5 replies to this topic

[overthis]

I have been diagnosed with candida overgrowth and have been following my doctor's recommendations for the past several months. While my face has cleared about 60%, I still have breakouts very regularly, and have recently developed new breakouts on my neck. My diet is basically avoiding the following: yeast (obviously), sugar, alcohol, fermented foods, and vinegar. I still eat grains as long as there's no yeast in them. I've found a sunflower/flax seed bread that I eat regularly, flour tortillas, rice, and whole grain pasta. I can eat sugar free products occasionally. I'm curious what suggestions other people have.

I've heard the Paleo diet and the GAPS diet mentioned. I've recently given up my vegetarian diet for the occasional chicken breast. I'm just not sure that I want to add more restrictions to my diet. Is life really worth living if you can't enjoy things? Then again, my skin is terrible. I've also been told that soy is terrible, but I'm not sure why. It's been recommended before and I ate it all the time as a vegetarian. Any information would be great! Thanks!

[FaceValues]

Anything the government subsidizes is usually a crappy crop, including soy, which also has estrogenic properties (as do other foods, flax for example). I'm sensitive to soy, eggs, dairy, poultry, corn, wheat, sugar, chocolate, bananas, too many omega 6s (i.e. nuts and seeds), amines, salicylates, and phenols. I was an ovo-lacto vegetarian for a little less than 5 years but during that time I mostly ate soy-based meat replacements and grains (bread, tortillas, pasta, etc.) It was when I became this type of vegetarian that my pre-pubescent 12-year-old acne became more of a regular occurrence, when I was 13 and decided to go veg after doing a report on animal testing.

Cut out all grains and dairy for awhile (about a month, do a month without one then a month without both if you have to), do yourself a favor. After that period reintroduce a little rice (people have differing opinions about brown vs. white, hulled vs. unhulled, and I'm still a little on the fence about it myself), oats, or buckwheat. Stay away from gluten.

Also I keep hearing in Chinese medicine that poultry, pineapple, and mango aren't good for people with acne. Mango is a pretty high GI fruit, pineapple is pretty sweet/citrusy (some have reported problems with citrus fruit on this forum), but I have no idea why chicken is listed. I just know I'm sensitive to it, so I stick to fish, lamb, and beef.

The only good source of omega 3's and vitamin A are grass-fed animals and fish. Plant-based sources of precursors forthose two nutrients, which are key to healing acne, are ALA and beta-carotene. However, your body can't make beta-carotene without vitamin A in the first place. I don't know what your plans are for meat-eating but at the very least pick up a pure cod liver oil. Probiotics/probiotic food also would help with your Candida.

http://www.marksdail.../#axzz1jlhT6Bw3

This is a pretty good post for if you're considering a more paleo approach. You can google "GAPS diet" as well if you want more information on that. I just purchased a GAPS guide and plan to begin the program with tunnelvisionary pretty soon here.

[Tunnelvisionary]

I've heard Candida diets aren't very effective because they aim to starve the yeast, which doesn't seem fun or healthy to me (though I'm not an expert). It probably has helped some people, but I think it's much better to treat the entire body, especially the actual environment of the gut, to heal microbial imbalances (among many other things) than to try to isolate and starve candida. Paleo diet seems like an avoidance diet to me, which can work really well for people who are healthy and don't have food allergies or intolerances. General food sensitivities come from food leaking through your gut and into your bloodstream where your immune system reacts and attacks it, thinking its a pathogen. Diets like the GAPS diet and the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (both very similar but you'd have to look up the specific differences) aim to heal the gut as quickly as possible. The beauty of the diet is that it's not permanent, and the creator wants you to be able to eat all the foods you want to freely. You have to be willing to be restrictive initially, though.

Edited by Tunnelvisionary, 17 January 2012 - 08:44 PM.

[FaceValues]

^that's my GAPS buddy. =')

[limpbizkitfan]

I've heard Candida diets aren't very effective because they aim to starve the yeast, which doesn't seem fun or healthy to me (though I'm not an expert). It probably has helped some people, but I think it's much better to treat the entire body, especially the actual environment of the gut, to heal microbial imbalances (among many other things) than to try to isolate and starve candida. Paleo diet seems like an avoidance diet to me, which can work really well for people who are healthy and don't have food allergies or intolerances. General food sensitivities come from food leaking through your gut and into your bloodstream where your immune system reacts and attacks it, thinking its a pathogen. Diets like the GAPS diet and the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (both very similar but you'd have to look up the specific differences) aim to heal the gut as quickly as possible. The beauty of the diet is that it's not permanent, and the creator wants you to be able to eat all the foods you want to freely. You have to be willing to be restrictive initially, though.

How did u find about about this?

[Tunnelvisionary]

http://www.foodaller...ut-food-allergy - first sentence
and
http://www.worldalle...er/foodallergy/ - How do food allergies develop? section