Ketogenic Diet and Hormones

I know the protocol calls for a Paleo diet, but what are your opinions on a Ketogenic diet? Its basically Paleo without carbs I think.
I'm following the protocol 100%, but I eat very low carbs, my carbs only coming from non-starchy vegetables, due to suspecting Candida symptoms. (Thrush, Chronic Sinus problems etc) (I think I remember reading somewhere that English did this as he was fighting parasites)
So the main question is, should my hormones still recover without carbs, as long as I get plenty healthy fats, or should I include carbs even though I suspect Candida? (If so which carbs are best for gut issues?)

Slighly off topic question: Can I add hot water to the herbs? I noticed I really enjoy the taste of them and wouldn't mind drinking them as a tea lol

Thanks

I remember basically fighting against CDNuts over his diet protocol because when he said go on a "paleo type diet", I thought he was referring to this ^^^^ the ketogenic diet.

Tried that diet. That diet suckkkkkkkkkkkkks fam. I hated it lol whether or not it helps, idk, but lemme just tell you, I hate that diet xD

I've heard the ketogenic diet is terrible on your thyroid, which is probably the last thing you need at this point.

I was in deep ketosis for 3 months although I felt "better" my libido was poor and was always cold due to though thyroid from deprivation of carbs

Fair enough, seems that it isn't good.
I have no idea whether I'm in ketosis or not, I just eat Paleo but without the starches, fruit or grains, I still eat a lot of low carb veggies, onions etc. This is due to the general advice of avoiding them when you have candida overgrowth. I'm not trying to follow ketogenic.
Maybe I should just add some starches post workout? Regardless of candida.. I wouldn't want to damage my thyroid.

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Originally Posted by Benq123

Fair enough, seems that it isn't good.
I have no idea whether I'm in ketosis or not, I just eat Paleo but without the starches, fruit or grains, I still eat a lot of low carb veggies, onions etc. This is due to the general advice of avoiding them when you have candida overgrowth. I'm not trying to follow ketogenic.
Maybe I should just add some starches post workout? Regardless of candida.. I wouldn't want to damage my thyroid.

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Post-workout, do complex, gluten-free carbs, such as potatoes, rice, grains like quinoa, millet, sorghum......eat clean, high quality carbs. If you must have chips or something, I opt for organic corn chips....not the greatest thing ever but much better than the alternative.

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Originally Posted by Ceremonious

The general advice of a 'sugar-free' diet when dealing with candida or fungal overgrowth doesn't really help deal with the problem as they can utilise other food sources when deprived of their primary one. As Maxout suggested you could do carb backloading with good quality carbs and at the same time I would suggest finding and applying a good protocol to rebalance your gut flora. Oil of oregano in the morning and throughout the day and then take a high quality, high dose probiotic (50-100M units) before bed would be a good start.

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This is correct. The typical advice of avoiding sugar to try and rid yourself of candida is poor advice at best. You're never going to eliminate sugar from your diet because your body runs on glucose and will do what it has to, to free up that fuel in your system.

I know of people that have gotten rid of candida doing a 100% raw food diet where 90% of their calories came from raw fruit. That's nothig but sugar. It's not about avoiding sugar but about balancing your system that has gotten thrown off track.

One way to do this is to become as healthy as you can possibly be, ie, the protocol. Or you can add in natural things that fight candida as ceremonius has mentioned.

I would look into jamming your body full of good probiotics and eating alot of fermented foods while doing the majority of the things mentioned in the protocol. Eventually the tide will turn in favor of the correct balance and the candida will be a thing of the past.

In terms of antifungals like oregano as you mentioned, I use a lot of coconut oil, garlic, ginger, turmeric and pau D'Arco so I think I have that covered.
In terms of probiotics I eat a lot of homemade Sauerkraut and I have Kombucha (been avoiding it recently due to fearing the sugar/alcohol.) I could add a probiotic supplement but do you think it's necessary? I heard fermented foods were much more effective. I also eat a lot of prebiotic foods.
I'll slowly start adding good quality carbs post workout like swede, carrots, potatoes and eventually some grains as advised.

Thanks

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Originally Posted by Ceremonious

A probiotic isn't necessary if you are already consuming fermented foods. For me personally I tried but couldn't stand sauerkraut or most fermented foods so I found taking a probiotic much more preferable. However with the oil of oregano I mentioned the point of it is to pretty much disinfect your gut during the day (it will kill the good bacteria as well) and then before sleeping you take a high dose probiotic to let it go to work overnight and the process starts again the next morning and you rinse and repeat for however long it takes.

There's multiple ways to fix your gut so you can go with what works for you but you have to keep in mind what screwed it up in the first place is most likely a hormonal imbalance so you have to work on everything at the same time (which is where Cds protocol comes in) and get your whole system rebalanced.

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Awesome, thanks man, I'll stick to it then, I've had gut problems since I was about 15 so might take some time, but yeah hormonal imbalance made things worse (e.g. now i can't tolerate dairy)
I'm doing everything on the CD protocol, with currently 14 different herbs cycled.

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Originally Posted by Benq123

Awesome, thanks man, I'll stick to it then, I've had gut problems since I was about 15 so might take some time, but yeah hormonal imbalance made things worse (e.g. now i can't tolerate dairy)
I'm doing everything on the CD protocol, with currently 14 different herbs cycled.

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Obviously if you cannot tolerate dairy, then stay away from it for the time being. You may find you're able to tolerate it sometime down the line. (which is the case for many people that have a dietary allergy once they remove the original problem creating the intolerance.)

You can, and should increase the amount of herbs in your rotation to as many different ones as you can get as this boosts testosterone (and other hormones) from as many different angles as possible. While 14, and even less will give you results, people always mention how when they increase the variation of herbs, the results come quicker and stronger. I have noticed this myself which is why it is recommended.