candida cleanse

As part of my wife's nutritional education, she has been learning about candida, and has embarked on a month-long "candida" cleanse. I'm joining her (though I've only signed up for 2 weeks...).

Quote the wife:

Candida Albicans, a fungus present in everyone’s system in small amounts, is an opportunistic yeast that multiplies when there is an abundance of simple sugar present in the large intestine. Under ideal acidic conditions in the large intestine, the presence of friendly flora, including lactobacilli and bifidiobacteria, controls the growth of Candida. However, the high sugar, high fat, low fiber of the standard American diet, use of antibiotics and overuse of alcohol all can contribute to an alkaline environment leading to the overgrowth of Candida. The most common symptoms of Candida are: diarrhea, constipation, abdominal discomfort, bloating, gas, rectal itching, menstrual complaints, depression, irritability, inability to concentrate, insomnia, memory lapses, headaches, hives, hay fever, sore throat, asthma, ear fungus and chemical sensitivities.

So basically for the next two weeks I can't eat sugars or refined carbs. So no sandwhiches, burritos, beer, cookies, etc. It's sort of like the atkins diet, but I'm a vegetarian, and I can't have anything sweet either. In addition to this, I'm taking probiotic pills and drinking a ton of tea, which is supposed to help with the flushing of candida.

I'm just finishing day 3. The food thing hasn't been that bad, but only because my wife is helping me figure out what to eat. Whenever I get hungry and think of what to eat it always revolves around some sort of carb. Cutting that out has been tough.

I'm really not sure if I have an over growth of candida or not. I figure it can't hurt to go through this cleanse, and if I end up feeling better, great.

But man, I sure could go for a nice sweet piece of chocolate cake right now.