After a week of going on a candida diet of sorts, I decided I’d had enough for the time being and put it on hold.

The main reason for giving up so soon was frustration over the misinformation (and in some cases lack of information) about foods I could and couldn’t eat, as well as the abundance of products with such ingredients as maltodextrin, yeast extract, sugar etc. If it hadn’t been for Whole Foods Market I wouldn’t have lasted a day, but even they couldn’t give me a straight answer as to which foods I could eat.

I think the real kicker in terms of misinformation was the suggestion made on a website, that candida outbreak sufferers had to do the diet for one month for each year they had the condition. I knew that the diet had to go on for “several weeks”, but whether the suggestion was true or not, I couldn’t hold out for 20-odd months.

The diet was made more difficult by personal circumstances, some caused by myself and some not. The combination of those and a no-sugar, low carbohydrate diet, as well as having to cope without alcohol or pick-me-ups, left me heavily depressed and unmotivated. Food was and probably still is my crutch; the only thing that doesn’t judge, criticise or blame.

There is some good news, however: I haven’t gone overboard and started having takeaways every evening. I’ve so far managed to limit my sugar and carbohydrate intake, and am sticking to salads and other light snacks for lunch. Later today I have the first of perhaps three colonic hydrotherapy sessions booked; I was meant to have one last week but, it was cancelled half an hour before it began.

With the help of Groupon I’ve also got myself a month’s worth of spin classes. I’m debating whether or not to go for ultrasound fat reduction (something I’ve always wanted to do since I first heard of it) as well.