Candida - A Personal Story

By Marilyn Zink

The fungus amongus. Yeastie beasties.

Regardless of what you call it, candidiasis is a problem - some might say a rampant problem - with many people.

My experiences with candida albicans came into sharp focus while on holidays in early July. I had been experiencing a variety of symptoms before that but things worsened during my trip to Washington State and then to Vernon. While travelling, it's often hard to eat right and I also didn't bother to take acidophilus, which I had been taking regularly until then.

My digestive problems worsened plus I was sneezing a good deal and generally starting to feel run down. Staying up late with friends eating and drinking, being busy the next day and then hitting the road again didn't help.

When I returned home, I decided to do something about this problem - now! I booked an appointment with Marijke van de Water of The Metacine Centre and wasn't altogether surprised when she told me I had candida.

I was put on a strict diet - no wheat, dairy or sugar, and given some herbs and upplements to take. The dairy I had already given up, so that wasn't a big deal. I just use soymilk and soy cheese. But giving up sugar and wheat. Now that wasa bit of a challenge. The only sweetener allowed was pure maple syrup, in small quantities.

That afternoon I wandered from grocery stores to health food stores, thinking, what am I going to eat? " I gong to starve," I told myself. Everything has sugar in it; mayonnaise, salad dressings, ketchup, relish, BBQ sauce, cereal, soy sauce. Wheat is in practically everything too. Then I gave myself a shake. Of course, I had a list of all the good foods I could get supplied by Marijke. Replacing the bread with rye crisps and rice cakes was a start. I had planned to make cornmeal muffins but didn't have a good recipe until Beth Yim supplied one (see our recipe section page 10 and 11.) Tortillas chips and salsa (no sugar) was okay and so was corn tortillas. At least my favorite Mexican foods were okay.

For breakfast I managed to get a corn flakes cereal from the health food store, made with just corn flour and salt. Puffed corn and puffed rice are other options, eaten along with soy milk or rice milk. Cornmeal muffins or scrambled eggs were also fine.

For lunch, I ate my rye crisps with peanutbutter or tomatoes and melted soy cheese. Smetimes I made my own granola bars (see recipes page 10 and 11) to take along as a snack. Snack foods are important because sometimes you can get hungry on a restricted diet.

Dinner is the easiest meal, with potatoes and rice as starches along with vegetables or fresh barbecued salmon. Mexican food, as I mentioned earlier, is good with refried beans wrapped in a corn tortilla and a rice pilaf. A nice Mexican flavored flatbread (see recipe page 10 and 11) is a tasty switch from corn tortillas.