It's been my experience after ten years on the candida diet, that if I go back on a normal diet, I relapse into sickness -- and I mean bad. However, if I eat on the diet 99 percent of the time, I have been able to get away with some cheating, though not the kind of cheating some people think is cheating. I might get away with a "normal" meal, but then again, I am just as likely to get sick from it later.