Remaining hopeful when sick

One giant obstacle I face during my (continuing) battle with candida is remaining positive and motivated. When I would have an allergic reaction, or have a day when I felt sick it would knock me off my feet completely. I lived for months feeling sick and fatigued. Now that I am feeling better, I do not want to go back there! It’s frustrating though, feeling like you’re making all the right choices and following the candida “protocol” but still not healing. I found when I had a bad day I often would feel depressed, anxious, and hopeless- that I would never get better. Even worse, sometimes I would eat a bunch of junk and make poor choices because I felt as though none of my hard work paid off. This is not true at all. It goes up and down, but it does get better. Your path to health is not a straight line. Sometimes you need to take a step back in order to move forward. Here are some ways I kept feeling hopeful and positive while healing my candida.

• It’s all about mindset! Remind yourself that bad days will happen, it does not mean you are not making progress
• Think of your symptoms as messages from your body. Your body is telling you something is wrong and giving you an opportunity to heal it!
• Allow yourself to feel upset- but then move on! Do not deny or suppress your feelings, it often just makes them stronger. Acknowledge you feel bad, you have a right to, but don’t dwell in it
• Use your frustration as fuel. Often times after feeling bad for a day, I would recoup myself and use it as motivation to learn more. I would go to the library and read every book I got my hands on. Do whatever makes you feel hopeful and strong
• Practice self-care- when I am feeling bad it is very easy to slip into a mindset of hating my body and being mad at myself for not sticking to the diet, etc. Your body does remarkable things for you everyday, give it some credit! I love to take Epsom salt baths as a way to distress, pamper myself, and detox. Find what makes you feel relaxed and nurtured and do it

At the end of the day it is all about cutting your self some slack and remaining moving forward. There will be set backs, but they do not mean everything is ruined. Do your best to care for yourself and stay relaxed and it will get better.

Namaste

Cassandra

Becoming BFFs with your Body

One of the hardest challenges of struggling with candida for well over a year was the feeling that my body was the enemy. I hated my body, not my physical appearance, but everything that was going on inside. Why did it punish me this way? It was like my body threw a hissy fit after I ate anything even remotely enjoyable. Why didn’t it want me to be happy?

Here’s the catch: the more stressed and upset I became with my body, the more likely I was to feel hopeless, anxious, and eat poorly. Considering my body the enemy only worsened my candida. My body was just trying to tell me something was wrong and it needed my help!

Changing your relationship with your body is hard, but you are a lucky individual. Most people learn years down the line that their food choices are harming to their health. You get immediate feedback! Here is what worked for me:
• Self-affirmations- Tell your body everyday, out loud, that you love and appreciate its hard work. Say it until you believe it! My mantra was “my mind heals my body, my body heals my mind”
• Practice self-care- Pamper your body and soul and believe that you deserve it. Take a detox bath, make a homemade facemask, or give yourself a self-massage. This tasks relax you and help you recharge and stay motivated on your road to health
• Meditate- I cannot stress enough the benefits of meditation in my healing. I resisted meditation for a long time because I thought I couldn’t do it. Here’s a secret- even if your mind wanders constantly, just by sitting still and breathing you are getting benefits! It’s a meditation practice-it does not need to be perfect

Overall, becoming friends with your body is really just about being grateful for what your body does for you and showing it love in return!

Namaste

Cassandra

There’s a yoga pose for that!

I cannot describe in words just how much I love yoga. Yoga to me means being able to be creative and playful and uninhibited. While recovering, yoga provided me with an outlet for my anxiety, a place for creativity, a safe haven to relax, and taught me to trust my body again.

I do not frequently complete long yoga workouts instead I incorporate yoga into my daily life. For just about every ailment you can come up with, both mental and physical, there is a yoga cure. Here are a few of my favorites that I have picked up from yoga teachers and videos. While science may or may not back some of these up, in the end what the mind believes you will perceive.

Emotional Trauma– I had a teacher tell me once we hold our emotional baggage in our hips, that every time someone told us we weren’t good enough and we believed them it settled in our hips. They become tight and rigid from years of collecting pain. In order to release this trauma and pain you must relax your hips. You do this with hip-openers. My favorites our pigeon and lizard pose.

Technology overload– Ever notice that the world is beginning to live hunched over? Over our phones, our computers, our desks. Constantly sitting and standing in these positions causes you to live with your shoulders rolled forward, closing off your heart chakra. To provide balance, do some chest openers. Chest openers allow you to open yourself back up to life and experience. My absolute favorite is full wheel pose! If this is too much, try camel or bridges.

Feeling Introverted– While heart openers help you feel open and connected to the world around you, sometimes you may feel as though you need quiet time or time to look inward. This is where forward folds come in handy. Forward folds aid you in looking inward. For me this translates to taking time to check in with your self and therefore, nurture yourself. Keeping it basic, try seated forward fold. Breathe for a few minutes in this pose to really get the benefits.

Anxiety– Yoga in general helps with anxiety. For me personally, I find yoga that is fast paced and involves breath work and balance really does the trick. If I am feeling anxious I might do 10-15 fast paced sun salutations. The point is to get out of your mind and into your body. Giving your mind a short break will allow you to return back to your activity with greater calmness and concentration.

And a few others…

Digestion & Detox- twists
Complexion- headstands
Concentration- balance poses, such as dancers pose
Energy boost- headstands. Also try breath of fire
Sinuses- Alternate nostril breathing
Yoga can help with healing and is incredibly useful for those suffering from candida. It is a gentle, manageable form of exercise that can be modified to any energy level. It also helps manage stress levels. Stress, as we all know, can wreck havoc on the body and prevent us from healing. I encourage everyone to find a style of yoga to play with! Happy healing!

Namaste

Cassandra

What I Might Eat…

While I am a bit more flexible with my diet now that I am recovering, this is a look at what I might eat on a daily basis when on a more strict candida diet. Also, I am very active and did not have to worry about calories at all, someone else may have to watch their fat intake. I also found I was happier when I ate smaller portions throughout the day to keep my blood sugar level.

20 ounces of water
red clover leaf tea
Morning Smoothie
-1/4 avocado
-1/3 cucumber peeled
– dash nutmeg
-dash stevia
-tablespoon coconut oil
-unsweetened coconut/almond milk (to desired consistency)

Snack
Handful almonds
Granny smith apple*

Lunch
HUGE salad loaded with veggies, turkey burger, pumpkin seeds, tahini dressing
Tahini dressing
-3 parts tahini to 1 part olive oil
-add salt, oregano, pepper, crushed red pepper

Snack
Carrots, green pepper, celery, radishes, jicama with sunbutter (unsweetened)
Pau d’arco tea

Dinner
Giant stir-fry with protein
For example- onion, garlic, broccoli, peppers, zucchini seasoned with parsley (Fresh), salt, pepper, and braggs liquid aminos (soy sauce alternative)
For my protein I would choose either chicken, steak, or ½ cup cooked beans*
1 serving of a gluten free grain- usually brown rice or quinoa*

Snack…again
Turmeric tea (more later!)
or ½ cup frozen berries*
Chamomile tea

I usually drank a gallon of water everyday! When I was feeling especially sluggish I often drank 1 glass every hour.

* my starred foods are the only ones that are not all you can eat, these foods are great in moderations but will feed candida in excess. I kept my legumes down to ½ cup/day, gluten free grains 1/day, fruit 1-2/day dependent on the type by recommendation of my doctor