Chocolate and Beyond

Anti-Candida diet ain't much fun

Well, folks, my blood test result came back and I've tested positive for Candida infection. So that means I really should stick to this anti-Candida diet - which has not been so easy.

I confess. I have drunk wine (not gallons, but it's a big no-no). I have eaten chocolate (tiny amounts, but it's sugar, isn't it?). I even ate a deep-fried bread dough thing, that was then dipped in a sweet chilli sauce (ooooh, horrible refined carbohydrates, the worst). And I have just found out that even a tiny deviation from the plan is a major setback. Great.

Ditching the diet on allaboutyou.com

Always good to get the message out, don't you think?

You can read my Stop dieting and lose weight feature on All About You.

An enlightening intuitive moment!

I have had a few great non-dieting discoveries, but I was eating my lunch earlier (an absolutely delicious winter vegetable soup made with double cream that my cousin had made) and as I was very hungry for it when I began eating; so, my taste buds were at their height of sensitivity.

However, about half way through the bowl, it occurred to me that the soup had stopped tasting quite so delicious. And then I realised, this was the 'moment' I have been searching for, the one where my brain told me I was satisfied enough, before my stomach did (through straining!).

Making the choice to follow an anti-Candida diet

I've started a diet. But wait, it's okay! It's not a weight loss diet (although I'd be dishonest to say that wouldn't be an added bonus!) - I've made the choice to improve my health (and admittedly, it isn't a diet I'd willingly put myself through unless I thought it could really help).

I'm not sure I've ever committed to a diet for purely health reasons, though I've been suffering on and off for a number of years with the probable symptoms of Canidida overgrowth (you know, that yukky yeast that causes thrush, but in advanced states in the body, it causes a whole host of other problems, such as sinusitis, which I get LOTS).

I haven't had the strength to deal with it before because the diet is so stringent (have a read of this article 'Tips for an Anti-Candida Diet' and you will see!) and I never thought I'd keep it up. Ironically though, the last few months of not dieting have helped me be in a much stronger position to try and manage this.

Life in the cake box

I always love to see that there are other people making the move towards mindful eating and ditching the diet in order to have a more positive relationship with food. Beakerella, in her blog 'Life in the cake box', has also read Beyond Chocolate and is making changes to her life in the hope of removing the tyranny of dieting.

I can't remember eating fried halloumi cheese on a diet (except Atkins)

I thought I would list some of the foods that I was eating last week, as in a week on a diet, I wouldn't have touched half of these (except within my Atkins stint). They included:

Clotted cream, mince pies (Gordon Ramsay's brand, surely cooked by his own fair hands), many types of cheese including FRIED halloumi, Wensleydale, and Brie (I eat cheese on a daily basis, sometimes a few times a day), full cream milk, chocolate (of course, chocolate), curry, and buttered bread. Oh, and always the full fat versions of hummous rather than the 'lighter' varieties.

Starting the day with Positive Attitude

As part of my new year theme for Positive Attitude, I decided to have a swim first thing. I got to the pool at 7.55am, did 40 lengths and now feel fabulous, like I've cleared my mind, loosened my body and can really focus on work.

I think it especially helped that I used the time in the pool for some meditation (by focusing on the count of the length and saying the number I was at over in my head, trying to keep my mind there rather than let it wander off). I would like to increase the amount of time I spend in meditative practice.

Resolve to lose the lose weight resolutions

I've just read this fab post by Stephanie Quilao, who I've mentioned before on Chocolate and Beyond since she writes the cool blog Back in Skinny Jeans.

Stephanie talks about creating a theme for the year, rather than individual resolutions, and also suggest in a previous post to consider not having any resolutions that involve your body. I couldn't agree more!

The temptation of a diet was admittedly there...

Having got back from my holiday, I have to admit, it was hard not to return to a diet. When I was forcing myself into my normally well-fitting jeans on New Year's Day in Tunisia, boy, was it a low moment.

If you think Madonna is bad for the old camel's foot, you should have witnessed me, so tight-fitting were my previously very sexy cropped designer denims. Or maybe not, you might have expected me to carry you through the Sahara Desert (clearly because I'd been eating too much dessert).