The Benefits of Lemon Juice

I have been attempting to follow the Anti-Candida Diet for about a week and a half. On most days, I have a salad with lunch or dinner. Because vinegar is a no-no on this diet, my salad dressing has been lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. As soon as I started eating salads with this dressing, I started craving it like mad. I look forward to eating it! I've always appreciated salads, but this is ridiculous. So I started to wonder why my body was so in need of lemon juice. I mean, I'm still craving the dressing after eating it nearly every day for 12 days! So I'm doing a little online research on the benefits of lemon juice:

*Vitamin C
*Very high in citric acid which helps fight off colds
*Liver stimulant (can help with Irritable Bowel Syndrome )
*Can control conditions such as constipation and diarrhea
*Can help with heartburn, bloating and gas
*Contains calcium, potassium and magnesium
*Etc.

Source


According to this source , the health benefits of ingesting lemon include: Indigestion and constipation (relief of), fever, dental care, hair care, skin care, burns, internal bleeding, rheumatism, weight loss, respiratory disorders, and so on.

Wow, who knew? I wonder which of these things my body is using it for.... The websites, especially the second one, make for some interesting reading. I also occasionally add a few drops of therapeutic grade lemon essential oil to my drinking water, for immune support. (I get mine from http://www.YoungLiving.com)

Love these natural cures!

Kale Chips

Over the holidays I had the great pleasure of trying kale chips for the first time. My brother, visiting from across the country, made this tasty treat in the oven, and it was devoured by every one of the four adults and four kids in the house. One of my kids is particularly particular, and the other is little. But both ate the baked kale with gusto.














To make this snack, cut a head of kale into bite-sized pieces. Toss the pieces in olive oil to lightly coat. Add a little salt. Spread the pieces out on cookie sheets. (One head spread across 3 baking sheets when I tried it myself) You want the pieces to be able to dry out in the oven, so spread them fairly thin. (Not clumped together) Put the cookie sheets in a low heat oven (I used 275*) and bake until the pieces dehydrate and become crisp. (About 20 minutes or so)




You'll be surprised at how popular they become! We've made them twice since having them over Christmas, and we're still craving them. =)

Candida Diet - One Week Down

It has been one week since I started the candida diet.

So far so good! I am very pleased with myself for getting through the first week. I have continued to have lots of nibbles around me all the time, and have brought a number of ok foods with me for our current weekend away from home. I've been lucky in that everyone we are visiting with seems to be contributing to the meal preparations, so everyone gets what he/she wants. Although I do feel hungry today, most of the time I have felt satisfied. I just fed myself a burger for lunch, and surprisingly I still feel hungry ten minutes after finishing it, which is strange. But generally I have been ok. I haven't missed things too much...I do miss cheese a bit. But I think I only really miss foods when I'm not satisfied by other foods....which just means I need to up the foods that make me feel full. And keep nibbling! Which I can do.

So, since beginning this diet, my bloated belly symptoms have completely disappeared. Coincidence? Maybe. I had the same belly symptoms some weeks ago, and it went away without a special diet. I guess the truer test will be to see if it returns again any time soon.

Other symptoms? My sinuses have been clearer. Related? Not a clue. But I was getting sinus issues practically on a daily basis, and now it's much less persistent. Improvement!

Candida Diet - Phase One

The hardest part of any diet is getting through phase one. I seriously admire anyone who diets, for whatever reason, and is successful. It's hard!! So here I am, once again, faced with adjusting what I eat for a proposed physical improvement. The reason I typically give myself for going off of a diet is that I am HUNGRY, which I hate. I eat a lot. And much of that is filler foods, like pasta, bread, wheat. This time, I have help with choosing foods and purchasing them, and that has made the initial couple of days MUCH easier! And I'm not hungry. In fact, I am munching all day long on nuts and whatnot, and eating very fulfilling diet-friendly meals. Ok. The real test will come when our company leaves, my support system, and I am left to fend for myself. I will try to give myself incentive....

Here are all of the symptoms I have, which may or may not be addressed through diet: bloated belly, fluid in the ears and tinnitus, sinus issues, eczema, scalp rash, sneezing, foggy brain, memory issues, focus problems, scattered thoughts and actions....

I will start by reporting that yesterday and this morning my belly had NOT been bloated or upset. So far so good!

Around noon I started getting a little bit of belly upset, which has lasted on and off all day. Just a very minor, I don't know...cramping? Or something. This might (or might not) be die-off, when you get symptoms as the yeast dies off. I also had that hunger that I always get with these diets. It just means that I did not feed myself enough foods that stick to my ribs. I know that I can, as I have had none of this the last two days. I will do better! But I am very nervous about having my support system go away tomorrow. =(

I am eating lots and lots of nuts, rice, rice cakes and salad. The salads taste SO good. My body is LOVING them. My dressing is lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. I really love it.

A nice bonus to this is that my daughter, who really eats like crap, is eating some better stuff. She LOVED kale chips!! Awesome. She is also enjoying tomatoes a lot lately, with a little bit of salt and olive oil. Yum!!

Candida Diet

This is my second post about my recent issue with a very bloated belly. I've bonded with the idea of it being caused by a yeast imbalance. This is because I have a history of yeast infections not caused by any of the "typical" issues. It's also because I did some online searching on my symptoms, and that was one of the possibilities. It just makes sense to me, I guess.

Anyhow, the cure is a diet....not my forte! But my current bout with belly bloat happened to coincide with a visit from family, one of whom has dietary restrictions of her own. She also happens to be very confident about food choices, and enjoys meal planning and preparing. Hurrah! She shopped and came home with an abundance of foods that are on the "ok" list for a candida diet. Left to my own devices, I would certainly have waited at least until Christmas was over to face the burden of eating a yeast starving diet.

So here on the eve of Christmas day, I am feeling a bit better. My belly had an episode after eating rice cakes with guacamole (???) but otherwise I have been feeling fairly well. I screw up here and there, such as serving myself and eating one bite of cranberry sauce before catching myself, and eating an entire serving of mashed potatoes and serving myself a second before being reminded that potatoes are not on my list. Argh!! But the same family member gently reminds me that eating is good, and that I shouldn't feel bad for doing so. How I wish I was surrounded by that kind of reassurance all the time. Hubby confronted me last night about how difficult it is to cook around dietary restrictions - sigh! I want my mommy! Anyhow, I will do the best that I can do, and try to heal myself. I will hate it, but perhaps it will help some other things along the way. If I can get two weeks under my belt, I am hoping the changes will provide the continued motivation.