Getting Started


Where Do I Start?

fungus-linkThank you for getting started! There are many reasons for visiting this website. For many of you, this is your first time visiting us and perhaps either our TV show or a friend has referred you to us. This page will help you better understand our diets and the reason for following them. If you are on a special diet because your doctor might wish to restrict certain foods, please check with them before beginning our diets. While on the subject of your doctor, if he or she requires more information on the fungus link to disease, our home page (Doctors and Health Professionals) provides an extraordinary amount of scientific information geared to medical professionals who want more information. Please tell your doctor that this technical information is updated regularly by one of Americans leading fungal specialists, Luke Curtis, MD.

We have long called our phase one diet an "experimental diet." Many people are amazed at how much better they feel while on the diet. Weight loss and sometimes symptom remission will be noticed while sticking to the diet. This confirms one of two things; that food allergy existed to certain foods that you are now avoiding, or that by sticking to this diet, you have effectively starved a parasite from your body. Fungi are known human parasites and they must get food from your diet once they are aboard our bodies. Most of us unknowingly feed these fungi when we eat pasta, cereals, bread, sugar, potatoes, or alcohol (to name very few).

For some, experimenting with the diet is done to prove that they can control their symptoms, while for others this diet has become an important part of a permanent lifestyle change. Many feel so good that they begin a regular exercise program. Know that as you exert more energy, two things become very important; hydration (drink a lot of water) and increasing the amount of natural sugar in your diet. Beans offer a good source of both carbohydrates and proteins whereas an increase in fruit intake will increase natural sugar in the fruit called "fructose." As you will learn, this opens the door to our phase two diet.

Generally, improvement is noticed within the first week, but for some people, it may take 2-3 weeks. It took many years or decades for your health problems to begin, so please be patient and give this diet time to work for you.

We appreciate you dropping in! As improvement is noticed, please know that we are vigilant about updating both this website and our presence on social networks. Please continue your education, on us, by subscribing to our free monthly newsletter, called Know This! Also watch our daily show, Know The Cause, to stay informed and updated on living "fungal free!" We know that you are probably 30 days away from sending your family and friends to this very page! We're ready for them! Enjoy!

Diet

I vividly recall my early days on the then nameless, “horrible, rotten, restrictive diet.” Even though expert nutritionists cautioned me about eating the “too fattening” avocado and “cholesterol raising” eggs, I had learned that fungus disliked these foods and at the time, I just wanted to control this overgrowth of fungus that I thought I had. If these experts were correct, heck I could always run off my avocado induced weight and find an antidote for high cholesterol! Of course, 35 years later, we know that avocados and eggs are absolutely fine to eat in most instances. Many people on this diet find that their health elevates to a level where both they and their doctors are amazed at how good they feel! This can either be chalked up to food hypersensitivity or starving of the fungus that was responsible for the symptoms in the first place. Either way, many are living better because of this breakthrough approach to eating. In 2005, I wrote a recipe book entitled Eating Your Way to Good Health, that included recipes developed through the years that made this diet easier to follow. The book has been yet another hit because it enabled those who chose to make this diet more permanent a feast instead of a chore! I have learned that some people simply cannot afford the books with the diet in them and for this reason I have decided to simply publish the foods that are OK to eat on this diet in an effort to help everyone coming to our website: 

Meats:

Beef, Fish, Poultry, Lamb, Turkey, Pork

Nuts:

Raw nuts, including pecans, almonds, walnuts, cashews, and pumpkin seeds.  Stored Nuts tend to gather mold, so be careful!
No Peanuts and No Pistachio's 

Vegetables:

Most fresh, unblemished vegetables and freshly made vegetable juice. (avoid mushrooms, corn, and potatoes)

Beverages:

Bottled or filtered water, non-fruity herbal teas, stevia sweetened fresh lemonade or limeade, freshly squeezed carrot juice.

Fruits:

Berries, grapefruit, lemon, lime, green apples, avocado, fresh coconut

Dairy:

Organic butter, organic plain yogurt, ( use the following very sparingly) cream cheese, unsweetened whipping cream, real sour cream


Eggs

Vinegar:

Apple cider vinegar

Oils:

Olive, grape, flax seed, cold pressed virgin coconut oil.

Sweeteners:

Stevia,  Xylitol.

Diets Explained

Why is your diet so important?  It is becoming more apparent to people today that their diet is often responsible for either their endurance and vitality, or conversely, their symptoms and diseases.  For 2,000 years, man has been asking, “which diet is the right diet to follow for optimum health?”


Every nutrition expert in the world has answered this question differently.   Now a fascinating science has evolved that teaches us about a dormant fungal germ that can live inside your body without affecting your health, until your immunity dips.  It can then become disease causing.  Of course, aging, stress, medications and a host of other factors influence your immunity, so using diet as a tool to enhance the immune system and therefore your, health is the best approach.


