Yeast Free Living

It was a pretty hectic day.  I am in the middle of de-cluttering my life so you know that during this process the house usually looks much worse before it begins to look better.  I did manage to donate 52 books to my local libraries today.  This gives me a great sense of accomplishment.  I am looking forward to continue this project and living a life with less stuff. 

I am back on track with the candida diet.  I actually started being strict again yesterday.  It was a tough day but I did not give in to any of the many temptations around me.  I tried to really stay mindful of how crappy I felt so that I hopefully can draw on these feelings  when temptation is about to get the best of me.  Today I felt much better and I am looking forward to more days like this.  Today’s menu is below.  I hope that you are all feeling healthy and full of life.

Tennille

Today Candida Diet Menu – February 8, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with 1 pack of stevia

Mid-Morning Snack
Cucumbers with sea salt

Lunch 
Potato Soup with Zucchini

Afternoon Snack
Fruit for the kids
1 can of tuna with homemade mayonnaise for me

Dinner
Chicken nuggets and French Fries (I limited my french fry intake because I already ate potatoes for lunch)

Dessert
1 cup or herbal tea with stevia

One of my tragic flaws, at least one of the ones that I have been able to identify is what has become known in the psychological world of cognitive behavioral therapy as “All or Nothing” thinking.  This thinking is said to be why many of us cannot make one mistake on the candida diet or any other diet for that matter, without spiraling out of control.  We strive for perfection only, and when we don’t achieve it we abandon all of our efforts.  I know that for me one piece of candy quickly leads to another because I think to myself, “I have already cheated so what is the use of being good today”.  I always vow to start again tomorrow or Monday or in a week giving myself free reign to eat poorly until I reach whatever arbitrary time I have set for myself.  The candida diet itself often seems like and all or nothing undertaking.  Most books and other resources that I have consulted take an all or nothing approach that makes most of us believe that unless we cut out all foods and ingredients on the prohibited list we will be doomed to remain sick.  As I began to look into my distorted thinking a bit, I started to wonder if there would be any benefit in implementing the candida diet changes in a different way?  To my surprise I stumbled across a book that advocated and outlined a way to introduce yeast free lifestyle changes gradually in order to promote lasting dietary change. 

Feast Without Yeast: 4 Stages to Better Health : A Complete Guide to Implementing Yeast Free, Wheat (Gluten) Free and Milk (Casein) Free Living by Bruce Semon, MD, PhD and Lori Kornblum is the first yeast free cooking diet book that I have come across that discusses how to implement candida diet changes over time.  This book is not your typical candida diet book, as it will not present you with a list of things that you should and should not eat up front.  This book was actually developed with the goal of alleviating symptoms of autism.  Coincidentally,  there is a great deal of overlap with the candida diet and many of the dietary changes used to treat autism.  The book teaches us how to implement these dietary changes in 4 very well defined stages and includes explanations on what food and ingredients to take out and why to take out a particular food at each stage.  The beauty of this is that if you regain you health at any particular stage you do not have to continue on to the other stages.  This is definitely new to what I have been following.  No two people are the same and therefore I believe this fact leaves room for different variations of the candida diet for different people.  Depending on the severity of your candida overgrowth, I believe it could be possible for many to  continue to eat wheat or cheese and still regain there health  I actually kept wheat in my diet the first time I succeeded at battling candida.  Wheat was not a problem for me.  My problems seemed to be mainly with sugar and white flour products.  Once I eliminated these I was on my way to feeling great and many of my symptoms disappeared. 

The beauty of the stages are that if one stage helps you restore your health there is no need to move on the the next stage.  A brief description of the 4 stages of the Feast Without Yeast program is as follows:

Stage I – Add brown rice to your diet.  Subtract a few fermented foods. 

Stage II – Add potatoes, beans and vegetables.  Subtract more fermented foods mold contaminated foods, yeast and sugar

Stage III – Subtract Gluten and Casein

Stage IV – More fermented and mold contaminated foods

Wouldn’t it be great if you did not have to eliminate everything found on those long candida diet lists from your diet.  If you are eager to try another approach this book may be worth a look for you.  Most recipes are very simple and since this book was driven by family recipes developed for their autistic son they seem to be kid friendly.  The book also does a very good job providing tools to make this transition easier such as ideas for children, suggested kitchen tools and shopping lists. 

