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camiheartsraw
Raw Newbie
Hi All,
My husband and I went on a nice trip through work last week on a cruise ship. I was fairly high raw and able to stay 100% vegan with no grains. I was bad though and had some potato chips (OK, a lot). I've been struggling with candida treatment so all the fruit and potatoes I had on the trip were definitely a bad thing. I realize I'm whining and I did this to myself, but I decided to go on a phase 1 diet (virtually zero fruit, no grains, mostly veggies and some nuts/seeds) when I got back because I know I need to do something drastic to kick the intestinal badness.
I've been nauseated (esp. in the morning), tired, and achy. I'm pretty sure it's just detox but I'm a little dizzy in the mornings. I think I'm getting enough calories because I'm consuming large amounts of nuts for now until my body adjusts. I was 100% raw for months before the cruise - it's amazing what a week of cheating can do!
Has anyone else tried phase 1? How long did it take before detoxing became tolerable? I think my joint pain and nausea is candida die off (I'm also taking Nystatin). I really miss all my fruit (and I tended to go for the highest glycemic), so I'm hoping I hear that it's worth it and the first week is the roughest. I'm also hoping I don't have to do more than 3 months with the Nystatin treatment. Phase 1.5 or 2 looks bearable. Honestly, the food is good, but I'm allergic to tomatoes, peppers, and several other "allowed" foods, so it's going to get repetitive fast.
Thanks in advance!
Cami
Comments
I haven't tried it, but I am familiar with other candida diets and, even though you're allergic to them, I'd assumed that tomatoes were off the list, since tomato paste is. Do you know if there's a difference made between the two because they're in different forms?
Thanks and I hope you feel better soon. :)
Maybe I should take a look and make sure tomatoes were allowed, but I know that tomato paste often has added sugars and gluten as a thickener. It's usually not just tomatoes (although there are some brands that are 100% tomatoes). They're also not good because of the high acidic content which leaches out the plastic used to insulate tin cans.
Thanks for the well wishes :) Me too...I'm not very comfortable today, but at least I don't have the headache I had yesterday!
Learn something new every day! I had never even imagined that plastic was used to insulate tin cans.
And, yes, it make sense now that it could be because of the extra stuff used to make tomato paste.
Glad you're feeling a bit better. Hopefully, you'll continue to improve.
Day 4 of the Phase 1 diet and today has been better so far. My digestion has slowed down, which was a little odd. I'm not as hungry as the other days and will have to figure out something tasty for dinner - Lunch is here and I don't want to eat and feel full with no breakfast. I'm waiting to feel hungry and will force feed myself something at 1 if I don't fee like eating before that.
I'm going to go through the recipe book tonight and try to make things I like. Variety is essential for me. I'm trying to find ways to keep the calories up. I'm not sure this diet will really work for me long term, but I am experiencing a lot of herx die off from the candida, so I know it's the right thing to try for now. I had some serious fruit cravings this morning when I always had my smoothies. Maybe my tastes will change and I can have a green smoothie without the fruit (it's going to be a while before that sounds good :) I think my nice little vegetable garden will keep me going - it's nice to be able to eat your own food!
I tried the phase 1 diet last summer, and I was really excited about it because at first I was doing really well and lost a lot of weight and had a lot of energy. But a couple of weeks into the diet, I totally lost my appetite, and couldn't eat anything. The only thing I could keep down was stevia-sweetened lemonade slushies with mint (actually really, really delicious!) but after about a week of not being able to eat anything and throwing up most of my food, I decided to quit. Don't really know why it didn't work out for me, but I just couldn't keep any of that food down. Good luck to you! I hope everything works out :)
taking anti-fungals will only temporarly displace candida, you cant fight a normal part of your gut, the best way is to restore your good flora this will keep your intestinal PH acidic which stops candida from flourishing from its harmless yeast form to overgrowth fungal form.
cultured veggies, kefir and other fermented foods are good as replacing the good flora, whilst fibres such as rice bran, oat bran, seaweeds, inulin, FOS are good for feeding them.
I've been on probiotics and prebiotics for years and still have these issues and was on a raw food diet. This is kind of a last ditch effort. I have systemic lupus, so the normal routes don't often seem to work. Thanks for the advice though - wish I hadn't tried it yet :)
My plan is temporarily displacing them through these methods and then overload on probiotics and prebiotics. We'll see.
have you used fermented foods though such as kefir, capsulated probiotics are very poor.
Not kefir. I'm extremely allergic to milk and soy. I have had saurkraut, kombucha, jerusalem artichoke, yacon, etc. in addition to pharmax and other capsulated probiotics. It is what it is.
