After a ridiculous amount of research on Candida Overgrowth, I came up with this treatment plan. I wrote this just for some specific folks who have asked, but if you happen to find your way here, I hope it helps you too. I’m not a doctor, and this is not medical advice. This is just what I’m doing and what I’ve found works for me. Please do your own research on all of this!

I may end up writing a more detailed post about my experience with this later, but for now, here is the list of things I’m taking and a summary of the diet I’m on to help with the treatment.

Note that THIS IS NOT THE CANDIDA DIET. That diet appears to be total BS for most people!! I haven’t read the book, so take my thoughts on it with a grain of salt. This is not that though as far as I know.

Quick note on all the hippie talk

I have always seen talk of “detox” and “cleanses” as total BS. I think I was wrong and I think that people that talk about this stuff are actually full of loads of truth, but unfortunately there’s not enough real science behind it so they end up lumped together with snake oil salesman. I am absolutely confident that this stuff is NOT snake oil, now that I have personally confirmed a lot of it for myself.

I will be even more convinced once I am healed completely and no longer have any autoimmune symptoms.

Goals

It is important to understand out of the gate that your goal is NOT to starve the candida (more info on that throughout). Your goal is to:

  • kill it with antifungals
  • disrupt and destroy the biofilms that have built up in your gut with enzymes
  • encourage good microbes to take their place so that you have a resilient gut that can handle some pizza and ice cream without going hog wild with pre and pro biotics, healthy fiber, and complex carbs
  • heal your gut lining from all the damage that the candida overgrowth has done. This will happen naturally as a part of this process, but we’re hopefully giving it a boost with the amino acids and the probiotics

This is a slow process and you will need to be patient.

Supplements

Antifungals and Biofilm Disruptors:

Note: The Amazon links are affiliate links!! Please use them if you want to support me. I will get a small commission if you buy through these links.

  • https://amzn.to/4iFibGI - SerraDefend - blend of biofilm disrupting enzymes. This is the most important thing! Take on an empty stomach in the morning. Please do your research on this one! especially the nattokinase and serrapeptase. This is a pretty low dose of those, but there are technically some cardiovascular ramifications here. Usually good ramifications, but you still need to be aware of any risks.
  • https://amzn.to/4jSTLuf - CandAssist - blend of effective herbal anti-fungals. Take with food.
  • https://amzn.to/4jXxITb - S. Boullardi - probiotic yeast that targets and kills candida without taking up residence (you can take this the whole time or you can wait until later after the biofilms are busted, I’m taking it the whole time but cycling on an off when I feel like it)
  • https://amzn.to/438c2OA - Oregano Oil - needed for the white tongue folks and also helpful for the gut folks, milder than the pills, for when you need a break from the detox. Cycle max of 14 days on and 14 days off. 3 drops mixed with a shot of water, 3x per day.
  • https://www.apohealth.de/en/collections/all/products/nystatin-acis-filmtabletten-100-st-tabletten - Nystatin - This is the prescription antifungal stuff from germany. This works as a team with the “candassist” and the s. boullardi to kill the bad guys but leave the good guys alone
    • Work your way up to 2 tablets in the morning and 2 tablets in the evening, both on an empty stomach.
    • Note for my friend Anni: I actually wish I would have ordered 2 or 3 bottles of this. You end up taking 4 per day so 100 goes pretty quickly. If you want to grab an extra bottle of this I’ll buy it from you later.
    • There’s probably some legal nonsense I should cover here about not buying this if you live in a place where freedom reigns and therefore it’s against the law to access medicine you need. Do your own research and do what you feel is right for you. I’m just telling you what I’m doing.

Support (these are important too!):

