Treatment 2: The Candida Diet
This is a diet to not just discourage candida; it’s the diet to help you rid your body of candida! This is also a great next step if you have already started with the candida cleanse.
1. The first step of the diet is to boost your immune system through the elimination of sugar, alcohol and refined carbohydrates. These items are contributing to the growth of the candida in your system.
2. Step two is to replace these foods with organic vegetables, including carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, kale and asparagus.
According to ancient Chinese medicine, warm starchy vegetables support the spleen in clearing candida from the body. While I don’t recommend these vegetables during the “cleanse” stage, the regular candida diet includes warming fall vegetables that nourish the spleen, such as sweet potatoes, yams, peas, mung beans, lentils, kidney beans, adzuki beans, carrots, beets, corn, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, zucchini, yellow squash, rutabaga and pumpkin. These should be the main sources of carbs that satisfy your cravings for sweets as well.
What about grains? Some grains like quinoa, barley, teff, sorghum and amaranth and a starch like corn can help to dry the overly damp gut, so one serving a day (no more!) of those grains can work for most people with candida.
The same story follows for cold foods, which shouldn’t be consumed more than once per day. Therefore, don’t have a gut-friendly smoothie on the same day you have a salad. Your candida gut will heal most from warm nourishing foods.
As with any food, however, it’s always important to monitor how you feel after consuming a meal when you have candida. Some people who suffer stomach distress after eating any kind of starch, for instance, should avoid starchy vegetables like corn, peas, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkin, squash, zucchini and yams. Instead, they should eat non-starchy vegetables — typically the flowering parts of the plant — like lettuce, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, spinach, mushrooms, onions, peppers and tomatoes.
Also, keep fruit intake low as well as natural sweeteners like maple syrup or honey.
3. Add cultured dairy, preferably goat milk kefir, because healthy probiotic foods can effectively kill the candida in your system. Probiotics like kimchi and sauerkraut are good additions to your diet, as well as unsweetened cranberry juice, because they create an acidic environment that makes it difficult for candida to thrive.
Fermented vegetables contain microflora that help to protect the intestines. Regular consumption of fermented foods can help improve the immune system, making the body less hospitable for candida. Begin with a half cup per day of sauerkraut, kimchi or other fermented vegetables as part of a new eating plan dedicated to bringing your body back into a healthy balance.
The candida diet helps to provide beneficial bacteria, regulate appetite, and reduce your cravings for refined carbohydrates and sugars.