lydia : an urban crunchy mama

Adventures with Candida

February 15th, 2009 urbancrunchymama 3 comments

As part of my pre-Baby #2 prep, I wanted to seek the guidance of a local nutritionist. I envisioned a detox of some sort followed by a pre-conception/nutrient building regimen. These two steps are still part of the plan, but another step needs to precede them — a Candida diet.

If you’re not familiar with Candida Albicans or Candidiasis, a quick Internet search will give you the skinny on what’s likely happened to my body. I’ve been following a Candida regimen for two weeks and two days, and I typed up a quick reference sheet for our refrigerator door. Here’s what it looks like.

Eat veggies!

Drink water!

Increase probiotics through food and drink.

Keep fruit to a minimum.

Supplement with

Saccromyces Boulardii (1 capsule 2x per day)
Candex (on an empty stomach)
MCT oil (1T 2x per day before 4pm)

Avoid

Gluten
Eggs
Sugars
Dairy
Corn
Dried fruits
Melons
Peanuts
Mushrooms
Age meats
Vinegars (except raw apple cider vinegar)
Yeast in bread

With so many restrictions, it can be a challenge to have legal food around, so I’ve come up with a few must-haves to keep me going throughout the week.

Avocados
This fruit is delicious sliced and seasoned with a splash of raw apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper, or mashed into guacamole with shallots, lime, lemon, salt, and pepper.
Hummus
In addition to soaking the garbanzo beans overnight, I add lemon juice to the bowl so the phytates break down. After the beans have plumped and begun to shed their skins, I bring them to a boil on the stove and simmer them for six hours in a crock pot. I then rinse the beans and toss them into a food processor with olive oil, lemon, garlic, salt, and pepper. If I don’t have enough lemon juice, I add a splash of raw apple cider vinegar to achieve the proper level of acidity.
Pre-cut Veggies
I slice carrots and celery sticks and keep them in a bowl of water in the fridge, so I have easy access to a quick snack. I usually plunge the sticks into guacamole or hummus.
Almonds
To neutralize the phytates, I soak almonds in warm water and salt overnight and rinse them in the morning. I spread the nuts on a baking sheet and slowly dry them in a 150-degree oven until they’re crispy.

Chicken Stock
Brewing a batch every couple of weeks is easy-peasy and highly nutritious. I add it to soups, stews and sauces for flavor and nutrients. Here’s how I make my stock.
Soups
I simmer a batch of soup every weekend and thicken it by giving it a thorough whir with an immersion blender. I sip a cup or a bowl as a part of my breakfast or lunch.
Stews
Animal protein and veggies are the bulk of what I’m eating these days, so stews are the perfect meal for me. They make for great, hearty leftovers for lunch the next day.
Gluten-free Crackers
Here’s where I break from my typical stance against processed foods because I’ve gotta have some kind of hand-held, grain-infused food item in my diet. My go-to boxed foodstuff has been brown rice, flax seed, quinoa, sesame seed crackers by Mary’s Gone Crackers. It’s the perfect accompaniment to soups, guacamole, or hummus.

Die-off

I’ve been so diligent about this regimen that I’ve experienced die-off, killing the Candida faster than my body can eliminate it from my system. Essentially, the dead Candida builds up in my body as a toxin, and I suffer from more extreme fatigue and a list of gastro-intestinal unpleasantries. It’s a matter of balancing effective killing with the pace in which I kill them.

The Big Picture

It would be wonderful if this regimen cured me of my chronic fatigue (which has plagued me for over 13 years). For now, I’m keeping my sights on being and feeling stronger and healthier. As it relates to pregnancy, Candida can block nutrient absorption, and I want to make sure Baby #2 gets his or her proper nutrients. Also, a baby’s gut is sterile up until birth and later becomes populated with whatever bacteria is present in the birth canal. If a Candida-rich environment is present, the baby’s system will assume that this is normal.

As the days and weeks of this crazy program eek by, I’ll keep you posted on my progress and share any other tips I may develop.

