Hummus

I doubt many vegans need to be told how to make hummus. I usually don't make my own, but most of the storebought brands seem to have added salt and such in them, plus I had just made a giant pot of chickpeas, so I tried this out. In my food processor I blended about 3 Tbsp tahini with the juice of one lemon, blending until it was frothy and completely mixed together. Then I added 3 cloves of garlic (probably too much) and blended them in, adding the chickpeas in handful by handful. I used what would maybe be equal to 3/4 of a can.When it was all blended, I scooped it into a bowl, sprinkled some dill on top, and used it as a dip for sliced peppers and celery. A pretty good snack.

Broccoli Celery Soup

Yesterday I made some lackluster but decent and healthy soup. Just chopped up an onion, some garlic, the stalk of a large head of broccoli, and some pieces of celery. Sauteed them in some olive oil before simmering them in about 11/2-2 cups of vegetable stock. I cooked them until they were tender, let the pot cool, then used my immersion blender to puree it all. Definitely not a glamorous soup, but it was a new way of eating a large helping of vegetables without any added salt or starches or anything.

Quinoa Tabbouleh

Settling into the realization that I will be eating lots and lots of cold salads in the weeks to come, I decided to make a large batch of tabbouleh, substituting the traditional bulgur with candida-diet-safe quinoa. This will be my lunch along with a large helping of steamed broccoli.

As with my amaranth, I decided to cook up a large batch of quinoa so that I will be able to assemble various dishes quickly and easily. I took about two cups of cooked quinoa and placed it in a bowl, adding half a diced onion, two large crushed cloves of garlic, three extremely generous handfuls of parlsey (chopped), the juice of one lemon, and a generous drizzle of hempseed oil. Olive oil is the more traditional choice for this salad, but I am trying to mix up my oils a bit. Normally I would add a handful of chopped mint, but as I did not have any I decided to go for some dill. I mixed this all together and put it in the fridge for later snacking. The last ingredient I did not add is chopped fresh tomatoes, which I prefer to add just before eating so that they are fresh. Other things that can be added to this salad (and should, I just didn't have them on hand) are diced cucumber, scallions, and chickpeas. Diced up avocado is also a nice addition.

I got the idea to make quinoa tabbouleh from this blog, which is one of my favorite vegan blogs. She has several other salads on her site that I intend to try, although I tend to leave out the fat free aspect and pour on the oils. http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/07/international-quinoa-salad.html

Day 1 Breakfast: Gruel

It is day one. I woke up and took the pills from the cleansing kit I bought, along with a big glass of water, then waited 30 minutes before eating as the instructions indicated. Then I heated up some amaranth I cooked last night, to make a porridge.

This "recipe" is quite loose, because I don't often measure things. Last night I cooked about a cup of dry amaranth (similar to quinoa, a seed that is cooked and eaten as a grain) and put it in the fridge so that I will have it on hand for the next couple days. This morning I simply heated it up with some unsweetened almond milk and a dollop of macadamia nut butter. I sweetened it with half a packet of Xylitol, which is apparently acceptable to use on the candida diet. Ideally I would eat this with blueberries, but I am waiting to see if I can find some within my price range! Why is it that only the most expensive fruits are allowed on this diet?

Now that I have eaten that I will go and make myself some green tea. Not the worst breakfast in the world.

Introduction

This blog is for anyone who is looking to go on the candida diet, but faces the added difficulty of being a vegan. When I started looking up information and recipes about following the so-called candida diet as a vegan, I was surprised at how little I found, so to any vegans out there attempting to do this, you are not alone!

I'm a 23 year old female and have been vegan for over 8 years now. I've had pretty bad eczema for about 5 years, and as seems all too common I have received the barest help from dermatologists. I have become very frustrated with topical treatment of a condition that clearly goes beyond the surface of my skin. For the past few months I have been looking into dietary causes for my eczema, thinking that maybe an intolerance to gluten or soy could be the culprit. Eliminating these foods from my diet, however, brought no changes at all. Of course, this dietary angle makes things difficult for me as a vegan, because everyone I talk to immediately wants to link my skin problems with my veganism. People seem unwilling to acknowledge how diverse vegan diets can be, instead choosing to lump them all together under one broad and misleading label of "vegan," as though we vegans all eat exactly the same things! I have varied my diet and nutrient intake significantly with no changes in my eczema. The only thing that helps is not eating at all, which we all know is not a viable permanent solution. For this reason I am convinced that it is not what I am NOT eating, but something that I AM eating that makes my condition ever worse.

I am very hopeful that doing a candida cleanse and following the accompanying diet will help alleviate my skin problems, as well as some other minor health problems I have noticed. However, my unsuccessful experiences with other dietary regimens tempers my hope slightly, so I am trying not to have excessive expectations of this diet. In any case, I will post my recipes here and any developments I may notice in my general health. Hopefully this will work for me, but if it does not, I would be glad to know that reading about my experience could help another lone vegan have better success!