Hey y’all,
So, I’ve been doing battle with Candida.
I’ve been eating raw garlic, cloves, coconut oil, sauerkraut, Pau D’Arco Tea, and taking a Candida cleansing pill. I also heavily reduced my carb intake.
Initially (for the first week and a half), I was eating 50 net carbs or less, which is the same amount as a ketogenic diet (although I was eating a lot of grilled chicken and not fat. Candida can live on fat, too, so keto isn’t the best idea). Eating so few carbs at first did help to greatly reduce my Candida symptoms, but then I noticed that after about a week my mouth was getting so dry, and I just felt dehydrated in general.
Hydration is essential for both skin health and health in general, and by eating so few carbs, my body’s water holding capacity was low. Because of this, I decided to increase my carb intake (mostly by adding more beans to my diet), and my skin and Candida symptoms got significantly better overnight.
I’ve found that the sweet spot for killing Candida is about 120-150 net carbs, or about 25% of calories with no more than 30% of calories coming from fat. (I like to use Chronometer.com to track this) I also find that whole foods really help with Candida. I can eat a cup and a half of brown rice, but white rice spikes my blood sugar so quickly that I can barely eat half a cup. Eating only refined carbs would make it extremely difficult to eat enough calories in a day.
Speaking of getting enough calories (which is a concern since I’m eating lots of salads and can’t eat much oil or fruit), I’ve been eating lots of beans. I put beans in my smoothies and make bean desserts with stevia. Beans provide some carbs and a lot of protein and calories. All beans are good, but pinto beans are probably my favorite. I like the flavor and lightness of soybeans better, but soybeans are higher in fat, which can be problematic sometimes.
Frugal Treehugger 