Nebulous Mooch

My husband was told by the doctor not too long ago that he has a Candida problem. He keeps getting yeasty ear infections. Candida treatment isn’t covered under the NHS. He would need to see a private medical professional to take care of the problem. So in true Bettison fashion we’ve decided to take care of this problem ourselves.

We’ve been on a torturous anti-Candida cleansing diet for a week. Basically we couldn’t eat anything. Really, that’s a gross exaggeration. We didn’t eat any starches for a week. It was all veggies and protein and I hated it. We’ve also had to cut out two of my favorite cooking ingredients, soy sauce and fish sauce. Normally, we practically live on Thai curries. I’m also a huge fried rice fan. We’ve also had to stop eating sugars which isn’t a problem because we rarely eat anything sweet. I do tend to eat piles of raisins during the day though. Apparently, that counts as sweet.

About Candida

Candida albicans is the name of a yeast that lives in your gut. Your digestive tract is full of lovely micro-organisms having a big party. They all live peacefully together, but sometimes things horribly go wrong. The friendly bacteria in your gut gets killed off by illness, medication or maybe even injury. Without anyone to keep them in check the Candida get out of control like teenagers left alone by their vactioning parents.

The Candida start having a big keg party and inviting all their yeasty friends to completely trash your body. That’s when you start noticing symptoms like diahrrea, bloating, and gas. The systems aren’t limited to the digestive tract though. You may also experience headaches, fatigue, joint and muscle pain and cloudy thinking. My thinking has been cloudy ever since I can remember, maybe I have a permanent Candida infection. The Candida party will eventually start to spill out of you causing yeast infections, thrush, jock itch and rectal itching. (Isn’t that lovely)

You know the party is getting really wild when the Candida starts to do damage to your intestinal walls causing an illness known as leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut syndrome occurs when the walls of your intestines become permeable allowing toxins and food partials to spill into your blood stream.

Because your gut and immune system are tightly linked Candida overgrowth has also been linked to some autoimmune diseases.

If you’re looking to start a Candida diet here are some foods you need to cut out.

Sugar

Yeast loves sugar. That means cutting out all the sweet yummy foods in your life, like cake. Her are some other foods to avoid.

• sugar
• honey
• maple syrup
• agave nectar
• high fructose corn syrup (you really shouldn’t be eating that anyway)
• dried fruits
• super sweet fruits (bananas, oranges…)

Simple Starches

Simple starches turn right to sugar once they hit your system. That’s not good. You don’t want to give those yeasties more of what they want. Avoid white rice, pasta, white bread and other pasteries.

Yeast

The last thing you want to do is invite any more yeast to this party. That’s why foods that contain yeast are not a good idea. So no store bought fermented foods. I really wish I knew how to make soy sauce at home. Here’s a list:

• soy sauce
• vinegar
• most condiments
• pickles
• sauerkraut
• olives
• bread (again)
• alcohol

Now that you’ve cut all the joy and pleasure out of life the Candida party will die down a bit. Once the party winds down and they start to tire out it’s time to hit them were it hurts.

Bring in the Anti-Fungals

Now that they’re weak it’s time to hit them with some anti-fungals. You can get your doctor to prescribe you an anti-fungal medication, but if your cheap like me you might want to go for an all natural one. Here are a few:

• grapefruit seed extract
• oil of oregano
• coconut oil
• garlic
• clove oil
• olive leaf extract
• aloe vera

We’re using grapefruit seed extract along with a bit of coconut oil. We use coconut oil all the time anyway.

Probiotics

Once you’ve killed off the yeast you need to repopulate the space with some healthy bacteria. Take a good quality probiotic supplement. If you leave that space unpopulate Candida riffraff might move right back in. Getting good bacteria in there as soon as possible is necessary to make sure your Candida problem doesn’t return.

We’re in week two of our Candida diet and I can say that even though I hate having a restricted diet it’s going okay. I mean I’m not alive and well enough to write this post.

I used to think Candida sounded kind of pretty. It could be my first child’s name…Candida Marie Bettison. I’ve changed my mind now. Our first child will definitely be named Lactobacillus Bettison instead.

A few months ago, I decided to stop eating meat. It was a spur of the moment decision. I didn’t put very much thought into it. I’d been a vegetarian before in college. I didn’t think it would be difficult for me at all and I was right. It hasn’t been difficult and my taste for meat went away pretty quickly. Now it smells kind of gross. I still cook meat for my family, I just make something else for me.

The thing that surprises me about my new diet is how other people respond. Most people seem baffled by my decision.

“You don’t eat meat?” They wrinkle their foreheads at me and cock their heads. “Why not?”

“I don’t think it’s good for you and I feel better,” is all I can say and that answer doesn’t satisfy anyone.

“What do you eat then?”

This is my favorite question. What are people’s diets like? Do they think meat is the only option? “Vegetables, beans…” I say.

“Oh.” They look at me with pity. “Don’t you miss it?”

Why do they think I’d miss it?

On Sunday I went to my sister’s house. She’s on some version of the Atkin’s Diet right now so she was eating a big pile of beef and eggs for dinner–not a vegetable in sight. “I’d offer you something but all I have is steak,” she said. “Are you sure you don’t want any pro….I mean an egg?”

I knew that she was going to say protein because she has, somewhere along the line, convinced herself that being a vegetarian means that you don’t get enough protein. Never mind, the fact that I explained to her before about beans and legumes and protein. I’ve decided that it’s not really worth explaining again. “No thanks,” I said.

There are times when I need to hold my tongue. After my mother shot me down when I asked if she was concerned about the amount of artery clogging saturated fat in my sister’s new diet, I decided that this was one of those times. So I didn’t mention that a doctor friend of mine once warned me against high protein low carbohydrates diets. She said they caused kidney problems. I also didn’t mention that they cause bone density loss. There’s the obvious risk of heart disease too. If I were really holding my tongue, I guess I wouldn’t be writing about this now. I guess I’m not very good at holding my tongue.