I am really not a “diet person” and still loathe the fact that I need to be forever gluten free for the rest of my life, but since I was diagnosed, I have been reading about the many other diets out there that are used to “cure” symptoms and problems that celiacs often suffer from.
A few I’ve come across:
- SCD (specific carbohydrate diet)
- Paleo
- Dairy Free
- Vegan
- Candida Diet
I thought SCD soundly mildly interesting, if not ridiculously hard to find something to eat. I already cannot eat most grains and it cuts off the deadly nightshade plants like potatoes and corn. Hello?? I need something to eat! Then I read some questionable things about when the diet was created and why and it turned me off the idea completely.
I’d also heard about the candida diet, so I decided to do some digging and find out more about it since I’ve been battling some cracked corners in my lips for a few months. While it sounds nice to cure yourself from the symptoms of candida, the diet no-no’s list is daunting. Check it out: Foods to Avoid
What the heck does someone eat on this diet?? I was curious about what people do eat, so I ran across another site that gave some basic meal ideas. In the breakfast ideas they suggest mainly eggs and meat, as well as this nugget of advice:
Just use a little imagination or skip breakfast entirely.
Are you kidding me? Tired of eggs and meat for breakfast, so just skip it entirely? How could this possibly be considered sound diet advice?
It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by the wealth of wonky diet advice on the interwebs. Try a lactose free diet to clear your system out, do a juice cleanse, make sure you drink this or that supplemental shake at the right time. It’s enough to scare anyone off dieting!
I guess you should mainly get your diet advice from a real dietician and not just books and self-diagnosis. Still, I find it interesting that all these different specialty diets are around and some people follow them religiously.
What do you think? Is there any merit to the candida diet or is it a load of hokey?
My grandfather had a saying. “Paper doesn’t refuse ink.” I think it totally applies to the internet. There are SO many people who somehow believe that if something is on a formal looking website (or even a blog), then it must be researched and true. That breakfast line would be enough for me to totally discount anything that site advised.
I hope there are some good comments about this diet for you…I’m sorry that I’ve never heard of it!
Oh wow! Just skip it?! What about lunch and dinner? Should you skip those too?!
I love that saying Jeannine- I think it’s perfect for the internet! (and any website telling you to skip meals)
So on the subject of the actual diets you’ve listed, I only have personal experience with a vegan diet (always felt great) BUT living in LA, just about everyone I run across (neighbors, coworkers, friends etc..) is always doing one of these diets… Mostly paleo/gluten free and I have had one friend who did the candida thing at the recommendation of her nutritionist…for a while, with no real results..She eventually stopped. Personally, I’m a fan of whole real foods… Okay, I could blab on about food forever, but those are my two (or three) cents….
Interesting that your friend didn’t have good results from the candida diet. I think I’m going to try and cut down on sugar, caffeine and maybe alcohol, but man I need some kind of vice. 🙂 Other than that, yes to whole, fresh foods!
I had a hard enough time without dairy – I can’t imagine just skipping food entirely!
What would you eat on that Candida diet?? That sounds crazy. I have no experience in eliminating certain foods from my diet but I could really use a sugar cleanse right now, I can’t stop eating it! 🙂
Yeah, just say you’re eating it for the baby! 😉 I don’t have an excuse… I know I could really cut down on sugar a ton. So addictive!
This is something I’m so, so passionate about as a health coach – and the biggest thing to remember is, no one diet works for everyone. What did work for a friend may not necessarily work for you, because you’re different – your inherent body structure and hormones are different, so we all react differently. Tabitha mentioned whole foods – and I think we can all agree that that is really your best way to go! You can rarely go wrong with what nature gives you. That being said – I know the list of “no-no” foods can start getting incredibly overwhelming, but what I find helps is to focus on what you CAN eat, and get creative from there. Don’t think “I can’t have potatoes, corn, cheese, pastas”, but more along the lines of “I CAN have eggs, peppers, chicken, quinoa, artichokes” (just an example). Affirmation always works better than negativity – if you want to do candida, try finding a site that will say, “look all the amazing meals and food you can have!!” The internet CAN be a useful source.. sometimes! ((Side note – check out Body Ecology (bodyecology.com) if you’re interested – another interesting take on gut health.))
There are currently over 54,000 published studies on candida since the introduction of antibiotics in the 1940s. Wherever antibiotics are used, fungal candida develops. Antibiotics create an imbalance that needs to be reversed. A lot is being written about this in regard to the effects on the body’s bacterial flora (microbiome) and antibiotic resistance. Besides the science that backs up the significance of and effects of candida in the body, I’ve seen many miracles with people following a candida protocol that we developed. A whole foods diet helps to eliminate many of the pro-inflammatory foods that most people consume each day. Our diet allows all meats (except pork), all vegetables, fruit, brown rice as the only grain, eggs, tea, coffee, and water. If you have blood sugar issues, fruit may not work as well for you until that is resolved. Balance in the diet is important, as too little sugar, or two much sugar creates imbalances.
A candida diet is part of the solution necessary to address correcting imbalances in the intestinal flora, while the SCD and Paleo diets are good ways to eat. A dairy-free diet usually reflects an imbalance in the intestinal flora, or reactions to processed dairy. A vegan diet is either a reflection of an inability to digest meats (reflecting gut flora imbalances) or due to personal beliefs around harming animals.