Wow...that's quite a list. Not familiar with the diet.

I understand wanting to avoid artificial sweeteners, but stevia is a natural sweetener that does not raise blood sugar levels...note truvia is not stevia.

Do you like nuts? I have a handful of walnuts when I'm hungry and it's very satisfying. Same thing with sunflower seeds. Can you do a hard boiled egg as a snack? With some carrot/celery sticks?

I love mashed rutabaga with butter and nutmeg and will have that as like a hot cereal in the a.m. Quinoa can also be cooked up and eaten as like a hot cereal. A little bit of cinnamon or unsweetened cocoa powder can go a long way to add flavor.

Good luck...hope it helps you feel better.

Oatmeal is a quick-acting carb. The form of it matters -- quick is the worst for that, then rolled, and steel-cut the best.

If you add butter and salt to oatmeal you won't miss the sugar.

I would have to ask for a list of things I could have. I have been looking at some recipes online for the 17 day diet and found a few you might be interested in as snacks. Kale chips, crispy chickpeas and oven carrot chips. I have not tried these so hope it helps and good luck. Patty

You'll also want to eliminate refrigerated leftovers because they can foster yeast growth as they sit in the refrigerator. Freeze any leftovers.

A Paleo diet may work well for you because it eliminates many of the same things (see link below).

"Use Coconut Oil - Coconut oil is a special fat that has antifungal properties and may help you eliminate candida and other problematic yeast from your digestive system. Bruce Fife, certified nutritionist and naturopath and author of the "Coconut Oil Miracle" recommends including 2 to 4 tablespoons of coconut oil a day. Start with small amounts and slowly increase your daily dose by using coconut oil to cook your vegetables and meat while following your anti-yeast diet."

Check your local library. I bet they have some books and cookbooks, such as:

"The Yeast Connection"
"The Body Ecology Diet"
"The Candida Cure"
"Complete Candida Yeast Guidebook"
"The Candida Albican Yeast-Free Cookbook"

This is bringing flash-backs to the 80's when every ailment was treated with a yeast-free diet.

Good luck!

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinterest - Paleo / Yeast Cleanse / Gluten-Free

Ask the dr. for a list of what you a CAN have, not just what you can not. If that is what the dr. wants, you need to be sent to a nutritionist for that type of diet.

That said, can you have honey? It is a slower acting sugar, and natural. Especially if you get it locally and it isn't pasturized.

I had to go yeast free about 27 years ago. It isn't easy. Or wasn't then. I couldn't stay on my allergy diet when I got pregnant, so I am not much help to you now. I have a long list of food allergies, which make me gain weight. I do have to avoid garlic and yogurt, tho, as I get hives from the garlic and a bad stomach from the yogurt.

I hope your dr. is more helpful.

Tami

I will check into stevia. I forgot about nuts and eggs. do add nuts to my cereal now. Thanks.

I bought quick oats, I thought they were rolled. Ok can adjust that. Oatmeal is a recommended breakfast on this plan.

Those chips on the 17 day diet sound interesting.

The yeast connection is the book both recommended. Will check more into coconut oil. I have some but forget to use it. Thanks for the link.

grainlady, that would be a big change for me 'cause I plan meals around leftovers, lol. That is something I need to consider.

Honey is on the no-no list. What you can eat on this diet is most vegetables, some are listed as cautiously such as potatoes. Whole grains are also on the cautious list. Breads, biscuits, and muffins made for baking power or soda are also cautiously. Huh I must have missed that before.

Thankfully I don't think I have any food allergies including yeast. What seems to happen is when I start eating to much sugar, maybe a little stressed, I get chronic yeast infections. I've been good for about 4 years but now its back. My primary and gyn suggested I try this. So far I feel better but still not cured. While I have a ways to go in perfecting this diet I do feel much better overall. I am also back to drinking alot of organic green tea (nothing added).

At first you are supposed to eliminate yeast but then bring it back slowly and note any reaction.

Thanks for all the tips! I'm going to check them out.

It sounds like you have the same yeast imbalance that I do. Eat lots of live culture yogurt or take an acidopholis supplement. I used to get them all the time. Dr. told me to take acidopholis, and when I had a yeast infection not to eat or drink anything with sugar or vinegar in it as they feed the yeast. Something for you to look into, anyway.

Tami

I don't see eggs mentioned anywhere- are you allowed eggs?

Eggs are a great source of protein and thankfully do not contribute to the yeast problem.

This a short list of foods to avoid from an article about Candidiasis:

Avoid aged cheese, alcohol, chocolate, dried fruits, fermented foods, all grains containing gluten, ham, honey, nut butters, pickles, raw mushrooms, soy sauce, sprouts, sugars of all forms, vinegar, and all yeast products. Also eliminate citrus and acid fruits (e.g., oranges, grapefruit, lemons, tomatoes, pineapple and limes) from your diet for one month; then add back only a few twice weekly. These fruits are alkaline-forming and Candida thrives on them.

