battling candida? and getting enough nutrition

Question
Hi:
I think I'm battling candida albicans overgrowth, but recently I noticed that eating my grassfed hamburger raw and a cup of grassfed beef suet raw, a few times a day made me feel really good and happy and energetic.  Whereas prior to that I've been eating them cooked along with raw sauerkraut and fried eggs three times per day for weeks, and I noticed my heart feeling heavy and beating heavily and my mood being too serious, even angry.  I still am trying to get rid of candida, or at least to get rid of oral thrush and aches in the body.  On my cooked meat and fat, etc. diet I have had great success overcoming body aches.  I used to get really sore shoulders when I lifted weights, but when I cut out everything from my diet but the meat, fat, kraut, and eggs I became superhuman in my workouts and recoveries.  Then I started noticing the heart pounding and the angry mood.  (For all I know, it could have been caused by the eggs or the kraut.)  That is what drove me to try eating just hamburger and lots of suet in its raw form (actually I decided to carve off small slices from a frozen pound of hamburger to ease my way into it since I don't yet like the taste.  Cooked meat is good, but I actually prefer it in combination with high starch foods, yet the starch, it would seem, makes my joints hurt, my vision blurry, and my brain not function well, etc.  Honestly I don't know what is going on, I just expiriment with different ways of eating and try to see how I feel.).  I guess I am wondering if my diet would be complete enough if I just eat raw grassfed hamburger and raw suet all the time (these foods are available, here in Wisconsin).  I could add in some raw lamb liver or lamb hearts because I have a lot of them in the freezer, but I havent tried to force myself to eat them raw yet.  Would I get enough calcium and magnesium for my bones, etc. (I was thinking of making a bone broth, but that would be cooked so I don't know if I need that), and would I get enough vitamin C (do I even need vitamin C?)?  If not what should I add in in order to have a completely nutritious diet (one that will not feed my candida, or whatever)?  I also noticed that when I ate the raw hamburger and raw suet for a day and a half, my tongue was very coated white, whereas on cooked meat and fat my tongue is normal.  Is the white, coated tongue a sign of detox, or is raw meat and fat making candida worse (even though the joints feel wonderful)?  Also it seems to me that when I cheat and eat starch and even sugar, while my joints ache my testosterone levels seem to be higher.  I would even go so far as to say that when eating only raw meat and fat (albeit I only tried it for a day and a half straight) I felt like my testosterone was lacking.  For one thing, by the second day of only raw meat and fat, I didn't seem to have the same drive in my heavy lifting workout (perhaps I wasn't eating enough, though, because it is harder to eat a lot of food that I haven't gotten used to the flavour of yet.  I don't know, just a hypothosis).  I don't even know if I know what I'm talking about (been eating a lot of starch and sugar today, but hey, no excuses).  So I am wondering if eating raw hamburger (maybe 1/2lb, 3x/day), and raw suet (maybe 1 cup 3x/day), and some amount of lamb liver and or heart daily (I don't know what amounts would be best), would give me all the nutrition I need to have strong bones and healthy hormone levels.  Otherwise, could you please give me some suggestions?  Thank you. --Bob

Answer
I've read previously that candida is generally killed off by removing carbs. The trouble is that candida die-off usually results in rather unpleasant symptoms while doing this.

Another problem is that many of us don't necessarily do well on raw zero-carb. I'm a typical example, like many, the first 2-3 weeks of going raw, zero-carb, I merely experienced a drop in physical performance at the local gym plus some slightly increased mental alertness; it was after that, that things swiftly deteriorated and I started becoming a hospital case, with chronic fatigue, black circles around the eyes and multiple other symptoms. Of course, by way of contrast, there are a number of people such as Lex Rooker and Paleophil on the rawpalaeoforum website who, conversely, actually thrive on raw, zero-carb diets. I guess what I am saying is to try raw,zero-carb first for a few weeks but just to be careful.
Citrus fruits, I've heard are one of the least worst carb-types for a candida-related diet, high-fructose fruits are to be avoided etc. But, raw vegetables may be better.
There are plenty of anti-candida websites which offer info re these matters.


If you're concerned re testosterone, then I would strongly recommend raw wildcaught oysters. It's not just a myth that they increase the sex-drive, oysters contain all sorts of minerals necessary for making sex hormones, and many rawpalaeos will attest to the fact that they work. You could also try raw testicles(what they call in the trade "rocky mountain oysters") - after all, like cures like - though they are an acquired taste.At any rate, you should be eating a wide variety of raw organ-meats as well as all the raw muscle-meats(raw liver you probably don't need that much of as it's so concentrated in nutrients, already). Incidentally, I, like a number of rawpalaeos am not at all fond of raw suet - on the other hand, I find the taste of raw marrow(the creamy not the dry kind) and raw tongue to be much better(they're also full of healthy raw fat). If you can get hold of unusual organs like raw brains, even better(though that is nigh-impossible in Western countries).

Incidentally, while I can accept that (raw)zero-carb can be helpful for some, I do think that there can be an over-reliance in that segment on raw grassfed meats. Palaeo peoples ate a wide variety of other foods such as raw shellfish, raw fish, raw fowl etc, so that I believe it's a good idea to get hold of wild game such as wild ducks/wild hares, wild seafood such as swordfish etc. I am of the firm opinion that most grassfed meat isn't anywhere near as healthy or high-quality as meats from wild animals.

Also, bear in mind that when transitioning to raw, one can often experience side-effects as toxins start leaving the body, namely a detox. For example,my first 2-3 days of going raw led to me having near-constant diarrhea. It's quite common an occurrence.

As for what/when to eat, most rawpalaeos find that 1 large meal a day(over a 4-hour period) is sufficient. This is partly done because constant digestion weakens the body leaving fewer resources left over to help rebuild one's health. You should not do Aajonus' multiple small meals a day as that won't work.

At any rate, the best thing you can do now is get rid of all that starch.

Re other questions you asked:- The white coating sounds like a detox.Incidentally, cooked foods, along with dairy/grains, contain opioids which are notorious for fouling up the body's hormonal/glandular system(perhaps explaining an increase intestosterone plus the rapidly beating heart etc.)

Re nutrients:- On a rawpalaeo diet you don't need to worry about the issue of calcium/magnesium usually as raw meat contains plenty of what you need. On the other hand, I've read that candida can hinder absorption of key nutrients, so that you might consider taking a supplement. I personally am totally against supplements and would far rather prefer eating a food high in minerals/vitamins such as raw oysters. The vitamin C topic is a non-issue. Lex Rooker has pointed out that even those on cooked, zero-carb do not get scurvy-related symptoms. He suggests that vitamin C is needed mostly for eating raw carbs but not so much raw meats. The diet guru Stefansson was of the opinion that as long as the meat was fresh, and only raw or  lightly-cooked that such meats contained enough of whatever substance to prevent scurvy. Vitamin C, which is incidentally present in raw meats, doesn't seem to get totally destroyed until high cooking temperatures are reached, although it is one of the vitamins most easily affected by heat.

Here's further advice for RVAF diet newbies:-

http://tinyurl.com/5rpb9g


It might also prove useful to search the rawpaleodiet yahoo group and rawpaleoforum for mentions of candida as well as to post questions to the board asking about other members' experiences with candida.

HTH,
RPG

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