Ready to Get Started?
We're glad you're here. This guide was created to give you practical, approachable ways to support your health through food while you work with Dr. Maxwell. There's a lot of information here, so don't feel like you need to master it all at once. Use this page as a resource to help you understand the approach, make everyday food choices, and know what to expect along the way.
Nutrition is an important part of addressing Candida overgrowth, but it's only one part of a broader treatment plan. Depending on your individual needs, Dr. Maxwell may also recommend probiotics, targeted supplements, medication, or other supportive care. Your plan will be tailored to you.
Because symptoms associated with Candida can overlap with thyroid disease, anemia, celiac disease, diabetes, and other conditions, it's important to be evaluated by Dr. Maxwell before assuming a cause or beginning a protocol. Be sure to let her know if you are pregnant, take insulin or other glucose-lowering medication, or have a history of disordered eating.
And as always, please seek prompt medical care for fever, difficulty swallowing, severe abdominal pain, or symptoms that worsen rather than improve.
What Candida Is
Candida albicans is a yeast that lives naturally in most human bodies — in the mouth, the gut, and the vaginal tract. Its presence is normal. Its overgrowth is not.
Candida is dimorphic: it takes two forms. In its yeast form it is non-invasive and quietly ferments simple carbohydrates. When conditions allow it to reproduce, it shifts into an invasive fungal form that produces minute root-like projections called rhizoids, which embed into the lining of the intestinal wall.
This is often where symptoms begin. The resulting microscopic perforations are too small for blood to pass into the intestine, but large enough that partially digested food can leak into the bloodstream. The body doesn't recognize that material as food and responds to it as an allergen — which is why new and multiple food sensitivities are so common.
Why Overgrowth Happens
A healthy immune system keeps Candida in check. Overgrowth follows when that control is lost.
- Antibiotics eliminate harmful bacteria — but also the Lactobacillus acidophilus that holds yeast populations down.
- Steroids and steroid-related drugs, including oral contraceptives, cortisone, and prednisone, suppress immune function.
- Chronic stress continuously stimulates the adrenal glands, whose steroid hormones depress immunity and can lead to adrenal exhaustion.
- Disrupted sleep compromises immune response.
- Sugar and refined flour alter intestinal pH and feed the yeast directly.
Other recognized factors: pregnancy, hormonal imbalance, unhealthy glucose metabolism, deficiencies in iron, magnesium, vitamin A and B6, smoking, older age, and inflammatory gut conditions such as Crohn's disease.
How It Shows Up
Candida symptoms are diverse and tend to mimic other conditions — which is why so many people go years without an answer.
- Energy & mind — Fatigue leads the list. Also anxiety, headaches, irritability, dizziness, low mood, poor concentration, memory lapses.
- Digestive — Bloating, gas, heartburn, constipation, diarrhea, gastritis, colitis.
- Genitourinary — Recurring vaginal, bladder, kidney, or prostate infections; menstrual cramps; decreased libido.
- Other — Sweet cravings, joint and muscle aches, skin rashes, sinus or bronchial trouble, chemical and perfume sensitivity.
The Diet
Build every meal around a quality protein, add non-starchy vegetables and a healthy fat, and keep carbohydrates low. Remove sugar and caffeine entirely. Two principles are worth remembering: this is not one-size-fits-all — not everyone tolerates every food on the allowed list — and when in doubt, don't eat it. Concentrate on what you can eat rather than what you can't. Most meats and most vegetables are open to you, which covers the bulk of any main meal.
Foods Allowed
Vegetables
Asparagus, avocado, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, corn, cucumber, eggplant, green & yellow beans, green pepper, legumes, okra, onion, parsley, parsnips, peas, potatoes, radishes, squash, tomatoes, zucchini, beets, carrots, and all greens (beet, collard, kale, lettuce, mustard, spinach, turnip).
Cabbage, turnip, and broccoli help retard Candida growth.
Meats, Poultry, Seafood, Eggs
Beef, chicken, cornish hen, duck, eggs, fish, goose, lamb, pheasant, pork, quail, rabbit, salmon, tuna, turkey, veal; clam, crab, lobster, oyster, shrimp. No processed or smoked meats.
Nuts, Seeds, Fats
Almonds, brazil nuts, filberts, macadamias, pecans, walnuts, pumpkin, sesame & sunflower seeds, butter. Cold-pressed oils: almond, avocado, canola, corn, flaxseed, olive, safflower, sesame, soy, sunflower.
Olive oil is especially useful — its oleic acid appears to inhibit the yeast-to-fungal conversion.
Beverages
Water, club soda, herb teas, decaf coffee, tomato juice in moderation, V8 in small quantities, diet soda with no fruit juice or caffeine.
