ello everyone!

first of all, i'm so grateful to have found this forum so thank you everyone esp admin!

been in pretty poor health for the last 6 months or so, been patronised and fobbed off by my doc and on monday came across candida overgrowth on the net and suddenly everything about my health fitted into place woohoo!

so, i've started the anti-candida diet (although continuing to fantasise about a house-sized strawberries) and also thought i should stop taking the pill (been on it for 5 years).

also after 16 years of being veggie have decided to try and get a bit of organic chicken down me throat..

was wondering about any effects to expect from your experience or knowledge?

thank you! pinkehh

Welcome pinkehh,

Everyone here is so supportive and helpful. I wish you much success on your new journey.

I found this new way of eating a bit overwhelming at first, but I was a junk food junkie. You already sound knowledgeable. The words "organic chicken" were not in my vocabulary! My chiropractor told me it might get worse before it gets better. I didn't know what that meant at the time, but I sure figured it out after a couple days. I wasn't quite prepared for the yeast die-off - dizzy, queazy. You should read some of the posts on die-off, if you haven't already. And I craved treats, but I got past it, and found much success I think.

I've been doing this program for over a year and I feel so much better!! I had chronic pain for 20 years - fibromyalgia - but now I hardly have any pain. And the sleep disturbance, bloating, foggy thinking are pretty much gone, as long as I stick with the program.

Tarilee, the moderator, posts on Tuesday and Friday. She can answer your questions better than me. I just wanted to welcome you. It was so nice when I first got on and someone welcomed me!

By the way, the pill definately made the candida worse for me. I ended up with thrush - YUK. I was taking antibiotics for my skin at the time. Together they really made a mess of my body.

Gay

hey, thanks gay ann!

i had the chicken last night - wasn't as weird as i thought it would be! and oh my god does it have flavour! could explain why i've needed so much sauce and cheese on everything over the years without meat!

yeah i have had so much thrush too! (and had also had antibiotics for acne for a couple of years previously too).. every time i went to get my next lot of contraceptive pills the doc would say "any problems with it?" and i thought 'well, i always remember to take it, i'm not pregnant and i'm not dead so i guess not!' little did i know!!

i will take your advice on reading more about die-off, as i'm hoping that's what i had over the weekend but i may have just feeling generally unwell as i have been recently..

thank you again so much for the welcome - very warming hopefully i can pass it on to someone else once i've been here a while

pinkehh

Ooh, I know what you mean on the chicken. After 20+ years not eating beef, I've had to relent. Granted, I can still only do ground beef (which I realize isn't recommended but I buy it fresh from the butcher) but it's getting easier. I've got to have more protein sources than nuts and eggs. I use a lot of salsa!

Die-off is difficult. Some days you think, "Why am I doing this to myself?" but then you come out the other side and know why. For the last 2-3 weeks I have finally felt consistently good and it's remarkable.

Good luck.

hi pinkehh--
like you, i've been a veggie for a long time (all of my 21 years) until now. i found it so hard at first to eat meat. i try to eat it once or twice a week--chicken, salmon, or tuna. and i find that the simpler i cook it, the easier it is to eat. all i can say is that eating meat gets easier the more you try to incorporate it into your diet.

as for being on the pill, i have been using it for 4 years now and i'm sure that it is keeping the candida in my body very happy. if it is possible for you to get off of it and use other contraception, then i think you should. i would, in a heartbeat, if my bf and i thought that we could trust something else. i have been doing a candida diet/supplements from my naturopath for 6 months so far, and while i feel alot better, my candida level has only gone down a bit. if i went of the pill, i think i would have a lot more progress to show for my hard work.

things to expect include insane cravings (possibly for foods you never even ate much before, for me it was peanut butter), horrible die off for a few days, and of course the difficulty of eating out (at a restaurant, or just at someone else's house). when i found this site, i found a thread on tips for eating out, and how to deal with people with nosy questions--it really helped, especially with the bf's family. i think the title of the thread is "how to explain to others" in the candida diet q and a section.

so good luck with everything. the important thing is to listen to your body, no matter what your regular doctor might say/do (mine told me to take some tums...). this forum is an awesome resource, and i sincerely hope that you get better.

take care, johanna.

Welcome Pinkehh,

Your fellow members have offered some gentle and welcoming support and I'm so glad to see that.

