What Candida Is, How to Know if You Have It, and How to Ditch It

This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. Learn more in our disclosure.

Do you have unexplained health issues? Have you heard about candida and wondered what it is or if you have it?

Welcome to the club. This information can hopefully help you get the information you need to feel better.

graphic rendition of candida albicans with text overlay saying candida overgrowth: what you need to know.

So–have you ever wondered if you were totally crazy. Not like, “I feel a little crazy today”, but more like, “Am I totally going off the deep end?!”

It’s easy to feel like that when you’ve gone to doctors over and over for health symptoms that don’t seem to make any sense. Every prescription, cream, and over-the-counter med they give you just takes more money from your pocket without giving you more than a short-term fix (if it even gives you that!).

They begin to suggest it’s all in your head–and you begin to wonder if it really might be–if you just might be crazy….

Well, I’m here to tell you that you aren’t crazy.

As far as I know anyway ;.)

Want to Save This Post?

Enter your email & I'll send it straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get healthy living updates too.

Save Recipe

Candida Symptoms

Do you suffer from one or more of these symptoms:

I’ve personally had friends who experienced severe manic depressive episodes and also massive hair loss from this. It’s no joke.

I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one on T.V. . .but if you’ve answered yes to more than one of these, I’d ask if you might have candida.

candidiasis diagram.

What is Candida

Candida is a toxic, yeast-like organism that 90% of people have in their digestive system. Most of the time it’s not an issue because it’s generally kept in check by good bacteria. The trouble starts when candida begins to grow out of control and can quickly start a myriad of problems. Kinda sounds like a fuzzy little green creature in a bad sci-fi movie from the 70’s, doesn’t it?

Now, I don’t want you to think candida is the cause of every illness known to man. It’s not. But, it’s enough of a menace to deserve a substantial amount of consideration–much more than it gets in mainstream medicine.

What Things Can Cause Candida?

Some of the common causes for candida overgrowth are:

  • antacids
  • antibiotics
  • anti-inflammatory drugs
  • anti-ulcer medications
  • carbohydrates
  • environmental toxins
  • foods with starch
  • foods with yeast
  • hormone replacement therapy
  • oral contraceptives
  • over-the-counter medicines
  • prescription drugs
  • radiation
  • smoking
  • steroids
  • sugar in all forms

These other posts on my site have a little more information that might be of interest.

An easy way to check for candida is by taking a Candida Symptom Assessment Questionnaire. Your results might surprise you!

How to Ditch Candida

If your tests are positive, your next step is to take your health back and run up and down the street yelling, “I’m not crazy after all!”

Um. Scratch that idea.

1.  Remedies

Instead, you can start by addressing candida with natural remedies, foods that fight candida, and quality probiotics rather than creams, drugs, and prescriptions. In fact, candida has been shown to become resistant to those medications. (source)

While there are a lot of supplements that fight candida, Grapefruit Seed Extract is one that we’ve used on and off over the years. I’ve taken up to 3 drops twice a day to get rid of issues.

2.  Diet Change

The next step, and even more important, is to change your diet. Yeah. I said the word “diet.”

What you eat is one of THE most important changes you can make.

Candida thrives on unhealthy foods like sugar and starchy carbohydrates. Those foods make it grow like crazy and create chaos in its wake. Chaos from the inside out ends up almost destroying some lives.

To get rid of candida, you need to change what you eat. From loads of sugars and refined starches to foods that won’t feed candida and will let your body heal.

But that doesn’t mean you need to never eat a sweet treat again.

Everyone like sweets–you can still have them, but you just need to choose other types of sweets.

If you’re like me, then this book, The Sweeter Side of Candida, is a great book for you.

As mentioned above, you can also eat some (or all!) of the foods on this list of foods that fight candida.

3. Address Mold in Your Environment

If you’re continually breathing in mold – mycotoxins and mVOCs, your body can struggle even more with candida.

Find out if you have mold overgrowth in your home, address it, add get good air purification.

I use Austin Air and can offer a nice discount on their products. Just reach out to me at adrienne@wholenewmom.com and we’ll take care of you.

Feeling Bad When Going Off Sugar

Please note that as you work on getting rid of candida, you may experience candida die-off. It’s important to do what you can to prevent that or manage it to make your healing process more manageable.

This post on candida die-off should be of help as you try to ditch this horrible beast.

A GREAT Candida Dessert Book: The Sweeter Side of Candida

Here’s more on the candida recipe cookbook mentioned above. Check out these delicious recipes!

  • Feet in the Sand Coconut Ice Cream–so yummy!
  • “Best” Almond Butter Buckeyes – Sooo good too.
  • And… Shortbread Caramel Cookies.  They’re kind of similar to a Healthy Twix Bar!

These, and 67 more finger-licking treats can be found here.

I Recommend
The Sweeter Side of Candida: Sugar-free Desserts

The Sweeter Side of Candida: Sugar-free Desserts

Avoiding sugar? You can still enjoy chocolate chip cookies, multi-layer bars, luscious cheesecake, and delicious frappuccinos. This book is filled with over 70 tempting desserts to satisfy your sweet tooth without all the carbs.

