Candida - Part II

Ayurvedic Daily Diet Guidelines

Here are guidelines for what you should include in your daily diet:

1. Eat plenty of vegetables. Include small portions of bitter and pungent vegetables such as bitter greens, bitter gourd, tender fenugreek sprouts and daikon radish in combination with tridoshic vegetables such as zucchini, loki squash, asparagus, carrot, green beans and tender greens. Avoid or minimize nightshades, which tend to clog the channels of the body, except for small amounts of cayenne if you can tolerate it, used in combination with other spices and herbs. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and Brussels sprouts in small quantities, chopped small and cooked with digestion-enhancing spices are also helpful. Ayurvedic healers recommend briefly steam-cooking vegetables, covered, rather than eating them raw, to improve digestibility.

2. Start the day with the hot lemon treatment. Squeeze the juice of a medium-sized lemon into a cup of hot water and drink it first thing in the morning. The acidic nature and antibacterial properties of lemon help discourage yeast proliferation, and the hot drink helps regularity, which is crucial to keep the digestive system free of toxin build-up.

3. A blend of equal parts of lemon juice and olive oil can be used as a dressing on vegetables for enhanced digestion and support for the liver. About a tablespoon of a blend of fresh ginger juice, lemon and a little rock salt taken a half-hour before a meal aids digestion.

4. Fresh fruit can be healthy sources of the sweet taste. Once balance is restored, one helping of dosha-appropriate fruit can be eaten during the day. Fruits that contain an element of the bitter, such as grapefruit or papaya, are excellent choices. Pomegranate helps enhance digestion. Avoid melons and extremely sweet fruit such as grapes.

5. Whole grains and small dhals (beans) offer sustenance and fiber. Reduce the intake of white rice. Choose instead from oats and oatmeal, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, barley and rye. Whole-wheat flatbreads, especially with some psyllium added to the dough, enhance the elimination of wastes from the digestive tract. Mung dhal is easier to digest than larger beans, especially when cooked with herbs and spices, while being nutritious. Try khicharee, a one-dish meal made with mung dhal, vegetables and either brown rice or cracked wheat.

6. Drink a tall glass of digestive lassi each day at lunch. Digestive lassi is made by blending fresh plain yogurt (with active cultures) with pure water and digestion-enhancing herbs and spices. Ayurvedic healers highly recommend lassi as a way of replenishing healthy intestinal flora without clogging the channels of the body. Try fresh ginger root, rock salt, dry-roasted and ground cumin, fresh cilantro and organic rosehips in a blend of 40% yogurt and 60% pure water. Lassi and/or yogurt should not be consumed after sundown.

7. Cook with spices that enhance digestion and fight toxins. Turmeric, black pepper, dried ginger, cumin, cinnamon and fenugreek are good choices. Spices should be eaten cooked, not raw. Either sauté them in a small amount of ghee or olive oil and add to dishes or add during the last 10 minutes of the cooking process. Black pepper, when eaten cooked, is a bio-availability enhancer.

8. Cook some dishes in small amounts of coconut oil or a blend of coconut oil and ghee or olive oil. Coconut oil has antibacterial and anti-fungal properties.

9. Drink lots of warm water. Regular intake of warm water through the day can help flush toxins out regularly through the urine and perspiration and make it difficult for harmful bacteria or yeast to sit around and breed.

One final word on diet. Ayurvedic healers recommend really paying attention to what specific foods do for your body and making dietary choices that help the most for you as an individual. A wide variety of healthy food choices is available and you can pick the ones that you enjoy and that work for your physiology. Keeping a food journal may be helpful, to help track what you are eating and to hone in on the foods that work the best for you. To stick to healthy eating patterns, your diet has to be enjoyable and appealing.