Goodbye for now.

I'm going to be away starting today for the rest of the week, but I'm not going to blog for a while, because I'm not making enough progress right now for it to be encouraging to anyone else. I think I started my blog too soon. When things are more consistently positive, I'll get back to it.

I think I have a lot further to go to get well. This whole candida thing is not something I thought I had to deal with, and I have to get a handle on it before I can do anything else.

To anyone who has been reading this - keep moving forward. We will get past this to a much better time in our lives. I still really have faith that this is beatable, and it's just going to take some really hard work, dedication and time. God bless.

Up, down, up, down.

I'm sorry I haven't posted lately. I had a migraine for the past couple of days. Before that, I was feeling so heavy again - like a 50 pound weight was on my shoulders. I remember Admin. from the Beatleakygas blog had similar feelings in the first few months of his cleansing process.

Because I will be out of town next week, I have eased up on the diet a little. I just can't be around other people and be a depressed rag doll. No one would understand, and would take it personally. I haven't gone crazy and cheated big time, but have added back the organic, raw nuts and a little rice cereal for energy.

After next week, I'm slowly going to add the anti-candida stuff, maybe even do a month long candida cleanse (herbal) to start. There are so many products out there and so many different ways to go when deciding how to fight this, it gets confusing.

Once my trip is over, I can focus more again on a strict program. Anyone else having any luck with a diet or new supplement?

Feeling Better

Today I woke up with a lot more energy than I've had in a while, and it feels so good. I worked out harder on my treadmill than I've been able to in ages. Maybe my body is adjusting to the diet, etc.

Yesterday I doubled up on my trace minerals, maybe that had something to do with it. I take a liquid fulvic mineral supplement called Vital-Earth Fulvic Mineral Complex. I've been on it about a month but have only taken one ounce per day. Yesterday I took one in the am and one in the pm. It takes the muscle aches away, and I haven't had a migraine for a while either, so I think it's helping with that. According to the information I printed out on it, it is supposed to be absorbed very quickly into the cells, and helps repair the damage of free radicals, or if the cells are too damaged, it helps the body flush them out. Hopefully it will help repair my damaged liver cells so it can work better.

I'm doing well on the herbal cleanse (called First Cleanse) that I'm on. I've taken it before a few months ago, and decided to stay on this one for now because it is gentle. I've come to the conclusion that until my body starts working properly, I should always be on an herbal cleanse of some kind because I just don't metabolize food the way I'm supposed to, and therefore a residue will always be left behind and cause problems. I am going to the bathroom more easily now, without any laxatives, and sleeping pretty well, too, so things are looking up!

One thing that isn't positive (I don't think) is that I tried the "spit test" for candida a few days ago where you spit in a glass of water first thing in the morning and see if there are "legs" that come off the spit when it floats in the water. I've done this test a lot before, and never had anything happen. The spit just dissolved after a short while. I tried it a few times in the past few days, and each time, there are LEGS. At first I was upset by this, but it would explain why my gut hasn't healed all the way. I realize that it also may be the result of all the cleansing I'm doing - just forcing the candida out from its hiding places.

Anyway, I'm looking into getting on pau d'arco, caprylic acid, and maybe some garlic to fight the yeast. I can't do it right now, because I have a trip out of town coming up in a couple of weeks, and I hate to add more to my program when I'm going to be away for a week. I'm already smelly enough right now. Has anyone had any experience taking the pau d'arco or caprylic acid? I don't know what to expect, but since everything seems to affect me adversely at first, I'm expecting to be sick for a while. Wahoo! So much to look forward to!

Staying Motivated

I've been having trouble staying "up" lately, and I know it is the result of lots of toxins in my body moving around brought on by the cleansing I'm doing, but it still gets to me. I also noticed an increase in the b.o. that the Chinese herbs doesn't seem to take away. I should have expected it, of course, there has never been a single product that produced much of a change in my situation. I'm tired of the emotional rollercoaster. I want to wake up every day and say "today, I'll get a little closer to my goal", and most days I can do that, but not everyday. I stopped working out as hard, due to lack of energy, but that has definitely affected my mood. Today I went back to the full work out and even raised the end of my treadmill so it would be tougher, and I'm feeling better already.

I also got back to my meditation/yoga that I was doing every morning before getting on the treadmill. It seems to put me in a better frame of mind and more prepared to take on the day. I just have to stay motivated and keep this stuff up. It really makes a difference.

There was a woman on t.v. who won the show "The Biggest Loser" (a contest about losing the most weight). She is the only woman who has ever won that show, and she said it was so hard to keep fighting and working toward her goal - especially in the beginning. She said initially she had to say the words "I'm going to win" and keep saying them until she believed it, and then keep believing it until she succeeded. For now, I'm in the "saying" phase, but it's still a step in the right direction.

Losing weight

It takes no time at all to lose weight on this very low carb diet. I never realized how carbohydrates affect weight maintenance and energy level until giving them up. It sucks because I've already lost about 8 lbs, and my husband has noticed it and is getting worried like he did before when this happened. I try to explain to him that I have to follow this plan in order to heal. I realize that I look a lot better when I weigh in the 130 range, but I can't seem to maintain that without at least eating nuts, and for now I've stopped those. I was eating tons of raw almond butter all summer, but then I became sensitive to it (a common thing with leaky gut syndrome), so I reluctantly gave that up.

I guess what I need to do is just start padding my clothes so it looks like there is more to me than there really is. I was looking through a clothing catalogue the other day and saw the underwear with the padding in them. I'm seriously thinking of investing in a fake ass. Yep, that's what I need. I can see it now. Move over Kim Kardashian - here I come with some serious badonkadonk!

Problem Fixed

I think the problem has been fixed (thanks to Sherri) and now anyone who wants to comment on this blog can.

I've been feeling physically really bad lately because when I'm following the strict diet, exercise routine, etc. it starts the cleansing process right away, and my body can't keep up with all the toxins being released into my system (can't throw them off fast enough) and I have been getting the usual headaches, body aches and just generally feeling awful. I think my age may have something to do with that - maybe younger people have less trouble with detox symptoms. It makes me feel very blah, too, and it's hard to be enthusiastic and excited when I talk to friends or family. I don't discuss my diet/cleansing plans with anyone except my immediate family, and I'm sure people wonder what is wrong with my mood when I'm going through this. I wish I could talk to more people about it, but I'm afraid it would make them feel uncomfortable, so I just choose not to.

Anyway, it's times like this that make it really hard to stick with this diet. It would be so easy to just have the coffee and bagel and feel a lot better, but I'm in it for the long haul this time, so on I go. How is everyone else doing?

Trouble with the blog

If you have been reading this blog and have tried to comment in the past few days but are having trouble, will you please let me know by sending me an e-mail. My e-mail address is puttinontheritz@comcast.net.

Another person that has tried to comment has not been able to sign in after trying several times and I still haven't figured out the reason why. Let me know if anyone else is having this problem. Thanks!