The Week Ending May 5th - A tale of Two Diets - Pre and Post Candida test results

So if you caught my post on Friday you will know that I got my IGG food sensitivity tests back. On the bad list - banana's, pineapple, yeast, whey, yogurt and mushrooms. I will be eliminating those from my diet. I literally cried over the banana's and yogurt being on that list. That really hurt. Really.

With those results I also found out that I had a high immune response to Candida. This confirmed what I had unfortunately suspected -- I appear to have a pretty severe Candida overgrowth. If you are wondering what that is you can check out the Candida Diet webpage. We all have Candida, mine has just decided to make themselves a little too comfortable and have been bullying the good bacteria. Probably because I fed and continue to feed them too much sugar. Big huge sigh.

So I started off the week eating my old version of clean - which meant no, or at least very little processed foods, minimal sweets, low-carb, wheat-free and grain-free. Kind-of Paleo but with some dairy here and there. And I was eating 2 - 3 servings of fruit a day. And of course some dark chocolate and maybe a wheat-free dessert here and there.

But after Wednesday my clean eating world shifted and I had to change my diet yet again. Even though I still need to meet with my Naturopath I decided to just start my Anti-Candida diet right away based on my own research. I needed to take control of the situation and not let those hungry sugar loving beasts control my life anymore.  So what does that mean.............

Its a restrictive diet. Hard. But let's hope not impossible.

So basically I will be allowed to eat

• Meat, fish, eggs - so far, so good - no change here - still organic/hormone free/grass fed/antibiotic free/nitrate-free as much as possible. And always sugar-free.
• Veggies - as much as I can. Before I was omitting white potatoes and corn. Well now there are a whole bunch of new veggies to add to the off-limits list like sweet potatoes, beets, carrots and squash - can you hear me crying?
• Fruit - ooops - how did that get on the list. I'M NOT ALLOWED TO EAT FRUIT. How am I supposed to survive? Brutal, brutal, brutal. Oh yeah, I'm allowed avocado, lemon and lime. Yay! Sarcasm.
• Nuts and seeds - Thank-god I can still have my Chia but it really goes good with fruit. Tear.
• Healthy Oils - olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil 
• Grains - quinoa, buckwheat, wild and brown rice. Well, that's great except I don't eat grains because of my blood sugar issues. I am probably going to have to re-introduce some grains later in the day and see if I can handle them because I don't think I can survive off just meat, veggies, and nuts. 
• Sweeteners - nothing except Stevia and Xyletol. So of course I will be doing lots of experiments to try and make a decent dessert out of these.
• Dairy - butter and yogurt. Great, except I have a FOOD SENSITIVITY to yogurt so I can't have yogurt. Really? Is that fair.

Also on the no-list is:

• Caffeine. I was already off of caffeine but apparently even de-caf should be off-limits. I'm holding off on that one until I talk to the doctor. I at least need my decaf. 
• Vinegars and any condiment with sugar. 
• Alcohol

Okay. So. A little advice. Don't go out of town for the weekend to a wedding shower and stay at your "baking addicted" mother's house on day three of an anti-candida diet. Seriously - it was torture. 

But I haven't had one piece of dark chocolate, one drop of French Vanilla creamer, one taste of yogurt or one plate of apple nacho's in 5 days. It's been HARD but I did it.................take that you sugar loving beasts!

This was early in the week when I was still eating dairy that I made these AWESOME Baked Enchiladas. I'll get you the recipe this week. You shouldn't have to suffer just because I am.

Chia porridge with fruit salad on top. I think that might have been my last piece of fruit. The memories.

Omelet with ham, broccoli and cheese. I just realized I can't put cheese in my omelets or frittata's anymore...........

I think this was Day One of Anti-Candida. Now all my smoothies will be fruit free. So I'll be  using lots of avocado's to try and thicken them up. And Chia of course. 

A Spring mix salad Chicken with Apple Cider dressing. I had to take this out shopping with me  since there isn't really anything I can get "fast food" anymore.

Vega One French Vanilla Smoothie with avocado and ground Chia. I'm just starting to experiment with ground Chia. I like. Doesn't stick in the teeth so much.

A big salad for lunch with egg and hemp. I think I will be eating a LOT of eggs.

The salads I made for our road trip since we couldn't stop for fast food. I made a broccoli and quinoa salad with egg and apple cider vinegar dressing. It was actually really good. Maybe I'll make it again and share the recipe.

Shower food. I had to share this pic because these were so cute - and simple to make too! Too bad I couldn't eat one.

I like to refer to this as "The Table of Torture".  I spent four hours in this room with these desserts and didn't have one bite.  Cruelty.

The savories looked just as good but just as off-limits. I ate a few gluten-free chips and a bit of ranch corn and bean dip . It was a cheat but not a major offense.

An egg salad "sandwich" being eaten in the car. Wrapped in lettuce instead of bread of course.

When we got home I made myself some bbq'd pork chops with a Candida Diet friendly bbq sauce. I used tomato paste, tomato sauce, paprika, chili, onion powder, garlic, butter, Xylitol and salt/pepper. It was really good. Hubby was impressed.  A good way to end the week.

Other than my being sad and mourning the loss of fruit and yogurt I actually had a great week. I felt pretty good. My energy levels are good. My iron deficiency is at bay. I had a good weekend out of town. And the SNOW IS GONE. The temperature is rising. I think I can finally safely put away our winter boots. The kids are loving playing outside. 

Life is good. I just have to find sweetness in other things.