DREWspective

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.

Why it’s so important to have support when on this kind of diet: when things go horribly wrong, and it’s tempting to go back to sugary foods and alcohol to nurse the wounds, it helps to have someone in your corner to remind you of what’s at stake.
But of course, I don’t have that. After an incredibly miserable evening last night, where I got caught out in the sudden deluge of rain and got soaked for nothing, it was all too easy to reach for a bottle of white wine, or a glass of whisky. I didn’t; instead I’d settled for KFC (without the drink).

Today obviously marks a week since I began my candidiasis diet, and to be honest I just don’t see the point any more. The amount of conflicting information about what to eat and what not to eat is ridiculous: I’ve just had a look at yet another site which has a list of foods to avoid, and now apparently tomatoes and lemon juice, for example, should be taken in small amounts.

In terms of losing weight, because I’m generally eating much healthier now: there might have been some reduction in belly size, but I don’t think I’ve lost a single ounce. Why? Because it’s my body.

I have myself booked for colonic hydrotherapy later today, although I wouldn’t be surprised if that goes tits up as well. I barely remember how uncomfortable I’d felt afterwards last time.

Here’s a quick tip from yours truly: if you’re going to put yourself through a candida diet, or anything that poses a challenge, it greatly helps to have the ongoing support of at least one person. And by support I mean someone encouraging you to keep going, reminding you of what you’re trying to achieve.

As with most things in life, I don’t really have anybody cheering me on (apart from one person), so I have no choice but to encourage and remind myself. There are even a couple of people who choose to ignore my uncomfortable situation, and do nothing but bitch and complain, and find excuses and opportunities to fire cheap shots at me, as well as making things generally difficult. It’s par for the course – I’ve been in much worse difficult situations – and I’m coping.

It’s almost a week to the day since I started this diet, and I’m surprised I’ve gone this long.

Someone at the place I’m working asked me when I planned to stop the diet. The sad answer I had was a very vague “after a few weeks”. There’s nothing definitive at all online about how long a candida diet should take: some places say several weeks, while others suggest it’s a complete lifestyle change. Personally, I think it’s sick to have people go through life thinking they can’t eat this or that indefinitely. But you know: that’s what all these self-important, know-nothing wannabe motivational speaker Internet guru types are trying to do.

My current workplace is fortunate enough to have a canteen, but I have to say their food choices are very inconsistent – today’s salad selection literally only provided lettuce and tomatoes as safe foods. Breakfast for today and yesterday came from the hot food counter: some fried eggs and sausages, and on separate occasions a slice of brown bread and a rasher of bacon. Thank goodness for proteins.

Because of the salad debacle my lunch was very skimpy, although I could have chosen to get a salad from Whole Foods Market again (they have a kick-ass selection). I’d managed to go through a whole pack of lightly salted rice cakes again, but this time I took a gamble and tried some “raw” chocolate mousse. The only issue is that it had evaporated cane sugar in it, but otherwise it was dairy, gluten and soya free. Tastes very unusual.

Dinner (if you could call it that) was the rest of my flank steak, with some lettuce, spring onions and a little cheddar cheese. The meal was severely lacking carbohydrates, but that’s the point of a candida diet: no sugar, low carbs.

To be honest, I can’t say the diet’s had any effect. I still have the symptoms (including sleeplessness, depression and brain fog) and I don’t appear to be losing any weight.

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.