I want to say that some other "things you can expect" include the clearing of the whites of your eyes, less sleep in your eyes and mucous in general, a cleaner scalp, clearer breathing, better focus and mood, more energy, brighter and clearer skin and less inflammation. These are all potential benefits of the type of food therapy we recommend here and these benefits are particularly noticeable once you sort out which specific foods are best for YOU.

Some of these impacts are also true of coming off the pill though there may also be some irregularities to deal with while your body adjusts. You might explore herbal medicines like Vitex to help your own cycle find its way.

I strongly recommend that you check out the fertility management computers called Ladycomp or Pearlie by Natural Methods. Let me know if you have trouble finding them on the net.

Here's our welcome link to help you with your first 'look around'.

Whole Approach welcome post

Take good care,

Tarilee

hi kay, johanna and tarilee!

thank you all for your replies!

yeah i was on the week's break from my pill when things started to get bad, so i just never went back on it, after reading about it's bad effects! and lady comp looks amazing!!! i'm definitely gonna invest in one of those, although first i need a bit of dosh to spend on some supplements first! thank you for the vitex recommendation, tarilee - another one to add to my list

i've gone off the idea of meat again.. i'd probably like to try some bacon, but as far as i've read it's a no-no on the diet, and i've read about other long-term veggies trying it and then being violently sick afterwards! although i was that anyway this morning for some reason :s man this is all so confusing..

which is why it's so lovely to have so many people's experiences and help in one place!

thanks again peopoew!

pinkehh

ps - oh my god, the cravings!! i actually burst into tears in the supermarket the other day haha! x

Dear Pinkeh,

If you cried but still went home 'clean' with healthy food in your bags, then you probably did the best thing you could, that is, to feel the feelings fully.

I agree with your cautionary advice that bacon is a good meat NOT to make an exception with as it's far from a healthy food. I think because of the strong smell, the sugar that's usually added and the association that many of us have, with it as a pleasant leisurely weekend breakfast food, it can remain a tempting smell/taste.

If you're looking for a reason not to eat it, I could give you a few. Just ask! Eating pigs in particular is something that turns me off tremendously with all that I know about it.

I hope you feel better soon!

TLC

haha yes indeed! i went home upset but clean, and after using my new-found cooking talent i felt much better thank you you really do get used to this new way of eating more and more.

i kind of want to know about pig, but kind of not as i'm still trying to get my head around trying some duck or lamb, rather than a cute duck with pretty webbed feet or a lil fluffy lamb! i really wanna try eating meat, but it's been so long it's weird!

so do you not eat pig, or other animals too?

pinkehh

Hi Pinkeh,

I eat meat once a month and choose to only eat animals that I know were raised healthfully and that lived happy lives and died humanely. I don't want to contribute to suffering nor do I want to eat hormones produced in fear, such as adrenaline.

Factory farmed pigs are raised under disgusting conditions and like all factory farmed animals, are fed drugs, artificial & unnatural food ingredients as well as other animals regardless of whether they are omnivorous. They are also treated with horrendous cruelty. Pigs are extremely intelligent, emotional beings and apparently their meat tastes a lot like human meat does.

On another note, the environmental damage done by pig farming is massive and very difficult to justify. Eating low on the food chain with as little meat in our diets as possible is helpful but so is choosing to eat meats that are not produced in an environmentally destructive way. There is extraordinary water and air pollution from factory pig farms.

As Michael Pollan wrote, "You are what your food eats too." and "Eat real food." and "Pay more, eat less."

I hear you as far as the cute little animals go. I've hugged lambs and kids and could not dream of eating them personally. It would be like eating cat or dog to me. I know I take the carefulness with eating meat further than most do and I do it because I want to "be the change I want to see in the world" as Gandhi guided us to do.

Take care,

TLC

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tarilee,

yeah i guess you do take carefulness with meat further than most, but then most people aren't careful about food in general. with friendly advertising and nice packaging anything can look fine for us to eat as the food's previous history are hidden from us..

thank you. i really apreciate learning from your view of meat. being a veggie, i don't have to think about all the factors of what meat contains, and the lives of the animals it came from which is easy, not being a part of the process.. so now i'm going for some meat, i have to work out where i sit on different issues, and i really like your way of doing it - it still involves being a nice part of how everything works (if you get me).

thanks again!

pinkehh