Anti-candida diet: The first week

What led me to the anti-Candida diet?
About 10 weeks ago I visited a doctor, ailed by what I thought might be a sinus infection. After asking me a few questions and looking up my nose, the doctor confirmed my suspicion and quickly prescribed the antibiotic Amoxicillin for treatment of sinusitis. After ten days of treatment, I felt better but not healed, so she wrote me a new script, this time for SMZ/TMP DS 800-160 (generic for Bactrim). By the time I finished the second prescription, I felt better in some ways, but I also felt worse in a lot of other ways.

Over the next month and a half, my health went downhill big-time. Ever since I ended the antibiotic/antibacterial treatment, I've been in nearly-constant pain and discomfort all over, which just kept getting worse. Here's a list of my most noticeable symptoms:

• constant headaches and head pain
• jaw pain
• tooth pain
• eye pain
• vision disturbances (specifically optic neuritis)
• clumsiness
• emotional instability
• neck pain
• tender throat
• sinus inflammation
• nausea
• uncomfortable digestive gurgling
• chest pain (respiratory)
• confusion
• "brain fog"
• forgetfulness (I felt very stupid)
• unexplained general pain
• fatigue
• and surely some other things I can't think of right now.

This stuff was constant and it was driving me absolutely nuts, so I scoured the internet for answers. For a while I feared that I might have meningitis or a brain abscess, among other undesirable or deadly maladies. But then I started reading about Candida overgrowth. I'd already come across this condition once during my search, but I didn't look into it. Honestly, I can't even remember what made me click the "Candida" link this time, but I did, and quickly everything started making sense. It connected my recent illness with some issues I've dealt with off-and-on over the last five or ten years, including athlete's foot, toenail fungus, rashes, other skin conditions, numbness, and anxiety, as well as some of the symptoms I listed above.

Beginning the Candida diet
One week ago, after reading about Candida overgrowth, I began a Candida detox, which means I eliminated sugar, carbohydrates, and dairy products from my diet, along with other types of food I don't normally consume anyway, like alcoholic beverages. For the last week, my diet has consisted of only a handful of different foods, including eggs, chicken, fish, granny smith apples, raw garlic, peppers, berries, almonds, pecans, apple cider vinegar, acidophilus tablets, and tons of water, along with some exercise (though not as much as I've intended).

Before I began this anti-candida diet, I ate the same thing almost every day. Usually I would eat a couple bowls of Frosted Mini Wheats in the morning. (Sometimes instead of cereal, I would eat a few "fun size" candy bars.) And almost every evening I would make myself a pepperoni pizza (from scratch). Maybe a little candy at night, too. So essentially my diet consisted of a lot of carbs and sugar.

In the week since I ditched the cereal, pizza, and Milky Way diet for the anti-Candida diet, I have noticed a dramatic improvement in my health. Pretty much all my symptoms have diminished drastically, and many have disappeared. Right now I feel pretty good, and it seems like I'm going to keep improving, as long as I stay disciplined. But I know I'm nowhere near "cured" yet.

I've read a lot about die-off symptoms that occur shortly after you begin an anti-Candida diet, which happens because your body becomes overloaded with dead microorganisms (or waste) that the body simply cannot process very quickly. According to a lot of the information I've read, die-off usually can be felt in the form of the same symptoms you had to begin with, although it's not the same thing. I can't say for sure that I've experienced this die-off yet. Maybe it's because I've forced myself to drink lots and lots of water, which has enabled my body to flush out the waste efficiently. Or maybe I just haven't experienced die-off yet. That's why I created this blog; to share my experiences as they happen so other people can learn from them.

I'll try to keep updating this blog as my condition changes.

--
Aimless: The Adventures of an American Vagabond.
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Introduction

(Note: I am not an expert about anything in this post. Much of what I have to say is obviously my opinion, but it might be worth taking seriously.)

Hi, I'm Ryan and I recently realized I have a systemic Candida overgrowth, which basically means my body has been taken hostage by a fungus (or yeast, Candida Albicans). I did not receive this diagnosis from a doctor; I figured it out on my own after months of scouring the internet for clues about what may be wrong inside me, then finally putting the pieces together about a week ago. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the only way to diagnose Candida overgrowth because modern medicine has lost sight of its ultimate objective, which is to heal by eliminating the cause of our illnesses, not just symptoms.

I suspect you found this page because you are miserable and your doctor's orders haven't helped you. Consequently, just like me, you've been searching all over the internet for an answer. Am I right?

Well, now that you're here, let me help you confirm one of your suspicions: Yes, the chances are very high that your doctor is a moron. Sorry if my bluntness offends anyone, but I'm a no-bullshit kind of guy. I know you've suspected for years that your doctor is an idiot, so I just want to let you know that you've been right the whole time. The sooner you accept this as the probable truth, the sooner you can start feeling better.

Now let's get started...

Candida overgrowth is a little-known but widespread condition which I suspect may be the cause of many (or most) common human illnesses, including skin disorders, mood disorders, and neurological disorders. The last week has been a "Eureka" kind of experience for me because I think I've finally found an explanation for why I've been miserable for so long, experiencing nearly constant headaches, confusion, uncoordination, nausea, skin problems, and a long list of other issues.

Many common illnesses are probably not illnesses at all. More likely they are symptoms of Candida overgrowth. Unfortunately, as I said before, medical professionals are trained to treat symptoms instead of the underlying problems that cause our symptoms. As a result, we're all messed up inside, largely because our doctors have helped us destroy our immune systems by prescribing us antibiotics.

Antibiotics kill both the good and bad bacteria inside us, which allows the opportunistic yeast Candida Albicans to replace the good bacteria that once kept the yeast's growth in check. With our contemporary diet, which is high in sugar and carbohydrates, Candida can then easily find a paradise within our bodies because sugar is yeast's favorite food. When yeast has an adequate supply of sugar, the yeast reproduces and takes residence where good bacteria once lived, and it all goes downhill from there.

There's a lot more to it than that, but that's the basic idea of how this medical condition starts. To find out more about Candida overgrowth, start here. Don't just look at one of the search results; look at as many as you can because this thing is a big puzzle. However, most of the puzzle's pieces are not in the same box. You'll probably have to look around at a lot of different web sites if you can expect to put the pieces together. But it'll be worth it if you're patient because you'll need to know about Candida either now or in the future if you want to feel alive.

Candida overgrowth treatment is not a kooky "alternative" to modern medicine. This treatment is simply science that has been ignored by an industry that once was grounded in science.

I created this blog because I have recently begun learning about Candida overgrowth and I want to share my experiences with people in hopes that it may help others. I'm not an expert about Candida, but what I've read about how we get it and how to get rid of it makes a lot of sense to me because it's the same process that leavens pizza dough. Having experimented with pizza dough almost daily for the last 12 years, I understand that process very well, and I hope I can use that knowledge to help myself and you understand Candida.

So this blog is kind of a public diary of my journey through Candida detox and all the steps that follow it. I hope my upcoming documentation of this process can help you understand the similar journey you may be about to begin.

--
Aimless: The Adventures of an American Vagabond.
Become a fan of Aimless on Facebook.