Your gut houses 750 trillion micro-organisms that work synergistically with your body to digest food, manipulate fat-storage patterns and boost immune function. Among these micro-organisms are a type of yeast called Candida albicans. Under normal circumstances candida yeast break down food in the digestive tract, preventing bacterial growth. Some people, however, can experience a sudden growth in their intestinal candida yeast population. This yeast overgrowth causes a syndrome known as candidiasis, which some people treat by following an anti-candida diet. Symptoms of candidiasis include weight gain, sluggishness, mood swings, food cravings, joint pain and irritability. If you suspect you have candidiasis, see your doctor, who may need to rule out other possible causes of your symptoms.
Theory
Some alternative-medicine practitioners believe that certain dietary sugars, such as high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners and processed sugars cause the candida yeast population to rise dramatically. They treat the condition with an anti-candida diet. The purpose of this diet is to eliminate these sugars from your meals, starving your intestinal yeast population. Once candida yeast return to normal levels, the symptoms will disappear. But Dr. Brent Bauer, a Mayo Clinic internist, advises that there is little scientific evidence to support the anti-candida diet, and anyone who suspects that he has the condition should see his doctor.
Diet Stages
The anti-candida diet has three major stages. The first stage is a detoxifying cleanse that eliminates all sources of dietary sugar. The cleanse lasts three weeks and includes colon-cleansing procedures that involve herbal laxatives or colonic irrigation. The second phase, which lasts four weeks, is less restrictive. You may take an anti-fungal medication during this stage to kill remaining candida yeast. In the final stage you're allowed to have foods that you weren't permitted during the first two stages. The purpose of the final stage, in which many dieters stay on indefinitely, is to repopulate your gut with beneficial micro-organisms.
Foods
All processed foods are banned for the duration of the anti-candida diet. Foods that are banned during the first stages of the diet are alcohol, sweets, fruits, starchy vegetables, aged cheeses, peanuts, beans, caffeinated beverages, mushrooms, wheat, rye, oats, condiments and vinegars. During the detoxifying-cleanse stage you're allowed to eat low-carbohydrate vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, leafy greens, tomatoes, zucchini and celery. Lean beef, chicken, eggs, buckwheat, quinoa, brown rice and millet are also allowed. In the second stage you can reintroduce beans, apples, berries, grapefruit and starchy vegetables.
Considerations
Most conventional medicine practitioners hold that symptoms attributed to candidiasis are indicative of other medical conditions. In addition, severely restricting your diet may deprive your body of vitamins and nutrients that it needs. According to Dr. Bauer, the anti-candida diet may make you feel better, because it eliminates processed, unhealthy foods from your diet in favor of whole grains, vegetables and lean protein. But your medical symptoms may be due to a serious condition, so talk to your doctor before beginning any diet to treat a condition you believe you have.
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