Candida: A Diet You Can Live With
Now that you're Candida-Free!
It's been at least four weeks, you've been following the yeast-free diet and are feeling much better. You have worked on your improving your digestion. Your energy level has improved, your sleeping better, and your digestion feels great! You feel truly healthy again, and now it's time to think about the possibility of being candida free. The only way to know is to try.. slowly!
But how do you begin? By reintroducing foods - one at a time - back into your diet. Remember, however, that you have learned to do without all the bad foods and done quite well without them. Don't go back to bad habits. When we say reintroduce foods, we are talking about all the good food you had to eliminate during your candida diet days, such as apples, pears, walnuts, hummus, and a really nice yeasted whole grain bread. A good bread will have simple ingredients, such as whole grains, water, salt & yeast with a possible nut or seed added for fun! We find that the whole grain sourdough breads as well as the whole grain sprouted breads are the easiest to digest. So after introducing regular wheat bread, if you find yourself very tired after meals, or you begin to produce excessive mucous, we would recommend changing your bread choices back to either sourdough or sprouted grain.
To remain healthy, continue to stay away from the bad foods, such as caffeine, artificial flavors, colors & preservatives. The body has no use for such foods and will only get you back into trouble. Cow cheese is a huge allergen and most people do much better eliminating or keeping cow products to a minimum in their diet. You will know once you try it.
What I have learned is now that you are "clean" and your body is functioning very well, it will also speak to you very clearly. By this we mean that when you put something into your body that it does not like, it will let you know. Some of the symptoms of allergies people have experienced may include stomach ache, headache, rash, sinus problems, etc. If you react now, you are probably allergic to the food, or maybe the food was full of a chemical or preservative. Your body may not stand for it any more.
Some people have told me they think they have gotten more sensitive since completing a candida program. I believe you are not more sensitive. You probably always were, but there was so much wrong with your whole system, you didn't even notice it. Now you will notice, and this is just where you want to be. The body has the ability to communicate. Our job is to learn this language so we can understand ourselves.
If you go back to your old ways of bad oils or fatty foods, you may one day realize that your digestion is blown out again. You will find that after eating, your foods are once again getting "stuck". This is your body language telling you the body is not happy again! But don't fret... you now realize you have the power to fix it! That's the beauty of this type of healing.. you do have the knowledge.. you just have to remember it!
The feeling you are experiencing may be an unhappy digestive system. Get back on your dandelion, burdock or yellow dock (whichever one you used originally) for a week or so and stop eating the foods creating the problem. And don't do denial about it! Be honest with yourself. By being honest you are back in control and responsible for your own healing. Isn't that what this is about? Self responsibility? Remember, only you can heal you. And with self responsibility comes truth. Pay attention to how you do things. And when you find you are doing things that don't make you happy, change them!
Emotions play a huge role in our ability to maintain a healthy attitude (see our website section on "healing emotions"). Don't forget to introduce flower essences at some point to heal your negative emotional states. This will create a healthy emotional atmosphere that will allow you to truly "see" how you do your stuff!
Pay attention when your body speaks and you will remain in the healthy shape you have worked so hard to achieve. Choose your food wisely - it's what will keep you healthy. We will continue to be here for any questions or concerns you may have,
Feel free to count on us! Enjoy your new, healthy way of life and good luck in the real world!