Day 24- Candida, I hate you.

I went to see my acupuncturist on Thursday for a checkup and the second round of supplements.  I described to him that I initially felt better but have noticed the bloating getting worse and now it is back to a daily symptom.  When I take out everything that it delicious and I am still bloated, it really makes me question if it's the food at all.  What is the worst thing he could say to me at this point, really? Well, he said it.
No more sugar.
Aaaacccckkkk, what??? I thought I was barely surviving trading in cookies for fruit and now no fruit either? It turns out sugar has always been my common denominator.  From the previous elimination diets to the daily gluten-free, dairy-free lifestyle, I've always maintained sugar as a constant ingredient.  I have been conscious of my choices however,  I pretty much always ate homemade treats that were sweetened with fruit, dates, honey, agave, or raw unrefined sugars. I thought using flours like quinoa, buckwheat, garbanzo and almond flours were a better choice than the bleached refined white flours everyone else eats and enjoys in this society. I remember my first elimination diet allowed brown rice syrup and molasses. That was easy.  Even when I was told in the beginning to rid my life of bread and cheese, my most common meal in many forms, I thought "at least they aren't telling me to stop eating cookies, I would have no reason to live." I am so sick of people saying to me they don't know how I do it,  they would just die if they couldn't eat (insert anything). If constant pain was their motivating factor and a life less than desired, it wouldn't be so hard.  Sorry, sometimes I let out that  negativity monster I try so hard not to share with others.
So back to Candida, I hate you. You make my life miserable, I want to rid my body of you. This is my new mantra and I will be using it to get myself through the next month of what I imagine to be the hardest yet.  Since I have never fully eliminating sugar from my diet, this is the next step.  It seems likely that I continue to feed the yeast with the sugars I am ingesting, therefore it continues to thrive. Even with the supplements that are trying to kill the yeast, any "die-off" can also cause bloating, and any that remain are feeding off my sugar addiction (that they started, I'm sure).  So I am on a new research path for now, candida and how I can kill it. I like researching and learning even more so I'm trying to look at it as a positive learning experience.

Compromise...
Since my acupuncturists widely agrees that I am human and starving myself of carbs can cause other harmful effects (mostly making one feel crazy), he has agreed to a compromise. There is a scale that describes what foods are best and worst for yeast inhibition so as an experiment he said I can add in whole grains in place of fruit (grains are lower on the list than fruit). This is not to say that every meal can be a giant bowl of rice but instead of snacking on fruit, replace it with quinoa or rice.  I was already separating my fruit from meals for the last week, as I had done this before the detox hoping food combining was the answer.  In small portions even added to meals, it is thought I will feel more full therefore feeling less like a sugary snack as often as I do. I will try this for 2 weeks and see how I feel. Obviously if I can work up to no grains, that is the goal.  I will share with you more research as I learn other interesting tidbits.
Since I don't believe in wasting, I am going to expeditiously eat the remainder of fruit I have and rid myself of any other items that I can not hide or freeze indefinitely.  It shouldn't take more than a few days. I have to finish this program strong and disciplined with gusto and perseverance. Its all I can do before giving up, especially when I am told it is extremely optimistic to think I will be healed in 4 weeks when this is over.  Also, if I feel 80% better, than I am on the right track. If not, I need to find a new path. Not very inspiring words to look forward to.

Coconut fruit leather-  allowed?

Food Journal Day 23 Wednesday
Breakfast: protein shake with spinach, carrot juice, cultured coconut milk, blueberries, banana
Snack: coconut bites

Lunch: tuna salad w/avocado, artichoke, cucumber, carrrot, sunflower seed, lemon juice in lettuce wraps, kombucha

Dinner: sweet potato w/ avocado and broccoli, olive oil & salt
Dessert: applesauce (for pills) and coconut fruit leather

Coconut fruit leather:  mixed dried unsweetened coconut, cinnamon, cocoa powder and flax meal with simmered raspberries and cherries and then a small amount of coconut milk to desired consistency. Spread thin (1/4-1/2 in.) on parchment paper over baking sheet and bake at 350F for 25 min. I tore apart into small bite size pieces and moved outside pieces to middle after 15 min to get consistent crusty edges. The final product is very thin but holds together well in small pieces,  it's also tart and tastes too good to be allowed on this diet.


Food Journal Day 24 Thursday
Breakfast: protein shake with normal stuff

Lunch: salad with roasted beets and crab meat, herbal tea
Snack: coconut fruit leather
Snack: frozen coconut mango

Dinner: cedar plank salmon, grilled asparagus, spinach