Candida Cleanse Throwback

Like I mentioned, I have been off my cleanse for about a month, basically eating whatever. I like the hiatus for now, and believe I will return to the cleanse after Thanksgiving. I checked my older Candida Cleanse posts just to see where I started. This was my beginning, six months ago:

Candida cleanse

5/27/13 I am one week in to my candida cleanse. Very briefly, candida is a naturally occurring yeast in the intestines. It can get out of balance and start overproducing yeast, which is officially called candidiasis. I have felt for many years that I've had this imbalance and, until now, was unwilling to take the steps to clear it out. The cleanse is very regimented and takes a considerable amount of time.

Week one: this week, for me, has been about getting most of the addictive substances out of my body.    This includes coffee, black tea, alcohol, tobacco, dairy, sugar, gluten, etc. Basically, I've been eating meat, nuts, green veggies and non-sugary fruits like avocado and cucumber. I've been drinking green tea, herbal tea and water with lemon or lime. Like I said, very regimented. The cleanse, depending on who you ask, should include almost nothing that breaks down into sugar. It should also exclude foods prone to mold, or fungi, or fermented things.

Why am I doing this? Like I mentioned, I feel I have had an imbalance for years. There are extensive symptoms lists out there if you want to find them. My symptoms are varied, but a couple of weeks before I chose to do the cleanse it seems they had gotten worse. My bowel movements became even more irregular and funky, as far as consistency and frequency. I started to have a white coat on my tongue in the morning. And I really wasn't feeling well. I had this sensation in my digestive system of gurgling and fermenting, and I was having gas all the time, regardless of what I ate, it seemed. Moreover, it felt like nothing I put in my body food-wise was the right thing. So, this was enough. I was ready to take the plunge.

I'm just trodding through right now, feeling along my path as I go. Some websites say it only takes a couple of weeks to clear this out. When I check in with myself, I believe it takes much longer. I've heard several times that three months is the best amount of time, and a friend I just spoke to recently said three months is the minimum and six months is optimal. We shall see. Time seems to go by so quickly, perhaps six months is like a drop in the hat.

5/31/13 It is now over a week and a half of my candidiasis cleanse. I wanted to post how I start my day.

Wake up

Water

Liver flush-olive oil, juice of one fresh lemon, three to four cloves of garlic. Blend together and swallow. Garlic is one of the best candida fighters. And doing a liver flush is really good idea because the liver has to work pretty hard while the candida is dying off, and you want it to be in optimal condition. I've also substituted the olive oil with coconut oil. The concoction tastes terrible, but coconut oil is another one of the best natural candida fighters.

Then, to end my day, I drink a bentonite clay/psyllium husk shake in water. This is to help clear out the colon so all the stuff I am detoxing has an exit route. I purposely don't drink this shake within an hour of supplements or foods, because it can inhibit absorption of nutrients.

When I decided to do this cleanse, once I made a decision about how to begin and end my day, the middle stuff didn't seem too daunting. The morning and evening are simple, effective and purposeful. I like that.

6/6/13 I was reading this article, as I like to do when cleansing, to keep me motivated. It discussed bowel movements and how people think it's normal to go once per day or every other day or once per week. I've never considered that healthy, but I know it's many people's experience. This article then mentioned it in terms of meals. Think about how long in between bowel movements, and how many meals you've had during that time. That's how much you're carrying around in your intestines. And if your movement is small, then you're still carrying most of it around. So, that's pretty gross. All that stuff just churning and fermenting and rotting in there.

Just some other interesting tidbits: my skin seems to be breaking out a little. Either that or I have some strange bug bites. My throat has been mildly sore for a few days. I'm pretty tired throughout the day with some bursts of energy. I feel some movement and churning in my colon. I'd like to believe this is candida die-off, since this wasn't happening when I first started the cleanse, but it's been happening since being constipated, and I haven't added any foods that might restart symptoms. My food dreams are changing. I'm barely hungry at all. I'm eating mostly functionally. I guess once the food cravings are gone, the body doesn't need as much as we think it does.

6/13/13 I am in the middle of week four of my candida cleanse. Up until I began week four, I still felt like I was beginning. Now I feel like I'm really into something. I'm just noting how I feel. I've been pretty gasy the last few days. I have upped my supplements, but I have also added in some new foods, so I'm not sure if this is candida die-off or if the foods I'm eating are creating a reaction. I tend to think it is die-off. Time will tell. My cycle is beginning soon, so I've been pretty carnivorous and less strict about the quality of food I've been eating in order to keep ahead of my cravings. Once I begin my cycle, I will get a cleaner again.

I was really surprised during week three and the beginning of this week that my cravings came back with a vengeance. I had a rough three days or so last week where I was freaking out about what I couldn't eat.

 I finally feel clearer in my head. I was feeling pretty foggy throughout the day, and now it seems like I'm thinking normally. Perhaps my body has gotten used to its new energy source now.

Overall, I'm optimistic. I'm one third of the way through this. That makes a huge difference in my thinking around it. And food-wise, it will only get easier from here.