My doctor put me on an ultra restrictive diet for months, in hopes of healing my gut. I have to take digestive enzymes, a probiotic and an anti-fungal (to kill the yeast) in addition to eating very clean. Leaky gut occurs when your food is not broken down in your gut enough for the food molecules to be absorbed into your bloodstream. When they pass through the intestine on the way to the blood, they are rejected of sorts. If I can heal with enzymes and the inflammation, I have a chance of adding some things back into my diet at some point.

My diet was most restricted the first 30 days, and I didn't cheat, knowing I'd be better off in the long run if I didn't. After 30 days, I got a few foods added back, which happened with month 3 and 4 as well. My doc has had me on 3 different antifungals to kill the candida and after the third month, she put me on an intestinal rebuilder too. I also have to take a probiotic once a day and enzymes with each meal. So when I went on the anti-yeast diet, I excluded anything with sugar, fungus (mushrooms for example) and vinegar. I also couldn't eat fruit or starchy vegetables the first 30 days. AND, since my antibody numbers on the soy, wheat, egg and dairy came back so high, I've been off of those for 4 months now. My peanut one wasn't high, but I wasn't given that one back yet. Almond or cashew butter subs for peanut butter, which I like to eat on a brown rice cake or on raw carrots sometimes. I was also given corn back at month two which makes eating Mexican tolerable with corn tortillas. I got oranges back at month 2 also, but I'm just not that into oranges on a daily basis. I LOVE strawberries, which have lots of vit. c as well.

Taking the anti-fungals does kill the yeast, which in turn helps with the sugar cravings. The first week, the yeast "screams for help" and you are hungrier. It's hoping you'll feed it sugar. Then it will level off. I just ate that first week whenever I was hungry, and I still lost 7lbs. Should you decide to follow the anti-yeast diet, you do need a doctor's guidance on this diet so that you can take the prescribed anti-fungals. I've done a no sugar diet before, but didn't do the anti-fungals so it didn't really help. I'm doing all this with my thyroid doctor who is a hormone specialist. She is listed as a family practioner MD at the hospital where she works. I'm also doing a pharmaceutical grade probiotic and enzymes that will help heal my gut. The other thing you need medical assistance with is the blood tests to see what foods the yeast antibodies have created food allergies. Normally, you can have eggs and soy on this diet, but not for me because my body has created antibodies to them until I can heal it. I also have high antibodies to dairy and wheat which will take months to get back. I'm also hypothyroid, so she is monitoring my TSH levels during this process as well. The yeast can siphon off the thyroid hormones from the armour thyroid I take as well.

As for exercise, I've been a consistent exerciser for almost 5 years. My main focus was T-Tapp (T-Tapp.com), but as my immune system started to spiral this fall, I couldn't keep up with my exercising because I was constantly sick from one virus to the next. So, in January, I had a month's pass to a new gym that had far-infrared saunas, so I started doing the saunas every day. They WERE my workout, but the detoxing I got from them was so good that I promptly lost 5lbs doing nothing else. I was feeling well enough by mid-January, that I started back exercising with yoga. The slower pace was just what I needed. I loved getting out of the house too (since I T-Tapp at home), so I continued with yoga and watched my body get stronger and stronger. I kept doing the FIR saunas too. Once I got on the anti-yeast diet, I saw the brain fog and the depression lift. I had not realized how depressed the yeast had me under. I continued yoga since the cardio level of T-Tapp was still too much as I detoxed the yeast. I would do T-Tapp about once a week to get my neck and spine back in alignment, otherwise I would start to hurt and get "cranky neck". I think the combination of yoga and T-Tapp is really great for me. I'm more focused on yoga right now because I think it's at a pace of what my body needs, especially while I'm on this detox diet. I do a really deep stretching yin yoga at least once a week that has opened up my hips, shoulders and spine so much, that I could see a huge leap in flexibility when I went back to my T-Tapp moves I've been doing for 4 years. It's not all about the weight loss for me, although that does make it easier to continue to be able to adhere to the diet guidelines. Although I've lost 24 pounds, the more important focus for me is the wellness aspect to it. The inch loss is the icing on the cake~! I haven't eaten a whole lot of icing though, LOL. You just have to climb out of your eating routine box and make a new one. It gets easier with time, just as working out on a daily basis does. It becomes your new way of life, one bite at a time......

(written July 2008)
~kate