Greetings.
It's naturopath, Eric Bakker, author of Candida Crusher, formulator of the Canxida range of
dietary supplements.
I've got a question today from a lady in New York who wants to remain anonymous.
Her question is "Eric is buckwheat okay for Candida?
Can I eat buckwheat if I've got digestive problems?"
Actually, you can eat buckwheat, but let's just look at some common sense first.
When you're first starting out on a Candida diet approach, you need to first pull back,
of course, on the obvious crap out of your diet, the junk.
Be careful if you haven't eaten grains like buckwheat or quinoa or oats or amaranth or
any of these kinds of grains or nuts or seeds or for that matter, chickpeas and beans, and
things like that.
Many people will stop one thing and start something else, and they'll often eat way
too much when they first start and then get aggravations.
If you haven't eaten buckwheat before, my advice is to go very slowly with buckwheat
flour or buckwheat groats and to eat small, small amounts incorporated into your diet
every now and then.
Maybe once or twice a week and then gradually build up until you can tolerate them more.
Remember, you're digestive organs have to slowly change and develop more enzymes and
secrete these to allow these foods to be broken down properly.
The bacteria have to modify and perhaps shift in one direction or another there as well
and modify their colonies and populations to adapt to the kind of new diet as well.
It's not just a matter of a mechanical process of swallowing and eating and now I've got
a problem.
What's wrong with me?
The body has to adapt to these things.
Just like muscles have to adapt to exercise.
Just like how your endocrine or your hormone system has to adapt to sleeping and work patterns.
Everything in the body is about adapting to some kind of stress.
So eating a new kind of carbohydrate in the diet, that will be a stress you're putting
on the body, so an adaptation has to occur.
You have to do that on a gradual process.
Be wary of websites that say you can't eat this and you can't eat that.
I've just had a look at about a half a dozen websites that say that buckwheat, quinoa,
oats, all of these are 100 percent strictly forbidden on a Candida diet.
Almost sounds like some kind of a preacher talking.
Some kind of religious experience, so you can't do this and you can't do that.
I love it when people say that.
Common sense prevails when it comes to Candida.
There are certainly some "yes" and "no", some "cant's" and "cans."
You'd have to be crazy to think that you could drink coca cola on a Candida diet or to drink
alcohol on a Candida diet.
That's just crazy even believing that.
Whether you're religious or not.
You'd have to be a knot head to believe that.
In my opinion, it's the same when it comes to grains like quinoa and buckwheat and amaranth.
Many people say no and some people say yes.
Only you can be the judge of what that grain is going to be like in your digestive system
in terms of any effects it's producing.
Buckwheat is okay, but when you're starting out on a Candida diet, go easy on it and gradually
build it up.
In fact, buckwheat is a very nice grain.
I like it.
I like millet as well.
I like puffed millet and I just like plain millet.
It's very nice to incorporate, to cook, and to add small amounts into salads and into
your diet.
We eat a lot of quinoa and it's a beautiful grain to eat.
I like it even cooked in chicken stock.
It's a very tasty addition as a side serve.
Oats.
I have oats most mornings.
And I think small amounts of a steel cut oat are perfectly fine to have with people with
Candida.
In fact, when you deny people all these grains from their diet, they quickly get bored with
just all vegetables and meats.
What a boring diet.
Just meat and vegetables.
Very boring.
And many people lose weight and energy on these grain starved diets as well.
Buckwheat is okay.
Think about soba noodles because they're buckwheat noodles.
Soba is quite a nice addition to your diet as well.
Different ways you can incorporate buckwheat into your diet.
Buckwheat pancakes, for example, with blueberries are very, very nice for people with Candida
infections.
Just don't put lots and lots of sugar or maple syrup on it.
But just make some buckwheat pancakes up and there are plenty of recipes you can get and
have some nice fresh blueberries on that.
Very tasty addition to the diet.
Can you have buckwheat?
You can.
Go easy to start with.
Gradually build up and make sure you also incorporate other seeds, nuts, and grains
alongside buckwheat.
Thanks for your question.