Candida Recovery

Now as far as the "contradictions" go, I can see why you would question me.

Dr. Piller's program says that cheese is allowed if well melted & eaten hot, breads are allowed well toasted, nuts are allowed, vinegar-containing foods are allowed if well-heated, grains are allowed if well heated & eaten hot, etc.

Ok, his program allows these foods, but I DID NOT NECESSARILY EAT THEM. I did more or less what you did... home-grown preservative-free veggies and lots of meats (organic or not, but no ham or bacon).  I only had toast in the third month (I stayed on the program for 3.5 months to be sure, although I am fairly sure I was completely candida free in 40 days - judging by my vagina condition, which was my major symptom). 

But in the first couple of months I was VERY STRICT with myself, I did not take any chances.  For example, I know the vinegar-containing products could be eaten if well heated, but I always wondered... "how heated?" so I never took a chance.  I do not like toast, I even hate the smell of it.  So when he told me bread had to be "well toasted", forget it. I hate toast. But by the third month tomatoes were in full season in my garden and I was ready to try them... and I did, on an open-faced toasted piece of bread with some homegrown basil & homemade mayo.  It was a treat. 

As far as dairy, Dr. Piller's program allows it, in moderation and in small quantities.  Personally I do not condone the human consumption of dairy. I am sensitive to dairy, never mind not liking the taste of it.  I do not consume it.  So if a recipe says you can have a cheese sauce or whatever, you can - but I didn't eat everything that is on my recipes page. In fact I ate hardly anything that is on my recipes page because I didn't find those recipes until years after my own recovery.  It was summer when I was on the diet, and I ate nothing but veggies from my garden, and meats.  Oh and I did eat nuts too, a little, but not peanuts or pistachios. I might have had cashews or almonds, but nuts are not my favorite foods. I found that I could experiment with cooking with them, like have cashews with my chicken stir fry, or crushed almonds in my cake, but in general I'm not a nut lover. 

I did make an unusually speedy recovery and it's probably because I was very strict with myself, mostly due to paranoia.  I was feeling great immediately after giving up sugar - it was the FIRST time in my life I had ever had sugar-free days. It was THE single best investment in my health I had ever made. 

I did NOT go back to eating "normally" when I recovered.  At that point, sugar was out of my system and I did not crave it.  The taste of sugar made me ill - and paranoid too.  It was a long while before I ate regular sweets again, but I did eventually go back to them.  But "normal" took on a whole new meaning. I never eat chocolate poptarts and hot chocolate for breakfast anymore - yet I think nothing of eating a stir fry for breakfast, or a salad or soup or reheated leftovers.  I STILL do that, and it's been many years since my recovery.  I have an entirely different set of eating habits than I had back then.

So if I seem contradictory, I apologize, and maybe I should make my site a little more clear. But it's been there since 1995 or '96 or so and only a few people have written to tell me I am contradictory.  Usually I explain the situation and people get it.  Maybe my website isn't clear.  I don't know.  But it has helped a lot of people and given them hope. I had been suicidal when I first met Dr. Piller, so I know full well how people feel when they are reaching rock-bottom and they get some HOPE from my site.

IT IS NOT INTENDED TO GIVE FALSE HOPE, in fact if I felt I was giving false hope, I would not have a site in the first place. Do not forget that this is MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE and no one can take that away from me. It's a spoken-from-the-heart true story and I have nothing - and I mean nothing - to gain by sharing this with the world. I get over 10,000 emails a year, questions, comments, thank-you's, etc., which I take very seriously and answer conscientiously.  I do not take kindly to those who bad-mouth or criticize me because this is just MY experience and like I said, no one can deny me that.  I feel very bad that you feel I'm giving a false sense of hope, but there are hundreds of people who have benefited from finding my site and contacting Dr. Piller in person, and getting on the road to recovery (some of whom who have signed my guestbook).  I always always always tell people there is no substitute for finding a qualified & reputable naturopath, and encourage them to follow the program under the guidance of a good doctor or naturopath rather than trying to do it on their own. 

The "typical day of eating" page, in general I did not eat toast, but I put that page there so that those who are 'addicted' to bread/toast can know that it is allowed on this program, if eaten under the proper conditions.  Me, I gave up bread altogether and have had but a few slices between 1995 and now.  You can't possibly know how many thousands of people out there who have candida cannot BEAR the thought of "giving up" bread.  So if you let them have one slice of toast a couple of times a week, at least they feel they can do the program and it makes it do-able.

My recommendation is to do the diet as strict as you can stand it, and to use toast or melted cheese or heated this or that... as a TREAT.    Without Dr. Piller's program and encouragement, I would NEVER have done the diet in a million years and I would have committed suicide long before now due to the depression and frustration of living with yeast.  His program is do-able and that makes it possible for people like me.

If you can do nothing but organic meat and veggies for several months at a time, more power to you.

But I needed more than that.

And by the way, this is not MY program and I should not have to justify it to ANYONE.  It's Dr. Piller's program and he has a 95% success rate with it. I am but ONE of his many recovered patients.

You don't have to believe a word I say, and you can argue about the program all you want, but Dr. Piller is highly reputed and his office is really who should discuss it with.  His partners still run the business.

My website is just the story of MY experience.

Karen