Dairy — Use Sparingly
Dairy contains lactose, which feeds Candida. Butter is fine. Cream or milk in coffee or tea is fine — never by the glassful.
Whole Grains — Best Avoided, and Only Hot
High in carbohydrate. If eaten: brown rice, barley, buckwheat, oats, millet, rye, wheat, amaranth, quinoa — well cooked, eaten hot, small portions.
Foods to Avoid
Anything Sweet
Sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, sorbitol, Splenda.
All fruit and fruit juice, including dried and candied fruit. Yeast thrives on sugars of any form, including the natural fructose in fresh fruit.
Exception: lemon or lime juice — about 1 g carbohydrate per tablespoon.
Yeast & Mold Sources
Yeast breads and pastries, malt products, vinegar and vinegar-containing foods (ketchup, mustard, commercial egg-based mayonnaise, salad dressings, pickles), fermented foods, cured meats.
Dairy to Exclude
Buttermilk, cottage cheese, unheated cheeses.
Also Avoid
Alcohol, regular coffee and tea, cold cereal (read labels — most contain sugar), crackers, pretzels, peanuts, pistachios, sprouts, sweet potatoes and yams, packaged and processed foods, flour enriched with yeast-derived vitamins.
Check Your Supplements
B-vitamins, chromium, and selenium are frequently derived from yeast. Look for "yeast free" and "sugar free" on the label.
Why Not Yogurt?
Yogurt contains beneficial acidophilus — but it is a dairy product carrying lactose and naturally occurring sugars that feed the yeast. You do need acidophilus on this program. Get it in capsule form, not from yogurt.
The "Cooked and Eaten Hot" Rule
Certain otherwise-restricted foods are permitted only if thoroughly cooked and eaten hot: leftovers, mushrooms, vinegar-containing foods, well-melted cheese, well-toasted bread. Heat kills the yeast, and eating the food hot prevents airborne yeast from settling on it.
Mold has been known to survive high temperatures. If your case is severe — or you'd rather not guess — skip these entirely. Many people do.
Making It Livable
The changes below are the ones patients tell me make the biggest difference — small adjustments that make this way of eating fit into a real life.
Rethink breakfast
Grains and fruit first thing spike insulin and set off carbohydrate cravings for the rest of the day. Soup, stir-fry, reheated leftovers, salad, or a vegetable omelet all make excellent morning meals. This is the single change most patients find hardest — and most useful.
Pack lunch hot
Make soup, stew, or chili ahead, heat it until very hot, and carry it in a wide-mouth thermos. It stays hot for hours and keeps you within the program when there's nothing safe to buy nearby.
Snack within your carb budget
A few nuts, celery or other raw vegetables, home-popped popcorn, homemade trail mix, or organic corn chips with sugar-free salsa — small quantities, no preservatives.
Eating out
Choose unbreaded, unbattered grilled meat, chicken, or fish. A baked potato with butter — no sour cream — is the safest side. Salads are fine with your own dressing, or oil and lemon. Ask whether vegetables are canned; most canned vegetables contain sugar. Mexican food generally works if cheese is thoroughly melted and served hot, though watch for sugary salsas. At Chinese restaurants, stick to stir-fried meat and vegetables; skip noodles and white rice.
On desserts
For most people this is the hardest part. Stevia is the best-tolerated sweetener — use pure concentrated powder rather than blends cut with maltodextrin, which taste bitter. Less is more: too much stevia makes food taste bitter, not sweeter. Roughly ¼ teaspoon sweetens an entire batch of pudding.
Beyond the Plate
Diet is an important part of the protocol, but it is not the entire treatment. Depending on your individual situation, your treatment plan may also include probiotics, targeted supplements, and/or antifungal medication prescribed or recommended by Dr. Maxwell. The habits below further support the same goal.
- Clean your air conditioner filters regularly. Yeasts and molds thrive in damp cooling units.
- Avoid damp basements and root cellars where you can. Use a dehumidifier, or wear a face mask if you must spend time there.
- Protect your sleep. Disrupted sleep compromises immune response directly.
- Manage stress. Chronic stress drives adrenal steroid output, which suppresses the immunity that keeps Candida in check.
- Take the probiotic recommended by your physician — best taken with food.
- Stop smoking, and avoid alcohol.
Reintroducing foods
Once you're clear, add restricted foods back slowly — a few items at a time — so that any reaction is easy to trace. Afterward, go easy on sweets, especially white sugar, and on yeast-containing foods such as breads, cheeses, and vinegar. Plan reintroduction with Dr. Maxwell rather than on your own.
