Anti Candida Diet

The anti Candida diet refers to a diet that focuses on eating foods that reduce the amount of a certain yeast in the body, known as Candida Albicans. This yeast has been found responsible for symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, sweet cravings, mood swings and poor concentration. This yeast grows in the human stomach and it's build up is usually the result of taking too many antibiotics. The antibiotics cause the other, more useful, bacteria in the body to die and weaken the immune system. The resulting growth of Candida then creates health complications that may not appear as dangerous at first, but left unresolved, the individual could be looking and psychological and physical health problems.

Anti Candida Diet:

An anti Candida diet will make you stop eating foods that feed the yeast in your gut. Top of the list of such foods is sugar. You basically have to avoid all kinds of sugar, but this does not mean that you can't eat anything sweet. But the sugar must go.

The affect that sugar has on the yeast in your stomach is quite similar to the effect sugar has when you're baking bread; it makes the yeast expand. In the case of bread, this makes the bread rise, in the case of the human stomach, it makes it swell. You should be avoiding sugars such as maltose, dextrose, sucrose (notice how the sugars end in 'ose'). You also need to avoid honey and maple sugar. The sweeteners such as Stevia and stevioside are not sugars and you can take these in your diet. Use them for sweet you need in your cooking. But as far is drinking all those soft drinks, eating cakes, muffins and cookies is concerned, you need to layoff those until your Candida is under control.

In addition to avoiding sugar up front, you also need to avoid foods that will raise the blood sugar level in your body. These are basically the carbohydrates. But your body needs carbs too, it's just the simple processed carbs that you need to avoid. Simple carbs like processed grains and cereals are digested instantly by the body and raise the blood sugar very fast. This in turn feeds the yeast in your stomach and aggravates the Candida condition.

There are also other foods you should be cautious about when on an anti Candida diet, these include mushrooms or edible fungi of any kind, fermented drinks, fermented products such as alcohol, vinegar, soy sauce, pickled or preserved foods, etc. This also outs yogurt because the flavored kinds usually have sugar in them. There are also variants of laboratory produced sweeteners that are just as bad as sugar, you may have read about these on the ingredients label; aspartame, saccharine, etc. Processed flour is also another yeast feeder which in turn also means you'd be better off without baked goods as well.

Now for what you CAN eat; fresh vegetables and meats of all kinds. These are your best friends as long as you fight Candida. Go for vegetables with little or no starch (another form of sugar), while fish, chicken, duck, and red meat can not only give you lots of energy, but they are healthy and will strengthen your immune system.

• Cassandra Bagley
• 09/01/2009, 2:59 AM
• 0 Comments