Feeling tired, unwell, or are you showing other symptoms related to candida or yeast syndrome? An overgrowth in the fungi known as candida could be to blame. Though there are a number of treatments and medications out there to help with this kind of infection, there are natural remedies available. By starting a candida cleanse and using the candida diet, you can get your candida levels back under control.
Here is everything you need to know about the candida cleanse diet and getting rid of candida naturally:
What is Candida?
Candida is a type of fungus that lives inside the human body, typically in the mouth, intestines, and skin. Normally, candida isn’t problematic and even has some benefits to our system. When candida starts to overgrow, it causes an infection known as candidiasis or yeast infection.
Some things that cause candida to overgrow include antibiotics, excessive alcohol consumption, eating a diet high in sugars and simple carbohydrates, weak immunity, diabetes, stress, and oral contraceptives.
What is the Candida Cleanse Diet?
The candida cleanse is the short-term preliminary step to beginning the candida diet. Both aim to clear the digestive system of the fungal overgrowth and remove excess toxins from your body. The candida cleanse should only be done for 2-3 days before starting the diet component.
Two ways to do a cleanse include:
- Drinking only fluids, including bone broth, lemon water, and herbal tea.
- Eating vegetables, including salads, steamed vegetables, and a small amount of lean protein.
From there, you start on the Candida diet, an anti-inflammatory, low-sugar diet that eliminates excess sugar to hinder candida overgrowth. The rules are simple. You avoid simple and processed sugars, cut out junk food, eat low sugar fruits and vegetables, use healthy fats, eat healthy proteins, and add fermented foods to your diet.
You should also avoid foods known to cause inflammation, such as foods high in saturated fats and trans fats, like baked goods, fast food, and processed deli meats and cheeses.
What Can You Eat on the Candida Cleanse Diet?
The candida diet focuses on low sugar fruits, non-glutinous grains, non-starchy vegetables, some dairy (with prebiotics and probiotics), and fermented foods. Some foods that you can enjoy include cauliflower, cucumber, onions, garlic, kale, zucchini, spinach, avocado, lemon, olives, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, chicken, eggs, wild salmon, turkey, kefir, yogurt, ghee, flax, almonds, sunflower seeds, apple cider vinegar, ginger, cinnamon, salt, pepper, olive oil, stevia, sauerkraut and so on.
What to Drink During Your Cleanse
Since the drink choices you make can affect the level of candida in your body, it is essential that you consider what beverages you are consuming throughout the day. Alcohol, caffeine, and sugar are known to play roles in accelerating candida growth. Fruit juices and sweetened drinks have no fiber and are loaded with sugar, which could shoot your glucose levels out of control.
Alcoholic drinks also lower your blood sugar, weaken immunity, and cause fatigue—all of which is never smart when you have candida.
So what can you drink? The three main options are water (infusions of flavor are okay), herbal teas, green tea, and chicory coffee. These are drinks that will not cause blood sugar spikes but also help promote a healthy microbiome. For example, chicory coffee contains inulin, a kind of prebiotic. Matcha green tea is an excellent choice for some caffeine as well as L-theanine, which reserves that stress caused by caffeine. Matcha also contains antioxidants to fight against overgrowth and keep you healthy. Other choices include nut milk and vegetable juices. Just make sure you read over the nutritional labels. Opt for low-sugar or sugar-free, organic nut milk and vegetable juices.
Foods to Avoid on The Candida Cleanse Diet
The foods that you cut out of your diet while on the candida cleanse are as follows:
Sugar
An excess of sugar is thought to encourage candida yeast growth. Avoid foods that contain sugars, including honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, molasses, date sugar, turbinado, demerara, amazake, rice syrup, sorghum, sucrose, maltose, lactose, glycogen, glucose, sorbitol, monosaccharides, polysaccharides, and even artificial sweeteners like sucralose, saccharin, and aspartame.
Yeast
Since candida is essentially yeast, if you’re trying to rid your body of it, you avoid it. That includes baker’s yeast, brewer’s yeast, and other forms of nutritional yeast. You will want to cut out baked goods, including bread, crackers, pastries, and so on.
Fruit
Because fruit contains fructose, which supports the growth of yeast, you want to avoid it in all its forms.
Gluten
Wheat, barley, rye and other foods containing these ingredients should be avoided. That includes whole-wheat pasta and bread.
Certain Nuts, Legumes, and Nut Butters
Nut butter like peanut butter, as well as peanuts, pistachios, and the like may have trace amounts of mold, which would hinder the effectiveness of your candida diet.
Caffeine
Anything that includes caffeine, even trace amounts, is not allowed on the candida diet. This includes coffee in all forms, black tea, apple cider, root beers, beer, and other fermented beverages.
Cheeses—Aged, Processed, Moldy
Moldy and blue cheeses are not allowed for the same reasons that peanut butter isn’t allowed. You should also avoid any processed cheese items, including cheese snacks, Kraft mac and cheese, Velveeta, Cheese Whiz, and pre-sliced cheese slices.
The general rule of thumb is anything that has been processed, could contain mold, or has refined sugar, flour, chemicals, preservatives, food coloring, yeast, or gluten should be removed from your diet during the cleanse.
Is The Cleansing Diet Safe?
Since cleansing diets are also considered detox diets, it’s understandable if you are wary about diving into the candida cleanse. Rest assured that this cleanse is safe and good for you. Candida isn’t beneficial to the body, especially in a surplus, and sometimes doing the cleanse is the only way to remove those toxic substances from your body before it can do harm.
Like all detox diets, the candida cleanse follows the same principles of eating minimal amounts of chemicals; emphasizes vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants; and aims to increase the body’s natural detoxification process.
Because of this, you might end up limiting calories and suffer from some side effects, like low blood sugar, lightheadedness, and a headache. Be sure to increase your fluid intake to protect you against dehydration and electrolyte loss.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to tackling the effects of candida overgrowth, all it takes is short cleanse and a low-sugar diet to help you get back in control. Opt for non-starchy vegetables, lean proteins, low-sugar fruits, and fermented foods rich in probiotics. Any foods that could cause inflammation should be avoided entirely. By balancing your diet, you will not only fight candida overgrowth but improve your digestion, skin, immunity, and overall health.
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