Candida thrives in a sugary environment, so your diet should be low in carbohydrates. Eat vegetables and meat instead.

Use a new toothbrush every thirty days to prevent reinfection.

You may want to try pau d'arco herb tea. This tea contains an antibacterial agent.

Candidias may be related to hypoglycemia and allergies. Women diagnosed with a yeast infection should also be checked for diabetes.

Avoid starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, yams, corn, all winter squash, beets, peas, parsnips.

You should buy your vegetables fresh and eat them raw, steam or grill them. Add a little garlic and onions for flavor as they are especially helpful with Candida. Stir-fry is a great choice for meals, just leave the soy sauce off. Use a sprinkle of lemon pepper, instead.

The recipe at the link below for "One Minute Muffins" would work on a yeast free, sugar free diet. Bread is a food you will miss the most. If you are making your almond milk from almonds (the least expensive I've found is from Sam's Club) you can use the pulp (dried) for the almond flour in the recipe. Making your own is a much cheaper way to get almond milk AND almond flour. You can also make "crackers" with the almond pulp.

I've been making these muffins as a paleo bread option. I cut them into 2 or 3 slices and freeze them. I think they are best used toasted.

If memory serves me, peanuts and pistachios are not allowed on the candida diet, but almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, filberts, pecans, walnuts and some other nuts are allowed.

Foods That Fight Candida-
1. Coconut Oil
2. Garlic
3. Onions
4. Seaweed
5. Almonds
6. Ginger
7. Olive Oil
8. Pumpkin Seeds
9. Cayenne Pepper

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: One Minute Muffin

What is frustrating is confusing and contridicting information. Some in the medical community think its more of an "external" issue and needs to be treated externally. Some internal as it your diet. Both make sense to me.

Vinegar is both recommended (it kills yeast, external and internal) and caustioned against (it feels yeast). ????

Baking soda another one both for and against.(external and internal)??????

Daikon is an asian vegetable that is supposed to be good for killing yeast. I try to add it to soup when I can find it locally.

There is no reason to believe that reducing Saccharomyces (bread and alcohol yeast) in your diet will have any affect on Candida in your, um, someplace else. The "yeast connection" diet is a made up solution to a very real problem.

Candida is everywhere and perfectly healthy people get candida infections in moist areas. Diaper rash is a good example of this kind of infection. It's easily fixed by keeping baby's bottom dry. Dryness isn't an option where you are suffering, though. If you get a yeast infection every few years, then just treat it when it happens, but if it's more like every few weeks, then you have a different problem.

The usual culprit in repeated lady parts infections (don't want the censors to get me) is an elevated blood sugar in you or your spouse. It may not be high enough to get you the label "diabetes", but it's not perfect. In this case reducing carbs in your diet (bread!), increasing exercise, and reducing weight is the way to go. Eliminating vinegar from your diet or increasing vinegar in your diet will have zero effect. Ditto cheese unless you are glomming down so much that it's packing on the pounds.

Occasionally you do find women with rock stable blood sugar that get persistent or repeated yeast infections. These usually respond to looooong course of periodic topical or oral Diflucan. Another possible treatment is a long course of Rx boric acid suppositories from a compounding pharmacy. This works by lowering pH. Theoretically increasing lactobacillus (yogurt bacteria) growth in the area will also lower pH and decrease yeast growth and for a long time using lactobacillus either orally or topically has been recommended, but a recent large study didn't see any improvement vs. yeast infections.

It won't hurt you to try the diet, but if it helps, it's most likely due to the reduction in carbs and weight that sometimes occur with complicated and restrictive diets.

I don't believe at all that the yeast connection diet or most of the other ones are made up. My primary dr had seen first hand how this diet helped several women with chronic yeast infections. My GYN said they are seeing too much yeast causing many other issues including depression. These are main stream drs. not alt. medicene drs. I am very skeptical about things my self but talking with them and my own research leads me to think there is something to it.

jxbrown, it sounds like you are in the group that thinks the issue is more "external" which is fine as I agree that there are two components.

I don't get 1 yeast infection every few years. I get into a pattern of constant infection for months every few years. I can't use over the counter treatments are these cause a bad reaction, possible allergic.

I agree that drying out a baby's bottom will work for diaper rash and the same can be applied here to some degree. I do address this issue externally but this time it just won't go away.

I'm waiting for blood test results now but it is not suspected to be an issue. The issue regarding men and yeast is a whole other debate which I won't get into here.

I also agree that eating yeast products wont' give you yeast infections. Some people are allergic to yeast.

So I'm attempting to follow the diet as it is descriped even though I know that certain things may not be an issue to me.

It is very frustrating that there is no consensus in the medical community about external vs internal, men too?, yogurt is a help or not, if so external or internal, vinegar feeds or kills, inter. or exter. ...the list goes on and on.

