Food Guide to eliminate the symptoms of Candidiasis

Food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances have been called the great mimicker, because the array of symptoms can appear to be like any number of chronic disorders, and can even mimic several at once. Of course it is also possible for there to be both chronic disorders and food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances occurring simultaneously, making diagnosis even more complicated and difficult.

If this is not bad enough, there seems to be a feed back loop that causes an over reactive (thus hyper strong) immune system to behave as if it were very weak! When the immune system over reacts, for example to a food, there appears to be a feed back loop that tries to compensate for this over reacting. It is an attempt on the part of the body to reduce the tendency to over reaction. Unfortunately, it appears that the immune system, instead of dampening responses to food reactions, actually dampens ability to resist infections. Thus persons suffering from prolonged problems related to food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances frequently suffer from repeated infections of various kinds, and appear to have difficulty overcoming infections. It can be a vicious cycle: food and other reactions causing various mucous membranes to become swollen and irritated, providing an improved site for invading bacteria and other organisms, while at the same time providing reduced ability of the body to fend off these organisms. This may be the reason that many persons report a history of frequent, repeated treatment with antibiotics.

In addition food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances can express their effects in a myriad of ways that result in substantial alterations of biochemical processes and substantial interference with the body's ability to absorb and assimilate nutrients from food. This causes a 'chicken or the egg' type of dilemma, i.e., which comes first, the malabsorption and/or biochemical imbalance or the food sensitivity? When dietary intervention is accomplished first, all food-related causes of altered biochemical functioning can be eliminated and the body will finally have a chance to function in its own normal way. Only then is it appropriate to consider whether biochemical imbalances remain. Generally the problems that remain are small, if any. And again when dietary intervention is accomplished first, other contributing factors, if present, will be much more easily discerned and addressed.

Considering the above, a Dietary Intervention Approach that quickly and effectively eliminates symptoms due to food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances is important to a great many people:

Persons with chronic diseases and food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances will find their treatments suddenly much more effective when dietary intervention is followed. Suddenly antibiotic therapy will have a chance work much more effectively! No more repeated courses over and over. This is especially important for Chrone's disease, ulcerative colitis, arthritis.

Persons with chronic diseases, Candidiasis and food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances may also find that dietary intervention is all they need. If their symptoms are actually caused by food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances, then dietary intervention will be all that is needed. Remember, food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances are the great mimickers and can disrupt the functioning of virtually any system of the body, frequently affecting multiple systems simultaneously. Especially important for arthritis, migraine headaches, fatigue, depression, malabsorption problems, irritable bowel, eczema, asthma, excessive mucous production, and the muscle knotting associated with fibromyalgia.

Persons with multiple chemical sensitivities can better isolate their symptoms due to chemical sensitivities by first eliminating all symptoms due to food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances.

Persons with Candidiasis can have greatly facilitated recoveries because the weakening effects on the immune system due to food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances will have been eliminated making it more possible for the body to overcome the Candidiasis problem.

Persons with food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances, of course will benefit from a Dietary Intervention Approach that can quickly and effectively eliminate symptoms due to food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances. Persons suffering from food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances have often searched for years for symptom relief, but have been stopped by the lack of effective methods for identifying problem foods, by massive weight loss followed by proliferation of food sensitivities and by disturbing increases in severity of symptoms. The Special Foods Diet has completely solves these problems by concentrating on the foods that bring the solution - finding the most well-tolerated foods in the world to include in the diet, requiring 7 day rotation and requiring adherence to nutritional guidelines!

Persons with gluten sensitivities can use the Special Foods Diet shown in Table 1 since all foods in Table 1 are gluten free!

If you have food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances, the Special Foods Diet is potentially the best diet for you. If you are not sure whether or not you have food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances, trying the Special Foods Diet for five weeks is a fast way to find out. If you are unsure, additional information may be found in Appendix A; you may wish to consider this information and discuss it with your health professional.

Eating as many of the old foods as possible, means that foods knowingly causing symptoms are included in the diet and symptoms are managed by strategies such as medication, by reducing quantities (I can eat a small amount at one meal, but not more during the day), by eating less frequently (I can eat a small amount once every two weeks without getting into too much trouble) and so forth. This means that the immune system is always being challenged with just as much problem foods as it can possibly handle without causing overwhelmingly serious problems. Continual tottering on the brink of overload is not a scenario that logically leads to the prospect of symptom relief or recovery. Following this approach generally guarantees that, at best, the person will never improve from his current state and is very likely to worsen over time.

Strategies for nutrition that emphasize supplementation and simply 'eating what you feel like' miss the critically important fact that it is essential to make sure that you eat enough. Supplements do not contain calories, they provide vitamins and minerals, not carbohydrates, fats and proteins. In addition supplements may contain allergenic food residues, how does one know how to choose supplements when one does not know which foods are well tolerated and which are not?

When person with food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances modify their diets and 'eat what they feel like', they almost always eat too little. With the common reference points gone, most people eat only 20-25% of the carbohydrate calories they need. For example they may eat a regular serving of potatoes at mealtime, but skip the bread, milk and any dessert, which are other common forms of carbohydrates. Over time the lower calorie levels result in massive weight loss and can cause the general level of health of a person to drop to a much lower level; this generally results in food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances becoming more extensive and more severe.

When a person or his health professional believes that compromises are necessary, the tradeoffs do not eliminate all of the problems and thus the immune system and the body always has a lot to deal with. Doing only part of what is needed, hoping for the best, but not really expecting to really recover is not a scenario that leads to improvement.

The eventual increase in severity and extent of the problems in individuals experiencing food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances generally happens because the dietary guidelines given frequently include the following serious errors: 1) people are allowed to eat the next nearest neighbor to food that made them sick in the first place; this is the food for which the chances of developing sensitivities are the greatest, 2) people are allowed to eat the closely related foods frequently, generally not rotating over enough days, and 3) people are not told how much to eat, and so they unintentionally eat far less than they need to maintain themselves, and accidentally starve. Accidental starvation causes the general health of the body to sink to a lower level, and all physical problems become worse. For persons with food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances, 'worse' means that the food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances become worse.

Accidentally starving ones self while eating the closest relative of the food that already makes you sick virtually guarantees that a person will become much worse, instead of better. And this is what happens to most people!

The Special Foods Diet avoids these pitfalls, recommending instead: 1) eat only foods that are not related to the ones that make you sick, 2) rotate them with many days passing before eating the food again, and 3) eat lots - at least the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for carbohydrates, protein, and fat, if not more. Is it any wonder that virtually everyone experiences rapid symptom relief and a very large majority eventually experience complete recovery. This is why we feel that the Special Foods Diet is so important for person with food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances to consider.

Eating as many of the 'old foods' as possible, although they are familiar and comforting, are foods from the very group causing the problems and must be avoided.

When foods are the problem, the goal has to be to find foods that do not cause the problems.

Table 1: The Special Foods Diet

Rotate the different types of foods in a 7 day rotation, one food from each group per day, changing each day, then repeating each 7 days.

Type of Food & Recommended Quantity for Adults of Complex Carbohydrates

An Important Note to Our Readers:
The information contained within this website is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended for the treatment, cure, diagnosis, or mitigation of a disease or condition. If you have any medical conditions or are taking any prescription or nonprescription medications, see your physician before altering or discontinuing the use of medications. Persons with potentially serious medical conditions should seek professional care. No therapeutic or medical claims have been implied or made.

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