About Me

So who am I and what do I know about Candida? Let's just say that what I lack in professional experience and qualifications, I certainly make up for in personal understanding! Besides, my dear friend and Qualified Nutritionist, Katherine Dempsey, has been my mentor throughout my own personal journey and has validated everything I have stated in my book.

At the age of thirty five, I was eventually diagnosed with Candida. I didn't have a clue what it was as I had never heard of it before, but I didn't care as it meant that there was actually a name for what was wrong with me and my mental health was no longer in question. My new found elation was soon dashed when I was told what I had to do to get rid of the thing! All I heard was: 'This is what you can't eat anymore.' It was a negative right from the start. I love my food and to be told that one of the only things that could improve my current state of misery was to be taken away from me, I began to wonder whether life was actually worth living. I thought that I had reached rock bottom as it was, but now this?

When I was taken through the process of the Candida diet and then informed that as the Candida was dying, my symptoms would actually be more exacerbated (known as the 'Herxheimer Reaction') and I would start to feel worse before I got better, I couldn't believe my ears! Was there anything positive to come out of this? There was ... and my book is going to tell you exactly what.

Without boring you with every single detail of my symptoms (as I have dedicated a whole chapter to me in my book!), I will just say that, before I stepped foot into Katherine's clinic, I couldn't leave the house to go anywhere without planning all my toilet stops on the way, due to my persistent cystitis. Car journeys were a complete nightmare, sometimes resulting in me having to go to the toilet in lay-bys or at the side of the road. I got to know every public lavatory in about a 100 mile radius. Aside from how painful this was for me each time, it was also extremely embarrassing socially. I had to weigh up the situation in each case: do I keep getting up and disappearing to the toilet every 10 minutes and not give any explanation as to what I was doing in there, or do I just go for it and announce to everyone present that there was something up with my urinary tract, but nobody knew what?! Decisions, decisions … 'but if I sit here and hold it in for much longer, so it doesn't look like I've only just been to the toilet two minutes ago, it is going to hurt so much that I'm probably going to start crying and as it is I can't concentrate on what they're saying to me, as all I can think about is my bladder!'

That's only the start of it … there's nothing worse than being invited round to someone's house for dinner and having to excuse yourself with an upset stomach before dessert is served (and, of course, the bathroom is usually conveniently situated either directly next to the dining room or at least above it!). Mortifying or what?! I can make light of this now, as it is in my past and I can't change any of what happened to me, so I have to laugh about it. Even though I still like to be careful with what I eat, my overgrowth of Candida is now under control. I can enjoy a normal life, but if I push it too far, then I know what I've got to do to get back on track. I hope that, with my help, one day you will find yourself in the same situation.

Do you want to change your life? Then read on ...