hi Claudio,

Thankyou for sharing the information about yourself. No wonder you feel so frustrated! You are right, most doctors do not believe that Candidiasis, or Hypoglycemia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome even exist, except inside our heads. But there ARE some good doctors out there, who have open minds and are willing to work with you to help you get better. They are just hard to find! Are there any naturopaths, or doctors who specialize in Chinese, Ayurveda or herbal & homeopathic medicine in Buenos Aires? Many good chiropractors are also educated and experienced to help you with these chronic health problems. You should be able to phone and ask. If they are good, and care about YOU, they will be happy to explain how they can help before you make the appointment (and hand over the money).

You do not need to have a doctor's "permission" to follow your chosen diet. However, it's not clear from what you have said which diet plan you are following. Atkins? Protein Power? NeanderThin or the Paleolithic Diet? There is a "ketogenic diet" used for children who have epilepsy/seizure disorder, that is very low carbohydrate AND very low protein, and very HIGH fat. I don't think that would be so good for your particular health concerns. "The Ketogenic Diet" by Lyle Macdonald isn't so much a diet plan itself, as it mostly explains how the popular programs (Atkins etc) work.

A nutritious lowcarb diet, eating lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs, etc, and fresh vegetables with lots of fiber, maybe a small amount of lowcarb fruits (berries, melon, grapefruit, etc) will be helpful for all of the problems you mentioned. Avoid eating a lot of animal fat; instead, use unsaturated vegetable oils, olive oil, nuts, almonds etc. For Candidiasis, it would be good to avoid dairy products also, so no cheese, cream, yogurt, etc. Obviously, you want to avoid bread, sugar and sweets of ANY kind, noodles, rice, corn, cassava, potatoes etc, etc, etc ... Eat 5 or 6 small mini-meals and snacks through the day, instead of 2 or 3 larger meals. Make sure to have some protein at every meal and snack too.

Don't be so hard on yourself to try to cure all of your "addictions" at once. Work on the sugar and carbohydrates first. Cut back the coffee and caffeine, but if it's something you truly enjoy, then have it, just limit yourself to maybe one or two cups a day.

I will recommend this book again to you. "Recetas nutritivas que curan", by James Balch and Phyllis Balch. It is excellent, with large amounts of information on Candida, Hypoglyemia, Chronic Fatigue and Depression. It does not deal with lowcarbohydrate diets though, but it does list lots of herbs and vitamins you can take to help feel better.

I think if you are able to get your physical health better, with a good diet and nutritional supplements, that your mental problems will improve also. It's hard to be happy when your body feels so blaaaaahhhhh! And don't ignore exercise. Even going for a walk is very good to boost the mood, and helps keep the blood sugar stable.

Good luck, hope you are feeling better soon.

Doreen