Diet for Candida Problems

A diet for candida is used for eliminating excess candida albicans from the small and large intestines. Without a proper diet, this diploid fungus, along with toxins and the parasites it attracts, can invade body cells and organs and cause serious diseases or even death. A candida diet is designed to avoid or limit certain foods while maximizing the absorption of others. A person with more severe symptoms should consider complete abstinence from certain foods that feed the candida fungus.

Foods to Limit or Eliminate

Foods to limit or eliminate on a candida diet include those that contain gluten or sugar. Gluten is a protein that is found in many commercial foods such as bread, cereal, pasta, milk and snacks. Most foods containing sugar will indicate this on the label (i.e., pastries, cold cereal). The candida fungus thrives on sugar and gluten. Thus, limiting or taking these completely out of your diet is probably the best strategy. Foods that contain wheat have very high levels of gluten. Also, be cognizant of products that contain whey or various sugars such as glucose, galactose, maltose sucrose, lactose or fructose. Limiting your fruit can also be advantageous, as fruit also contains sugar. Moreover, oats and corn can be converted to sugar by your body once they are consumed.

Foods You Should Eat

Your candida diet should primarily consist of foods that are gluten and sugar-free. These include meats such as beef, chicken, turkey, pork and fish, brown rice, yams, potatoes, green beans, peas, raw vegetables, egg whites, most nuts and beans. Raw vegetables are beneficial because they contain digestive enzymes that can help kill candida overgrowth.

For candida problems, you can either eat more foods such as meat, potatoes and vegetables or substitute certain foods for those that contain gluten or sugar. For example, if you like bread, there are almond and brown rice substitutes. People who like pasta can also find a number of brown rice substitutes in all varieties (i.e., angel hair pasta, elbow, etc.). If you like snacks or pasta, you can find sugar- and gluten-free cookies and crackers. Almond and rice milk made excellent substitutes for cow's milk.

There are also certain gluten-free grains such as quinoa, basmati rice, amaranth, millet, hominy and buckwheat that are not only edible but delicious. Most of these grains are sold at large health food stores in bulk.

Understand that you will probably not feel well at times on this diet. According to natural doctor Brigitte Duplessix-Pelham in her article "Candida Diet" on Allergyandnaturopathyclinic.org, "you will probably feel worse in the early days of the program (sometimes in the second or third week, sometimes in the first few days) as you are initiating a detox reaction." As your candida problem improves, you can gradually start adding some gluten and sugar back into your diet. And eventually you should start feeling much better overall.

Other Foods

According to alternative medicine practitioners, certain foods and spices can help kill excess candida fungus. Garlic is one of them, as is ginger. Yogurt (sugar free) contains probiotics. These are "friendly" bacterial cultures that can replenish the body's natural bacteria, which fights candida overgrowth.