My journey with Candida and healing the

overgrowth
I know to many of you suffering with Candida this story will feel unbelievable. You can’t
possibly cure the overgrowth, can you? Well let me tell you I did and my annual Pap smear came
back clear of infections to prove it. During my suffering I would read success stories and I would
be filled with motivation and a glimmer of hope, I am hoping mine does the same for you. I’m
not trying to sell anything here. I find it sickening that people try to make money off people who
are suffering, quite often when they themselves were in that situation once upon a time. This
experience is my own. We are all different and have different intolerances in our bodies which is
what makes it so hard to control this darn overgrowth for each of us. For this reason I won’t be
listing quantities of what I took. Start small and build up, your body will tell you if it’s too much.
I urge you to do your own research on anything you are going to try to reinforce your reasons
and knowledge. I cannot tell you that my exact technique will work for you but I hope it inspires
you to try new things and show you that it’s possible to tackle this thing.

If you are able to afford it I would recommend getting tested by a naturopath for intolerances so
that you know what your body does not like and could therefore be linked to your overgrowth
and not healing. It’s something I wanted to do but just never got round to. If I had, I may now
have a clearer idea of what to avoid to keep me healthy.

The answers are out there!

MY STORY I suffered from on-off visible yeast infections (thrush) for 5 years. The fissures
(skin splits in the private area) were so painful and regular, I felt unclean and extremely
embarrassed and infuriated that I was suffering when others with worse diet and habits weren’t. I
always classed myself a healthy eater and absolutely loved my veggies. I can tell you that
Candida can be passed on by the mother at birth, so this is not necessarily something you could
have ever avoided. I actually think that I had a Candida problem long before it was visible,
intimacy was very painful for me and as you can imagine made me feel like there was something
very wrong with me and resulted in many private tears. As I said my physical infections were on
and off, though I say this, when I thought I had the overgrowth under control due to no physical
signs of it, the doctor told me that it showed up on my Pap smear test. I was completely
gobsmacked and upset as I did not have thrush at the time and thought I was doing well. Though
I have no proof of this, some key things which I think aided my Candida issues were: •Drinking
caffeine on an empty stomach throughout my teens and early adulthood (no breakfast, and for
many years no lunch either). I had an abnormal relationship with food. •Drinking alcohol in
excess, towards my worse years relating to infection I was drinking beer quite heavily, and
drinking every day so my body never had a break from it, even it was one drink.

I HAD TO TAKE MEASURES I put up with the symptoms returning for years. I had been on
fluconazole from the doctor before and it didn’t work. The doctor told me that my clothes must
be too tight or not breathable enough, ha. My symptoms were becoming unbearable and it was
really affecting my mentally. In a desperate attempt to solve things myself and not have to return
to the doctor I bought the over-the-counter antifungal treatments, to no avail. I went back, had
some blood tests which showed negative for diabetes and liver issues. So I was prescribed with a
3 month course of fluconazole. I became consumed by Candida. My every spare moment was
spent reading about it, researching cures and success stories. Reading where people thought they
had gone wrong and watching YouTube videos about people’s journeys with it. One youtuber I
recommend is DR AXE. He’s a naturopath and full of excellent knowledge about health issues,
supplements, herbs and how they benefit you. I found myself deciding that I needed to follow
protocols for ‘leaky gut syndrome’ so I read in depth about how to heal a leaky gut, which I do
think was imperitive to my healing as mentioned in the 4 step process below.

IT BEGINS I had been putting off the drastic measures of diet change, but things were just too
bad now. In 2018 I did a 5 week Candida cleanse, I had a short timeframe because I was going
on holiday and knew I wouldn’t be able to maintain the diet there, especially since I was missing
alcohol so much! I did however stick to it as much as I could and continued with my probiotics,
vitamins and anti fungals while away from home. I remember my first proper restaurant meal
with a glass of wine after being restricted for so long, it was bliss. Whilst on the cleanse I felt the
most alive I ever had. I even experienced random feelings of excitement and would ping awake
out of bed with energy, which I later discovered was hugely linked to giving up caffeine and
becoming ketogenic through zero sugar/carb consumption.

In summary here are the four instrumental steps:

CONTROL THE INFECTION / DESTROY THE BIOFILMS - Antifungals, digestive enzymes,

REINTRODUCE GOOD BACTERIA - Take probiotics whilst continuing limited diet and
nutrition.

HEAL YOUR GUT - L-glutamine, spirulina. Whilst still continuing the above two steps.

MAINTENANCE - It’s been a long slog but it ain’t over yet! Most likely many of the positive
dietary habits you picked up along the way will stick with you, and rightly so. It’s better to be
safe than sorry. Continue avoiding the inflammatories whenever possible, choose whole grain
brown rice/pasta over white, keep up with the probiotics, vitamins and supplements.

The third step is widely unacknowledged, if you do not heal your gut you will be vulnerable to
Candida Overgrowth again and all your efforts were in vain. A mistake so many seem to make!

