I felt like a human guinea pig. When nothing worked, I began to search for answers on my own and found Dr. William Crook’s first book, The Yeast Connection. He was the second doctor, in addition to Dr. Orian Truss, who exposed the link between yeast/candida overgrowth and a variety of health conditions. I cried when I answered the questionnaire in his book because I had 90 percent of the symptoms he listed that are connected with candida. I followed his protocol for an anti-candida diet, avoiding foods that encourage yeast to grow, and took an antifungal powder called Nilstat. Within one year, I was healthy and thriving again. Unfortunately I didn’t understand how important it was, given the severity of my case, to stick to that diet to prevent the yeast from returning even more virulently. My old habit of eating sugars and refined carbohydrates crept back in. On top of that, my stress levels were high, which elevates cortisol and blood sugar, feeding candida. At twenty-four, my world stopped when I experienced a major attack on my neurological system. I couldn’t breathe, swallow, or move for seconds and then had uncontrollable spasms and pronounced fatigue. I was quickly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and told my condition was “incurable.” I refused to accept the doctor’s devastating verdict. Once again I dug up what little research was available at the time and was determined to create my own self-care program. It was a tumultuous four-year journey. During that time, I addressed the real factor that was underlying my condition (candida overgrowth), removed fifteen silver-mercury amalgam fillings, and religiously stuck to a diet to fight candida. I took Nystatin tablets, herbal antifungals, and additional supplementation. And I did my inner work by examining and healing mental and emotional wounds. I have now been symptom-free for over twenty years. My healing journey ignited in me a passion to educate and inspire others to achieve optimal health in the face of any condition. I decided to get trained in several healing disciplines. As a certified nutritionist and naturopath for the last eighteen years and the author of two books, I have helped thousands regain their health and vitality. Those successes are based on teaching people how to get their bodies back into balance and how to target what creates inflammation and infection, including what we eat and drink. Over time, I developed a program of diet, detoxification, and supplementation aimed at eliminating inflammation and allowing the body’s innate intelligence to do what it does best—heal. The Candida Cure Cookbook is a companion to my popular book The Candida Cure: Yeast, Fungus, and Your Health—The 90-Day Program to Beat Candida and Restore Vibrant Health. That book offers additional information on treating candida and can guide you in implementing a 90-day program of detox and diet. After hearing from clients and readers that they wanted more recipes so they could maintain the candida-cure diet, I realized that it was time to create a cookbook. There are many allergy-free cookbooks that cater to those on restricted diets but few that deal specifically with
2 | The Healing Power of Your Food