Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)

[GermanMia]

Sherry,

good that you're getting better finally!!

Shay and Ali,

the coconut flour is made from the pulp which remains after pressing the oil out of the flesh, so it's mostly fibres and protein.

I always mistrusted the coconuts sold here because when I once bought one it turned out very old and tasted disgusting. But that's more than 20 years ago, so I suppose nowadays it will be different. So I'll give it a try although we only get the old coconuts here - I can have moo milk yoghurt but am so curious about this coconut yoghurt! The good thing is you don't have to let it ferment 24 hours because there is no lactose in it, so maybe if you only ferment it only 10 or 12 hours it won't be so tart? Or would 10 hours be to short?

One time I wanted coconut milk I also tried to make it from coconut flakes. Just put one cup in the processor and add two cups boiling water, process two or three minutes and strain. For using in Thai recipes that was okay, but I doubt that you could make yoghurt out of that.

Mia

[AliB]

I think the long fermentation time recommended by Elaine is as much about allowing the bacteria to proliferate as it is about the break down of lactose. The longer the fermentation, the more bacteria.

If it is tart, what bacterial strains are you using? Different bacteria produce different results.

I happen to use the Total (Fage) greek yogurt as a starter, which was one recommended by Elaine and which only contains Acidophilus and Strep Thermophilus and they give a less tart yogurt.

If only we had more idea about which bacteria does what we would have a much better idea of how to personalise our probios.

[GermanMia]

Ali,

I didn't use store bought yoghurt until now because they either contain bifidobacteria or the bacteria aren't specificated. Our local superstore happens to offer Total Greek yoghurt since september I think, but the bacteria there weren't specificated either. So I used starter cultures from the organic food shop which contain streptococcus salivarius thermophilus and lactobacillus delbruckii bulgaricus. But if you say the Total yoghurt is okay, I'll use it.

[AliB]

Hi Mia. I emailed Fage about the Total yogurt and they told me it contains the same 2 bacteria Strep Thermophilus and L.bulgaricus. I see no reason for it to be any different over in Germany. I suppose it really depends on which you feel is the better value for money!

I have suggested to them that they put the probiotic strains on the pack as I feel that it is something that people are becoming more aware of - perhaps if enough people keep emailing them and asking they will get the message!

[ArtGirl]

I think the long fermentation time recommended by Elaine is as much about allowing the bacteria to proliferate as it is about the break down of lactose.

Observation: Coconut milk contains no lactose and honey is added (I believe) to give the bacteria some sugars to digest. Therefore, it follows that there is no need for long fermentation time to eat up the lactose. Am I right?

Of couse, there's the consideration of increased bacteria, but I'm wondering if 8-12 hours would be eough for that. Any comment?

BTW - started the intro today. I'm off to find the Fage Total Greek Yogurt to use as a starter for the coconut yogurt. Yes, it has cow's milk, but I'm thinking that little bit will not cause me any problems, and then it will becomes less and less as I use the current yogurt to culture more and more. (Just can't afford the on-line stuff that is recommended at this time, maybe later on.)

What is Elaine's reason for not allowing Bifidus (sp?) bacteria? It is in virtually EVERY acidopholis product - capsules and yogurt alike.

[Yenni]

I made som coconut flour muffins yesterday. Not so pretty, but they tasted good.

Not sure why the image doesn't show up..

[DMarie]

I am considering going on the SCD diet, but have a few questions. I have been reading some on the Pecan Bread site, and some from here, trying to get my bearings (next stop is the library for the book that is recommended).

It is somewhat overwhelming to me. I have a suspicion that I probably have some level of intolerance with too many foods (I think it would depress me to have the answer on exactly how many). I know that I have very slow digestion (stomach function test years ago showed things were slow to move through). I know I am gluten intolerant. I also know that I have some level of intolerance to corn, brewers yeast, tomatoes, tea, soy and 1 other item which escape me at this point - per some intradermal allergy testing I had done about 5 years ago. I am also lactose intolerant. I am currently avoiding gluten, eggs, dairy, soy and corn.

I have random reactions after eating (that is - it is sporadic as to when it happens, and the symptoms are also random - might be 1 symptom, might be several). It might be a headache, feeling hot, lower back is achy, feeling like there is a tightness in my chest (laughing will set me off coughing), itchy eyebrows, excessive gas or faster heartbeat. Additionally, the mucous situation is bad and aggravating (always clearing my throat). Eliminating the eggs, dairy and corn has helped with the mucous situation (I now have periods of time where I am comfortable, or only have minimal throat clearing). This has also helped the chest feeling tight thing. I believe I am on the right path and it is all associated with food.

