Did you know that yeast overgrowth is a very common, but yet often undiagnosed problem? You might also care to learn then that yeast infections can be passed backwards and forth between partners during unprotected sexual intercourse, creating an endless cycle of infection. If the thought of passing thrush between you and your partner does not cause alarm, perhaps new scientific research into yeast, suggesting that it can cause much more damage than originally thought, may lead you to stop and consider your diet and perhaps consider a trial Yeast diet, removing certain foods from your daily intake. Candida (a yeast and fungal infection) is not something that can be shrugged off as unimportant. It can lead to very serious complications and in some rare cases cases, even death. Certain foods are said to be a trigger for Candida infestations and therefore should be avoided. Here are the 10 foods to avoid if you have fungal & yeast problems.
Table of Contents
Sweets or Food Containing High Sugar Levels
Your gut has a system to balance bacteria. This system is called the gut flora. The gut flora is responsible for the natural harmony of your insides, creating harmony between good and bad bacteria. Candida loves sugar! Jams, honey, chocolate and sweets should all be avoided to starve Candida of the high sugar content which attracts the breeding cells in your gut, causing an influx of sugar munching gut flora that will multiply uncontrollably. Implementing a sugar removal from your diet may lead to sugar cravings as the gut flora eat the remaining sugar in your gut, and then starve off due to the lack of sugar available.
Foods That Contain a High Glycemic Index rating
Did you know that your blood sugar rises when you eat foods which contain a high Glycemic Index? The Glycemic Index measures how quickly it takes for blood sugar levels to rise when consuming food, via estimation of gram of available carbohydrate (minus fibre). In laymen’s terms, the higher the Glycemic Index, the faster your blood sugar rises after consumption. As we know that Candida loves sugar, we do not want to eat foods that will raise the blood sugar level. Foods in this group include:
- White Bread
- Most White Rice
- Glucose
- Parsnips
- Pretzels
- High Sugar Breakfast Cereals
Breads and Cakes
There is a myth that bread is a form of yeast and therefore you must avoid feeding one form of yeast (Candida) with another. Dispelling the myth is the fact that bread is baked at extremely high temperatures, killing off any living yeast that were there initially, rendering the bread sterile! This does not mean that bread is safe to eat on a Candida diet however. Breads and cakes are made of flour which, when broken down, produces sugar, which we want to avoid the production of inside our gut. Any foods made with flour should be avoided in the Candida diet.
Beverages Such As Juices & Fizzy Drinks
When initiating a Candida diet, many people do not understand that they need to expand their thinking. It is not simply the food we eat that has an effect on our gut and the actions within it, but it is everything that we consume. This includes beverages. Fizzy drinks, fruit juices and sugary liquids should be avoided at all costs as they undoubtedly contain a huge amount of sugar that will simply feed and initiate a breed of gut flora who likes sugar. Alcohol and coffee should also be included in your complete detoxification.
Dairy Products
Milk, cheese, yoghurt and buttermilk are all dairy products. Candida is thought to prevent the body from digesting fat efficiently and therefore dairy products are said to be consumed in strict moderation, if you feel you cannot remove them completely. The exception to this rule is to introduce healthy probiotic agencies into your diet in the form of yoghurt or other dairy produce containing acidophilus and other active cultures.
Dried Fruit
When you first begin your diet, eliminating all types of fruit is generally the best idea as all fruit contains an amount of fructose. However, dried fruit has such a high concentration of sugar added that you must not consume any of this. This is included in breakfast cereals and granola bars and should be omitted from your diet. When you gain control of your Candida infection, fruit with a low fructose level can be re-introduced to your body. These include: apples, strawberries, melon and grapefruit.
Nuts and Seeds
Not all nuts are to be avoided on this diet. Cashews and pistachios are however, on the list of those to be avoided. They contain a high carbohydrate level and therefore may encourage a Candida overgrowth. Peanuts are said to be susceptible to mold due to the oily residue, along with sliced or broken nuts that may harbor a mold infestation which cannot be seen by the naked eye and therefore must be eliminated from the diet.
Smoked Meat
Foods to consider avoiding are bacon, ham, salami, hot dogs, corned beef and sausage. These are said to have infusions of sugar within, which will attract a Candida infestation. Myths surrounding meats suggest that foods or antibiotics fed to the animals can get into the meat you are about to eat. However, the percentage of the animal that you are eating leaves it highly unlikely that this would have any disastrous effects on you. The processing involved in producing the meat is the deciding factor of whether you should eat it or avoid it.
