What's the deal with the Candida diet?

It’s goal is to rid your body of ‘Candida overgrowth’.  Candida is a form of yeast, and is a normal part of our microbiota.  For some who are prone to Candida or yeast infections (vaginal, oral, or skin), it’s thought that we have too much Candida in proportion to our other flora, which is why its causing issues. Dysbiosis may be a better term than overgrowth -  there’s now an imbalance between our good, beneficial bacteria and Candida.  Normally, this other bacteria and immune systems are able to keep Candida in check. 

This diet aims to starve Candida by eliminating sugar, gluten, most dairy and alcohol – things we believe contribute to excessive Candida growth.  Yeast LOVES sugar. It’s no wonder that most people will feel good on this diet, regardless if you have an issue with Candida, as we’re cutting out things that aren’t good for us or that many don’t tolerate well.  As we've seen witht the popular Keto diet, we all are probably eating too many starchy carbs and feel better when we replace these with more fats and protein.  

There isn’t much research to back up the diet in humans, although it is a logical approach.  Supporting your gut health as a whole and promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria is also important, so that we can correct the dysbiosis or imbalance that is causing these yeast infections.   Immune health should also be addressed – a healthy immune system shouldn’t let Candida take-over!

It’s also important to note that Candida overgrowth is NOT the same as a systemic Candida infection – this is a serious, widespread infection that can be life-threatening and is not seen in the average person.