You remember I posted some time back about the havoc thrush was wreaking in my life? Well, the struggle is still sadly ongoing, though thankfully much improved. However, I had a bit of a moment of clarity, and realised that the itchy stinging in my armpits I'd had during pregnancy (and just put down to pregnancy sensitivity) was probably some awful manifestation of the same thing - I checked with the wonderful breastfeeding ladies on Rollercoaster to have it confirmed. Whodathunkit? Bleh!
So I finally gave in and used Daktarin in the baby's mouth and on my nipples, got some Citricidal Grapefruit seed extract, resorted to Caneston as well - and committed fully to the dreaded Candida diet.
Which, as I'm vegetarian, means eating pretty much nothing - no sugar, yeast or anything processed. No dairy. Nothing fermented, no wine or vinegar, no mushrooms. Apparently no refined carbs. So for a couple days I really ate three scanty meals a day, lots of eggs. No snacks, as there was nothing to eat. I don't think that sort of severity is good for you, but I have to say, due to the lack of sugar or snacks I'd lost my ridiculous appetite by the second day! No more cravings. I actually forgot to feed my self and my poor daughter lunch one day!
Now as Christmas came on and I was doing the baking, I did give in and let myself eat my own cookies, which I love. And I've gone back on the sugar over the holiday, but I figure now New Year's day is over I have no more excuse to celebrate foodily, so I'm going back to my sugar embargo.
I am aware of how addictive sugar is - I used to crave fast food, McDonald's and Burger King, insanely, until I stopped eating them, and now the smell of the 'restaurant' as I walk by just smells like rancid grease, instead of some desperate elixir. It's scary, isn't it? It was incredibly freeing, on the weeks when I was eating nothing, not to crave crap at all. And, I lost 9 lbs in a fortnight! I've put a pound or two back on over the Xmas as I let myself loose on the cookies and crisps, but hopefully I can keep it going down with a bit of walking and no more sugar - it certainly beats my usual festive half stone I put up!
4 comments:
Do you want me to send you my candida cookbooks? It's really worth doing the diet with great strictness for a while at least - it should change your life.
But don't forget to feed my poor little god-daughter!
Sxxx
Maybe, as I was lving on air - I'm hoping not to have to go back to it with such severity, I think I've found what makes a difference and what doesn't - not always the obvious. Definitely not orange juice, which is a whole post in itself...
There's loads of delicious things you can eat, although you may have to alter your idea of delicious for the interim.
I went through a phase of eating a salad of raw vegetables with oil oil and a tiny bit of lemon juice (lots of garlic) for lunch every day. Muesli with soy milk for breakfast is very helpful, and you may also like to know that for some reason, Edam cheese is much less problematic than other cheeses.
If orange juice is a problem, you might also need to be very careful with tinned tomatoes. Check that you're not eating ones with citric acid as a preservative.
Soda bread is fine, although you need to make sure you're not eating a brand with sugar in.
Houmous is a great standby too. Homemade is obviously best, so you can add lots of garlic and olive oil, both of which are excellent anti-candida agents.
my heart goes out to you! no sugar, my idea of hell... i think a recipe book might be good, and maybe try and make a list of the dos rather than the don'ts, it's easier to get an appetite for the right things when reading over that, than to try and suppress the cravings when thinking about all the things you can't have...
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