I always feel sorry for people who say they think the anti-Candida diet is boring or bland! If you concentrate on the foods you can’t eat, rather than those you can , it only leads to self-pity. This reminds me of a friend who had a young son with Type 1 diabetes. Rather than tell him about all the foods he shouldn’t eat, she used to take him to the fishmongers and tell him he could choose ANYTHING he wanted! Needless to say, that child grew to be a young man who appreciated sea-food!
The same is true for those of us who follow a yeast-free and sugar-free diet. I also prefer to eat gluten-free and dairy-free, with a very low intake of any whole-grains. Many would say, is there anything left to eat?! Indeed, there is plenty! I have to admit, that if you wander up and down supermarket aisles, looking at ingredients on packs and boxes, you could very easily get disheartened. So many foods – savoury and sweet – are full of sugars and refined grains. In fact, there are whole aisles in the supermarkets that I NEVER go down! Rather than try to find packaged foods which are ‘allowed’, I rather focus on all the wonderful foods that can be enjoyed freely!
Before the rise of the supermarket each town or suburb would have a parade of shops which included the greengrocer, the butcher, the fishmonger and the baker etc. You would go to each shop to purchase real food, from which you would cook a meal from scratch. There were no ready meals, ‘cook-in’ sauces, or frozen pizzas! We want to return to this mind-set, and renew our attitude to food. It is possible to actually thrive without the foods we have come to rely on in the Western Diet.
So don’t let the supermarkets dictate to you what they want you to eat! Shop around the edge of the store, starting with green grocery, the butchers aisle and fishmonger counter. From there add in the eggs, (always free-range, and organic if possible), and frozen veg for convenience or variety. Add in tomato puree or passata, packs or tins of beans such as chickpeas and kidney beans and packs of sunflower, chia, flax and sesame seeds. Many supermarkets also sell whole grains, such as quinoa and buckwheat, as well as brown rice. Fresh and dried herbs and mild spices can revolutionise basic ingredients, and quality oils, such as virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil for cooking or serving, can enhance flavours.
The new aisle in recent years offers the availability of milk alternatives. I generally make my own seed milks and coconut milk (from pure creamed coconut), but ready-prepared ‘milks’ can open up meal options for those avoiding dairy. However, the ingredients list does need to be carefully read, since even those ‘milks’ saying ‘sugar-free’ can often contain fruit juice or a sugar variation.
Going back to a basic way of preparing REAL FOOD doesn’t need to be time consuming, but I appreciate, getting started with a new way of shopping and cooking can be daunting. Don’t forget that I offer cookery classes, designed to help build your confidence in working with natural foods. These can be as a short course, one-day class or a tailor-made one-to-one class. Drop me an email at info@nutritionhelp.com if you want to know more.
The recipes I share on this blog are designed to give you ideas for meals and also to be quick and simple, showing that preparing REAL FOOD on an anti-candida programme can fit into your life style. My next post will be a variation on an old classic – Egg Custard!