I wish I knew which of the below steps were the most influential to my healing but unfortunately
I don’t, so it could be a few or it could be all of them combined. Therefore I will try to list them
all in the order that they happened.

Here are the steps I took.

1.
Candida diet cleanse. No sugar, no carb, no dairy, no gluten, no alcohol, no inflammatories in
general. Basically none of your daily enjoyables- this is no easy task, especially when you have a
carb loving partner! I bought organic everything when it was available. See meal ideas below for
inspiration. In particular I followed Bruce R Blinzler’s ‘Candida: Treating it successfully’ diet. I
have a pdf copy of this diet, you can download it here Flow.page/candidadietplan. I will say that
I didn’t follow it to the T and did a lot of my own research so chopped in things I thought
necessary. You have to listen to your gut (haha).

Green Smoothies- Started my morning with smoothies for a nutrition boost. This involved
blending cucumber, celery, lemon, ginger, spinach, coconut water and whatever nutrition I could
get my hands on. Many websites will say that lemon and coconut water contain too much sugar
but for me the benefits far outweighed anything else. There is also the argument that the sugar
attracts the Candida and then the anti fungals get ‘em when they’re vulnerable.

Gave up coffee/caffeine - I was drinking 3-4 lattes a day at work, which were 80% milk. I
exchanged it for herbal teas. This is still something I follow to this day and believe it crucial to
maintaining my healthy gut! I start my day with a ginger tea and continue on with peppermint tea
or any other blend I fancy. I’m still doing this 2 1/2 years later. I now do not need caffeine at all
and feel far more awake without it then I ever did on it!

2. Antifungals, vitamins and more. This horrible bacteria adapts like crazy, you’ll need to rotate
your antifungals every so often so it doesn’t get used to it. I’m not a fan of medication so tried to
incorporate antifungals and vitamins in to my diet as much as I could, but in capsule form I took:

Wild oil of oregano Olive leaf extract SF722 Digestive enzymes and a multi vitamin.

Antifungals I put in to my meals as much as possible were:

Onion, Garlic Ginger Cinnamon Coconut oil Turmeric

I also took a digestive enzyme which breaks down the biofilm which Candida uses to protect
itself. They are also great for alleviating bloat and easier digestion.

After a few weeks on the diet I invested in the supplement SF722 which was highly
recommended on the Bruce Blinzler diet I was following. A friend of mine said it had helped her
cure her Candida overgrowth 15 years prior and she’d never had another one since. This is a
pricey supplement from Thorne medicine, but I truly think it was crucial in my healing. I would
have successful days where there was no sign of Candida, and then the signs would return and I
would feel upset and disappointed, until I started taking the SF722. How it works is that it
changes the environment were Candida lives in to one where it can no longer transform in to its
fungi state. It’s an undecylenic acid, similar to coconut oil but much much stronger. Just read the
reviews on Amazon for example, you won’t be disappointed.

I took psyllium husk as I read that fibre was key to healing and clearing out toxins, it has a sharp
texture so that it loosens whatever is clinging to your intestinal tract. Also eliminating (toilet
time!) is key to your body getting rid of toxins.
I used a colon cleanse capsule from Holland and Barret (in the uk) which contained more
beneficial supplements such as dandelion extract and liquorice extract. This also helped with
elimination and I found myself having very regular and healthy poops at the same time everyday
hehe!

3. Probiotics. I am giving these it’s own paragraph because I truly believe they played a huge
role in my healing and still do currently in my maintaining health. I actually started with
probiotics in step two, though I have read they are counteracted by the antifungals. I would take
anti fungals at night and probiotics in the morning as far apart from each other as I could. I can’t
tell you whether this was the right thing to do, but I’m healed now. I started with plain cultured
yogurt, making sure there was no flavouring or unnecessary sugar. Once I felt used to this I
bought some probiotics in capsule form too. Start with a probiotic containing a medium number
of cultures. You don’t want to shock your system as you could end with gas and other problems.
Find one with the most different strains you can afford. I read that saccharomyces boulardii eats
Candida and yeast. Gradually build up to a higher number of cultures. I will be taking these for
the foreseeable future and I now purchase ones which do not need refrigerating (always check
the label for this).

4. Alkalinity. I researched in to Candida and it’s links to deviated cells, which are linked to
cancer and other diseases. This led me to reading articles about being ‘alkaline’ as there are
many who believe this is the key to health and even keeps disease at bay. I cannot tell you that
this is true, but I can tell you that I feel it works for me. When making my veg choices at the
supermarket I would have my alkaline/acidic chart up on my phone and use that as a guide.
Herbal teas keep me alkaline too!

5. Heal. I continued all of the above for a number of weeks. I read on one particular web page
that the most common problem with the Candida programmes people are selling is that they
don’t tell you that once your gut is clear from all the nasties, there are pockets and holes left in
your gut walls which need healing. This makes it much more difficult for reinfection, especially
once your cultures are back in balance by means of probiotics.

L-glutamine - I used it in powder form to aid with healing. I would add a spoonful to my soup or
smoothie so that I couldn’t taste it much.