There is one thing that does disturb me about this book.  Unprocessed clover honey is an ingredient that is never eliminated throughout the stages.  Most candida resources agree that honey acts the same way as sugar in the body, elevating blood sugar and feeding the candida which only exacerbates our problems.  I am unsure at why the authors think that honey is okay on a yeast free diet and I found no explanation as to why it remained in even the most stringent stage.  I guess you could omit and use stevia.  I guess it just makes me mad because I really want to use honey but knowing what I know already I feel that it will give me the same symptoms that sugar does. 

All in all I feel that Feast Without Yeast: 4 Stages to Better Health : A Complete Guide to Implementing Yeast Free, Wheat (Gluten) Free and Milk (Casein) Free Living decent yeast free diet offering.  It may be more helpful to those who are treating autism but I believe that it may be beneficial to some of us candida sufferers who are looking for a gradual way to permanent health.

I realize I have not posted my candida diet menus for the last few days and I apologize for this but there has not been much yeast free cooking going on here.  At least not since Tuesday.  I have had some major mishaps and have not able to get back on track.  I am going to blame it on my exhaustion this time.  I realize that it is just an excuse and I will have to own up to this eventually but I am giving myself a few minutes of immature whining.  We are all entitled to to a little whining as long as we put a time limit on it.  Coaching basketball practices and games, Girl Scout meetings, selling girl scout cookies, softball practice and cooking for children who can’t eat anything that is convenient has worn me out over these last two weeks.  I finally hit the wall on Tuesday night and have not recovered. 

Additionally, today marks the end of Catholic School’s week.  This is celebrated with several fun activities at school.  I thing I was just not prepared for the week.  I must have took at least 4 extra trips to school this week.  There was sports day on Monday and thankfully that went smoothly.  Tuesday was red, white and blue day our outfit for the day was fine, but Chey forgot her lunch so I had to go running.  Wednesday was pajama day and we could not find Chey’s purple slippers.  She looked so disappointed so I went back home to find them and then I was off and running again back to school.  Thursday was crazy hair/hat day and the school talent show.  I forgot the CD with the music on it for her hula hoop act so I ran back to school with the CD only to get home and work for a few hours and then go back to the talent show at 12:30 PM.  I am so tired!  I don’t know how I always let myself get here.  It is when I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off that I seem to eat the worse.  When will I realize that this is only going to contribute to my exhaustion?  Well, the kids are with dad this weekend and I am looking forward to a quiet weekend resting and regrouping. 

Have a great weekend!

The Candida Control Cookbook: What You Should Know and What You Should Eat to Manage Yeast Infections (New Revised & Updated Edition) by Gail Burton is one of the best Anti-Candida Cookbooks out there.  I realize that this is an extremely strong statement and may seem somewhat biased but I write this book review after an evening of successfully entertaining friends who are not on the anti-candida diet.  I cooked a four course meal based on recipes solely from the Candida control cookbook and last night was a huge success thanks to Gail Burton.  My friends were very skeptical about eating a meal at my house due to my being on a yeast free diet coupled with the multiple food allergies that I must cater to for my children but by the end of the night I think they realized that living without certain foods and ingredients does not mean accepting tasteless food as norm.  We enjoyed turkey roll-ups, salad with dressing, spaghetti and meatballs and pumpkin cookies for dessert. 

The Candida control cookbook is unique in that Gail Burton herself has had to struggle with overcoming Candida Overgrowth, also known as Candidiasis.  Candidiasis is a fungal infection or mycosis of any of the Candida species, of which Candida albicans is the most common.  Candida albicans is usually present in small, benign amounts in all of our bodies but sometimes because an opportunistic infection in due to many external factors such as a diet high in processed foods, birth control, antibiotics and toxins.  When this imbalance the body occurs many seemingly unrelated symptoms can manifest. 

