Thursday, June 12, 2008

Dear Dairy

It's becoming more and more apparent to me that I need to address issues far bigger than just dairy. I had eliminated dairy, wheat, sugar and caffeine (and soy of course) with absolutely no increase in energy, and very slight weight loss. At first, with the withdrawal symptoms, I thought it was the dairy, but now it seems dairy is only part of the equation.

The energy increase I have seen lately is due to my finally taking some iron and multivitamins to address my pretty bad case of anemia.

However, I knew I had to still do something with my food to make me feel better, so I got out my handy dandy binder full of Candida information to see what the heck I did back then that made such a huge difference.

The first glaring thing I noticed was the AVOID list which included Dates, Cashews and Pistachios...uh....no wonder I like those Lara bars so much!

I knew to avoid fruit, but ate that anyway, telling myself that since God created fruit, how could it be so bad, but ultimately, the fruit sugars are just too much if you're struggling with candida.

I also realized that I hadn't been drinking near enough water, and had totally eliminated the fresh squeezed lemon from any water that I was drinking. Upon researching pH balancing, I learned that fresh lemon in water really does a lot for balancing your body's pH and restoring it to a more desirable alkaline state. Lemons are also a diuretic, which helps release a lot of water I've been retaining.

So, on Monday I began (AGAIN!) this candida thing. I had to go all out, no more "kind of" and just really do this the right way. I drank at least 8 glasses of water, each with fresh lemon. It's actually very refreshing, especially on these tropically humid days we're experiencing in the Midwest.

At the end of day 1, I had such a massive headache that I went to bed at 8:30, and didn't wake up until almost 8 a.m. My body was getting rid of some massive stuff apparently, and needed the extra sleep for the challenge.

Day 2 hit a bit of a tiny snag, but one that counts nonetheless. I caved in and ate a cookie around noon time (my will power is astonishing), and then promptly read some message board posts on the candida site I frequent, only to find a wonderful post from a girl who said "After being on this candida diet for 5 months, I will never eat sugar again, thanks to how great I feel." I immediately starting crying and self loathing for being so stupid.

When I followed the candida diet back in September, I truly did feel better than I ever have, so I know exactly what she is saying. Ironic how your mind tricks you into craving foods you shouldn't have instead of reminding you of what living feels like.

Sugar is an evil thing, and something that I may not ever overcome, but I will die trying.

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