It’s been a challenging few days. There’s a lot of frustration with being restricted to certain kinds of foods – particularly as fruit and ready-made drinks, as well as certain breakfast cereals like Weetabix (allegedly) are off the menu – but to add to the frustration I have very limited access to my own kitchen. There have been a couple of nights where I haven’t bothered (or been able to) have dinner – but thankfully I did have some oat cakes left.

I’ve found I haven’t eaten nearly as much as I used to, and hopefully this warm sensation I’ve been feeling is the sensation of losing weight. My tongue is also looking a bit pinker than ususal. Unfortunately the headaches and sleeplessness haven’t yet gone away, and according to all the scare stories posted on the Net about candidiasis, it won’t go away for a long time. Even after five days of sugar abstinence, I would probably have the same results for a spittle test.

There were a few slip-ups: a couple of times I’d had battered fish, which I’m not 100% sure is safe. (On one occasion chips were involved, but no vinegar.) Yesterday, when I’d finally gotten the chance to cook my bavette steak, I’d had it with one of those wraps (which I’m not certain is safe either, because it’s bread). And as a last resort, on two occasions I’d had some chicken nuggets, having paid attention to their ingredients. To be honest, I dont think chicken nuggets – provided they don’t have a load of additives, yeast or other nasty products – are an issue.

The only thing I’ve been drinking right now is water with either lemon or lime juice, both of which are allegedly okay. On a couple of occasions I’d added a very tiny amount of strawberry Ribena. “Nein“, an overzealous, self-important and self-proclaimed authority on candida overgrowth will scream from out of nowhere, “you must cut sugar out completely! You’re doing it wrong! It’s all in your head blah blah positive blah”.

One other thing that would help is a few sessions of colonic “hydrotherapy” (which is a fancy name for colonic irrigation or, as I like to call it, getting your butt pumped). Colonic hydrotherapy, in conjunction with this diet, is said to help get the candida under control. I’m looking for a place that offers multiple sessions for a good deal.