Pasta
Pasta consists of flour and water. As we know, flour, when broken down, produces sugar and should be avoided at all costs. Under this range you must include spaghetti, farina, semolina, instant noodles and white flour noodles. It also scores high on the Glycemic Index and therefore must be eliminated from your diet.
Mushrooms
There is a vast amount of argument about whether eating mushrooms is suitable during a Candida diet. Some suggest that a mushroom is simply fungus which you should not then use to treat another fungal infection with. Others seem to suggest that mushrooms are actually very beneficial to you and to the Candida infection. Mushrooms certainly tend to be a grey area in this matter and therefore, perhaps avoided for 3 weeks and introduced moderately later.
Potatoes
There is a vast debate over potato skins and whether you should consume them whilst on a Candida diet. Scientifically, it is probably best to stick to the facts in this area. Potatoes score high on the Glycemic Index. This is because the body digests potatoes very quickly, ensuring a sugar production, in turn feeding the Candida infestation. Foods in the ‘highly processed’ category should also be avoided at all costs. These include: French fries, potato wedges and croquettes. The only exception regarding potatoes is sweet potatoes. There appears to be a debate as to whether consumption of these foods is acceptable. You may wish to just eliminate all grey areas such as this, or simply indulge in sparse portions of sweet potatoes during your Candida diet.
Summary
You will find many myths and facts on your search for the true Candida diet. Perhaps it is best to stick to key facts. Any foods which contain sugar or sugar producing properties should be omitted. A five day plan is enough to test your tolerance to these foods by omitting them from your diet, and then reintroducing them to judge the effects. Whilst it is true, that a doctor’s advice should always be sought if in doubt, medicine and knowledge of fungal and yeast problems are sparse. Testing is often expensive and thought unnecessary by many doctors, whilst others are happy to hand out antibiotics, which can cause further discomfort. It is certainly true, that your body can only benefit from a planned detoxification, to assist the natural order of functions resume from within.
“Dispelling the myth is the fact that bread is baked at extremely high temperatures, killing off any yeast molecules that were there initially, rendering the bread sterile”
Yeast molecule??? Lol.
Yeast is far from a molecule.
It works be more helpful if you put the food we could eat
can you help me? I’m a 53 year old female and can not lose weight no matter what i try ,
have less sex, you metabolism will go up. science doesnt know it yet.
What makes you say that Yog??
I might be able to help you. Where do you live?
Marie try Weight Watchers it worked Gorbachev me but you need to follow the program you will amazed ! My symptoms went away including my back ache. Physical Therapy helped as well. Good Luck!
Try Ketogenic diet. Has worked wonders for many.
I am not really on the Candida diet but have recently discovered I am allergic to brewer’s yeast, dairy, fish, strawberries, and a whole mess of stuff. My whole diet is needing to change. Thanks for posting this article because it is a start.
I’m 55 have been afflicted since feb 2016 my body has made some strange material passed out through my skin and things in my feaces ive had filaments / fibre like material come out of my skin doctors refuse to treat my symptoms saying it’s delusions of parasitosis? My condition is physical here’s the symptoms all of which fit the Morgellons disease! …. skin crawling , skin rash , skin lesions , black debris & filaments etc coming out of the skin neurological disorders causing eye problems then nose crawling and things coming out of my nose, eyes, mouth, ear.
Hair fell out eyelashes fell out, severe weight loss, dizziness flashing lights and horrendous brain fog concentration and memory issues , cardio chest pain ? Worst of all sleep deprivation now is there anyone who will admit this is real and who can help me rid this affliction ?.
God bless
William Windsor-King
Aka
William King
Wow….sounds like what I had about 3-4 years back. I feel for you. I did so many different things, I am not sure where to begin! My thoughts are that it could be something to do with fungus in our bodies and parasites/mites. I’m beginning to have some mild symptoms again. :( Let me suggest bathing in a product called. “Kleen Green Naturally”. I also sprayed it diluted on my body. I found it on the internet and do know that was an important part of my healing. Anyway…I just wanted to mention the one product that seemed to be of help! Yes…I thought I had morgellons also and made a mistake of mentioning that thought to a few doctors and they suggested I speak to a psychiatrist. Our medical system is messed up in many ways. Very sad. So difficult when others disbelieve. Pray to Christ Jesus and ask Him to petition the Father for answers and guidance. God bless.
William, just saw your post. I’m not a physician, but it may serve you well to check with a holistic person in your area. Certain essential oils will kill fungus, mold, bacteria, viruses, parasites and yeast. Not sure what’s wrong with you, but once they figure out what’s going on, you should get better. Hope this is helpful. I don’t know you, but I did pray for you. I wish you luck and health.