If immunity dips, this once dormant germ now becomes a parasite inside of us.  Unfortunately, the germ begins demanding the very foods that assure not only its survival, but also its spread throughout our bodies.  Before too long, we wonder why we are craving pasta, bread, potatoes and sugar.  WE ARE NOT…IT IS!  


It sounds like a scenario out of s science fiction movie, but this is all explained in the scientific literature.  Invasive fungal diseases can cause minor health problems like yeast infections or ringworm, or life threatening diseases, including cancer.  


It is not rare for a person who has a fungal infection to have multiple health problems as these fungi induce poor dietary choices.  Soon weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sinus infections and a host of other health problems begin without your knowledge that these very foods you are craving are contributing to fungal growth.   A diet that discourages fungal growth, while simultaneously nourishing you back to health is encouraged, but until recently such a diet was unknown.  


Knowing what foods fungi need to thrive and eliminating them is important.  Knowing what humans require for their health to thrive is essential.  Welcome to the end result of decades of research.


PHASE ONE DIET

This diet minimizes fungal food, because it minimizes sugars that fungi require in order to grow.  Ask your doctor about experimenting with this diet for 30 days and monitor your results.   Many people keep a dietary log each day and share this with their doctor upon their next visit.  Often, people begin to challenge this diet, wanting back some of the foods they miss, after achieving good results within a month or two.  Most find that their symptoms begin coming back as they go back to their regular diets.  This indicates that the fungi were successfully starved, but perhaps not eradicated.  Many people, after reading our recipe books, realize that there are hundreds of wholesome and delicious recipes on this phase one diet.  With their symptoms much better and their diets now getting more exciting, this diet becomes the genesis of their health program.

 
PHASE TWO DIET

When it is time to begin challenging other foods in your diet, don't throw caution to the wind.  The phase two diet allows additional foods to be minimally introduced but some noticeable symptoms may return.   This might indicates that the fungal infection was not as severe because your health has not been negatively impacted by reintroducing some sugars (carbohydrates) into your diet.  Be careful however, because eating too many carbohydrates too soon might awaken these sleeping fungal giants!  


LIFEPHASE DIET

At some time, you will have a diet, perhaps somewhere between our phase one and phase two diets, that really works well in minimizing or eliminating your health problems.  Some people find that a weekly granola bar does well by them, whereas others find that an occasional glass of wine fits into their diet without provoking any symptoms.  This diet continues to minimize feeding fungi.  Many people refer to this as their “dietary thumbprint” because no two LIFEPHASE DIETS seem to be the same.  A few years from now, the therapeutic diet that you are following will be called your LIFEPHASE DIET.

Weight Problems

Most Americans spend decades wondering why their weight is fluctuating. This is because our healers are unaware that the same germ that makes bread rise can also make people rise! Yeast is so often the culprit! Yeast is a type of fungus or mold. One mold, Penicillin, has been documented for 50 years as making our livestock gain weight. Wouldn't logic dictate that what makes one mammal overweight might have the same consequences for another mammal? Yet the reason for obesity in America eludes our scientists. Fungus is known to be a human parasite and once on board, needs sugar to thrive. The diets mentioned above avoid foods that may be impregnated with fungus (a very common phenomenon) and foods that feed fungus. These diets have helped untold numbers of people to not only lose some of their health problems, but also weight. Challenging the very foods that are avoided on the diet, like alcohol, pasta, breads and sugar, cause the weight to come right back on.

Grains/Sugar

quinoaWhile on the Phase One Diet, we avoid all grains – including corn, and sugar, both of which are grains. Seeds are different than grains and sometimes seeds are called false grains, or "pseudo-grains." Seeds such as sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, and chia seeds are permitted on our phase one diet. On Phase Two, moderate use of certain grains like oatmeal or flour tortillas is allowed while continuing to eat pseudo-grains like buckwheat, amaranth and quinoa-again, in moderation.

Milk: Cow or Goat?

milkMilk is not what it was 50 years ago. Today, cattle are fed or injected with antibiotics and hormones. Whereas the industry claims that we should not worry about this, others offer caution. Dairy foods are lactose (milk sugar) containing and mucous producing foods and as such should be avoided on our phase one diet. Having said this, the benefits of good bacterial cultures that exist in foods like kefir and yogurt, and the CLA we get from butter, often persuade us to cheat just a little when on this diet. Goat milk and cheese is different than cow milk in many ways; it is easier to digest, has less lactose, is less allergenic and because it lacks added hormones and antibiotics, it is favorable over cow milk when dairy in reintroduced.

