I don’t know what it was about year 25, but it seems my body thought my life was too easy, so it decided to rebel to keep me ‘entertained’ of sorts. An ovarian cyst that was spotted last summer became extremely painful in January, but by the time I finally got in to see the doctor, the ultrasound was clean, leaving me to think the angst I went through a few weeks prior was the cyst bursting (fine by me – get it out of here!). I guess my hypothesis was not very rational to the doc, because she insists my pain is a hernia, and that I need to see another doctor if the pain persists; lucky for me it hasn’t! However, the gyno also spotted a yeast infection, which I hypothesize (why can’t I stop doing that?!?) took over due to the round of antibiotics I took to abate the sinus infection brought on my down immune system after shoulder surgery. Bleh. I’m thankful that I don’t have the “normal” symptoms of a yeast infection, but I did tell the doc that my stomach has been killing me especially after meals, and my whole gut has felt yucky for a few weeks. At the time, I figured the feeling was linked to the cyst, while the doc passed it off as the flu. Now I think both of us were wrong.
Dr. Mom suggested that the stomach pain was in fact the yeast infection, for when yeast overpopulates it enjoys taking over everything, and the round of antibiotics killed all my good yeast-killing bacteria, so the yeast multiplied like bunnies on my heavenly high-carb diet. Now I’m an extremely healthy carb lover: whole grains and loads of fruit are my favorite things (well, with an occasional [daily] chocolate/ice cream indulgence). After researching the web, I found that the old adage about Dr. Mom is pretty darn accurate – she does know best.
I found many websites describing the yeast infection problem, called Candida Albicans; one website describing the condition as: “Candida Albicans is an opportunistic fungus (or form of yeast) that is the cause of many undesirable symptoms ranging from fatigue and weight gain, to joint pain and gas. The Candida yeast is a part of the gut flora, a group of microorganisms that live in your mouth and intestine. When the Candida population starts getting out of control it weakens the intestinal wall, penetrating through into the bloodstream and spreading throughout the body.” Candida Albicans is usually misdiagnosed as the flu or IBS, and long-lasting troubles can result, such as food allergies, joint problems, organ problems, and slow and painful death. Okay, so no website claims that last one. However, food allergies seem terrible – my gluten and dairy-free diet experiment a year ago was probably the worst three-month period of my life – and I really feel bad for people who spend their days meticulously reading labels and limiting their restaurant experiences. No fun. Which brings me to the Candida Diet.
Apparently, the only natural way to beat the yeast (and not risk destroying my liver) is to starve it out. Since yeast feeds on sugar, anything that turns into sugar cannot be consumed on this diet. That means any fruits or grains too. Neither can one consume anything with caffeine, vinegar, or corn; I never knew until now how almost every type of food has these yeast cultivating ingredients in them!
So what can one eat on the Candida Diet? Basically meats, most veggies, oils, probiotics, limited dairy (thank goodness I can have yogurt, as long as it’s the low low sugar plain kind), and nuts (non-peanut). So what I went through on the gluten and dairy-free diet is NOTHING compared to this!!!
Starving the yeast can take a few weeks, and then the sufferer can slowly add back in low-sugared fruits, etc. So expect me to be a really grumpy person for at least a few weeks, because without sugar and chocolate, my serotonin is at insanely low levels!
Hopefully this works; if I’m still feeling yucky after all I can handle of this trial, I’ll opt for the meds, but any other suggestions and/or encouragement is much needed and appreciated! In the meantime, pass the peppermint tea, celery, and hummus, please! Nom nom nom.
