If your typical breakfast contains items like toast, whole-grain cereal, muffins or pancakes, switching to a candida diet will require you to make some changes. That's because candida diets severely restrict your intake of all cereal grains, dairy and sugar. Promoters of the diet say doing this helps prevent and treat candidiasis, an overgrowth of the yeast candida throughout the body. The American Academy of Allergy and Immunology says candidiasis as a possible health problem requires more study. Do not begin the candida diet until you have talked about it with your doctor.
Eggs, Any Style
Eggs cooked in any style are allowed on the candida diet, as long as they are not combined with cow, oat, almond or rice milk or topped with regular cheese. Pair scrambled, hard- or soft-boiled, poached or fried eggs with fresh, unsweetened fruit for breakfast, or make an omelet filled with sauteed, roasted or steamed nonstarchy vegetables like onions, bell peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, asparagus or tomatoes. If you want to scramble your eggs with a liquid other than water or are craving cheese, use soy milk that does not contain brown rice syrup and soy cheese made without maltodextrin.
Eating yogurt that contains Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria is thought to help control the growth and spread of candida in the body. It's allowed on the candida diet when other dairy products aren't because the fermentation process rids it of most of its lactose, the simple sugar found in milk. For breakfast, try layering plain, unsweetened cow, goat or sheep yogurt with chopped fruit like apples and raw or toasted nuts like walnuts, pecans, cashews or almonds in a tall, clear glass to make a parfait. Avoid using peanuts or pistachios -- these aren't allowed on the diet -- and check the yogurt's label to make certain it contains acidophilus bacteria.
Soy products like tofu, tempeh and texturized vegetable protein, or TVP, are allowed on the candida diet. Break firm tofu into crumbles and saute it with your choice of chopped or sliced vegetables, spices and herbs to make a quick breakfast "scramble." When time is short, make a tofu-based smoothie by pureeing silken tofu with soy milk and a few tablespoons of any sugar-free nut butter other than peanut butter. Oatmeal fans can microwave TVP with soy milk, then stir in alcohol-free vanilla flavoring, chopped nuts and spices like cinnamon or nutmeg for a candida diet-friendly alternative. If you need a sweetener, use stevia.
Items Made With Coconut Flour
While the candida diet forbids the use of all grain-based flours, coconut flour, which is made from dried, ground coconut meat, is an option if you still want to enjoy some traditional flour-based foods in your breakfast menu. Lisa Richards, author of "The Ultimate Candida Diet Program," suggests making waffles using eggs, stevia, vanilla flavoring, baking soda and coconut milk, coconut oil and coconut flour. You can also try substituting coconut flour for regular wheat flour in muffin or pancake recipes. Use 1 cup of coconut flour for every cup of regular flour. Because the weights of these flours differ, use a kitchen scale to verify that each substitute cup of coconut flour you use is equal to the 140 grams a cup of regular flour would weigh.