Here is my fear. Once foods are eliminated, that changes the whole landscape (as in there is no going back - past experience shows that worse reactions tend to show up when occasionally adding back in a food that causes some degree of problem). If I goof up and eat a wrong food - the reactions are likely to be worse - who knows how it will look.

Is this a forever diet??? Is the goal to maybe be able to add some foods back on occasion? Mostly I think it is not a bad way to eat - but I do not want to have to eliminate grains for life. I only wish I were a veggie lover. If I were - that would make this so much easier. I have trained myself to "like" what I do like - but even those veggies would not be what I would reach for first if I had a choice. If I am being honest here... And I wish I liked so much more...

I have made some wonderful items using alternative grains (vegan even - since I am not doing the eggs/dairy) - and while I don't major in these food items, I do enjoy them mixed in with my diet. I am trying to vary my diet from day to day (think rotation).

I am trying to back away from my carb consumption (which I do not think is over the top right now). I am trying out new recipes using veggies, trying to cultivate that taste. Is there any benefit to doing the diet half way (as in limiting the carbs and trying to focus more on veggies and protein)? Or is this an all or nothing proposition?

Thanks for any advice anyone can offer! Who knows, I might feel so good on this diet that I would never want to eat any other way - but this is a big step to take and I want to make the decision being as informed and prepared as I can.

[ShayFL]

The goal of the diet is to heal the intestines. Once you are symptom free for a good 3 - 6 months, you can try adding a bit of your favorite grains back in from time to time. Just dont eat them everyday and in excess. See how your body reacts at that point. It might be just fine. In general if you stay away from an irritant long enough, the reaction usually diminishes. So lets say eggs are a problem for you and you cut them out for 2 weeks and then eat one, you might get a severe reaction. But if you stay egg free for 6 months and eat one, you might not get a reaction at all.

[mftnchn]

Welcome DMarie.

I think the answer to your question about how strict varies from one person to another. Elaine G, the author of the book, says absolute strictness, and in an email post I read she said it is because when people think they can have a little of this and that, that they tend to do that more and more and mess up the benefit of the diet.

The diet is suggested for 1 year after the resolution of symptoms. It is like celiac healing which takes 1-2 years. One point of the diet is to kill the bad organisms in the gut and replenish them with the good guys. Over time people are reporting reduced sensitivity to foods. Some even do fine introducing the SCD yogurt when they have been dairy sensitive.

In my case, I tested positive for high levels of sugar in stool. This means that normal digestion and absorption of carbs was not occurring and indicates I am not making enough carb digest enzymes for the final stages of carb digestion. (These enzymes are made in the villa of the small intestine). So I don't know if I will now be able to heal enough to eventually add in the foods, but I have felt significantly better since starting SCD. I suspect that many who are celiac and don't get full improvment on gluten-free have a similar problem as I do because of the connection to the villa.

Your problems with increasing food allergies does suggest leaky gut syndrome. There are a number of possible causes of leaky gut.

The diet takes an adjustment and a commitment. Personally I have found it very satisifying with a significant reduction in cravings. The almond flour used for baking is very tasty. I think it tastes better than any other gluten-free that I have tried. This is a low carb approach that I can stay with for a long time because the fruit, honey, almond pastry, yogurt are so yummy.

Sherry

[DMarie]

Thank you for the explanations! I understand the comment about letting a little bit of the wrong foods in ending up being letting too much of the wrong foods in. Years ago, I simply tried limiting gluten - but then I never knew when I crossed the thresh hold of too much - and it became easier to remove it all.

Sherry - is there a way to test levels of digestive enzymes? I did see where you said you tested for high levels of sugar in your stool. Is that the only way to test? If so, what lab did you use? (I am wondering if there is a blood test or test that I can ask my regular doctor to do - she treats my hashimoto's and low adrenal reserve).

I have some of the almond flour at home and like it. I love nuts! However, sometimes I seem to react to them. So now I try not to overdo it with them, and I rotate. Seems to work best that way.

I do like yogurt and have wondered about that since I have eliminated dairy right now. I wanted to try my hand at making my own. I do not have a yogurt maker and do not want to buy one until I know I can eat the yogurt. I was a little unclear on using the heating pad. Do I have to wrap the containers in the heating pad? Or just set them on top of the heating pad?

I think I might just be able to do this! My plan right now is to reduce the amount of grains I am consuming. I don't think I want to tackle this until after Thanksgiving (I might even wait until after Christmas - not sure yet). I wanted to try out some of the SCD recipes and start replacing current wrong foods with SCD foods. I think I can handle it better if I do it this way. I don't think I can handle cold turkey at this point, it feels too overwhelming.