I'm abandoning the Phase 1 diet already. I've lost 10 pounds in 5 days and feel like I've been hit with a truck. My limbs are going numb, which I get with malabsorption from lupus. I'm pretty convinced this isn't the ideal diet for me, or at least I need to work up to it. Gabriel Cousens did warn against the diet if you have a wasting disease, and I do. I'm back to raw with moderate fruit. I'm super bummed, but I'm loading up smoothies with capsulated probiotics and natural prebiotics and upping the saurkraut. Bummer :(
Cami, can you do coconut? There's a coconut milk kefir on the market now, I think it's the same brand that makes the yogurt, non-dairy beverage, etc. - "So Delicious". Haven't tried it myself yet but intend to! I've been drinking kombucha for almost a year and it's not helping with the leaky gut issues. I guess I should say, maybe my issues are too much for it to overcome. ;) Am seriously looking at doing L-glutamine for a few months to see if that makes a difference for me.
water kefir is a good non milk kefir. If it was store bought fermented foods there useless.
licorice root is good at healing the gut also and anti-candidial/immune stimulative/supportive to the adrenal glands also.
Thanks for the tips. I'll start up licorice root again and look for the coconut kefir. Store bought is better than nothing right now, and I wouldn't call capsules and store bought useless. Even with these problems, I'm still a ton better off than 2 years ago.
I don't know if this is helpful or not with the fruit side of things. I am sensitive to sugar, not cos of candida but because of my skin. I need to be really careful about fruits and fats or i'm all over the place.
I found this from another forum http://www.reducetriglycerides.com/reader_triglycerides_low_fructose_fruit.htm
the theory is that it's the excess fructose in the fruits which cause the problem and that the ideal is to go for fruits with a glucose/fructose balance.
there's quite a lot on that list that are in almost perfect balance so these are the fruits I now eat (mono and with no fat at all) and so far so good!
you might be easier finding water kefir grains, the store bought stuff has very little to no viable good bacteria left from what i know.
remember to feed the good bacteria with prebiotic fibres such as rice bran(amazing for nutrition), oat bran, seaweeds, FOS, inulin etc.
Hi Camiheartsraw, I too have had issues with candida/microbes. I have been taking two types of probiotics which are wonderful and very high quality (recommended by my Naturopath). I take Theralac in the morning and Truflora at night. The Truflora is an anti-candida formula. And to kill-off the bad microbes I've been taking liquid silver - I believe its called Silverbiotics - and man it really does work. I struggle with fruit cravings as well.
Lollypolly - your post is interesting to me - I may have to look into that because it seems that my only symptoms these days are bad skin and bloating, so I can't help but wonder if I have that sensitivity as well. I'm sure there is some connection though.
I've recently learned how to make rejuvelac and my own raw sauerkraut - look into that- they are nice to have as fermented foods.
PS - Camiheartsraw - make sure your immune system is strong enough to combat the candida. When I first went to my ND last spring he informed that I was not strong enough to battle the candida. I was severly underweight and weak. He put my on a nutritional powder to strengthen my immune system and then we went after the candida. Your body needs to be strong enough to handle it.
Good luck, honey :) Candida overgrowth sucks!
I checked out coconut kefir, and the Sodelicious brand had ingredients I stay away from. Carageenan is a big no-no. According to research studies on Pubmed.com it can induce IBS in monkeys and is rubbed into wounds in rats to increase inflammation. I'll keep looking for more brands, but so far every one has had something I avoid or am allergic to. I may have to learn to make it myself :)
I did find soy and gluten free miso and just about died and went to heaven. I've tried the chickpea and will be looking at the adzuki bean variety next, which is in a glass jar instead of plastic. I'm going to try the phase 1.5 diet and have found some local people with experience for support - they've been great. Friends have experience with making their own fermented foods and the phase 1 diet, so I'm in great company. Now that I've found foods I enjoy, I feel a little more optimistic. We'll see..
are you allergic to soya or just wish to not consume it as the myths about it are false.
water kefir is the way forward and making at home.
I'm very allergic to soy. And there are truths about soy that make it undesirable as well. Fully fermented, it might be OK - otherwise I wouldn't eat it even if I wasn't allergic.
what puts you off soya minus the allergic?
if its the goitergen aspect then, most consumed soya is either fermented or cooked which inactivates the goitergens.
If its the estrogen aspect then thats false also, soya is rich in phytoestrogens which are weak mimicking estrogens which lock up the receptor sites so more harmful estrogens arent metabolized.