Days remaining: 110
Pounds remaining: 130.0
Inches lost/gained this past week: -2.5
Pounds lost/gained this past week: -4.5
Percentage weight loss this past week: -1.58%
Total pounds lost: -23.0
Total inches lost: -21.5
Wow! This has been an amazing three weeks! Even though we are still doing the Candida diet, the weight loss I have been experiencing can be attributed to nothing short of miraculous! For fourteen weeks, I struggled to lose ten little pounds... ten irritating pounds which were lost and gained over and over for FOURTEEN WEEKS!!!
I would soar on the wings of anticipation and encouragement with each loss only to get depressed and discouraged with each weight gain; all dutifully noted and recorded at the end of each week. I fumed, I pouted, I vilified the scale, I overate, I complained... and then I prayed. Desperately, I asked for help sticking to a diet and exercise regimen and for a miracle.
Then one day, a friend prayed for me to experience miraculous weight loss. And I believed. The first week showed an 11.5-pound drop and the second week gave a 4.5-pound loss. I lost more in three weeks than I had lost in the previous fourteen!! God truly does answer prayers and has been giving the strength to stick with the eating changes we've made (and the increased level of exercise).
Now, in response to the number of people who have expressed concern over proper nutrition while eating according to the Candida diet, rest assured. Putting it the way I did makes it sound unhealthy - taking away wheat, yeast, sugar, dairy, and caffeine - but let's look at it from the side of "what can be eaten."
While on the Candida diet, basically meat and vegetables are what you get, with an occasional low-sugar fruit thrown in for good measure. Many grains other than wheat are acceptable: buckwheat, oats, quinoa, brown rice, amaranth, barley... all low-gluten. Fish, chicken, lean beef, and various fowl can be found in the meat area. The Candida diet supports healing and detoxification and is not a permanent eating plan and we will be eating this way until the end of July, the goal end of this Project.
So, to sum up. Basic hunter-gatherer diet. Lots of veggies and meats. Nice clean foods without a lot of processing. Easier to digest and, once you've eaten this way for a little bit, some foods that are bad for you actually taste bad (or not as good as you remembered). Sweet things become nauseating in some cases or taste chemically.
Turns out, Jason and I have very mild cases of candida overgrowth, so we're not anticipating remaining on the diet beyond the end of July. It is, however, suggested that for increased health and reduced risk of candida overgrowth recurring, to follow an 80-20 plan. For 80% of the time, eat according to the diet. The other 20% of the time can be "other foods" allowances. The 80-20 plan gives freedom and forgiveness for any slip-ups or conscious choices along the way.
An example? For some reason, I have recently fallen in love with soft serve and Starbucks ice cream and ice cold, juicy pears (not together). Unfortunately, the diet forbids dairy and frowns upon pears (they're in the 80% list, though). Solution: We eat according to the diet through the week proper and make a valiant attempt to do so on the weekends. If we do vary, we try to just pick one item to splurge on instead of going hog wild.
Does it work? The results are speaking for themselves!
So. God is amazing. Candida overgrowth is dying. No malnutrition is taking place.