Burton like many of us experienced great relief of her symptoms while strictly adhering to the anti-candida diet but often found the diet extremely limiting and consequently very hard to stick to.  This of course led her to cheat, like so many of us do, and her symptoms would quickly return.  She acknowledged that she felt better when on the diet but she knew she needed to find a way to enjoy the food that she ate while adhering to the candida diet.  Her thought was, “I needed good recipes.”  Burton began to experiment with anti-candida diet foods and ingredients in the kitchen and was able to create recipes that not only she would enjoy, but for her family and for entertaining.  She presents us with over 150 of these recipes in the Candida control cookbook.  Burton is a gourmet cook and a former food columnist so you can trust that she does know her way around the kitchen. 

Burton shares her story with the reader in the preface.  She also incorporates two  professionals well versed in Candidiasis.  The foreword is written by Gail Nielsen, MS, Founding Director, Candida Research and Information Foundation.  The introduction which explains the Candida problem is written by Michael E. Rosenbaum, MD from Corte Madera, California.  Dr. Rosenbaum specializes in preventative medicine, allergies and nutrition and is the doctor the diagnosed Burton with Candidiasis. 

The book gives a brief overview of what Candida is, the importance of the Candida Control Diet and list permitted and prohibited foods clearly and provides their substitutes.  There is a 14 – Day Candida Control Menu Plan, Carbohydrate Guide, Suggestions on Dining Out and description of all ingredients that may be unfamiliar.
The Recipe section includes Dairy Substitutes, Appetizers, Soups, Eggs, Fish, Poultry, Meats, Grains, Vegetables, Dressings, Breads, Muffins, Pancakes, Beverages, Sauces and Desserts.  The book also contains a guide on where to get unfamilar ingredients.  Some of the information is out of date but a quick Google Search of the ingredient you are looking for or the company Burton has listed will put you on the right path.  

Although I believe this is a great cookbook, I don’t like all of the recipes.  The fact is that there are enough recipes that I do like that make this purchase completely worth it.  Burton’s recipe directions are sometimes lacking which some may find a bit annoying.  I was able to follow along pretty easily and I am by no means an experienced cook.  Burton’s use of a controversial alternative sweetner, vegetable glycerin, concerns some.  Although I found little evidence to suggest that it is harmful I personally feel more comfortable substituting stevia for the vegetable glycerin but as always do your research and speak to your health care provider and you will feel confident in your choice. 

Although not perfect, The Candida control cookbook by Gail Burton is an excellent offering for anyone trying to follow the candida diet.  These are real recipes, with real flavor without yeast laden ingredients.

I am still rather tired today and did not get to bed early like I planned yesterday but I am feeling  a little better.   The sugar cravings are getting to me today.  My brother decided to purchase a container of iced oatmeal cookies from Trader Joe’s.  I swear they are staring at me and calling my name.  I have resisted thus far but I cannot wait until they are  gone.  I have pretty good will power but my weaknesses are definitely cookies and pizza. 

I am having guests tonight and am anxious to introduce them t yeast free and allergy friendly food.  I have decided to make spaghetti and meatballs and bake gluten/yeast free bread.  I also picked up a gluten free brownie mix which I cannot enjoy because of the sugar but will be glad to serve to my guests and my oldest daughter.  The little one and I can eat pumpkin cookies.  Well here’s the menu for today. 

Candida Diet Menu February 2, 2010
Breakfast
1 Bowl EnviroKidz Cereal for the kids
Left over rice pasta, marinara sauce and spinach for me
1 cup of herbal tea

Mid-Morning Snack
1 cucumber with sea salt
Kids have a piece of fruit

Lunch
Homemade Vegetable Soup
Spaghetti with olive oil and basil for the kids

Afternoon Snack
Tortilla Chips
Kids have 1 bag of Cape Cod Potato Chips

Dinner
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Salad
Gluten Free Brownies for kids and guest

Dessert
1 cup herbal tea

I am actually pretty exhausted from the weekend.  I am glad the kids are back in school today.  I am going to try to sneak some rest during the day and really try to get to bed early tonight.  My yeast free bake off was okay but I don’t think anything I baked really wowed me.  I am happy that I have corn muffins to heat up quickly for the next few weeks.  I ended up baking about 5 recipes.  Only 2 are currently posted but I will get the rest up as soon as possible.  If anyone has any candida diet baking ideas I would love to hear them.  Here is today’s menu.  I can’t handle anymore. 