For recipes that will help you stay healthy, lose weight, and fight candida,this book is for you!

This cookbook is *not* only for those who suffer from candida. It’s for anyone who wants to lose weight and/or stay healthy.

What do you think? Do you think you might have candida?
What are you doing / going to do to get healthy?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

76 Comments

  1. I am currently doing an AIP Re-introduction Phase diet. I have a couple of questions for people that can’t use almond flour as it seems most candida recipes call for almond flour:

    1. Is there one flour that I could use to substitute for almond flour?

    2. Is there a ‘blend of flours’ that works well as an almond flour substitute?

    Thank you.

    1. Hi there. You could try another nut or seed flour for the almond flour. It will be tricky as they are hard to find and it’s not great to eat a lot of nut / seed flours anyhow. I like them but just be careful :).

  2. Loved reading this. I was so high on the assessment it was scary! I don’t have some of the “traditional” symptoms like yeast infections, but there is no doubt in my mind that I have Candida. The sugar thing is huge for me, and I am such an addict it scares me. You gave some really great resources, and I am going to use them. Thank you!

  3. Hello please help I do not know where to turn I’ve suffered for years with a coating on my tounge and due to a ton of stress I went thru something and I now have an eating disorder I think I’m never hungry . I can go for days and never think of eating and I’ve had constant treatments for bronchitis and acid reflux and there’s not an inhaler on the makert that has helped as well as no acid reflux so I had Nissan surgery to acid and things have gotten worse I’ve been hospitalized several times a years and it’s always steroids antibiotics and breathing treatments just seems like bandaids I started a program called thrive and I got my tounge back in 3 days and I’m still doing it but every time I have an episode my mouth starts and when I go to dr all they say is nystatin and dyfucan and that does nothing I got the crud a few weeks back and have been back to hospital and same treatments taking steroids make my bones feel like it’s crumbling and my skin feels like it’s rotten off my body and I am really ready to just scream I need help but really don’t know where to go I pray god will touch you and that some how you can advise me all of this has caused me to be emotional and have anxiety and also I had a total hysteromy and am using hormone patch and cream I can not and will not become a xanax dependent and I can not continue to live shut up in the house thank you for listening and god bless. Susan

    1. I’m so sorry!

      I can’t medically advise, but have you looked at the candida info / diet info on this post?

      I have a gut supplement that I am taking that has been a huge help for me. I have a $50 giftcode (wholenewmom) that you can use if you would like to try it: https://ishoppurium.com/products/biome-medic It has been clinically tested to remove almost 75% of RoundUp from the gut (glyphosate) and reduces C Reactive Protein by almost 75% as well. The gut is crucial for overall healing. This isn’t medical advice–just what I have had great experience with. Blessings.

  4. I had a stool test done and it came back I have candida. It is hard for me to believe I have it. I have no cravings, as a matter of fact I don’t like grains, sweets, or sugar. I have no brain fug, and a lot of symptoms that are common with candida. I do have some stomach issues off and on, and have dry eyes. So perhaps, I do have it .

  5. Someone in the comments below accused allopathic medical providers of being paid to prescribe/trained to only prescribe medications.

    Firstly–absolutely no part of my salary comes from the amount I prescribe. We always suggest dietary and lifestyle changes before prescribing a medication for high cholesterol, constipation, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.

    Secondly–many holistic providers/services are trying to sell you something. Whole Approach, which has the candida symptom survey listed above, has supplement packages that cost 200-300 dollars. If someone is trying to tell you that you have a problem, and also selling you the “solution,” be wary.

    1. Thanks, Jack, and welcome. Could you speak to the concerns about physicians getting kick backs from pharmaceutical companies? You are right about holistic companies. Of course some of them don’t get a salary on top of it. I do think it’s possible to be ethical when making money off of a recommendation. I try to do that very thing each and every day.

  6. Do you still suffer from Candida overgrowth? I have it really bad, but what makes it harder for me is I have to take prednisone everyday for my minimal change disease that I think is caused by candida. Im also steriod dependent, if i dont take the steroids I get nephrotic syndrome. So would you still take fast tract to load up on probotics?

    1. Hello there. I still have a tendency towards candida if I eat too much starch, but I do not have symptoms of candida overgrowth. I’m sorry for your problem. I did see there are some people talking about natural helps for your situation. Have you looked into such supports? I think Fast Tract is a very good product. I did just update my post on probiotics so something there might interest you as well: https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/the-straight-poop-about-probiotics/

  7. I did the candida questionnaire just for the heck of it. I already know I have issues, and have for years, and am always treating them….but wanted to see my score.
    85 and up is a severe issue. Ready for this…mine was 431! HA! I have to laugh …what else can I do? LOL