Bone Broth - The healer that went down in history (grandma’s chicken soup, anyone?). I made
me own from my organic roast chicken meals and used it in my daily soups I had every
lunchtime.

I also use a ph balancing intimate wash. Where I’m from this is called Femfresh, but I’m sure
there are others. It’s gentle and was a relief to be able to use something after only using water
throughout my cleanse.

WHAT CAN YOU ENJOY EATING? Candida dieting really gets to you. The fact that you can’t
eat or drink ‘normal’ things really plays on your mental health. I was on a rabbit diet which quite
frankly made me feel diseased and abnormal.
Enjoyable meals to help keep you sane as well as getting your veggies and nutrition in are:

Stir fries Put something new in each one to make it feel different. This is the perfect meal for
throwing all your antifungals in together (onion, garlic, coconut oil, turmeric, ginger).

Soup Home made only, preferably with home made or organic stock (see below). Another way
to throw all that nutritional goodness together and not even know it’s in there.

Roast chicken (organic if possible) with veggies (possibly roasted veggies but this may produce
more sugar). From the roast chicken I would make my own chicken stock for my soups in my
slow cooker, this meant I didn’t need to put yeast filled stock cubes in my soups, also I knew it
was organic and exactly what had gone in to it. You can buy it, but as we already had the chicken
it was cheap and easy to do.

Omelette filled with spinach, peppers, onions and any other greens you can cram in!

Oat Bran I watched a YouTube video on how oat bran does not negatively effect Candida
overgrowth. I have been eating it for breakfast in my whole recovery process, it makes me feel
so good and fills me up for a long time.

Infused sparkling water If you’re a soda drink lover then you may struggle to find a replacement.
I recently discovered natural sparkling water infused with flavours. It’s virtually calorie free and
one in particular brand I found very tasty is Benefit Water (apple flavour). I also enjoyed the
from the brand Voss, these are British brands but there are many options available!

Some great recipes for ketogenic diet are here:

https://www.ruled.me/keto-recipes/

I actually found this website via Halle Berry’s Instagram account, she follows a strict keto diet
due to her diabetes.

KETO On the Candida diet you will no doubt end up ketogenic. I didn’t know what this was
when it happened to me! In simple terms (the only ones I understand!) if your body has no sugar
to burn it will burn fat instead. Your breath starts to smell sweet which is the smell of the ketones
which are produced during this process. Burning fat means rapid weight loss unless you eat
enough fat and protein. I did not know this and ended up losing too much weight and feeling
very hungry all of the time.

Here’s a few tips to help you: Avocado - I just wanted to express my love for this wonderful
super food. It will keep your fats up and keep you full as well as give you an injection of green!

Almonds - Many nuts carry mould but generally not almonds. They are a fabulous natural fat
source and full of fibre, protein, magnesium and vitamin E.
After I was ketogenic for a few weeks, I started reintroducing small amounts of potato and
brown rice in to my diet because one, I was losing too much weight and two, I felt the diet had
cleared a lot of what it needed to.

CHANGING THE WAY YOU THINK The above may seem very daunting. I can assure you
that if you are suffering enough to even be reading this then you already have it in you to do it!
Remember this is a slow process where you need to alter your way of thinking about food, this
way you will eventually not want the bad stuff and the cake isle will repulse you! Here are some
ways to help you start transitioning to better dietary habits:

Avoid white carbs whenever possible. Sure when you’re out for a meal this will be unavoidable
but at home you need to eat whole grain brown rice and brown pasta. Avoid sugar, or if you must
have this then stick to natural sugars. ‘Nakd’ bars (sold in UK) are a great example made with
only dates and nuts. Swap your sweets for blueberries and cultured yogurt. Attempt to swap your
sugar habits with savoury ones like salted popcorn to get used to not having sugar and curb the
cravings. Bake/cook with coconut sugar or honey instead of cane sugar. The end goal is that you
will begin to be more conscious of what you’re consuming, and then start to cut sugar down and
out even further.

Choose low carb vegetables - basically mostly green veg but don’t be scared to have some
carrots and others since they all have nutritional benefits.

Become conscious of inflammatory foods and drinks. Gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol, fillers. Read
the ingredients lists, you are what you eat. Swap out milk with almond milk.

It’s all about BALANCE. Getting your gut back in to good shape means you can start to
reintroduce the normal things you love. I know where my weaknesses are, as do you know yours.
I struggle with alcohol, it is my weekly relaxation method. So I make sure I don’t drink more
than 3/7 days each week and try to make more conscious choices towards ‘clean’ beverages such
as clear gin or vodka.

Some very helpful information from someone who can explain the dietary benefits of some of
the supplements listed above much better than me:

https://www.reallifeofpie.com/blog/30-foods-to-help-fight-candida

Please please remember that everyone is different. I found all of these techniques through
months of obsessive reading in a bid to heal myself. I have not made them up, and if you
research each of them and their link to Candida you will find them backed up :)

As it was a while ago now that I suffered, I remember something occasionally, and so this post
will be updated as and when this happens.

I really wish you all the best with your journey and hope this post has helped you. Best wishes!!