If you didn’t read the previous parts to my treatment, you can see them 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
Candida Blog Part 5: Symptom-free for Six months
Date: June 2012
Following a period of testing various foods during the Christmas Holidays of 2011, I took most of the negative foods out of my diet. These were foods I felt certain had the potential for causing various problems for me had I allowed them to remain on my regular diet. Following the holidays, I started a detox phase which I felt I needed at that time, and after several days I returned to the diet I had adapted before I started the Christmas food test. Slowly I would add foods which I had not previously eaten on the diet but which I thought would be satisfactory to use on a semi-daily diet. Once youāve made the decision to leave the Candida diet, you should enter into an extended period of time in which you will be testing various foods that are basically considered to be āhealthyā.
My Original Goal
I have no idea how you feel about your basic goal during your Candida infestation, but as far as I was concerned, I always had the same goal throughout my treatment as I did the day I learned that my problem was a Candida overgrowth. At that time I started the journey of developing a workable Candida diet as well as a supplement protocol, and the one goal I kept throughout that period of time and until today was to be rid of the infestation, all the symptoms, and to have my health restored to normal which to me meant living without an overgrowth of Candida in my body. My goal was to remain in a healthy condition for the remainder of my life. So I never had a goal which included eating junk foods. I didnāt really think about being able to eat high carbohydrate foods or sugar products such as candy, cake and cookies again, or to be able to drink any amount of alcohol I wanted. My one and only goal was to live a healthy life once again the way I did as a younger man.
Maybe itās just the way I think, but, if you have experienced the consequences of a Candida overgrowth in your body, it seems to me that simply spending the rest of your life in a healthy and well state should be enough. I canāt imagine my goal during the treatment being anything other than wishing to be healthy again, and it never occurred to me that obtaining the ability to eat junk food again someday could possibly be considered a success.
September, 2013: Last Update
My diet at this point still contains most of the vegetables that are on the Candida diet which I designed, but I have included a few foods in my diet that I didnāt eat previously. So at this point Iāve added the following foods to my normal diet.
- Occasionally jalapeno poppers; if you are aware of what a jalapeno popper involves, then you know why I only eat these on rare occasions, although I try to eat jalapeno peppers in some form four to six times a week in order to use the jalapenos as a maintenance antifungal and anti-pathogen. I also eat Brussels sprouts once or twice a week as a natural antifungal.
- Occasionally Iāll eat breaded fried foods such as breaded okra, or fried chicken or fried fish but never on a daily basis.
- Occasionally I have pimento cheese and more often Iāll have humus with millet and flax chips; I only eat pimento cheese about once or twice a week, but I do eat humus and the millet and flax chips as a snack 3 to 5 times a week.
- Granny Smith apples or occasionally pears, semi-daily, occasionally blueberries.
- Samiās Millet & Flax Bread as well as their Millet & Flax Chips: You should not eat either of these during the first stage of the diet, and they can be introduced only as a rare test food during the last part of the second stage of the diet.
During the 3rd phase of the strict diet they can be eaten a bit more often. Please be aware of the fact that millet can cause problems and even Candida symptoms if you still have a Candida overgrowth or if you still have some of the fungal form of Candida in your intestines because itās a grain.Millet also contains goiterogenic substances which means that itās one of the many foods that can limit the uptake of iodine to the thyroid, so if you have acquired a thyroid problem during your infestation, please continue to avoid millet. - Dried beans: I enjoy all forms of dried beans on my diet at this time. These are fiber-filled foods which are excellent prebiotics used for feeding the beneficial bacteria. I try to eat some form of dried beans at least five times a week.
- I try to avoid pork and beef for the most part, but around once a month I may have organic beef chili with beans. I also enjoy making gumbo occasionally with turkey or chicken and shrimp. As far as pork is concerned, I may have it once a month, sometimes not at all.
- Depending on the weekend, I may occasionally have 1 or 2 small glasses of a quality wine.
- Traveling is a necessity with my job, so this means that I will normally eat out while traveling, plus, Iām a bachelor so this is another reason why I eat out so often whether Iām traveling or not. I may eat out 4 or 5 times a week, however, I am still very careful about the foods I choose from the menu and the places in which I choose to eat.
Remaining Symptom-Free
After suffering through a long a Candida infestation filled with all the symptoms of Candida as well as the die-off symptoms, youāre probably going to be surprised as far as just how great you feel once the infestation has shrunk to a less-than-infestation level in your body.
Many people ask me if it is possible to remain in a healthy condition and without a Candida infestation for the rest of their lives following an overgrowth of Candida. I believe the answer is “yes” it is possible. However, I do not believe that you will remain in this state if you go back to providing foods for the benign Candida yeast which are normally found in all human intestines. These benign yeast can turn fungal, and please donāt allow anyone to tell you that it canāt happen again.
I have continued to eat a healthy diet since I became Candida-free, and I have also continued to use virgin coconut oil and CFort10 periodically in order to keep the intestines in an excellent condition for the beneficial flora to survive. I also take HMF Forte (Human Micro Flora) and MicroFlora probiotics and drink kefir off and on in order to add new bacteria to the flora.
HMF Probiotics and CFort10
As I mentioned, I believe it is also necessary to take a maintenance dose of the HMF probiotics (Human Micro-flora) and MicroFlora after you complete the diet. Itās also important to take a bottle of CFort10 (Undecenoic acid) at least every other month in order to keep the environment of the intestines in a beneficial condition for the good bacteria so that they will continue to multiply and survive.
Epilogue
During the past several years I have corresponded with literally hundreds of Candida sufferers; and after knowing so many who have improved dramatically as well as many who became completely symptom-free for a period of time, sometimes a long period of time, but then resorted back to their old way of eating an unhealthy diet, meaning a sugary and carbohydrate daily diet, I have come to believe that once you’ve had a full Candida albicans infestation in your body, you will always have a better chance than others of obtaining another infestation.
Please stay well, for yourself as well as for your family.