When to call the office
Contact Dr. Maxwell if symptoms worsen rather than improve after several weeks, if you develop fever or difficulty swallowing, or if you experience severe abdominal pain. Untreated overgrowth can become systemic. Do not wait for a scheduled follow-up if something feels wrong.
Recipes
Twelve recipes to start with — breakfast through dessert. All are within the program as written; adjust seasoning freely, but keep the sweeteners and the heat instructions as given.
Mock Pizza
1 lb ground beef · 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste · 1 small can tomato sauce · 1 tsp oregano · 1 tsp basil · ½ tsp garlic powder · ½ cup grated mozzarella
Brown the beef in a large pan; drain the grease. Stir in tomato paste, tomato sauce, and spices. Heat very thoroughly. Add cheese and heat until fully melted. Serve steaming hot — this level of heat kills any yeast in the tomato paste or cheese.
Vegetable Omelet
2 eggs · ¾ cup diced mixed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, onion) · ¼ cup diced fresh tomato · 2 Tbsp water · butter or oil
Heat butter in an 8-inch pan. Beat eggs and water until thoroughly mixed. Pour into the hot pan and cook until you can flip it. Add vegetables to one half, slide that half onto a plate, and fold the empty side over. Top with fresh tomato.
Simple Stir-Fry
½ lb chicken in 1″ cubes · 1 cup each carrots, broccoli, cauliflower · 2 Tbsp oil · 1–2 cloves garlic · 6 sliced almonds · ¼ cup water · 3–4 Tbsp whole wheat flour · 1 sliced tomato · 1 tsp salt
Cut vegetables bite-size. Heat 1 Tbsp oil; add crushed garlic and almonds and stir until just browning. Add chicken and stir-fry about 3 minutes; remove. Add remaining oil, then vegetables — cook until crisp-tender. Return chicken, add water and salt, simmer 1 minute. Stir in flour to absorb moisture. Serve over brown rice, topped with tomato.
Creamy Avocado Dressing
1 ripe avocado · 3 Tbsp lemon juice · ¼ cup cold-pressed olive or avocado oil · 2–3 Tbsp water · 1 small clove garlic · ¼ tsp onion powder · ½ tsp salt · fresh parsley, chopped
Scoop the avocado into a blender with the lemon juice, garlic, onion powder, and salt. Blend smooth. With the motor running, pour the oil in slowly until thick and glossy. Add water a tablespoon at a time to reach the consistency you want — thicker for a spread, thinner for a dressing. Stir in the parsley by hand.
Keeps two days covered in the refrigerator. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface to slow browning. Use it anywhere you would use mayonnaise — tuna salad, chicken salad, or over sliced tomato.
Lemon & Oil Dressing
2 Tbsp lemon juice · 6 Tbsp cold-pressed oil · ½–1 small clove garlic
Whisk lemon juice and oil until well combined. Crush the garlic and whisk again until thoroughly mixed. Re-whisk before each use.
Homemade French Fries
Potatoes · cold-pressed oil · salt
Commercial fries contain dextrose, so make your own. Cut potatoes into fry shapes. Heat 1–2 inches of oil until hot, then carefully add the potatoes — they will spit. Stir occasionally to keep them from sticking. Cook to golden brown, drain on paper towel, and salt lightly.
The same potatoes, grated, make hash browns or potato pancakes.
Ginger Ale
3½ cups water · 4-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped · 2 Tbsp vanilla flavoring · 3 tsp non-alcoholic lemon flavoring · ½ tsp stevia powder, to taste
Boil the ginger in the water 10 minutes. Strain out the ginger, then stir in vanilla, lemon flavoring, and stevia. Cool and refrigerate as a syrup concentrate — it tastes best after sitting overnight. To serve, add ⅛–¼ cup syrup to 6–8 oz sparkling water or club soda.
Vanilla Custard
2 cups vanilla rice milk or dairy milk · 3 eggs · 10–14 drops stevia extract · 1 tsp vanilla · ⅛ tsp salt · nutmeg
Heat milk and stevia just to boiling; cool 5 minutes. Beat eggs, vanilla, and salt until smooth, then gradually beat in the hot milk. Pour into 5 custard cups, dust with nutmeg, and set in a roasting pan with 1 inch of hot water. Bake uncovered at 325°F for 45–60 minutes, until a knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool, then refrigerate.
Baked Chicken with Herbs
4 chicken thighs or breasts, skin on · 2 Tbsp olive oil · 1 tsp each oregano and basil · ½ tsp garlic powder · 1 small onion, sliced · salt and pepper
Heat the oven to 375°F. Rub the chicken with olive oil and press the herbs, garlic powder, salt, and pepper into the skin. Scatter the onion across the bottom of a baking dish and lay the chicken on top. Bake uncovered 40–45 minutes, until the juices run clear and the skin has browned. Serve hot.
