Candida Cleanse: Day 14

Whew! In 1 hour and 20 minutes, I will have completed 2 weeks of my candida cleanse. I haven't had any symptoms of die-off in almost a week. Several of my candida symptoms are improving dramatically, which is awesome. Hooray for experiments that work!

Unfortunately, on Thursday, I started to experience massive sugar cravings. Why I didn't get them earlier, I have no idea, but for the past 2 days, I've had visions of Skittles, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, cookies, chocolate, and ice cream noisily tapdancing through my head. I've managed to hold off on succumbing, but it has been tough. Fortunately, it hasn't been anywhere near as difficult as when I quit caffeine. That was pure misery. This is more of an annoyance. I almost gave in to the craving this evening, but somehow I managed to park my butt and not get a cupcake.

My goal is to keep away from the refined sugar until I go to Colorado in a week and a half for my best friend's wedding. At that point, my cleanse is done. There's no way I'm going to pass on gluten free, dairy free wedding torte (hooray for having a best friend who is also a glutard!). I'll be honest, though, if these cravings keep up the way they are now, I might not be able to hold off for that long. We shall see...

Candida Cleanse: Day 8

After 1 week of my cleanse, I don't have that much to report. My die-off symptoms seem to have gone away for the most part (I still don't have the best appetite ever, but it's improving). I decided last night that after a full week of not having any fruit at all that I would let myself start eating fruit again and add a probiotic to my regimen. I was thrilled about my decision to eat fruit when I went to the farmer's market where they had beautiful Rainier cherries, and lush, red strawberries. Eating the myriad delicious local fruits that are available is my favorite thing about summer, so not getting to eat any was a bit like torture. I suppose if adding fruit to my diet causes my cleanse to fail miserably, I'll just wait until winter to try again.

Candida Cleanse: Day 6

I don't have much to report. Aside from agonizing gastric pains that left me doubled over on Wednesday, I've been doing OK. I haven't had any real sugar cravings. Occasionally, I think that it would be nice to eat some sugar, but then I don't, and it's fine. The only really strange thing is that I have had no appetite. I'll feel ravenously hungry, but when it comes time to eat, I have a difficult time choking it down. I've broken down and allowed myself to eat a few processed foods (namely rice crackers that I normally inhale in the space of a heartbeat) just so that I can get enough to eat, but even those hold no appeal. This complete lack of desire to eat is probably why I'm not having any difficulty with not eating sugar. If I don't want to eat anything, that includes the things I'm not supposed to eat.

Candida Cleanse: Day 3

I'm at the end of Day 3 of my candida cleanse, and while it hasn't been the most fun thing ever, it hasn't been the worst thing ever either.

Figuring out what to eat has been interesting. So many things that I eat have sugar, sweeteners, or fruit in them! It has also been frustrating when I eat what should be a perfectly filling meal, but since there aren't a lot of carbs, I don't feel quite satisfied. I feel full, but I feel like I need to eat more. I should probably cook up a big pot of brown rice just for the carbs.

Yesterday, I felt like I was going a little bit crazy, so I popped some popcorn (0g sugar!) in coconut oil and then ate it all. It was over the top, but it made me feel a little better.

I've started to experience some of the candida die-off symptoms. I'm fatigued and have had a headache. I also felt quite bloated, and I even felt a tiny bit tipsy last night (and not a drop of alcohol crossed my lips).

I'm definitely looking forward to the end of this cleanse. I will be thrilled when I can eat fruit again.

Candida Cleanse: Day 1

I've decided to try a candida cleanse. Candida is a yeast that grows naturally in the body. It becomes a problem when it gets out of balance with the rest of the body's natural flora (mainly bacteria). There are many symptoms associated with candidiasis, many of which I have. A list of some common symptoms can be found here. In case you're dying to know what my symptoms are, I have acne, fatigue, red eyes, intense sugar cravings, and digestive issues.

I am going about my cleanse by eliminating all sugar from my diet for 2 weeks. This includes fruit (which is going to be extremely challenging), honey, high fructose corn syrup (which I was already avoiding), and anything else that's labeled a sugar. My diet is going to consist of vegetables (including fruits that everyone confuses with vegetables, like peppers and avocados), whole gluten-free grains, proteins, and good fats. It's also important to avoid vinegar (with the exception of raw apple cider vinegar) because it can encourage candida growth. I won't be eating any processed foods at all, and I won't be going out to eat. In addition to this diet of doom, I'm taking herbal supplements that are geared towards killing candida. The supplement regimen consists of fiber and 2 different liquid extracts.

Apparently, I have intense sugar cravings to look forward to. I also will probably experience a whole slew of nasty symptoms associated with the death of the candida. I can't wait (for those of you who couldn't tell, that was sarcasm).

After the initial 2 weeks, I'm going to slowly reintroduce certain foods, but ideally, I'd like to keep my sugar intake to a minimum. When I eliminated sugar from my diet a couple of years back, I felt amazing, and I'd like to feel that way again.

I'm going to try to keep track of how things are going here. If I come up with any delicious recipes that work with this cleanse, I'll be sure to share.

So far today, it has been pretty uneventful. I've taken my fiber, eaten some raw almonds, and taken the liquid extracts. I'm about to start preparing my lunch - a salad made of organic baby greens, avocado, and raw zucchini, with a dressing made of raw apple cider vinegar and olive oil. Tonight, I'll probably make something with quinoa.