Let Food Be Your Medicine

Nutrition, digestion, and absorption are essential for creating health and wellness. And while it sounds like you don't eat many conventionally "unhealthy" foods, which is wonderful, there are still a few ways which your diet can be modified to support healing.

Here are your recommendations for the next two weeks. I hope the detail is helpful rather than overwhelming!

1. Consume more healthy fats.
2. Reduce sugar and starchy foods.
3. Reduce blood sugar spikes with adequate snacking between meals.
4. Increase anti-candida and probiotic-enhancing foods.

Now here's how you can do all of that...

Consume more healthy fats.

1. Eat a teaspoon of coconut oil every morning and evening before bed. I highly recommend looking for the extra-virgin organic variety, with my personal preferred brands being Artisana and Nutiva. You can also cook with coconut oil and substitute it for olive oil when sautéing vegetables, add it to smoothies, and use it for skincare (it's a little oily so I generally use it overnight to wake up with smooth skin). In case you're not convinced how amazing this stuff is, check out this list of 160 uses!

2. Other healthy fats include organic butter and ghee (international/Asian aisle, unrefrigerated), as well as full fat yogurt, nuts and nut butter, avocados, cheese, and low-mercury fish such as salmon.


Reduce sugar and starchy foods.

1. To help reduce Candida, begin to avoid candy, chocolate, baked goods, breads, pasta, white rice, potatoes, high sugar fresh fruits, or any kind of dried fruit such as dates because those contain concentrated sugars in very high amounts.

2. Bananas, apples, grapes, cherries, and mango are high in sugar and should be avoided, whereas blueberries and raspberries are lower in sugar so those would be a better option for you at this time.

This transition can be tough in the beginning so you don't have to be militant about it, simply make the best choice from what's available for now. Also, keep a mental count of how many of these you consume in a single day, so if you couldn't help having a banana at breakfast then really try to avoid potatoes or rice for dinner that day.

3. Snack ideas to replace toast and the sweet stuff include...

-carrots dipped in almond butter
-chia pudding (recipe below)
-kale chips
-various veggie sticks with hummus
-tea with a little coconut oil and lemon (sounds weird but give it a try!)
-avocado with lemon and sea salt
-rice crackers
-leftovers
-nuts and seeds (sunflower and pumpkin seeds contain nutrients like selenium and zinc which benefit the thyroid)

4. Dinner ideas to replace potatoes and starchy veggies...

-quinoa, millet, or buckwheat (these are all gluten-free, complex carbs with lots of nutrients and they do not feed candida)
-all other veggies cooked with coconut oil or ghee
-organic meats or fish, with raw salad on the side
-kitchari (try my recipe), and other legumes like black or kidney beans (just make sure to soak them for 12 hours before cooking to increase digestability).

Reduce blood sugar spikes.

1. Avoid long stretches of time without eating (3 hours max) by always having a healthy snack on hand, per the list above (I carry pumpkin seeds in my purse wherever I go).

2. The coconut oil in the morning/evening will help with this.

3. If possible, try having something very light before leaving home for work, such as vegetable juice, supergreens powder with lemon (this one has no additives and is specially formulated to treat candida), or kefir (more on that below).

Increase anti-candida and probiotic-enhancing foods.

1. Raw garlic

Chop it up and add to meals, or try my yummy raw garlic anti-candida salad dressing:

Extra virgin olive oil, tiny bit of apple cider vinegar, finely chopped garlic, sea salt and pepper, squeeze of fresh lemon and optional lemon zest, chopped fresh thyme (can last for several days at room temperature).

2. Kefir

In case you're not familiar with it, kefir is basically a probiotic-rich drinkable yogurt. I recommend getting it plain because the flavored ones usually have additives, and if you can find goat kefir that may be better because it doesn't contain casein.

If your health food store has coconut kefir or coconut yogurt that is even more delicious, just as loaded with beneficial bacteria, and is dairy-free.

3. Sauerkraut (and other lacto-fermented foods)

This stuff is loaded with happy, healing good bacteria and you can have it with practically any meal, especially with protein or grains because it will help digest those more completely. Just make sure to check the label and look for 'lacto-fermented' 'raw' or 'live active cultures' otherwise it will not have probiotics.

(Hawthorne Valley is the Massachusetts-based brand I like which can be found at Whole Foods, several health food stores in the NYC, and the Union Square farmer's market Biodynamic booth (the caraway sauerkraut is my personal favorite).

4. Bitter and astringent vegetables

These include dandelion greens, frisee/endive, radish, onions, garlic, arugula, leeks, kale, spinach.

5. Aloe vera juice

You can find the concentrated version in the supplement aisle at Whole Foods and then simply dilute a shot of the pure aloe vera juice into a tall glass of water or your travel water bottle, or add it to your morning smoothie. Add a squeeze of lemon, some mint, ginger, and/or cucumber and you've got yourself a nutrient-rich refreshing healthy water. You can also get bottled "aloe water" if you see it in the store but be careful because those often have sugar added, that's why I prefer the pure concentrated version to dilute yourself.

6. Ginger

Juice it, chop it and add to your water or tea, prepare Indian food dishes that often include it along with other healthful spices.

7. Probiotics.
Probiotic supplements can be very effective at restoring digestive balance so begin taking these as soon as you can. They should generally be taken with food and I recommend taking them both in the morning and at night.

And here's that simple chia seed pudding recipe I mentioned above:

Before going to bed, combine 2 Tbsp. of chia seeds with 1 cup of almond or hemp milk in a jar or travel tupperware, mix thoroughly and leave at room temperature for 15 minutes, then mix again, and put in the fridge overnight. In the morning, dress it up with tasty low-sugar toppings such as vanilla extract, raw cacao powder, hemp hearts, cinnamon, coconut flakes, a few fresh berries, or a very very light drizzle of honey or maple syrup. Enjoy for breakfast, bring to work as your mid-afternoon pick-me-up, or simply switch up the timing to have it as dessert in the evening. 

Ok, whew! That about sums up the dietary recommendations for now, and just remember to continue getting adequate sleep (how about between now and the next time we speak, you make it a priority to get no less than 7 hours?), and keep repeating that personal mantra.

Talk to you soon!