a letter from candidiasis@

June 14, 2004

I just included this to introduce the group and tell you more about systemic candida

Hi Mark,I'm sure that you have by now received emails confirming that your symptomsare indeed that of candida. Or, more formally, systemic candidiasis.Unfortunately many doctors don't acknowledge that it is as big a problem asit is - most simply believe it causes female yeast infections and can becontrolled with anti-fungal creams. This can be true if it is a mild formbut if it has taken over your body these will not help. The main causes of candidiasis are long periods of antibitiotics, eg foracne, and for women years on the contraceptive pill. A diet high in sugarsand starches can also make it worse. The symptoms you describe are typical,as are many others from hieghtened chemical sensitivity (do cigarette smoke,perfumes and other chemical smells REALLY bother you?) to a white coatedtongue.My purpose for writing to you is to tell you that there is hope - that youdon't have to feel this

awful for the rest of your life. I know I felt thatway myself at the bgeinning of this year, having suffered with incresinglybad symptoms for several years. The good news is, after taing the rightsteps YOU WILL FEEL BETTER. It is even very likely that you will go back to'normal'. I have. The diet is unfortunately the best wa to get healthyagain. It sounds really difficult, and it is at first, and there will bedays when you cant believe you have to give up so much and eat like this,but its worth it for how much better you feel and after a while it will seemnatural, and you will be disgusted at the crap that other people putintotheir bodies.So what is the diet? In case you havent read about it already, the mostimportant part of the diet is to stop eating sugar. And I mean all sugar:white sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses, corn syrup, glucose, sucrose andsome people say even fructose. This is surprisingly difficult to do, as

youwill find that most supermarket foods have added sugar even for savouryitems like canned vegetables and beans. However, with a bit of searching,you will find sugar-free brands. Most people will tell you also to stopeating fruit and at the bgeinning you may want to do this. I did for about amonth but fruit is very healthy and contains lots of vitamins, so the bestthing to do is to avoid mouldy or really sweet fruits. Grapes have mould onthem so should be avoided. Melons also get mouldy. pineapples and bananasare very high in sugar. the best fruits are berries and apples as they arelow in sugar.The next thing is to cut down or cut out other carbohydrates. I stoppedeating pasta, rice and potatoes for two months. I occasionally ate sugar andyeast-free bread, and I ate wholegrain uncooked cereal (ie no toastedmuesli) with no added sugar most mornings for breakfast. If you do eat riceit must be brown rice, never white. White

bread, rice and pasta are refinedand are hence broken down into sugar more quickly. However all carbohydratesare converted into sugar almost immediately by the body and hence should beavoided. All dairy foods contain lactose and hence should also be avoided. Yoghurt isthe exception as it contains friendly bacteria that help the body fight thecandida. However obviously use a sugar free one. I sweeten mine with steviadrops and also add cinnamon, which also fights candida, and it tastes verynice, almost like ice cream.If you must ea dairy white cheeses are better eg ricotta and fetta, andcream is okay but sour cream is not. Substitute rice or oat or sugar freesoy milk for dairy milk.I was also told by my homeopathic doctor to avoid moulds and fermentedfoods. I stopped eating mushrooms, vinegar and vinegar containing foods egmustard and mayonnaise, as well as soy sauce and other fermented products.This is not as

important in my opinion as cutting out sugar. Moulds andfermented products can react with the candida yeasts and cause problems butsugars actually feed the candida. You want to stop feeding it so it dies. When it does die, you can feel quite sick from all the dead bacteria sittingin your body. This is called a 'die-off' reaction. There are several thingsyou will want to do to get rid of this toxic build up of dead bacteria.Scrubbing your skin with a loofah and an exfoliating lotion is good, andliver flushes have helped many people on here get rid of lots of toxins (Ihave never done one myself). Drinking loads of water is very important toflush them out of your system, and as you wont be drinking milk or softdrinks etc this will be necessary anyway. If you find the water boring, addsome freshly squeezed lemon juice. At the beginning if you are used to lotsof sweet drinks you may want to add some stevia drops and create a kind

oflemonade. I did this at first and it was great, after a few weeks i stoppedadding the stevia and now even though i am almost completely back to normalmy favourite drink is water with lemon. You can also drink somecaffeine-free herbal teas, especially good in winter. Rooibos is supposed tobe goodThe most important thing is not to give up. You wont be able to cut outeverything at once and you will often feel like there is nothing to eat. Myadvice here is to discover new vegetables - there are so many beautifulfoods out there that we don't eat because we rely on packaged sauces and premade meals from our supermarket freezer. Cooke for yourself and only usefresh natural ingredients, it will taste so much better. For lunch have atuna salad with lemon juice and lots of yummy different lettuces, cucumber,tomato etc. Dinners can be any combinations of vegetables and steak,chicken, lamb, pork, fish. Breakfasts you can have

omelettes, or cereal, orsome sugar and yeast free bread. I have found some beautiful nut spreadscontaining nothing but roasted nuts (peanuts arent allowed as they are verymouldy). There are many recipes floating about and I think people on thisforum have a recipe page, but the important thing is to take it slowly andknow that you're doing this to feel better, not punishing yourself.Feel free to ask for help and support - there's lots here.I wish you all the best,Michelle.

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