Notice in my subject I said how to bring candida into balance. I'm not trying to be a false prophet here, I still have a very mild candida problem, but it is nothing compared to what it used to be and for the past year or so has really been just more of a mild irritation than anything else. I have every confidence that within another year I will be in perfect health. Just to give you a little faith in the recommendations that I am giving, I will tell you the changes that I have seen in my body by following this. Before, almost constantly getting colds and fevers, now almost never. Before, arthritic-like pain and swelling in joints, now, none. Before, little or no energy, now tons of energy. Before, severe acne, now, occasional pimple or two. One really amazing thing that happened is my vision improved so much that I don't have to wear glasses anymore. Also to note, my eyes have become lighter and my hair has turned from black to light brown.

Again these recommendations are for people who are overly acidic and I believe this to be the majority of candida sufferers. First, I think that just as important as diet changes are lifestyle changes. In western culture our lifestyle is very unhealthy, we work in offices and don't get the right amount of activity for your body. You really need to try to get in ideally 3 or 4 hours of physical activity a day. My recommendations for physical activity are walking, gardening and some light yoga. Gardening is one of the best things you can do for your body and it is also very relaxing and calming. If you are someone who can never gain weight, you should avoid any very strenuous physical activities like running, aerobics, etc. If you suffer from being overweight, then I would say you can do some running or what-not, but go easy. Whatever physical activities you chose should make you feel good.

Your first step, if you have not done so already is to do 1 or 2 months of cleansing and alkalizing your body. Take a look at some different colon cleanses. I highly recommend doing juice fasting (mainly green veggies) as it alkalizes your body very quickly. You can also do some 70%, 80% raw food diets and follow these for some time. I am not a big fan of long water fasts; if you'd like to try these, I think short ones are better. After a couple months, hopefully you should feel some improvement.

Before I discuss diet, my number one recommendation is to drink a lot of water and if possible it should be alkaline water. Please, if anyone has done any research on what types of water are alkaline, post a response with the title, alkaline water. You can kind of go by taste. If it tastes sweet it is probably on the alkaline side (so I have a feeling maybe some spring water is alkaline?), if it has no taste or tastes bad it is probably on the acidic side. The best source of water is from a well, but I know we don't all have access to that (fortunately I do). You can drink some lemon water (or water with a little apple cider vinegar) on an empty stomach in the morning to help alkalize the body.

Next is diet. We all know the obvious stuff, no processed foods, sugars, starchy foods like potatoes and bread. Here are some foods to avoid that you may not know about: chili peppers or any "hot" spices, even black pepper should be avoided(these increase acidity in a BIG way), you probably know to avoid things that are pickled and anything with vinegar (except apple cider vinegar), but really most things that are sour should be avoided (an exception is lemons), also you should avoid big beans like kidney beans, soy beans, etc. as they are very irritating to the intestines and create gas. Here is another thing most people don't know, you should reduce your oil intake a bit. We all know coconut oil is good (in moderation) and I also think sunflower seed oil is very good for health. You should be using natural salt and use a little less salt (make sure you take an Iodine supplement because natural salt is not iodized). Many people are following a high protein diet and I don't believe this is good for health or for clearing out candida. I will go into more detail in a later post, but for now enough to say that high protein foods such as meat and eggs are the most acidic foods that you can eat. I also don't support high % of raw food diets long term, again I will write in a later post my reasoning behind this, I know a lot of people may be following these types of diets.

So then what to eat? Complex carbohydrates that are high in fiber and a good amount of organic vegetables. I know that we think of carbohydrates as a dirty word, but really they are essential for health and for bringing the body back into proper balance. One of your staple foods should be long grain brown rice. Another of the best things that you can eat is a very small bean called a mung bean, they are green or yellow in color and for best digestion, they should be cut in half. You can find them in health food stores or in any Indian market (they will be called mung dal in the Indian market). These beans have a good amount of protein, good carbohydrates that will not aggravate candida too much and are very high in fiber, but at the same time they are very easy for the intestines and don't cause excess gas like other beans. I think oatmeal is also okay, but I would only take small portions, as the carbohydrates are a little more starchy, but they still have excellent fiber (it's not just how much but the quality of the fiber). The fiber that is contained in complex carbs is absolutely one of the keys to balancing the health of your colon. You cannot just take some psyllium husk and think that you are getting proper fiber. I would only use psyllium husk as a colon cleanse. It is not a good quality of fiber, it is very rough and aggravating for the intestines and also makes you bloated. I don't think it's necessary to discuss the importance of vegetables; the only thing that I will say is that I think lightly cooked veggies are every bit as good and in many ways better than raw veggies (also in cooked veggies you can add spices that help digestion, such as tumeric, cumin, cardamom, coriander), again I will discuss this in a later post. Definitely, if you don't have a good quality juicer, I would recommend getting one. You can get most of the nutrition from a ton of veggies without hours of chewing.

You have to be careful with milk products. Milk is actually alkaline, but milk is almost 100% digested in the intestines and if you don't have the correct bacteria to digest the sugars (which we don't) it will aggravate the candida as well. In my experience, plain yogurt and kefir are very good but I would stick to small portions. Butter is good in moderation, clarified butter is even better (called ghee in Indian market).

The last thing I will mention is how to eat. I recommend four meals, four hours apart. The reason four meals is better than three is that you can eat smaller portions at each meal. If you eat large meals, this increases acidity. If you don't believe me do an experiment, have a nice big meal, stuff yourself until you are full and see how you feel after a couple hours, definitely your will have an acid or sour feeling stomach. At one point I was even eating 5 meals a day but I don't think this leaves enough time between meals to fully digest what you have eaten before. Something you have probably heard a million times but you should always be hungry before you eat and you should stop eating before you are completely full. I recommend having a small breakfast (digestion is least effective at this time), lunch is the biggest meal (digestion is best in afternoon), then a third meal a bit less than lunch, and dinner a bit less than the third meal (big dinner will give acidity in night). It's great to go for a nice long walk after dinner.

It has taken me a long time to figure out this diet, but over the years by trial and error and a lot of research I have found something that works for me. And I do believe it should work for most people that suffer from too much acidity, but you have to find what works for you. If you can get anything new in this post that might help you, then I am happy.