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Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

General health

anti-candida diet

28 replies

ionesmum · 02/09/2002 11:15

Has anyone tried this? Did you feel better for it?

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Ghosty · 02/09/2002 11:16

Do you mean the yeast free, wheat free thing?

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PamT · 02/09/2002 11:47

I went to a Mind, Body and Spirit festival a few months ago and lots of women there told me that they were on special diets for candida and had cut out dairy, wheat and sugar from their diet and for most of them it seemed to be working. I have cut dairy out of my own diet and have felt better for it. I generally manage ok but I'd struggle if I had to cut wheat out as well.

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Ghosty · 02/09/2002 12:07

I didn't eat wheat, yeast or dairy products for two years due to a skin complaint. I had tried all sorts of things from the doctor that didn't work so had a food intolerance test done by an alternative health clinic.

I felt great on it. Skin cleared up, never had a cold or any kind of bug for that time and generally was in tip top shape (as well as being digustingly skinny - which was a novelty!)

Started eating all that stuff again when I was pregnant as I felt that the baby needed calcium and I needed the carbohydrate and miraculously my skin did not flare up. Even after ds was born my skin has remained clear!

Do suffer from colds now and again but not as much as before and am not model like slim anymore but blame that on ds!

I still do avoid dairy - am a firm believer that I suffer more from catarrh if I drink milky things. Only drink black tea and coffee and have soya milk on my cereal.

I wish I could go back to wheat free but it is very difficult to stick to considering the fact that most things have wheat flour in them (just take a look at the ingredients on the back of packets.) I try to keep bread to a minimum but don't mind pasta. I think yeast is the real baddie!

If you do go down that road, Waitrose do a really nice yeast and wheat free rye bread. It has got a russian name. Most other wheat and yeast free bread are pretty yuk.

More and more stuff is on the market to help diets like this. Do a bit of research before you start though!

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aloha · 02/09/2002 12:36

I think it's not good for you to cut out so many major food groups, personally. Not without very good medical reasons.

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ionesmum · 02/09/2002 16:14

Thanks for the feedback. As far as I can remember the anti-candida diet cuts out wheat, yeast, fungi, sugar, cheese, and anything fermented (inc wine!) You can gradually re-introduce things after a time. I agree that it does sound v. restrictive, esp. as I am veggie, and my herbalist has said that she has seen people get malnourished on it. But I have recurrent thrush that I cannot shift, since dd was born it has become intolerable. I've tried every medicine and complementary remedy imaginable and am getting desperate. I also get IBS which some people say can be related to candida overgrowth in the gut.

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pupuce · 02/09/2002 17:26

Ionesmum... what about bying a proper book on this topic.
MIL did the diet for a long time and it is very difficult to maintain (forget restaurants!!!).
On the plus side, she felt an improvement fairly quickly.

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robinw · 02/09/2002 19:55

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robinw · 02/09/2002 20:10

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ionesmum · 02/09/2002 21:41

Thanks, robin. My herbalist did suggest wheat and vegetables from the nightshade family - potatos, peppers, tomatos, aubergines - as culprits. I did try eating wheat-free but being veggie found it virtually impossible. We buy organic veg but even so you can never really be sure what things have been sparyed with. I will look out for the book that you recommend at the library.

Pupuce, I do have a book on this but it seems so restrictive I'd find it really hard to stick to. That's why I asked if anyone has had any success with it, so I'd be encouraged to keep going!

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robinw · 03/09/2002 18:50

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calcium · 03/09/2002 19:14

ionesmum - I had Candida really badly in my mid 20's, so bad that I was really lathargic, couldn't do anything, had thrush continually and so went to a dietitian who suggested that I go on the afore mentioned diet. Iwas desperate so did although thought it was very restrictive. Actually it wasn't it just happens that all the things you tend to like and eat alot are usually the things which are bad for you ie; red wine, pasta, bread, cheese, mushrooms, bananas, no tea and coffee etc... I ate alot of brown rice, you can eat spelt bread which is delicious and I still eat it when I can find it, live natural yoghurt, herbal teas, baked pots, veggies oh theres loads. It made a HUGE difference, my energy came back, my thrush disappeared and I felt well again. I did stick ridgidly to it for about 6 months and then slowly introduced some foods back in but gave up drinking wine, tea and coffee for a year. I would highly recommend it but only if you are really ill and have seen a dietitian first. If you just have thrush try the over the counter remedies first and cut out alcohol, sugar and things with sugar in and then the obvious, wheat, fungi etc.. for a month or so. I hardly ever get thrush even now so it must have worked for me.

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ionesmum · 03/09/2002 22:05

Thank you for the advice. Am cutting out bread, sugar and fermented things and will see if that improves things. Calcium, I used to be terribly lethargic and used to sleep all the time but that improved about 2 yrs ago. Robin, you were encouraging, I think that I would be happier taking things slowly. I don't know if I could get a referral to a dietician from my g.p. as she doesn't believe that the diet works.

