Friend with Candida

Hey guys, I'm trying to find some nutritional advice for a friend of mine who is convinced she has candida. She wanted to be vegan for a while but now she thinks she has candida so is going to reduce her fruit, veg, nuts and pulse intake and start eating more meat and fish! She's asked me for advice but as I'd never even heard of candida until she told me the other day I am no help at all :/

Thank you!

First off, though, if she hasn't already seen a gynecologist about it then get her to go to one - it might just be dryness that can be treated topically.

More meat and fish is definitely not the way to go. It's essentially fed by sugars, so cut down on are fruit - not nuts and pulses! Alcohol HAS to go, anything with added sugar - sugary drinks, sweets, cakes... and of course yeasts, so yeasted bread. More information on the diet can be found here: http://www.thecandidadiet.com/

If it's a flush of her system that's needed then colonics are fantastic for candida. Candida's, or thrush, is very common, especially in the sugar loaded diets that are so normal these days. Going back to meat is certainly not the answer! Red meat in particular will make things worse.

Hope that's of some help, let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks so much. She didn't actually tell me any symptoms except getting a metallic taste when eating sugar and chocolate - not really a reason to start eating meat and fish again. Is candida real then? I heard today it was just a fad diet and had been debunked.

Candida's very real and uncomfortable, it's a yeast infection fed by sugar - hence the diet. It's not something for weight loss. It's also something that is visible in the gut, or accessibly visible when flushed out with colonics. It's like whitish floury stuff. Most of the symptoms aren't exactly dinner table discussion, as they include vaginal burning, itching and discharge. It also causes sluggish tiredness. It's internal, but extends to external so a lot of thrush creams will just treat the itching rather than combating the root of the problem.

Another major problem is hormonal contraception. If she's on the pill and has candida that will also be causing it to flare up. Metallic tastes in the mouth can indicate many things so if that's the only symptom it might not be candida. Whatever it is it's no reason to stray from veganism - I know several people who've turned vegan and had a massive improvement with candida. Maybe try and get her to a nutritionist to sort the metallic taste?