DREWspective

When on any kind of abstinence diet, one often realises what they’ve been eating during down times. Being a sugarholic I would often have chocolate of some kind while at work, and definitely cake if it was available. But it’s amazing just how many things I’m not able to eat if I want to get rid of this infection – even when keeping my focus on things I can eat.

Yesterday I’d made a bit of a slip: I had a jacket potato for lunch with some onions, but added cream spinach. Apart from having next to no taste, the recipe for cream spinach contains white flour as well as milk and cream. I’m not 100% sure it was that, but I’d felt some ill effects much later that day.

Also, while green tea is touted as being such a great drink, and particularly helpful with fighting candidiasis, I’m apparently allergic to it. I’d had an allergy test using strands of hair a while ago, which suggested that green tea, along with honey and aubergines, were allergens. Drinking even one cup of green tea gave me a mild headache – and it really didn’t help that they were also hidden in a box supposed to contain roobios.

Earlier in the week I’d been a little bit adventurous and bought a piece of bavette steak – also known as flank steak – from Whole Foods Market. Fortunately meat is allowed (except for smoked meat, allegedly). Unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to cook it yet, as other things have gotten in the way.
But how to cook the steak? Most marinades, such as soy sauce (okay in my book) and honey, are unfortunately out of the question – but luckily I’d invested in some garlic puree a while ago. And garlic is supposedly a superstar in the fight against a candida outbreak.

So far I’ve managed to survive on a diet of lightly salted rice cakes, Nairn’s oatcakes, two salads, a baked potato with onions (and cream spinach) and some cashew nuts, initially green tea but now nettle tea, water and some water mixed with lime juice. I gave myself a break this afternoon with some battered fish, which I’m almost certain is okay – but we’ll find out.

Before I forget: there was some initial relief when I remembered I had a stash of stevia somewhere. But when checking to see if it would cause any problems, I came across this blog post about stuff being added to stevia products. (Is there anything these people won’t touch?)

Candida is one of the many bacteria found in the human body, and at regular levels poses no threat. When it’s allowed to thrive and spread rapidly, it results in candidiasis – and all kinds of crap can go down.

If it wasn’t for me listening to Achievment Radio many years ago, and hearing someone talk about health issues (and specifically mentioning candida infections), I literally would have no idea this issue existed.
And it’s a good thing I did, too: although I’ve had the relevant symptoms for a long time, and I’d suspected it was candidiasis, trying to tell people about it or get a diagnosis was completely useless. A blood test I’d taken in response to lethargy resulted in a lecture about cholestrol; going to the GP initially was a waste of time; I couldn’t find any useful information on what was going wrong. Good luck trying to tell your average person that you feel tired for no apparent reason, and that you suspect it’s a candida infection because your tongue has gone pale. More than likely, they’ll insist you’ve gone mad.

The symptoms of candidiasis include lethargy (a very common problem in my case), blurry vision, difficulty concentrating, eczema and fungal infections, and joint pain. I also sometimes get a kind of feeling that something’s draining energy from me… and I don’t mean SCPPs. Left untreated, these problems can get progressively worse – and harder to treat. That’s why it’s particularly disturbing that candida and candidiasis aren’t widely talked about.
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With the Taste of Christmas event on Saturday (day 93), I didn’t pass up the opportunity to sample some food. Fortunately or not, it wasn’t as much as I’d have liked.

According to mom, I’m starting to look “too thin”. I’m not entirely sure if it’s true, because my face still looks podgy. (I am aware, however, that skin takes a while to catch up with your body weight.) She got angry that I am still on the diet for another couple of weeks.

As with the misguided comments about the diet I’d received a while back, when you set about changing something major about yourself, you’re going to face violent opposition from other people who liked things the way they were.
As I know full well, it doesn’t mean they liked you as you were. Usually they preferred you being miserable, or generally unhappy with the thing you’re changing, so they can feel better about themselves. They’ll resort to any means to get you to stop doing what you’re doing: having a go at you, name calling, manipulation, badmouthing you to others, taking sides, etc.

I can’t tell you how many people took sides against me over the past year, when I was negative after being “left for dead” by someone I thought was a close friend. I also can’t count the number of people I’ve dropped after I’ve seen their true colours, and – while I’m no happier for it, because I’ve yet to find new people to replace them with – what a difference it’s made.

On a whole, losing weight hasn’t made me much happier in the long run, but it is opening up new opportunities. I’m currently wearing a white Adidas top that used to belong to little brother: it was too small for me before, but now it’s baggy!

I’m glad to report that I’ve lost 3 1/3 lbs in the last week – particularly glad because I’ve done little to deserve it.

It means again that I’ve got less than a stone to lose, and I’ve given myself two weeks to do it in. It’s possible but going to be very challenging.

It appears that the strategy of having two shakes at once in the morning is working; I don’t have to worry so much about having four “meals” a day. However, it’s incredibly important to use a blender to mix this double shake. You can get away with using a shaker, as long as you sift out the nasty lumps.

What also helps is adding some Fibersure (or equivalent) to the shake before blending or shaking it. I’ve had long-standing problems with constipation – primarily because I prefer dry foods over “wet” ones – and gas, and there’s no doubt that going to the toilet takes pounds off. Give it a try anyway.