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ionesmum · 05/09/2002 13:49

Hi, my g.p. has just rung to say that the diagnosis of thrush was wrong and that I have a bacterial infection, possibly from when I had dd. I have to take a course of antibiotics to get rid of it. I'm quite pleased in a way as at least I stand a decent chance of feeling better soon! I'm also really pleased that I asked for another test to be done.

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angelmouse · 06/09/2002 01:53

Bit late in on this one but I do have personal experience to add. I had a succession of three miscarriages and decided to try every route of investigation to work out if there was a reason.

Having just finished training as a reflexologist, and being aware of possible problems between spine and miscarriage, I consulted an osteopath who also uses Applied Kinesiology (AK) for allergy testing. He was convinced that I had a candida problem - years of antibiotics, steroids for asthma, stress and too much junk food! Initially my tests showed up candida and a soya allergy. I was put on an anti-candida diet for three weeks. I cut out all bovine dairy produce (I had no problem with goat's and it's really quite nice once you get used to the strong flavour), yeast products - including Marmite! - bread, mushrooms, alcohol, soya (of course) and sugar. I was permitted to have diabetic sugar for sweetening cooking and on porridge. But basically, apart from those restrictions, I could eat as much as I liked. I also took Grapefruit seed extract twice a day, and used probiotics - very important.

After three weeks, I was clear of candida, and haven't had a problem since - six years. I also lost nearly two stones in weight, and my husband lost over two stones. Do remember if doing the candida diet to include your partner. Most men will be asymptomatic for candida, but if infected (which they will be if you don't use condoms), they will only pass it back and forth to you.

And I got pregnant with my daughter two weeks after coming off the diet.

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aloha · 06/09/2002 10:44

I believe a lot of self-diagnosed thrush is wrongly diagnosed. I think that, as Ionesmum has shown, it is usually good to have a range of tests before deciding it has to be thrush and self-medicating. Bacterial Vagninosis, for example, is quite a common infection (and certainly NOT a sexually transmitted disease) with symptoms similar to thrush but is implicated in miscarriage, so definitely worth getting treated with antibiotics (it's easily cleared up). I've written a lot about women's health and it's not unusual for 'recurrent' thrush that doesn't respond to normal anti-fungals to turn out to be something totally different. Most doctors suggest that if you take the over-the-counter remedies and they 'don't work' go back to your GP and ask for further tests before going down the restrictive diet route. Hope you're soon feeling better Ionesmum.

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aloha · 06/09/2002 10:57

BV is actually MORE common than thrush and can have v similar symptoms - white discharge, burning, itching - yet it can cause PID, infertility (if left untreated) and prematurity in babies. It's really worth getting checked out for. The otc anti-fungal treatments are very effective, and if they aren't working, chances are you don't actually have thrush at all.

BTW there's new evidence that dairy foods actually raise your metabolism...

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Jasper · 06/09/2002 11:36

aloha, the thing about dairy foods raising your metabolism - I read that with interest recently in the Readers Digest (that's where I get all my facts )
Do you know any more about this?
ps thanks for your support on the other thread

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aloha · 06/09/2002 13:06

You're welcome! I have checked out the studies because I already knew about calcium being a help in weight loss (as well as PMT), but was interested to see that dairy produce seemed to accelerate fat burning more than supplementation (though that did help). They recommend four portions a day of low-fat dairy produce - eg yoghurt, skim/semi-skim milk, low fat cheese etc. Was very sad there was no evidence that clotted cream makes you thin

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aloha · 06/09/2002 13:19

You're welcome! I have checked out the studies because I already knew about calcium being a help in weight loss (as well as PMT), but was interested to see that dairy produce seemed to accelerate fat burning more than supplementation (though that did help). They recommend four portions a day of low-fat dairy produce - eg yoghurt, skim/semi-skim milk, low fat cheese etc. Was very sad there was no evidence that clotted cream makes you thin

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ionesmum · 06/09/2002 14:41

Angelmouse, I'm glad that you are better now and that you have your beautiful daughter.

Aloha, bacterial vaginosis is what I have, I'm a bit cross as I went straight to the doctor who did a test for thrush which came back negative, but never followed it up to see if it was anything else. I was told that the thrush test might be negative even though I had it! I went to see the nurse on Monday for my contraception (because of course I'm feeling terribly sexy atm) and mentioned it and she gave me a swab test to do myself and the results were back yesterday. I'm so cross because if the diagnosis had been right in the first place then I'd be feeling a lot better, sooner.

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aloha · 06/09/2002 14:49

BV is really underdiagnosed, and I don't know why doctors are so ignorant about it. The best thing is, you now have treatment. You can't drink on Flagyl (which I expect is what you are taking) though, as alcohol reacts badly with the antibiotics Be careful if you are on the Pill too!

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ionesmum · 06/09/2002 15:10

I've been warned about the booze, fortunately I'm not on the Pill so that's not an issue.

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robinw · 06/09/2002 19:34

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robinw · 06/09/2002 19:46

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aloha · 06/09/2002 19:55

Ah, but protein also washes protein out of the system, so you should up your intake if you are cutting out bread etc.

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