You mentioned that you were on a very specific diet. See the thing is, I don't trust candida diets and stuff like that. I used to post on the curezone forum, and the candida forum has so much questionable advice. Very few, if any, people cure their candida to the point where they can eat like a normal person. The main problem is that they don't notice that thier candida most often corolates to mercury poisoning, nor do they consider that their candida diet might be causing more harm than good.
The candida diet saved my life more than once. Each time, due to the combined toxicity of not only mercury, but also excessive yeast levels (which release their own toxins and alcohols), I was well on the way to ending my life. I was so toxic, I could barely function.
Once I got on a candida diet, or at least a loose one when I first began - I went through a detox, to which symptoms intensified at first. I even smelt as the toxins were coming out. After a few weeks, I felt like a new person. Even though I still had amalgams at that time and was still mercury toxic, the diet reduced yeast, reduced overall toxicity and allowed me to feel and even look FAR better. I was happier, my depression lifted, my anxiety lessened and I could fall asleep again and wake up at reasonable hours.
All because I gave up toxic white sugar, wheat/gluten and yeast products. I cannot honestly see how this can be possibly bad. These products can cause havoc in certain people and turn their lives into a nightmare like they did mine. Giving them up was the BEST thing I EVER did.
I do not think of it as a candida diet alone so to speak. I think of it as a diet that builds immunity and reduces toxins as well.
On top of this, it is known that candida methylates mercury and makes it even more toxic. I believe personally that candida basically overloads the gut and liver with its own toxins, adding to the mercury and poisons every system of the body, including the brain.
Yes, mercury maybe the cause and certainly getting rid of the reason for candida is essential to a cure for candida. However, remaining in further toxic misery, whilst one removes their amalgams and goes through years of detox is unnecessary if they can reduce their misery by treating yeast at the sametime.
Plus, mercury is not the only cause of excessive candida and not all causes are known. Again, why leave candida as it is, only to create sometimes DANGEROUS side effects and increased toxicity? This makes no sense. I am far from the only person who has benefitted from excluding sugars/glutens etc.
Conversely, the typical candida diet starves the individual in the name of starving candida. What about the food as medicine --what about the building blocks?? Diet is a double edged sword. On one hand, restriction takes the burdon off and allows your body to heal, but on the other hand, not providing your body with a balanced diet results in non-healing due to lack of building blocks. The typical candida diet, often times eliminating even meat/eggs et cetera, results in the individual getting worse. They start to develope allergies due to their restricted diet while the "experts" cheerlead that those are "detox symptoms." You can easily say anything is a detox symptom and get away with it!
I do not agree. Not only did it not starve me, but I was able to once again absorb nutrients from foods. I started eating healthy foods and I even began to find my nails growing back. My eye sight improved, my hair thickened (after it had been thin and falling out), my skin lost it's blemishes and became smooth and clear. and of course all the other improvements like energy, further tolerance to exercise etc etc. The list goes on.
I have been both overweight with candida and underweight. Both times the diet balanced my weight out to normal. I would not consider that giving up sugars, glutens, yeast and sometimes high carbohydrates is starving oneself, as there are other foods available to eat and often without the toxic stuff, your body absorb alot more nutrients and functions better.
I'll say this, that when I was not on a candida diet - it did not matter what healthy foods I ate, I got little to no good out of them because I was so toxic.
The typical candida diet does not exclude meat and eggs. Most include them because they are protein and therefore low in carbohydrates. What most do exclude is sugar, yeast, gluten products and if one has it severely enough, they may also need to exclude or restrict natural high carbs in fruit, lactose etc.
My diet consists of nuts, seeds, acidophilus yoghurt, meats (chicken, beef, lamb, liver etc), eggs, butter, natural fat on meat, low carbohydrate vegetables etc. I don't consider I am starving myself of nutrients.
So my point is this: The main medicine for the body is food. Restricting your diet may cause you to feel good at first, but prolonged restriction is starvation, and your body's ability to heal is compromised because it has no building blocks to work with. I read some new research (google it) about how people with peanut allergies were cured by administration of small doses of peanuts over time, gradually increasing the dose. The body gets allergies from eating too much of one food, and also not eating it at all, at least that's what I've been led to consider.