Candida Diet Menu February 1, 2010
Breakfast
1 Bowl of Puffed Rice Cereal with 1 packet of stevia
1 cup of herbal tea

Mid-Morning Snack
Tuna with homemade mayonnaise on Rice Cakes
Kids have a piece of fruit

Lunch
Garden Salad with creamy herb dressing for me
Spaghetti with olive oil and basil for the kids

Afternoon Snack
2 Cups Air Popped Popcorn
Kids have 1 bag of Cape Cod Potato Chips

Dinner
Rice Pasta with Marinara Sauce and Spinach

Dessert
1 cup herbal tea

This poppy seed cake was delicious.  There is a bit of prep work to do as you have to soak the poppy seeds in soy milk  for about 4-6 hours so plan accordingly.  I noticed this recipe in Gail Burton’s Candida Control Cookbook a long time ago and always said that I would try it one day.  I figured there was not better time the present and went out to get poppy seeds which I did not have.  Poppy seeds are a little pricey and the recipe calls for a whole lot of them so this is not something I would like to reserve for special occasions.  The recipe does recommend a pecan custard topping but I was not comfortable with all of the ingredients required to make this topping and I was not confident on how to substitute them.  I will search for an adequate topping and save this for special occasions. 

Poppy Seed Cake Ingredients
1/4 cup
1/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup arrowroot powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup clarified butter
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring no alcohol
2 large eggs
1/4 cup stevia extract

Poppy Seed Cake Directions
Prep
Mix poppy seeds with soy milk in a small bowl
Cover and soak 4- 6 hours
Cooking
Preheat oven to 375F
Combine arrowroot powder, baking powder, butter, stevia, flour and vanilla flavoring in large bowl
Mix in eggs
Add poppy seed and milk mixture
Pour batter into a well-greased, 8 inch square or round bake pan
Bake for 20 minutes

So the first thing that I attempted in my weekend of yeast free baking was corn muffins.  I have been craving them for quite a while.  The was a period last year when I was working in an office that I would go to Dunkin Donuts nearly every morning for one of these.  The challenge will be to create a muffin that is tasty enough to help me alleviate this craving. 

I found a great recipe for Celiac.com for Gluten Free corn muffins and just adapted it to fit the candida diet specifications.  The muffins came out pretty good.  They were moist and but stayed together well.  I was able to slice it without it crumbling and then toast it and add a little bit of clarified butter.  I really enjoyed having a corn muffin with my herbal tea again. 

I would love to report that the corn muffin was as sweet as its sugar filled relative but that would be a lie.  I do however believe that once my sugar cravings completely subside (I pray that they eventually will) I hope that my brain will learn that this level of sweetness is now the new the norm.  I froze the remaining muffins so that I can defrost, toast and enjoy them as needed.  If you are using stevia to bake these amounts may differ.  I have listed the amount of sugar that the original recipe called for.  Adapt according to directions on your stevia package or on the packaging of another acceptable candida diet sweetener.

Corn Muffin or Corn Bread Ingredients (Recipe adapted from Celiac.com)
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup canola, olive and safflower oil
½ cup sugar (I used 8 teaspoons of stevia extract)
1 large egg
2 teaspoons xanthan gum or guar gum
1 cup unsweetend soy or nut milk
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 cup water

Corn Muffin or Cornbread Directions
Preheat oven to 350F
Combine all ingredients in bowl
Mix together thoroughly
Spray muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray or use muffin backing cups or
spray an 8″ x 8″ baking pan for to cook cornbread
Bake muffins for approximately 35 minutes
Bake bread for approximately 40 minutes
Recipe makes 6 large or 12 medium muffins or one 8″ x 8″ cornbread

It is about 9:35 AM on Saturday, January 30 here in New Jersey and my yeast free baking has been underway for almost an hour and a half.  I am two dishes in with my first batch of corn muffins completed and my sesame rolls underway.  Additionally, I have poppy seeds soaking in a container of soy milk in the refridgerator for a poppy seed cake that I will try this afternoon.  I will let the kids help me bake this one.  They will not be able to eat it because I the soy milk and I did not feel like rice milk would be a adequate substitute but I am sure that they would still enjoy helping.  They are still asleep now and that is the main reason I was able to get two dishes in so early.  Once they get up the day usually takes on a life of its own but if I plan to let them help me bake later in the day this is seen as an activity to look forward to rather than something that is distracting mommy. 