Optimally, you would not cheat at all and all dairy products would be excluded during your tests with the phase one diet. For those of you who have requested occasional dairy consumption, you will note that our recipe books do offer some dairy products like kefir, yogurt, cream cheese and butter, but if you must imbibe, please consider goat milk products over cow.

Soybean

Soy BeansLike cow milk, soybeans are not what they used to be. Soy is a bean and therefore OK to challenge on the phase two diet, but based on it being one of the most common GMO (genetically Modified Foods) today, one must exercise caution when choosing it as part of the phase two diet. Modifying the seeds of common foods is purportedly a safe way to avoid the use of pesticides on them, but we are less concerned about bugs than we are the quality of nutrition provided by GMO's. If you challenge soybeans on the phase two diet, try to find soy products that are not genetically modified (no GMO). This is currently difficult to do, because labels indicating genetic modification are not necessary in America. Health food store are often your best bet.

Mushrooms, Yeast and Kombucha

mushroomThere are mixed reports regarding the consumption of mushrooms, brewer's yeast, and kombucha tea. While some studies report their nutritive qualities, other studies speak to their risks. We always monitor the latest research, and our current conclusion is that when one is dealing with fungal issues, it is wise to remove anything from our diets that either is a fungus, or has fungal components. Therefore, we avoid consuming mushrooms, kombucha, brewer's yeast, and the like. Many contend that certain mushrooms have medicinal qualities and to a certain extent, this is accurate. We have found that a diet laced with fungus is one that requires the need of medicines. Additionally, there are many supplements that have medicinal qualities without being fungus.

Glycemic Index

You'll find that some of the permitted foods on the Phase One Diet, such as carrots, are moderately high on the glycemic index. The Phase One approach isn't about glycemic index, however because we contend that some sugars are not problematic. It's about choosing foods that discourage fungal overgrowth. In cases where a Phase One food is permitted in spite of its glycemic index, it is because its antifungal components are so impressive. Carrots, for example, contain a powerful antifungal called "falcarinol", and berries contain high levels of antifungal "phenols". These natural antifungals are crucial to this lifestyle.

Coffee

coffeeCoffee can be antifungal, depending on how it's processed. However, we've found that many coffees contain worrisome levels of mycotoxins because of inexpensive processing methods. We're also interested in breaking intractable food addictions, and coffee is one of America's greatest addictions. If you're someone who has no addictions to coffee and have found one of the few coffee brands that is serious about limiting mycotoxins in their end product, you should be fine with moderate coffee consumption. Otherwise, we feel that it is better to avoid coffee altogether.

Calories

Nicolas Clement defined the word "calorie" in 1824 and for almost 200 years it has remained the primary focus of nutritionists. We would rather move on rather than count calories. Motivated by the singular desire to reduce calories, many popular diets limit calorie intake and permit the use of artificial sweeteners. The Phase One Diet, however, isn't primarily about calorie reduction. We believe that the best health strategy is one that discourages fungal overgrowth while nourishing the body. Nourishment simply isn't found in low-calorie artificial foods.

Sugars

sugarThere have been mixed reports about the safety of some artificial sweeteners. Therefore, the diets do not contain any of the popular artificial sweeteners. Stevia is a plant that has a sweet taste. We like it because it doesn't contribute to fungal overgrowth. The whole plant does contain bitter principles, so many brands deal with this either by removing bitter components or by adding other sugary sweeteners, like maltodextrin or fructose. Our first choice would be whole stevia powder, followed by stevia extracts by make certain that the ingredient list says only STEVIA. If a stevia product adds sugary sweeteners it is not permitted on the Phase One Diet, as those sugars will feed fungus.

Xylitol is another natural sweetener that has antifungal component of many foods, such as berries and some vegetables. Xylitol can be extracted from foods and used as a natural sweetener. Phase One permits the use of moderate amounts of xylitol. However, some people have found that over-use of xylitol can cause some mild stomach upset.

Nuts

almondsRaw nuts are a terrific snack, but some nuts have been found to contain an inordinate amount of mycotoxins, (fungal poisons). Therefore, peanuts and pistachios are not permitted on Phase One.

Coconut

coconutCoconuts contain some of nature's most powerful natural antifungals, including caprylic acid and lauric acid. Raw, unrefined coconut oil has high levels of these antifungals, and is permitted on the Phase One Diet. However, when coconut oil is refined, fewer healthy components remain in the end product. Therefore, we recommend that if you use coconut oil, choose the least processed, unrefined versions for maximum benefits.

Dried Fruits

apricotsSugar and sulfur are often added to dried berries, and in those cases they would not be a Phase One food. However, if the berries are unsweetened and unsulfured, they are acceptable as a Phase One snack.