Which is what the candida diet does. It works by excluding toxic foods and including healthy ones. Yes, some are more restrictive than others, but if a person is suffering SEVERE yeast it maybe necessary, at least for a time to be more strict.
I am eating the same foods daily. I have yet to develop an allergy to any of them. My problem is not allergy, my problem is a lowered immunity that is unable to keep yeast levels in healthy balance. Therefore, feeding that yeast allows them to flourish, further impacting my immunity and increasing toxicity of the gut, liver, brain, and everything else. If I do not do this diet, I get MUCH MUCH worse. It also takes me about 6-8 weeks to start recovering after a cheat. That's how much damage candida has done and does to me.
The only reason I'm more restricted these days is because of the virus and other issues that have further lowered immunity. Once upon a time, I only had to give up sugar, gluten and yeast. I was able to eat fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, yoghurt, nuts, seeds, potatoe chips, carob, honey, rice cakes, the whole thing. And I'd still be on that same diet, had I not been burdened with the virus and other things. But things sometimes change.
I don't expect I'll be able to stop this diet unless/until the underlying condition is cured. Therefore, in order to reduce my misery and control certain symptoms, this, at least for now, is all I have. It helps me to live. Why would I wish to languish in bed, crying daily and wanting to die because of not treating candida? Which is exactly what was happening to me beforehand.
I ran into Russ saying how he's on 100 supplements. Okay, first off, I don't believe anyone can physically ingest 100 types of supplements unless they weight over 300 pounds. And second, even if they could, they would be doing more harm than good. The body takes supplements from food. You throw in the food, it does the rest. By supplementing, you are screwing everything up because you can't do half as good of a job compensating. The body is more intelligent than the mind. Instead of supplementing with selenium, brazil nuts are a far better choice. Fiber? Fruits. Beef contains loads and loads of minerals nad nutrients. Supplements are a waste of money, except for, baking soda, iodine and salt, and water. Also, epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) which is cheap.
I cannot be certain about this. I have wondered it also.
But again, we must consider something. The early picking, spraying and shelf life of our foods has degraded them. So are we getting all we need merely from food alone anymore? All these things have robbed our foods severely, so it is highly unlikely that we are getting the proper nutrients from our foods as we once may have.
Consider also, poisons like mercury deplete them even further and actively also. Essentials like antioxidants etc, are used up far more. In my active mercury toxic days, a simple supplement package of vitamin C powder with bioflavanoids and selenium made such a dramatic impact, I was suddenly pushed into detoxing. From this alone, I began to notice some difference in my condition. Evidentally, my body did well on extra antioxidants at that time. Long term? I cannot say. Now I don't even know if it helps or not, because my body doesn't respond like it once did before this virus and tooth extraction/s.
What about possible protection from increased antioxidant intake? Would they not also help protect a person from exposures a bit more?
I am not sure if they help me or not at this point. I have just given up my multi vitamin/mineral powder, because I have found it contain maltodextrin (which is corn starch and high in sugar)....but not only that, i don't know if it's helping me or not. I know increased iodine has, but not sure about the rest. I don't know what to do at the moment. There is little point if paying out all this money for supplements winds up creating imbalances down the road and does little to really help anyway. I'm off everything at the moment, but feel I may need some fish oil or something as I have no fish in my diet (I refuse due to mercury and my reactions).
I think under normal circumstances, food is really all we SHOULD need, but oh how they have degraded the quality of our foods and how they have poisoned us! So can supplements sometimes help? I wish I knew the answer. Apparently yes for some. I think SunshineP on here went off his supplements and felt for certain that he had deteriorated off them and felt better again when on them.
If I could loosen up this diet and include more foods? I would do so. I have tried to do so. I cannot. At this time, my body is in no state to cope with that. Even consuming fruit or too much fruit, or eating a high carbohydrate vegetable is enough to relapse for me. It isn't fun taking 6-8 weeks to recover again. At this time, I dont' have much choice to stick to this diet. I make up for it by consuming substantial meals and I have no issue consuming good fats either. They have helped me too I believe.