Sounds a lot like when I had this underdiagnosed fungal infection. I’d like to share information I learned during my Dallas area workplace’s outbreak of an airborne infectious disease that can cause malignancies, precancerous conditions, rheumatological diseases, connective tissue diseases, heart disease, autoimmune symptoms, inflammation in any organ/tissue, seizures, migraines, mood swings, hallucinations, etc. and is often undiagnosed/misdiagnosed in immunocompetent people. Of course, some of it you may already know.
My coworkers and I, all immunocompetent, got Disseminated Histoplasmosis in Dallas-Fort Worth from roosting bats, the most numerous non-human mammal in the U.S., that shed the fungus in their feces. The doctors said we couldn’t possibly have it, since we all had intact immune systems. The doctors were wrong. Healthy people can get it, too, with widely varying symptoms. And we did not develop immunity over time, we’d get better and then progressively worse, appearing to relapse periodically and concurrently every year.
More than 100 outbreaks have occurred in the U.S. since 1938, and those are just the ones that were figured out, since people go to different doctors. One outbreak was over 100,000 victims in Indianapolis. 80-90+% of people in some areas have been infected. It can lay dormant for up to 40 years in the lungs and/or adrenals.
It’s known to cause hematological malignancies, and some doctors claim their leukemia patients go into remission when given antifungal. My friend in another state who died from lupus lived across the street from a bat colony. An acquaintance with alopecia universalis and whose mother had degenerative brain disorder has bat houses on their property.
There’s too much smoke for there not to be at least a little fire.
Researchers claim the subacute type is more common than believed. It’s known to at least “mimic” autoimmune diseases and cancer and known to give false-positives in PET scans. But no one diagnosed with an autoimmune disease or cancer is screened for it. In fact, at least one NIH paper states explicitly that all patients diagnosed with sarcoidosis be tested for it, but most, if not all, are not. Other doctors are claiming sarcoidosis IS disseminated histoplasmosis.
What if this infection, that made me and my coworkers so ill, isn’t rare in immunocompetent people? What if just the diagnosis is rare, since most doctors apparently ignore it?
This pathogen parasitizes the reticuloendothelial system/invades macrophages, can infect and affect the lymphatic system and all tissues/organs, causes inflammation and granulomas, etc. It causes idiopathic (unknown cause) diseases and conditions, including hematological malignancies, autoimmune symptoms, myelitis, myositis, vasculitis, panniculitis, dysplasia, hyperplasia, etc. It causes hypervascularization, calcifications, sclerosis, fibrosis, necrosis, eosinophilia, leukopenia, anemia, neutrophilia, pancytopenia, thrombocytopenia, hypoglycemia, cysts, abscesses, polyps, stenosis, perforations, GI problems, hepatitis, focal neurologic deficits, etc.
Many diseases it might cause are comorbid with other diseases it might cause, for example depression/anxiety/MS linked to Crohn’s.
The fungus is an Oxygenale and therefore consumes collagen. It’s known to cause connective tissue diseases (Myxomatous degeneration?), rheumatological conditions, seizures, and mental illness. Fungal hyphae carry an electrical charge and align under a current. It causes RNA/DNA damage. It’s known to cause delusions, wild mood swings (pseudobulbar affect?), and hallucinations. It’s most potent in female lactating bats, because the fungus likes sugar (lactose) and nitrogen (amino acids, protein, neurotransmitters?). What about female lactating humans…postpartum psychosis (and don’t some of these poor women also have trouble swallowing)? The bats give birth late spring/summer, and I noticed suicide rates spike in late spring/early summer. It’s known to cause retinal detachment, and retinal detachments are known to peak around June-July/in hot weather. A map of mental distress and some diseases appear to almost perfectly overlay a map of Histoplasmosis. Johns Hopkins linked autism to an immune response in the womb. Alzheimer’s was linked to hypoglycemia, which can be caused by chronic CNS histoplasmosis. The bats eat moths, which are attracted to blue and white city lights that simulate the moon the moths use to navigate. Bats feed up to 500 feet in the air and six miles away in any direction from their roost, but not when it’s raining or when the temperature is less than approximately 56° F.
I believe the “side effects” of Haldol (leukopenia and MS symptoms) might not always be side effects but just more symptoms of Disseminated Histoplasmosis, since it causes leukopenia and MS symptoms. What about the unknown reason why beta receptor blockers cause tardive dyskinesia? The tinnitus, photophobia, psychosis “caused” by Cipro? Hypersexuality and leukemia “caused” by Abilify? Humira linked to lymphoma, leukemia and melanoma in children? Disseminated Histoplasmosis is known to cause enteropathy, so could some people thought to have nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug enteropathy have it and taking NSAIDs for the pain/inflammation it causes, and the NSAIDs aren’t the actual culprit?