Categories: childbirth, food, mindful parenting, mommy matters, nutrition, toxins Tags:

5, 6, 7, 8…

February 6th, 2009 urbancrunchymama 3 comments

jazz

The Backstory
If it hadn’t been for Jamie, my best friend in fifth grade, I may have never stepped into a dance class on my own volition. Her mom signed her up for jazz dance classes, and after attending one trial class with Jamie, I decided I wanted the same. For the next few years, I took one or two series of classes (jazz and/or ballet) per year. When I got to high school my parents didn’t need to pay for dance classes anymore because I auditioned and was invited to participate in Dance Club, Sparklers (i.e. the varsity version of Dance Club), and the Pom-pon squad, and rehearsals filled my desire for dance.

If you’ve ever gone to a nightclub or attended a wedding reception with me, you might be scratching your head at this point, trying to recall if you would ever categorize me as a dancer. I wouldn’t blame you because I’m not a natural by any means. My freestyle dancing leaves much to be desired.

Dance taught me a lot about being in tune with my body and being mindful about body alignment. OK, so you may be scratching your head again because I slouch. But if you were to catch me lifting weights, sweating it out in an aerobics class, or doing similar activities, I do employ the body knowledge I’ve learned and practiced over the years.

I took a class here and there in college, and once I moved back to the City I vowed to find a class, but this plan never materialized. At times I craved to practice with former high school dancers and squad members, but I just didn’t think that this kind of thing existed. There were a couple of phases of my wanting to learn how to hula, to learn a form of sign language through dance. I even called a hula school or two but didn’t receive a response.

As a compromise, I tried a few cardio classes at gyms. Most were just OK, and a couple of them managed to satiate some of my hunger. But none of these classes held my attention for very long.

The Now
My friend, Thais, and I have been swapping babysitting time for the past few weeks, which allows me to do things I haven’t been doing with Taylor in tow. This week I decided to try a class called Extended Fusion Rhythms at the ODC Dance Commons, and I think I almost heard angels singing as I stepped into the studio.

It’s a beautiful space, and as I stretched in preparation for class, I got a little emotional. I didn’t realize just how much joy the thought of dancing again would bring me. Although I didn’t know a single person, I felt a sense of community and unconditional acceptance among the beginners and professional dancers alike. This is the kind of place my soul needs more of!

A mix of jazz, hip-hop, African, and Latin movements choreographed into mini-routines and an eclectic selection of music, set the stage for a physically and mentally challenging 75-minute workout. I wished the class was a bit less popular (as it was quite crowded, even in the large studio space), but I knew I had finally found the path back to a place I had almost forgotten. Ahh…

Categories: mommy matters Tags:

Exploring Media

February 5th, 2009 urbancrunchymama 1 comment

paintings

No, I’m not gonna talk about electronic media (this time). Today’s post is about art media.

Taylor donned her smock and set to painting as usual. But when I took a closer look, I noticed that she was experimenting with a new technique. Taylor dabbed some paint on the paper and stuck a large piece of a coloring book page onto the wet paint. She then saturated the coloring book page with paint, removing some of the pigment with a paper towel. From there, she carefully peeled the wet page off of the paper and placed it in a different location to repeat the process.

Sometimes, she would vary her technique a bit and layer the saturated coloring book pages on top of one another. I thought that this might turn into a mixed media piece, with all the layers she was applying and re-applying, but instead, she used the pages as masks to create these colorful framed edges.

Although never attempted before, Taylor’s method was very deliberate, and she even asked me to assist with paint application. Like a well-known artist supervising an enormous installation, she sometimes guided her faithful apprentice on color choice and on exactly where color should be applied. She was also very particular about the direction of my brush strokes.

Once we completed this piece (above, left), Taylor moved onto something more graphic, a “design” as she called it. (above, right) ”It’s a sea dragon!”

Categories: child development & education Tags:

Words of the Day

February 5th, 2009 urbancrunchymama 1 comment

Taylor is just shy of 37 months old.
Mama, can I wipe you butt?
I can wipe your butt when I get bigger.

Let’s hope she remembers this offer
when I really do need help
wiping my butt.

* *

When Taylor utters new and amusing words I’ll post ‘em here.

Categories: words of the day Tags:

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lydia : an urban crunchy mama

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Adventures with Candida

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