Your primary and your gyne are promoting alternative medicine, if they are actively promoting this kind of diet. Most likely at least one of them is just nodding her head rather than argue with you. Persistent and frequently recurrent yeast infections are a difficult problem and there aren't really any good conventional answers for the women who don't have blood sugar or a spouse with blood sugar problems. It's really important for you and your partner to be checked for diabetes and pre-diabetes, though.

In my experience the "yeast connection" diet doesn't work. Early in my career while working in a certain coastal N. Cal. town, I had a patient who was diagnosed with "Candida" by a "Candida specialist" when he developed sadness, fatigue, withdrawal, etc. triggered by his parenta' divorce. He tried all kinds of alternative treatments, but could never be persuaded that he might benefit from an anti-depressant and so he continued to suffer.

People do get systemic candidiasis when they are extremely immune suppressed and left untreated this is usually fatal. There was a recent outbreak of fungal meningitis from compounded steroids used in spinal injections that killed a number of people. So yes, there absolutely can be "internal" or systemic infections, but attempting to treat them with a diet would be fatal.

Lowering pH does prevent yeast growth. That's why I wrap cheese in vinegar moistened paper towels to prevent mold growth in storage. Birth control pills, breast feeding, and menopause reduce estrogen levels and raise vag. pH and can be associated with yeast infection. The yeast connection diet forbids vinegar because it is made from alcohol which is, of course, made by yeast.

That being said, the diet won't harm you. Since your problem is episodic you will be able to attribute the good periods to the diet and any breakthroughs to slip ups on the restrictions. It's called "confirmation bias" and we all do it -- me too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Quackwatch's Yeast Connection Article

Thanks, Dr. Brown, for that quackwatch article and your informative posts.

Neither dr. is nodding thier head and agreeing with me. I had never heard of the book or the diet. I made no suggestions and only stated the fact that I was in good health other than chronic yeast infection.

If that is alt. medicene, good! You said it yourself if we are both in good health there are no good conventional answers.

Just go on Amazon.com and check out the reviews of the books Grainlady mentions. There are some pretty impressive reviews and the negative ones mostly just dispute the book but haven't actually used the program or they don't like the layout, etc.
I can't eat much sugar or carbs as I start to get symptoms myself. I will never go back to conventional eating again (I don't mean this a complaint either).

I think the jury is still out on these "anti-fungal" diets. I think diets high in refined carbohydrates can have all kinds of health side effects, (weight gain, high cholesterol, and as mentioned, diabetes or pre-diabetes, allergies, etc.) and one would be wise to limit them, if not cut them out all together. However, I don't recommend going without grains all together, since I personally need the fiber. Lack of fiber, IMHO, is another thing that causes health problems in people who eat high sugar/refined carb diets. I personally don't believe it is just "yeast" that is the culprit. There are approximately 6 billion little bacteria that live on you and in you. You are an ecosystem, and you can get out of whack. Good stewardship of one's body can help. No cure all, but neither are all the creams and pills, which often do not cure at all either.

I followed a no-gluten diet for months to curb menstrual cramps, and it had no effect. Exercise on the other hand, goes a long way for me in helping that problem. However, following a diet high in fiber and with a good balance of carbs and protein helps with a whole lot of systemic health problems. Good fuel keeps the body running well, and that in turn helps the immune system fight off yeast infections. Also may help good bacteria establish themselves in your gut and also on your skin. That's a whole other aspect to the story. Modern vinegar is a far cry from the original fermented product. We're using all kinds of weird bacteria and doing all kinds of things that cause bacteria to mutate, not just "yeast." People are getting mutated e-coli establishing itself in their guts too. I have persistent urinary tract infections that are hard as heck to control too, and I've tried all the suggestions of conventional and alternative medicines, and spent THOUSANDS on tests that showed NOTHING.

Here's is a recipe Web site that I like. I am no purist when it comes to anti-yeast dieting, but I think the recipes here are very good and very healthy.

Oh, and then there's the issue of all the pesticides and hormonal mimics, and food grown on unnatural fertilizers, etc. It is no wonder that many of us are feeling unwell. We're stressing the earth's immune system and then wondering why our own immune systems are having a tough time. Trying to find good wholesome food, fresh air and pure water and time to de-stress and exercise are quite the luxuries nowdays. I have to balance the cost of healthy food vs the benefits, which is hard to do.

I also recommend coconut oil, it is a great food. Not a panacea, but worth including in one's diet. Don't know about yeast issues, but oatmeal is a godsend for helping me with my IBS. But not the instant stuff, that's very refined, the old style rolled oats or oat groats. Modern yogurt, dairy and cheese is a far cry from the old style stuff with natural bacteria in it. One of the worst substances for health is this ultra pasteurized milk that is on the market too. They even sell "organic" versions but ultra-pasteurizing things is not a good idea as a substitute for good hygiene in the processing of food.

Here is a link that might be useful: Candida diet recipes