Hi everyone,

I'm just starting on the raw food way of life so it is possible that a couple of issues that I'm suffering from are more from the old cooked and fast food way of life.

My issues are firstly that I have an extremely dry scalp. I'm trying adding one tablespoon of flaxseed oil to my morning juices. Not sure if anyone knows if this is enough or do I need a different kind of oil?
Also, I've increased my fruit intake dramatically and have suffered two bouts of candida (thrush). I've always been susceptible to thrush if I eat too much sugar, so I'm worried that maybe all the sugar in fruit is not agreeing with me. I really want to stick with this way of doing things so any help/advice anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated. It is possible that the fruit intake has nothing to do with the candida and that I'm just panicking!

While you have candida symptoms, its best to reduce your fat intake to zero and increase your fruit intake. Many people see symptoms go away in a week or two eating a diet like 80-10-10 - low fat, high fruit.

I experienced similar things early on in my transition too. my 2cents:

Dry skin/scalp:
I got very dry flaky skin on my forehead, a bit into my scalp, and some other areas of face, about 2 months into raw. However it completely went away after about 3-4 weeks. Rather than add oils to the diet I would recommend using coconut oil on your skin or scalp, this helped things for me. You might also re-evaluate what soaps and shampoos you use, I realized my soaps were now too harsh and I was using them too much, and made the switch to using Dr. Bronner's (almond is nice), and nowadays I only use it on my hair about every 4th or 5th shower, just water usually. The beauty of a clean low-fat raw diet! I feel your scalp will adjust, hang in there!

Candida:
I agree with Bryan that a week or two without any fats at all is the way to go to beat candida. (However this could temporarily make the dry scalp worse). I did this and it remedied candida that I didn't even realize I had. I woke up with more energy, didn't have that gross taste on my tongue when I woke up, AND went from failing to passing the candida spit test (which some people say is bunk, but hey). After that period you can choose to add some fats back into the diet, but don't go overboard with them in my opinion. I also recommend 80/10/10. It's a great book, HIGHLY recommended read. Dr Graham covers candida in there. Here's a video with him regarding candida:

Part 1:
[www.youtube.com]

Part 2:
[www.youtube.com]

Thanks rawpreston. Read some articles last night on 80 10 10 and as of today am off the fats for a few weeks!