Candida/Thrush
A less fun topic today, but let's be honest nutrition and our bodies aren't always fun... .
Most people don't know this can be HUGELY affected by diet, especially if you are a chronic sufferer. You'll notice a lot of the items are the same as with constipation and lots of people suffer with both.
Things to avoid:
yeast and dampness creating foods = i.e. those at cold temperature,
too sweet/salty (avoid salt in general, only a pinch when cooking grains),
mucus producing/stale food,
alcohol
yeasted breads (bagels, challah, pretzels) - for bread better to go for rye/whole grain sourdough
overeating and overly complicated meals with lots of ingredients (simple food pairing is key)
all refined sugars (white bread/pasta)
fruit
nuts/seeds - apart from flaxseed or flax oil and olive oil if any oil.
All dairy, if you have to go for goats milk.
antibiotics, obviously. If so, make sure to take probiotics
generally, meat/eggs aren’t great. If you are not vegan, fish and chicken is better than red meat. In general you consume low levels of antibiotics from eating meat since most our livestock is treated with antibiotics.
Good things to try:
Specific probiotics that are good are those containing spore based products such as L sporogenes and B laterosporus (in this case better than the usual acidophilus) and you want to take them on an empty stomach once (or twice if its really bad) daily.
Probiotic foods: pickles, raw sauerkraut and chlorophyll rich foods (deep green veg like kale), small amounts of miso soup.
In general chlorophyll rich foods help grow intestinal microflora (the good bacteria) and stop the spread of fungus/bad bacteria - parsley, kale, watercress, cabbage, romaine lettuce)
Quality vinegar (apple cider, WITH THE MOTHER - it should say that on the bottle)
Garlic - v. antiviral/anti-fungal. (better before food), contains something called allicin which is very anti-yeast (and has loads of other benefits including anti-cancer properties, for cardiovascular issues etc). Little tip, Crushing/chopping garlic releases the allicin - chop, wait 10 mins for the chemicals in it to react, then eat…better if you can to have raw ( if you’re going to cook it still wait ten mins post chopping before cooking!).
grapefruit seed extract (diluted) pills are amazing for candida
50% of your diet should be: grains. Some grains are good (they are a good source of lignins which inhibit yeast growth) including quinoa, amaranth, oats, barley, rye - you want to try consume around 50% of these grains sprouted (you can buy eg sprouted oats in supermarkets)
10% of diet: beans and legumes (should also be sprouted) and mixed with green and low starch veg
40/50% of diet: vegetables. Low starch veg is best for candida, especially avoid sweet potato and potato. Carrots and parsnips are ok to be eaten regularly.
THE MAIN TWO that will speed up recovery the most are: eating the sauerkraut and simple food combining.