    1. Mine was terrible. There is so much you can do. Hope you can get a handle on it. What have you been doing?

      1. I do a cleanse (Renew Life + Candizyme) once a year, but have been needing “touchups’ with just the candizyme at times. I eat no sugar (no fake sugar either), limited fruit sugars, no yeast. I’m in a rut right now becuz the car accident in Oct caused Epstein Barr…and my immune system just crashed.Doing the candida cleanse made me extremely ill…that was the start of it…on the couch 14 days straight and not wanting to do anything (they call me energizer bunny, usually), then I got the bladder infection and homeopathy didn’t work…so onto Bactrim. Yeast infection central here! LOL As I was treating that a few weeks ago my kid brought home a head cold and I got it. I NEVER get those. EVER. It went to the chest being that is my weak spot. Bronchitis is my nemesis. LOL Taking Standard Process supplements thru the holistic doc for that. Now, day 15…still have lung issues. I need at least the candizyme to help get this yeast outa my lungs.Can’t do a full cleanse until I am done my 3 mos EB regimen so I don’t crash all over again. OY! lol So onward I go go…coughing…(did I mention these 2 HEAVY babies I had prolapsed my bladder??? I become a Poise customer when I have bronchitis! haha!) I’ll be looking into a supplement to keep the yeast AWAY too…mentioning it to the doc next time we have a consult in June. I feel like a yeast magnet…like it just shows up! It also affects my gut…I start to get gassy from protein…and the digestive enzymes don’t work…it’s time for a cleanse again. It must never REALLY all clear up. I won’t even eat ONE dried cranberry…cuz they have sugar….that is probably all I need to start the whole flare up again. It’s just getting ridiculous.

        1. I am so sorry. I have something that might help w/ the bladder issues – a new program that I am looking into. Here is my affiliate link to their program. I would be interested in hearing what you think. Keep up the good work! https://www.wholewomanstore.com/?AffId=6 (I haven’t done the program yet but need to try it out myself. Sounds very promising.

  8. Everything about this so-called illness is just a bunch of scientifically unfounded sh*t, and it doesn’t matter that you worked closely with a doctor, you could have even worked with a group of doctors, since after all there are shitty professionals in all areas of work, and most doctors are not really academics nor scientists anyway, just people with technical knowledge. It shouldn’t take all that much effort to see this is food for the science ignorant, like, really? you seriously think some single hard-to-diagnose illness would be able to cause all those ‘symptoms’? Like, really? Like you seriously think that it’s just not like, idk, (expletive removed by blog owner).

  9. Thank you for your helpful information.
    I would like to know what is your opinion about lakato monk fruit sugar

    1. I found it to be very pricey but it seems to be OK for candida. Have you tried it? You are so welcome!

      1. Thank you for your answer.
        I tried it, and I liked it. I just was not sure if it was healthy, and good for candida diet.
        I am happy to read about your professional opinion.

        1. Thanks and glad to have helped. I am not a professional though…well, I’m a professional blogger :). Not a professional health practitioner at all. Hope to see you around again!

  10. Sorry, but this is medically unfounded and wildly inaccurate. Candida would be one of the least likely explanations for most of the the list of symptoms, signs and conditions you grouped under ‘symptoms’. I’m glad you repeatedly pointed out you are not a doctor.
    Candida is a FUNGAL infection, and is best managed with anti-fungals. If you are having repeated and dramatic candidiasis, maybe you should be assessed by a doctor for immunodeficiency.
    Like all illnesses, having a balanced diet and exercising will help, however an ‘anti-candidia’ diet has no scientific evidence behind it.

    1. HI there. I should not that neither myself nor the author purport to be doctors, but the author of the post worked closely w/ a physician. I personally have experience w/ antifungals and candida and have found them to work less effectively than they used to. I have read that candida has adapted to the meds.

      As for the candida diet, there are loads of people who have seen it work, including myself. And it only makes sense that reducing sugar intake will reduce candida as it is a yeast. We all know what happens when you feed sugar to yeast. And yes, immunodeficiency is a possibility as well. Thanks.

      1. …and also…immunodeficiency…research from holistic doctors show that it is caused by all these CHEMICALS we put in our foods, medicines, personal and household products. Our bodies can only take so much.

    2. Candida IS a fungal infection, I agree. But if you have been to as many doctors as I have, and been told all the crazy things they told me, and given drug after drug, and NOTHING worked, and gotten WORSE, you might think differently. A balanced diet….what is it exactly? Balanced for one person could kill another. A balanced doiet to traditional docs is NOT the same as one a holistic doc will give you. Traditional doctors are paid to prescribe DRUGS. They are TAUGHT to prescribe drugs in medical school. They DO NOT have training in NUTRITION in medical schools. I did a TON of research on the medical field….and how medical schools are under the influence of Big Pharma. Back in the early 1900s they started putting the holistic medical schools out of business, and all were gone by mid 1900s. They are NOT out for OUR best interest. It’s all about the $$$. (Yes, there are holistic medical schools today…once again.) If you want to learn more about how Big Pharma is in control ….even of cancer treatments, I highly recommend viewing the series The Truth About Cancer (Ty Bolinger)….it gives a whole lot of info on holistic healing and organic eating…things we can do BEFORE all these ailments we seem to get nowadays turn into cancer. And it gives GREAT info on how to heal ourselves thru essential oils and FOOD. “Let they food be thy medicine”