[ShayFL]

I am making coconut milk yogurt right now DMarie. Not dairy. It is yummy. If you comb through the last 3 or 4 pages, my recipe is there. I bought a yogurt maker for 40 bucks that works great. Pour it in, turn it on and set the timer

[DMarie]

Hi Shay,

The coconut yogurt sounds wonderful! As did the pumpkin porridge thing I read about somewhere in there. Is acidophilous something I can buy at a local health store? Also, do you know if it is hard making yogurt without a yogurt maker? I have to try it at least once the other way. Then I can justify the yogurt maker! (especially if dh likes the yogurt - as it will not have all of those sugars and all of the beneficial goodies in it - he is a type 1 diabetic).

I love dogs! Gracie is beautiful. I need to upload a picture of my two babies.

[lizard00]

Hey guys! Hope you don't mind someone else dropping in!

Just wondering, is Agave nectar on the ok list??

I'm thinking of trying the SCD to see if I notice any improvement. We're not big sugar fans around here anyway, but we use that when we do have to have it.

Thanks!

Liz

[ShayFL]

That is really such a high concentration of fructose. Agave nectar is not SCD legal. The main carbohydrate is a complex form of fructose called inulin or fructosan.

[AliB]

Dawn, you don't go 'cold turkey' you go 'hot chicken and carrot soup' . Elaine advises a gentle start - to eat foods that the gut should be able to cope with easily then gradually build up with other foods as the gut starts to heal.

Although baked goods made with Almonds are yummy, some find that, because of the damage, they cannot cope with them initially, but are able to cope with them a few months down the line.

I could not cope with baked goods initially, both eggs and baking powder were problematic, but I seem to cope with them ok now - I have had an omelet for dinner. If I bake I tend to use baking soda instead of baking powder, just in case!

Some get frightened by the thought that this may be a 'diet for life'. I think that they are looking at it from the wrong angle. This is a diet for health. The reason why so many of us get into this situation is because we have spent our lives consuming a 'diet of death'. We just don't ever stop to think about what we are putting in our mouth and whether it is beneficial or harmful to our bodies.

It may look like food, it may taste like food, but is it really food? It may be a very good counterfeit substitute. It may even taste very nice. But what are we gaining from it?

I really had not realised until my digestion collapsed and I had to re-evaluate my diet how much rubbish is out there. So much of our food is adulterated with chemicals and modified elements that it is quite scary. Just stop and have a look at the ingredients of the food in your cupboards right now and you will be shocked. Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein. Sodium Metabisulphite. Sodium nitrite/nitrate. Hydroxy methyl cellulose. The list is endless. We see these ingredients regularly, but most of us have no clue what they are or what they are doing to us.

Fruit and vegetables that are sprayed within an inch of their life with fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides, herbivorous and ruminant animals that are fed bits of other animals not fit for human consumption (we get them in the end product!) and which are given growth hormones and anti-biotics amongst a host of other drugs.

I tell you - this diet is a real eye-opener. As a whole substance, meat, fish, poultry, fruits and vegetables - anything natural or 'God-made' if you can find a good wholesome organic source - are what our bodies need. Anything 'Man-made' of 'foodlike substances' is definitely best given a very wide berth. Most processed 'foods' are made for one purpose only - money. Whether they are good for us is immaterial, as long as they pull in the dosh. don't be fooled...........

As far as whether it is for life is largely up to the individual. Most who embark on the SCD feel so much better for it that they generally resolve to carry on eating that way as they know it is far more beneficial for them. That's not to say that once they are healed they can't indulge in an occasional treat. The problem arises when the occasional becomes every day and before we know we have gone back to our old habits. Those goodies are out there tempting - beckoning - with their wiles.

Eve succumbed to the forbidden fruit - look where we ended up because of it..............

[mftnchn]

Dawn, I think back in some of the earlier pages there are some instructions. I'll tell you how I do mine:

I have a big pot that I use for a water bath. I put warm water in there, and over the top of a small hand-warmer. Your heating pad would work fine. Test the temperature for awhile to make sure it is in the desired range. (see www.pecanbread.com, I don't have the temperature ranges memorized). Then prepare your yogurt.

I heat my fresh goat milk to 84 degrees centigrade. Then let it cool to about 40 degrees C with the lid on, so it doesn't form a skin on the top. Then I add some warm milk to about a 1/2 c of my previous yogurt (or with a fresh starter) and mix it up well so there are no lumps, then add to the milk. Then I put it into 1 qt plastic containers or glass, not metal. Put it into the warm water bath and don't move it for 24 hours. Put in the fridge for 6 hours then use!

