If you're used to sweet snacks, be willing to deviate from your normal habits when it comes to snacking on the Candida diet. This diet temporarily eliminates sweets and sugars from your diet to control candida, a normally harmless fungus that inhabits your mouth, stomach and vagina. Proponents of this diet, such as Ann Boroch, author of "The Candida Cure," claim eliminating sugar reduces candida overgrowth.
How to Choose Snacks
In general, the Candida diet includes nonstarchy vegetables, eggs, dried beans, tofu, poultry, lean red meat, fresh or canned seafood, nuts and seeds -- except peanuts and pistachios -- plain unsweetened yogurt, avocado and other healthy fats, unaged goat cheese, and coconut milk. Avoid processed meats, mushrooms, starchy vegetables, processed oils, cheese, milk, grains, sugars, fruit and fruit juice except avocado, lemon juice, and lime juice.
Small Bites
Sweet snacks are off-limits, so you'll likely need to reimagine your snack time. Try small-bite snacks such as deviled eggs. All the ingredients are on the OK list except mayonnaise. Use plain, unsweetened yogurt in its place. Another idea is tuna on celery spears. Mix chopped green onions, plain yogurt and spices into the tuna to enhance flavor. Guacamole with cucumber is another snack option. Slice the cucumbers into circles to use as faux "chips."
Homemade Soups
Soups make a hearty snack while on the Candida diet. Because many typical soup ingredients are off-limits, make your own. Prepare cucumber and avocado soup by blending two large avocados with cucumber, onion, garlic and plain yogurt. Slowly add water to get the right consistency, and add salt and pepper to taste. Zucchini soup is also simple to make. Blend two zucchinis with onion, garlic and olive oil, and add salt to taste.
Hearty Salads
Experiment with making a variety of small snack-sized salads to munch on between meals. Mixed greens with avocado slices, unaged goat cheese and cucumbers is one option. Another idea is salad greens with a variety of dried beans such as kidney beans, black beans and white beans. A salmon salad is another filling idea for a snack. Toss mixed greens and add onions, hard-boiled egg slices and 2 ounces of salmon. Drizzle your salad with olive oil or flaxseed oil.
