Over the years the phrase 'Candida cleanse' has had plenty of publicity and there are still many questions surrounding what it is and how it works to get rid of your yeast infection permanently.
Let's try to clear some issues up for you.
Isn't a 'Candida cleanse' actually just a fancy name for taking loads of fiber and cleaning your bowels out? It is surprising how many people think so! While you do take on extra fiber to help flush the toxins from your system this is a very small part of the process.
A true Candida cleanse is really about using diet and supplements to get rid of the Candid overgrowth that you are experiencing.
It does this in four ways.
By;

1. Eradicating your infection
2. Helping our immune system
3. Getting rid of toxins
4. Repairing the damage caused by all of the above.
   

I can do all of this just by eating certain foods? There is a lot of focus on the food portion of a Candida cleanse, but this is only half of the picture.
The real work gets done when we add certain supplements to the mix.
Without these the diet becomes just another weight loss plan.
What foods can we eat during a Candida cleanse? There are two reasons why we restrict certain types of foods during a Candida cleanse;

1. So that you starve the fungus of its food source.
   
2. To remove foods which irritate our immune system.
   

To do this we need to stop eating all sugar and foods that convert to sugar, like starches and carbohydrates.
Moldy food also tends to irritate the fungus.
We also need to remove foods that we could be sensitive to, like gluten and dairy.
For the first few weeks it pays to only eat; green leafy vegetables, non starchy vegetables - like broccoli and cauliflower, asparagus, zucchini, cucumber, eggs, lean lamb, chicken, fish, nuts and seeds.
Will I lose weight on a Candida cleanse? What tends to happen is that people do drop weight quite quickly, but as they reach their natural ideal weight then the weight loss slows down and you tend to just sit right around that ideal.
Remember that you can eat as many portions of the 'good foods' as you like - As confusing as it sounds, most of the weight loss comes from not eating the highly processed, refined, fatty foods that we were eating.
What sort of supplements do we need to take and how dangerous are they? The supplements that we need to take in a Candida cleanse involve;

• Natural anti-fungal remedies - there are 7 natural supplement that are brilliant anti-fungals.
  The trick with these is to rotate them so that the fungus does not build up a resistance to any of them.
  
• Support for the kidneys and liver - they will have a lot of work to do, so will need help to move the toxins through quickly.
  
• Support for the healing process - your body has had quite a bit of damage done to its internal tissue and systems, so we need to take supplements that will help to repair the damage done.
  
• Supplements for removing toxins - we all have some degree of heavy metal and parasitic poisoning.
  If we want to make a full recovery and not be hampered by this again then we need to gently remove everything that will interfere with our immune system.
  This detox part of the Candida cleanse can be started as soon as you are comfortable with the diet - usually within a couple of weeks.
  

Any supplementation whether pharmaceutical or natural should be undertaken with care, so please follow the instructions on the packaging or the advice of your Candida cleanse program provider.
If in any doubt seek medical advice.
What about side effects? There is a lot of information about a phenomenon called 'Candida Die Off' or the Herxheimer response.
While the Candida are alive they produce toxic chemicals as a by-product.
When the fungi die, they release a whole flood of these toxins into the body which can cause an immediate worsening of symptoms.
This can last anywhere from a couple of days to a week or more.
This is where you fiber shakes are really handy, as they help to flush these toxins out of your system really quickly.
Taking extra supplements like vitamin C can also help.