Dairy
Milk sugar or lactose is allergenic as it is very difficult for adults to digest. It is also one of the candida’s favourite foods so it is not recommended. Milk proteins, especially casein can also be highly allergenic and really tough for even the healthiest digestive system to break down. Milk products also have a gluey, sticky texture to them which tends to coat our digestive tract and cause irritation while reducing nutrient absorption.

Milk products are known for causing elusive symptoms from delayed intolerance reactions. These reactions can include. joint pain; lower back pain; respiratory congestion; and mucous production. Other signs of dairy intolerance may include depression, any kind of inflammation, uncontrollable cravings (for dairy), headaches, rashes and more.These symptoms can surface one to four days after consumption and so can be quite challenging to recognize unless one is keeping a food diary.

Because the candida challenged individual is already coping with so many immune and digestive-related challenges, I suggest folks abstain from all milk products except perhaps goat or sheep's yoghurt or cow's milk kefir while on the program. (see kefir and yoghurt below). Even these foods need to be used with caution and awareness as many sensitive individuals cannot tolerate them.

Kefir and Yogurt
Both yoghurt and kefir are superior to other dairy products because of the fermentation process they are prepared with. The fermentation breaks down the lactose (highly allergenic milk sugar) so that there is very little if any left in the finished product. In Kefir in particular some of the other troublesome milk ingredients such as the glue-like protein casein, do not seem to cause as much trouble for folks either. Organic versions of the above are preferable because they are free of hormones and other medications that are typically fed to livestock and end up in the milk.

The fermentation makes these specialty dairy products much easier to digest than non fermented. However they can still cause problems. Because of the potential for reactions to be delayed, many of us have issues with dairy and don't know we do. Not only can reactions be delayed but if we are eating something that we are intolerant to and we eat it all the time, our symptoms may be chronic and low grade and therefore difficult to identify. For example, we may have been eating dairy for years and also had bad knees for years. When we stop eating dairy, our knees get better and we wonder why. Unless we then started to eat dairy again and also noticed that our knees become sore once again, we may not make the connection between our sore knees and the dairy.

If you have any doubt at all about your ability to tolerate dairy, you can expect to gain an accurate observation of your true reaction to it by abstaining from all dairy for four weeks and then reintroducing it to see how you feel. Be sure to record your reactions in your diary. If you believe you may have a dairy intolerance, the best way to determine this will be to eliminate ALL dairy for four to six weeks and carefully observe (using your diet diary) how your symptoms change during this period.

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