  • https://amzn.to/4lMAFrn - Circumin - anti-fungal and anti-inflammation - has to be taken away from caffeine, at least 3 hours
  • https://amzn.to/3GqH7nZ - Binder - or any binder if you have a preference, I hear good things about zeolite. I’m using just activated charcoal b/c I failed to order this. Binder helps to absorb some of the heavy metals and etc.. that are released from the biofilms, to hopefully keep it from entering your blood stream.
  • https://amzn.to/3YRolw4 - L-Glutamine - gut healing amino acid - take in the morning on an empty stomach - make sure to read up on this and make sure it’s right for you
  • https://amzn.to/42DQ0Dm - Lycine - gut healing amino acid - take in the morning on an empty stomach - make sure to read up on this and make sure it’s right for you
  • https://amzn.to/4lP1Wtc - Electrolyte powder - or your choice of electrolytes if you already have some. If you’re educated in fasting or working out you probably already have this under control. You will likely be into and out of ketosis during this time which requires a lot of water and electrolytes going back and forth.
  • https://amzn.to/4lQuaUn - Liver Support - important b/c you end up detoxing hard and end up feeling sick, the detox is hard on your liver
  • https://amzn.to/4iHNxwe - Unmodified Potato Starch - this one is wild! “Unmodified” is an important word. I will write a whole section on this later, but for now, you want to mix about a tablespoon per day with some yogurt or milk kefir. This is a huge boost for the good guys in your microbiome and doesn’t help the bad guys.
    • start with a teaspoon per day and work your way up to a tablespoon
    • If you experience severe bloating in response to this, you should stop, that could be a sign that you have SIBO or similar, which you may need to get under control first!
    • Some gas at first is normal, but if you feel like you have a balloon in your stomach, stop taking it and maybe try again later.

Stagger these supplements

Don’t start all of this at once. If you have a bad reaction to anything, you won’t know what caused it. For example, I’m pretty sure either the lycine or the glutamine gave me really bad brain fog, to the point where I couldn’t think or focus. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, the brain fog can actually be a sign of healing due to the nature of the treatment, but I still stopped them temporarily and will try them again later.

I suggest starting the enzymes in the morning first, and the binder an hour or two later, after a few days, add in liver support with meals, then once you feel comfortable with those (maybe a week or so), add in the antifungals. The rest should still be staggered, but the order is a bit more inconsequential.

I waited about a month before adding in the nystatin.

Taking breaks

If you do have a bad overgrowth, you will likely exerience heavy “die off” which is basically like an amplified version of whatever symptoms you usually get when you overdo it on sugar or carbs. This is a sign that the treatment is working, but it can be pretty rough.

I recommend taking breaks from the treatment every 2-3 weeks for a few days. This will help you avoid the worst die-off symptoms and give your body a chance to recover. Listen to your body. If you’re feeling absolutely terrible, take some time off. If you’re feeling good, keep going. If you’re feeling like HORRIBLE, I have even taken a week off completely and even ate (moderate) carbs/desserts/pizza for a week and then went back to the treatment. I think this is fine as long as you don’t go crazy with it.

You won’t be “undoing” your progress. This is a balance thing and it took you likely many many years to get to this point, so don’t expect to fix it in a few weeks, and also don’t feel like the progress you’ve made can be undone in a weekend. That’s not how this works.

Diet

The diet I’m on is a low-carb, no-sugar, high-protein, high-fat diet.

The most important point is that carbs should be on the lower side but not zero, and they should come from vegetables.

  • NO grains!
  • NOTHING sweet (except berries are fine in moderation)
  • NO sugar (including honey, maple syrup, etc.)
  • NO starchy vegetables (potatoes, corn, etc.)
  • Beans are fine in moderation and eaten along with protein and fat
  • NO milk (milk and soft cheese have too much sugar - butter, hard cheese (cheddar, meunster, and harder), and heavy cream are fine)
  • NO alcohol (alcohol is metabolized by candida!)
  • NO artificial sweeteners except stevia and monk fruit and allulose (sugar alcohols feed candida!)
    • Watch out for stevia and monk fruit 1:1 sweeteners, they often have sugar alcohols as a main ingredient
    • https://amzn.to/4jXVDly - this is the stevia I use in my milk kefir

I eat a lot of meat, eggs, and cheese. I also eat some vegetables, but I avoid starchy ones like potatoes and corn. I drink a lot of water and some green/black tea. People say to avoid coffee, but I think people just get hard on withholding things that people enjoy. I try to keep processed meats to a minimum but I will eat a stray piece of pepperoni or salami. I make milk kefir and drink that daily with a bit of stevia and black berries blended in. I try to eat sauerkraut and kimchi as often as I can, a little with each meal, when I have some handy.

If you go full keto, you will experience a temporary relief of candida overgrowth symptoms, but the candida will adapt to metabolizing ketones and you will have done nothing to control the overgrowth

If you go full carnivore, you might experience candida die off symptoms just like on this treatment plan, but again, the candida will adapt to metabolizing ketones and you will have done nothing to control the overgrowth.

Timing

I don’t know for sure yet how long this is going to take. I expect it to take 6-12 months because I believe I’ve had biofilms building in my digestive system since I was a child. I will post back when my symptoms start letting up and I’ll likely curate this into a more formal post and journal.