Make double. Cold roast chicken is the easiest lunch on this program, and the carcass makes stock for soup.
Hearty Vegetable Soup
2 Tbsp olive oil · 1 onion, chopped · 2 cloves garlic · 2 carrots, sliced · 2 celery stalks · 1 cup each chopped cabbage and green beans · 1 can diced tomatoes · 6 cups chicken or beef stock · 1 tsp each oregano and basil · salt and pepper
Warm the oil in a large pot. Cook the onion and garlic until soft, about 5 minutes. Add carrots and celery; cook 5 minutes more. Add everything else, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer 30–35 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
Cabbage and broccoli help retard Candida growth — both work well here. Reheat leftovers until steaming.
Carob Pudding
2 cups rice milk or dairy milk · 3 Tbsp carob powder · 3 Tbsp cornstarch · ¼ tsp stevia powder, to taste · 1 tsp vanilla · ⅛ tsp salt · 1 Tbsp butter
Whisk the carob powder, cornstarch, stevia, and salt together in a saucepan. Add the milk slowly, whisking until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens and just begins to bubble — about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and butter. Pour into four cups and chill.
Carob satisfies a chocolate craving without the caffeine. Start with less stevia than you think you need — too much turns it bitter.
Sugar-Free Lemon Meringue Pie
Crust
½ cup slivered almonds · ¾ cup whole wheat flour · ⅛ tsp stevia · 2 Tbsp butter · 2 egg whites · ¼ tsp almond extract
Toast almonds in a dry skillet. Process with flour, stevia, and butter until the almonds are coarsely chopped. Add egg whites and extract; process to a ball. Press into a 9-inch pie plate, prick with a fork, bake at 375°F for 15 minutes.
Filling
2 cups rice milk or skim milk · 3 egg yolks · ½ tsp stevia · 2 Tbsp lemon juice · 1 Tbsp vanilla · 2 tsp grated lemon rind · 2 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbsp water
Combine everything except the cornstarch in a double boiler over boiling water; cook 10 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the cornstarch and cook until thickened. Pour into the crust and let stand 15 minutes.
Meringue
3 egg whites · ¼ tsp cream of tartar · ⅛ tsp stevia · 1 tsp vanilla
Beat the whites until frothy, add cream of tartar, and beat to stiff peaks. Beat in stevia and vanilla. Spread over the filling and bake at 425°F for 8–10 minutes, until lightly browned.
A Sample Three-Day Plan
Three days to show how the pieces fit together. These are illustrations, not prescriptions — swap in any allowed food you prefer, and adjust portions to your own appetite and carbohydrate target.
Day One
Approximately 68 g carbohydrate
- Breakfast
- Vegetable omelet made with two eggs, broccoli, cauliflower, and onion, topped with fresh tomato. Herb tea or decaf coffee.
- Lunch
- Hearty vegetable soup carried hot in a thermos, with a small handful of almonds.
- Dinner
- Baked chicken with herbs, steamed green beans, and a green salad with lemon and oil dressing.
- Snack
- Celery sticks, or a few walnuts.
Day Two
Approximately 71 g carbohydrate
- Breakfast
- Reheated leftover chicken and vegetables, eaten hot. Herb tea.
- Lunch
- Large green salad with grilled shrimp, avocado, cucumber, and radishes, dressed with creamy avocado dressing.
- Dinner
- Simple stir-fry with chicken and vegetables over a small portion of brown rice, eaten hot.
- Snack
- Home-popped popcorn, lightly salted.
Day Three
Approximately 66 g carbohydrate
- Breakfast
- Mock pizza, served steaming hot. Decaf coffee with a splash of cream.
- Lunch
- Tuna or salmon salad bound with creamy avocado dressing, over lettuce with sliced tomato.
- Dinner
- Baked fish with butter and lemon, roasted brussels sprouts, and homemade french fries.
- Dessert
- Vanilla custard, or carob pudding.
A note on counting
The daily totals above are approximate. You do not need to weigh food or track every gram — the point of the number is to keep you oriented. Most people find that building meals from protein, non-starchy vegetables, and healthy fat lands them close to target without arithmetic. If you are using insulin or another glucose-lowering medication, talk with Dr. Maxwell before reducing carbohydrate intake.
About this handout
Prepared by Dr. Nicole Maxwell, NMD, for the patients of Rooted Health Online. This material is educational and is intended to support an individualized treatment plan developed with your physician. It does not replace evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment.
Questions about anything here? Bring them to your next visit, or contact the office.