How To Stay Motivated On the Candida Diet
You have been brushing off these symptoms as normal for too long…
You DON’T need to accept that you will have acne forever. You DON’T need to listen to the people who tell you being tired all the time is normal.
You are NOT making it up when you say that eating fruit gives you a reaction. Sure you might look great, but you are suffering and that is NOT OK! NO MORE! The worst part is, most doctors will tell you that you are completely healthy and fine and ‘this will just pass’. GAH! Now you are suffering, lost, confused and extremely discouraged. It is time to take control of your gut health and feel like the old you again. It is possible.
1. What is your why? What motivated you to do the candida diet?
I want you to think about all the symptoms you are currently suffering because of candida. Let’s list a few common candida struggles:
- IBS, PCOS, acne, eczema, yeast infections, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, mood swings, oral thrush, acid reflux, heart burn, stubborn weight etc.
So now you have a list of all the things that cause you discomfort in your life. They mess with your self love, self esteem, your work, your relationships, your personal life and sleep! Now I want you to list in order of importance, what motivated you to do the candida cleanse.
For example, these were my motivators and goals:
- 1) Acne – I wanted to have clear skin more than anything in the world! To go to the grocery store without make up, to feel confident in my skin and be able to workout without being terrified of sweating and getting more acne.
- 2) Lack of energy – When you have no energy, you are only doing the bare minimum, I WANTED MORE! I wanted to be able to work without car naps, go out with my friends instead of lying on the couch, have early morning meditations and LIVE MY BEST LIFE. I love T.V, but I knew I could be doing so much better things with my time.
- 3) PCOS – As a young girl, I always fantasized about being a mom. I got my period extremely late in high school, had irregular periods and was told that it would be hard for me to conceive. (PS. After I cleansed my gut, I magically got pregnant and had the most beautiful baby boy in 2019.)
2. Understand the protocol and how candida works
You will quickly give up on the candida diet if you do not know what you are doing, and why you are doing it. There are a lot of components to a candida cleanse that can be overwhelming and stressful. One article is telling you that you can eat fat, the other is telling you fat is the reason candida is surviving. You want to eat organic peanut butter because it seems like you can eat it but you feel scared so you don’t eat it. You are starving at a friends house and end up cheating a little because it shouldn’t do too much damage right? GAH! How are you supposed to truly have a protocol and know how to heal if you are doing this alone with Dr. Google?
This is why I ALWAYS recommend working a health professional to ensure you are not making things harder for yourself. The goal is to only have to do this candida diet thing once and SUCCESSFULLY.
If you are ready to take control of your gut health and seriously motivated to do this right, I can help! Please click here if you are ready to break up with candida overgrowth and grab control of your health again.
3. Have realistic weekly goals
If you are someone that regularly eats fast food and sweets everyday and then decide to jump into the candida diet cold turkey, you will feel like death and will never want to do this again. You seriously need to ease yourself into a candida diet and make small lifestyle changes in order to do this successfully.
If you are addicted to coffee and I told you to quit 100 percent starting tomorrow, how many days (sorry minutes) do you think you could last? Sugar addiction is FOR REAL. Sugar addiction with candida is EVEN MORE REAL.
It takes a lot of mind, body and spirit preparation/commitment to do the candida diet. Here are some examples of realistic weekly goals.
Week 1: Eliminate dairy and gluten, journal how I feel and try one candida friendly dessert recipe
Week 2: Incorporate probiotics and practice mindfulness mediation at 9:00 am on Monday/Wednesday and Friday
You must accept where you are in your life, and be determined to get to where you want to go. Again, this can be extremely hard to plan alone! I know I needed the help 100000000 percent. I am here for you if you want to work 1:1.
4. Do everything you can to beat your sweet tooth
If you are anything like me, you will look at sugar and drool! You will be disgustingly full from a meal and still have all the room in your mouth for dessert.
I am going to keep it super real for you and tell you a quick story. I used to need something sweet after every single meal. One day, I ate my dinner and realized I had nothing sweet I could eat after! I honestly freaked out and tore apart the kitchen. I ate fruit (BOO), I ate a berry granola bar (BOO NOOOO MORE), I drank some orange juice (SERIOUSLY? NOT DOING IT). Then I saw a chocolate bottle, you might know what it is, it is….Nesquik. I took it and squeezed the chocolate liquid for a good 30 seconds into my mouth. OH MY GOSH. Like, that is how bad my sweet tooth was, I would do anything to get a fix.
Now that you understand the severity of my sugar addiction, let’s talk about how you can overcome yours! Look up: keto dessert recipes, candida friendly recipes, make your own chocolate and most of all… become best friends with stevia. Yes it is a natural sweetener, you can think what you want about it but it will be the only reason you survive.
Here are some tricks for when you are dying for something sweet:
- Drink mint tea
- Put a piece of sugar free gum in your mouth
- Chug a bunch of herbal tea or water
- Lick or chew on a piece of lemon or lime
- Have fat (avocado, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconut chips etc)
- Eat 100 percent chocolate (yes it exits, yes it is extremely biter)
- Explore a new candida friendly dessert recipe
- Look at pictures/videos of yourself that remind you why you are doing this (for me I always looked at pictures of my acne)
- Go to sleep LOL. When it doubt, just go to sleep. You are probably want to late night snack haha.
5. Get your family and friends on board with your goals
“Listen everyone, I am committed to my goals of healing my gut, which in turn will heal my ‘xyz’ symptoms so I can be a happier and healthier me. Please support me, do not encourage me to cheat and respect my diet choices as I need to be strict to see results”. BOOM. Next.
“When I come over to eat, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT ME. I will either:
- Bring my own food
- Eat before I come
- Tell you exactly what you can feed me
This is the key to succeeding. It is when you are with your family and friends that you will want to cheat the most because you will want to jump in on the fun and ‘be like everyone else’ or ‘be like you used to be’. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, accept where you are at, and stay motivated for where you want to go.
In Summary:
- If you want your symptoms to go away, you need to commit fully to the candida diet
- It is important to understand your why! Always remind yourself of what is motivating you to complete this diet
- You need to understand the protocol! Focus on the foods you are allowed to consume and plan out your meals. (This part can be overwhelming. If you are looking for 1:1 gut healing coaching, click here)
- Take it slow and have realistic weekly goals. Example: Week 1 elimite gluten and dairy. Week 2 Incorporate 1 new supplement etc.
- Do everything you can to beat your sweet tooth! Have candida friendly desserts made and become best friends with mint flavoured everything.
- Get your family and friends involved with your goals! Your support circle is crucial.