@%*& DIET (a.k.a. The Candida Diet)

I haven't blogged in a while due to the need to go on an extreme diet for health reasons. It is taking every drop of my diminished strength to keep up with the food preparation, grocery shopping, and other activities like house hnting with hubby. Oh, and of course story research, writing, gig preparations...etc.

So, why am I on the diet? Well, my daughter Lily had to go on it and I am along for support. Plus, since it is a whole foods diet I expect to feel healthier too. I will say that I lost nearly 3 lbs. during the first week! Oh, and since we eat absolutely NO SUGAR, not even fruit for the first three weeks, my teeth are really looking good. You have idea what kind of gunk we can get built up on our teeth from eating sugar until you stop.

So, long story short. Lily has been ailing for YEARS. Mostly its been all related to her digestion - especially in the beginning. Then other illnesses started springing up; muscles pains, joint problems (she literally threw her shoulder out of joint skipping rocks last spring!), dietary mineral depletion's, anxiety & depression. I mean wouldn't you get depressed if you were sick all the time and know one could figure out why? Finally, FINALLY we have been able to discover that back in the beginning she had several ear infections (her molars were coming in) and she had to take antibiotics. The antibiotics caused an overgrowth of candida in her digestive tract. She happens to like to eat all the foods that candida thrive on, so she was really creating a yummy host for them to thrive. And boy did they. Candida can negatively affect all kinds of organs over time.

Hence the Candida Diet is now a necessity for her to kill-off the nasty candida and learn to eat a diet of whole foods. This means lots of veggies (she hates most of them), ancient grains (no white flour), no yeast, no sugar, no fruit for 3 weeks and then only certain fruits for 3 to 6 months minimum, no milk, no cheese, no vinegar, no soft drinks, tea or coffee. Now you see why we lost weight the first week. We are in the "die-off" phase which is a sort of withdrawal. Not pleasant. We cheat with 2 cans of diet soda a day - otherwise, I think we'd dehydrate. You can get really tired of only having water to drink. I did discover brown rice milk, which is mildly satisfying with our puffed, sugarless cereals.

We don't always suffer though. Today I am making guacamole in a corn tortilla bowl with corn ships for lunch. Yummy! I have beef strips to saute in peppers and onions for dinner that will go with our veggie side dishes. Oh, and carrots can really taste sweet when you have a terrible craving for sugar.

You may have wondered about the other person who lives in our household - my hubby Jeff. He won't TOUCH this diet. Though he has eaten our soups & buckwheat pecan pancakes with us. He is a tad worried about never having homemade cookies again, but never worry. If we are successful, Lily will be better in say 6 months, or at the very most 2 years!

Here is my warning: use antibiotics with extreme care. Always follow up their use with a round of Acidophillus tablets to help keep your stomach good & healthy. You can have all sorts of blood work and not catch these little candida buggers. If you are curious about this diet or illness check out this website:http://altmedicine.about.com/od/popularhealthdiets/a/candidadiet.htm