.
Waiting for …?
And then I waited. I waited for even the slightest reaction of any sort that would be abnormal for me. That night I certainly felt more “stuffed” than I had in over a year, and it was a rather miserable feeling to be honest as I had not experienced this in quite some time, but there was not even the slightest hint of indigestion (which I almost expected to experience) and absolutely no sign of a Candida reaction or symptom. I must admit that I believe that taking my regular dose (1/2 dropper) of Swedish Digestive Bitters before I ate anything at all probably helped my digestion that day.
On Friday I attended another Christmas celebration; this was my Mother’s family Christmas dinner. At this dinner I enjoyed (did I ever) deer stew, a small portion of potato salad, bean & cheese dip with a few potato chips (very few), a small serving of the squash casserole, a very small slice of homemade fruit cake, and various cooked and raw vegetables.
I arrived home around 10 PM without a single symptom or reaction, and still no indigestion. But I have to say I felt like I would not want to eat again for at least a month. But that wasn’t going to happen. Once again I attribute this lack of indigestion to the Swedish Bitters.
Christmas Eve, another Party?
The next day was Saturday, Christmas Eve, and I’ve known for as long as I can remember that Christmas Eve means a big dinner and party with my Dad’s entire family at my Grandmother’s large home in the country. At this huge family dinner I enjoyed baked turkey with a small amount dressing, more stuffed jalapenos (my Mom always brings these to dinners because our family enjoys them so much), chili & sour cream dip with carrots (I avoided the chips this time), and around eight o’clock that night, I had a very small bowl of my Grandmother’s cherry cobbler. By this time I certainly felt like I’d had enough food; but still no reaction other than perhaps a very slight feeling of indigestion for a few hours.
Christmas Day
And then came Christmas Day, and the family spent the entire day at my parent’s home eating our normal array of turkey, dressing & gravy with all the trimmings – these included two of my favorites, a baked sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie. Mom left the marshmallows off the sweet potato casserole and I asked her why. She knew that I was experimenting with a temporary change of diet, and she said that she was afraid I was going to “overdo” it and maybe the lack of marshmallows would cause less of a reaction. Of course, she always uses Stevia in all of her desserts, so I know that helped as well. You gotta love all the Moms out there.
I have to admit I enjoyed the sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie more than I should have; but other than the fact that I was feeling miserable from too much food again and a slight feeling of indigestion an hour or so after dinner, I experienced no signs of a Candida reaction.
After experiencing zero Candida symptoms following these meals, I can only assume that the population of Candida in my body is no longer at the level of an actual infestation, and whatever Candida may be in my body are not in the fungal form. Hopefully, I have about the same degree of benign Candida yeast in my body as a normal, healthy person who has never experienced a Candida overgrowth would have.
Only a Test
As I stated in the beginning, this was a test; which to me means that I will not continue eating as I have for the past four days.
What now?
I still had some time off of work, so the next day I started a three-day detox period which would include the pure spring water I purchased for the detox, lemon water, and green-vegetable juice that I make myself using a juicer. For the juice I use only fresh vegetables such as spinach, kale, green beans, broccoli, and I add a bit of fresh lemon juice to the mix.
Beginning the fourth day, I’ll add one organic egg and steamed vegetables to the diet; I’ll increase the number of eggs as I need them, and continue this diet for one week after which I will resume eating the way I have been for the past several months. I do not intend to add pork to my regular diet at this point and perhaps never, and I’ll have a small amount of beef only on very occasions, but I will continue having fish and possibly chicken several times a week. I will probably have an occasional glass of mild wine but no other alcoholic beverage.
The next blog installment, Part 6, will be the last update.
Part 6 can be found here:
Candida Treatment: Blog Part 6 Updated 1 year
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