Why I Quit the Candida Diet

For the record, I don’t diet. I love food too much. That’s what Hot Yoga is for. I exercise so I can eat what I want. But even without hot yoga I honestly don’t feel the need to diet. Body image issues are practically non-existent on my list of things to worry about. Life is short. I’ve got more important things to worry about.

That being said, I did the Candida Diet.

Why did I start?

Well, I started having these headaches every afternoon. Like, EVERY afternoon. Not a migrane. Just a dull, get-on-my-nerves kind of headache. Did I mention it was every afternoon? I thought it was food related. As in, I have a tendency to skip lunch when I’m busy, but eating didn’t fix the headache. It remained persistent and dull and annoying, every afternoon. I thought I must have a brain tumor.

Then, this post showed up in my blog reader and it got me thinking. The most intriguing part is her crazy sugar cravings magically disappeared after 2 weeks. I have a TERRIBLE sweet tooth. It’s like the wild things that roar their terrible roar. I think we all know I’m an ice-cream-a-holic and not ashamed to admit it.

It is estimated that 70% of people have candida overgrowth in their intestines, mouth, or on their skin. It can manifest in a variety of different ways and some of the common symptoms are quite common.

With the possibility of ditching those stupid headaches, getting my sweet tooth under control, having more get-up-and-go, and losing a few pounds I started taking CandiGONE supplements and following the Candida Diet. I like to refer to it as Atkins on crack. No bread, no cheese (any dairy), no potatoes, no sugar, no chocolate, no cashews, no alcohol. These are a few of my favorite things. And, obviously, no ice cream and no Purity chocolate milk. Lord-a-mercy. I thought “What have I done?” more than once on this diet.

Surprisingly, I had way more will power than I thought. I even determined that a spinach and goat cheese omelet was pretty tasty. I stuck to the diet hard core. For 14 days and then I threw in the towel.

Why did I quit?

The headaches only kinda stopped. I still have them on occasion. I’m guessing  they are stress related.

The energy burst never came. I felt the same as always. Tired when I went to bed, tired when I woke up, and tired in the afternoon.

The scales never moved. Well, I’m not 100% certain about this but I’m pretty sure. We don’t own scales. I’ve never had them in my house. It’s that whole lack of body image issues thing. I weighed on day 13 and it was the same as my previous doctor’s visit so I’m saying there was no obvious change.

I was constipated. Sorry for the TMI. I have always been, shall we say, regular. On day 1-3, there were some interesting colors going on that I chalked up to the supplements and the loads of veggies. Then things just stopped. I’ve always believed in the theory that your intestinal health is the key to your overall health. If anything, the supplements should have caused me to go more often, not less, so this was kind of alarming.

I was an emotional wreck. Going into the 2nd week I noticed that I was grumpy and irritable. The slightest thing would set me off. Stuff that never bothered me before now made my skin crawl. I yelled at my kid over something trivial. I was not myself. On day 13, my Bham family ordered pizza & wings for dinner (not on the diet) so I drove over to Publix for some brown rice sushi. When the seafood clerk told me they stopped selling it a month ago, I may or may not have ran out of the store crying. Over sushi! On day 14, I had an emotional breakdown on my husband over things that, again, never bothered me in the past but suddenly were on my ever-last nerve. He pulled the plug. He said, and I quote… “I want you off of this ridiculous diet” and I happily agreed.

Today, I had a muffin for breakfast and it was simply scrumptious. I had a sandwich for lunch, on Ezekiel bread, with cheese and it was superb. I’ve been off of the supplements for 24 hours and things are, shall we say, back on track in the bathroom department. The things that were causing me to react in a half-fit of rage last week, rolled off my back like no big deal today. I feel more like me again. Thank goodness!

I don’t plan to scrap the whole thing. Lord knows I probably could afford to lose a few pounds, but I’m not going to be as strict as before. I’m going to eat the things that make my brain feel good when I need it. Within reason. It appears that my body definitely didn’t appreciate the lack of carbs. And chocolate. And wine for crying out loud. 😉