Title: Bye Bye Candida, Hello Abs! How to Beat the Yeast in Just 12 Weeks!
Author: Elle Energy
Year: 2017
Publisher: Bybliotech
Synopsis: Guide to beating the Candida yeast parasite with a focused diet.
Review: This book is the ultimate vindication for anyone who has felt sure that there was something wrong with the way their body handles food, but hasn’t been able to put their finger on it, much less find a doctor with the patience to help.
Elle experienced this very problem, but got self-educated on Candida and took back control of her body. The world is full of nutrition theories for underlying problems, aimed at people who are sure they are doing everything right and turning up no results; writers like Elle remind us that sometimes, those individuals are completely correct.
In a world of beauty standards and fat shaming, seeing evidence of this can be liberating for for those who have struggled inexplicably with fat, flabbiness and fatigue. The book is by no means simply a book about getting thin and looking good; it is an ode to how important it is to feel healthy and energetic.
Friends and family telling Elle she looked “fine” was not enough. She knew it wasn’t about what they thought – it was about realising that only you really know your body. It is a positive example of self-diagnosis, often regarded with great scepticism. Although, the book does not by any means encourage eschewing professional advice – on the contrary, Elle encourages talking to a nutritionist to confirm Candida.
It does, however, criticise a health system that is quick to disregard “the wisdom of the crowd”, ignoring anecdotal testimony gathered from the internet. We still live in an age where doctors are used to handing down their verdict unquestioned, without knowing how the sufferer actually feels – which is usually the best indicator of health.
It seems to me that most people reading will not have Candida, but rather will attribute Candida to what should really be a matter of general lifestyle change. But one of the advantages of this book is that the advised Candida-busting diet would also help solve more generally poor dietary habits.
Elle is keen to press that the Candida diet is not a “fad” diet. I think, in her definition, fad diets involve no permanent change. Because of the sharp detox period, a short shock to remind your cheeky id that it doesn’t need all those things it craves, it looks similar – but an important point is that Elle is an athlete, not a beachbody advocate. Athletes can’t afford fad diets, because they must keep their energy levels up.
Ultimately, the book is about taking back control and that includes socially. Elle encourages readers to assert their needs, advice generalisable well beyond Candida. “The biggest thing for me … was getting over my fear of being ‘the picky one’,” she writes. “Once you give up that embarrassment and demand what YOU need, life becomes so much easier.”
As with any decent guide to dietary change, Elle gives tested tips on how to obtain certain desired flavours as replacement. Candida feeds off sugar, so when Elle wanted a sweet kind of flavour, she used cinnamon. She also advocates, unconventionally, sweeteners: stevia and xylitol. It’s mainly about ingredients and not processes, so there’s no push towards a raw food diet, which is off-putting for many. Indeed, Elle offers a great list of cakes to perk up the diet.
Although the Candida diet does not seem ideal for vegans in Elle’s envisioning of it (she likes a bit of fish and egg), it is non-dairy and mostly meat free, so the hard work is done and only a few adaptations are needed.
Vegan “meats” are generally made of wheat, soy or nuts, all off the menu, and for Elle’s bakery recipes, vegans will need an alternative “binder” – you can’t use banana, either, because fruit is also out. Ellie blows right open the notion that fruit is this wondrous magic food that will keep the doctor away.
Being creative with green vegetables and non-vinegar seasoning is the key to this diet, vegan or otherwise. It’s adaptable to a lot of other dietary restrictions, such as wheat-free and many common allergies. It strikes me that this diet would help anyone, not just a Candida sufferer.
For sure, it’s a difficult diet, only for the highly driven – it is focused around the detox principle, whereby you flush out the existing problem and then move onto preventing its recurrence. The upside is that the prevention stage is much easier to maintain.
Elle’s upbeat and optimistic testimony serves to bolster the reader through the journey. Her photos (and there are a lot of them) show you that her transformation isn’t a one-off posed photoshoot, but an ongoing alteration for the better, in terms of fitness, strength and wellness.
Summary: A sincere living example and fitness guru Elle Energy convinces that the Candida yeast parasite is real and present, that it can be beaten, and that the transformation is life-changing, offering new hope for anyone struggling with an untoned belly no matter how they work out. The results and her personal journey, with photos, recipes and tips for ab-building make for a comprehensive guide not merely to looking good but permanently getting fit and healthy.
There’s a booming market of books on candida these days, and if you’ve ever had issues with Candida albicans (or suspect you have), it can be intimidating trying to figure out which books to trust for reliable information and guidance. Thankfully, there are books written specifically to help those living with this fungal infection that can help promote better overall health and provide recipes tailored to your specific dietary needs while on the candida cure.
Whether it’s books devoted solely to tackling candida albicans, candida diet books, or candida cure cookbooks, they can all be invaluable when giving your immune system the boost it needs to get back in tip top shape.
Book rating: 8/10
Favourite quote: “Always think of your cravings for sugar as not your own but those of the parasite Candida and this will help you to eliminate feelings of withdrawal.”
You can get your copy of “Bye Bye Candida, Hello Abs!” on Amazon.