So I have found so many great recipes and I am going to try out as many as I can this weekend.  It is rare that I have a weekend with only one commitment, coaching a youth basketball game, and I am going to capitalize on this.  I feel the biggest challenge with yeast free baking is the inability to duplicate the powerful taste of regular sugar.  I use stevia in my yeast free baking and while I feel this is a good substitute I am not delusional and realize that it does not taste like sugar.  I think that this is the where re-training your brain a bit comes in.  Maybe we can’t think of using stevia as replacing sugar, but maybe we have to learn to accept the new taste of our baked goods without comparing it.  Stevia is sweet in it’s own right and is great for baking.  I will write a post about each dish that I bake and provide links to those posts below throughout the weekend, so please check back.  If you are looking for candida diet baking recipes I hope that these will help you discover a world of new tasty treats. 

Tennille

Corn Muffin or Cornbread – Candida Diet Recipe
Poppy Seed Cake – Candida Diet Recipe
Pumpkin Cookie Recipe – Candida Diet Recipe
Sesame Seed Rolls -Candida Diet Recipe

Creating a Candida Diet Recipe might seem like a tall task at first especially when you keep thinking about all of the things you cannot eat.  Although I agree that creating candida diet recipes can be involved, and by involved I mean you will find very little assistance from boxed, canned or frozen items, it does not need to be so difficult.  “Keep it Simple” is a saying that I try to apply to all aspects of my life but especially when preparing foods that cater to the many dietary restrictions we adhere to in my home.  In addition to the candida diet that I follow my two children have multiple food allergies which forces me to stretch my imagination when preparing meals.  The following are few ideas on how approach the task of creating yeast free recipes. 

Become very familiar with the list of foods you can eat
The list of foods that you can eat is the backbone of the candida diet.  It is true that you must be aware of what you cannot eat so you do not accidentally consume it but by focusing on what you can eat a whole new world of possibilities will open up to you.  I realize you might think that I am being overly optimistic but there are so many good things that you can still eat.  They are probably not the things that you are used to but it is for the better.  The candida diet is an opportunity to get out of our comfort zone and experience a wide range of taste.  Yes, your vegetable intake may triple but this is not a bad thing.  I never knew how to cook with fresh herbs before I went on the candida diet, but today I know that fresh herbs make everything taste so much better.  

Become familiar with common candida friendly substitutes
I have found that there are so many ingredients that can be substituted in order to adapt recipes.  Any recipe that calls for vinegar I just use lemon juice instead.  If you can tolerate plain unsweetened yogurt this makes a great sour cream substitute.  Instead of sugar or artificial sweeteners I use stevia.  There are many other substitutes and I find them on an as needed basis.  You often do not need to disregard an old recipe but with proper substitutions you might be able to make it yeast free. 

Look for recipes that are naturally yeast free
There are so many recipes that are naturally yeast free.  I find many of my recipes on sites like Recipezaar and All Recipes.  I also find cookbooks at the library.  They often have many specific to the candida diet and food allergies.  I look for recipes with few ingredients and/or without troublesome ingredients.  If there are only 1 or 2 troublesome ingredients I substitute yeast free ingredients or omit if possible.  Sometimes an omission will not alter the recipe too much.  Use your judgement and take some chances. 

Don’t be afraid to experiment
To be completely honest some things that you make will taste nasty.  You may be mad that you wasted time, money and ingredients to put such a disgusting dish together.  I have been there and I frequently visit there when trying to find a new recipe that works.  This is all part of the process.  It took me 3 tries to master gluten and yeast free chicken nuggets and 4 tries to master gluten and yeast free pancakes and these are just my most recent failures.  I assure you that there will be many more.  It is part of the process and once you nail it the recipe becomes part of your weekly and/or monthly candida diet plan. 

Be Patient
I don’t know about you but I was not much of a cook before this yeast free journey.  I found out that preparing Hamburger Helper and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is not consider really cooking.  It took me a lot of patience to transition from all prepared food to actually cooking.  It takes patience and learning to get there.  So be patient with yourself.