From my experience, I learned that NO doctor, at least in DFW, will suspect subacute and/or progressive disseminated histoplasmosis in immunocompetent people. Some doctors, at least the ones I went to, will actually REFUSE to test for it, even when told someone and their coworkers have all the symptoms and spend a lot of time in a building with bats in the ceiling. Victims will be accused of hypochondriasis. In fact, the first doctor to diagnose me was a pulmonologist, and the only reason he examined me was to try to prove that I didn’t have it, when I really did. No doctor I went to realized bats carry the fungus. And NO doctor I went to in DFW, even infectious disease “experts,” understand the DISSEMINATED form, just the pulmonary form, and the only test that will be done by many doctors before they diagnose people as NOT having it is an X-ray, even though at least 40-70% of victims will have NO sign of it on a lung X-ray. It OFTEN gives false-negatives in lab tests (some people are correctly diagnosed only during an autopsy after obtaining negative test results) and cultures may not show growth until after 12 weeks of incubation (but some labs report results after 2 weeks).
One disease of unknown cause that could be caused by Disseminated Histoplasmosis: I suspect, based on my and my coworker’s symptoms (during our “rare” infectious disease outbreak) and my research, that interstitial cystitis and its comorbid conditions can be caused by disseminated histoplasmosis, which causes inflammation throughout the body, causes “autoimmune” symptoms, and is not as rare as believed. I read that “interstitial cystitis (IC) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the submucosal and muscular layers of the bladder, and the cause is currently unknown. Some people with IC have been diagnosed with other conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, allergies, and Sjogren’s syndrome, which raises the possibility that interstitial cystitis may be caused by mechanisms that cause these other conditions. In addition, men with IC are frequently diagnosed as having chronic nonbacterial prostatitis, and there is an extensive overlap of symptoms and treatment between the two conditions, leading researchers to posit that the conditions may share the same etiology and pathology.” Sounds like Disseminated Histoplasmosis, doesn’t it?
My coworkers and I were always most ill around April/May/June, presumably since the Mexican Free-tail bats gave birth in Texas during May, and fall/Thanksgiving to December, for some unknown reason (maybe migrating bats from the north?). We had GI problems, liver problems, weird rashes (erythema nodosum, erythema multiforme, erythema annulare, etc.), plantar fasciitis, etc., and I had swollen lymph nodes, hives, lesions, abdominal aura, and started getting migraines and plantar fasciitis in the building, and I haven’t had them since I left. It gave me temporary fecal incontinence, seizures, dark blood from my intestines, tinnitus, nystagmus, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, what felt like burning skin, various aches and pains (some felt like pin pricks and pinches), tingling, tremors, “explosions” like fireworks in my head while sleeping, temporary blindness, and chronic spontaneous “orgasms”/convulsions. Suddenly I was allergic to pears (latex fruit allergy?). I had insomnia (presumably from the fungus acidifying the blood, releasing adrenaline) and parasomnias. I suddenly had symptoms of several inflammatory/autoimmune diseases, including Fibromyalgia, Sarcoidosis, ALS, MS, Sjogren’s syndrome, etc. that have disappeared since leaving the area and taking nothing but Itraconazole antifungal.
No one, including doctors (we all went to different ones), could figure out what was wrong with us, and I was being killed by my doctor, who mistakenly refused to believe I had it and gave me progressively higher and higher doses of Prednisone (at least 2 years after I already had Disseminated Histoplasmosis) after a positive ANA titer, until I miraculously remembered that a visiting man once told my elementary school class that bats CARRY histoplasmosis….so much of it that they evolved to deal with the photophobia and tinnitus it causes by hunting at night by echolocation. There’s a lot more. I wrote a book about my experience with Disseminated Histoplasmosis called “Batsh#t Crazy,” because bats shed the fungus in their feces and it causes delusions and hallucinations, I suspect by the sclerotia it can form emitting hallucinogens (like psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine) along with inflammation in the CNS. (Schizophrenics have 2X of a chemical associated with yeast, part of the fungal life cycle.)
Thank you for your time,
Susan McIntyre
William what do your regular diet consist of?
Hello,I read your blogs named “10 Foods to Avoid If You Have Fungal & Yeast Problems – Why Am I Unhealthy?” like every week.Your story-telling style is witty, keep doing what you’re doing! And you can look our website about love spell.
“… dried fruit has such a high concentration of sugar added that you must not consume any of this.”
There is no sugar added to dried fruit — that would be candied fruit. Rather, because the water has been removed, the sugar that was already there is concentrated.