If you put it on a heating pad, put a little rack into your water bath so the yogurt doesn't touch the bottom of the pan (and the heating pad). Or put the heating pad around the pot. You don't want "hot spots" touching the yogurt container if possible.

I like this method because I can make up to 4-5 quarts at a time. Most yogurt machines have very small containers. The yogurt keeps in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

For starter, it is best to find a probiotic that only has SCD safe ingredients. I use Kirkman acidophilus--very easy to order online. Once you have a batch made, you can use that to make the next batch until the quality of the yogurt goes down, then use fresh starter.

Someone asked about why no bifidus. I can't remember the whole explanation, but my doctor did tell me that some organisms mutate more readily.

Sherry

[ArtGirl]

Yogurt making in a crockpot is the way I'm going to go. I bought an extension cord that has a dimmer switch on it (made for dimming a lamp - you plug the cord in the socket, and the appliance plugs into that).

I spent a couple days experimenting with the dial setting on the dimmer cord and the crockpot on low, filled with water with two water-filled quart jars in the water. I finally found the setting that kept the water inside the jars at 100-105 degrees F (used a meat thermometer to test the temp). Then marked the place on the dial so I don't have to experiment again.

This method was posted by someone on the board but I could never find the post again to give proper credit.

I like this method because I don't have to rig up any other pot and the crockpot is already on my kitchen counter so am not losing any counter space to make the yogurt. I found the dimmer cord at the hardware store for about $13, which is way less than a new yogurt maker would be.

Tomorrow I'll start the coconut yogurt and see how it works. I'll report here how it did.

Nearing the end of my first day on SCD intro. I'm a little weak and have a low-grade headache, but all in all it's not been nearly as bad as I feared. Those few weeks of lowering my consumption of refined sugar helped there I think. And for the last few days I've only eaten SCD legal foods.

I was going to follow the stages for introducing foods from pecanbread site, but I reread the chapter in the book and found that Elaine wrote that squash is easy to digest, so I think I'll introduce pumpkin after the intro and make that wonderful pumpkin porriage. I already know it sits well in my gut. Although I may skip the cinnamon for now.

For starter, it is best to find a probiotic that only has SCD safe ingredients. I use Kirkman acidophilus--very easy to order online. Once you have a batch made, you can use that to make the next batch until the quality of the yogurt goes down, then use fresh starter.

And it's not that easy to find in the stores. SCD safe probiotics. EVERYTHING has bifidus in it. The only thing I could find at Whole Foods was the Fage Greek Yogurt - which will introduce cow's milk in my coconut yogurt, but I'm confident that just this little bit will not bother me.

Ali, how do you know when the "yogurt goes down" - taste?

Someone asked about why no bifidus. I can't remember the whole explanation, but my doctor did tell me that some organisms mutate more readily.

Oh, I remember that now. Thanks for reminding me.

[GermanMia]

Hi DMarie,

it's like Ali said - food industry programmed our software for things which nature didn't create us for. I can assure you that I've been addicted to whole grain bread my whole life. If anyone had told me I had to go grain free, I probably would have run after him with my longest kitchen knife... I LOVED dark chocolate and I hated cooked carrots and chicken soup... Then, one year ago, I started feeling so dreadful I was glad to find out I'm celiac, so I could eliminate gluten and fell well again. It didn't work - it got even worse. I was delighted about polenta and sweet potatos, millet, rice, quinoa and buckwheat - and then I found that it all made me even more sick. When I saw the SCD intro, I thought - oh my goodness, cooked carrots and chicken soup - ! Honey and bananas - I hate sweet things when they don't contain chocolate!

But then I was so desperate I just gave it a try. And to my astonishment I found that all of a sudden I loved cooked carrot, I loved chicken soup and I loved bananas. I rid my body of all those sickening things and suddenly he develops likings for things which are natural for us. It's only five weeks now that I'm on SCD and I cannot imagine why I ever was so fond of normal bread. I had a piece of chocolate in a blond moment when a friend offered it to me, and it tasted disgustingly sweet and artificial.

Look at it that way: In the dawn of humankind we didn't grow grains. We lived on meat, fruits, leaves, raw eggs, bugs, worms, grass, roots, berries, honey if we could get it. Of course we were fond of honey and sweet fruits because they promised fast energy. Otherwise we were occupied the whole day running around to find enough we could eat. Then some day we found out about fire - that made things so much easier to eat and to store! A long time later we fund out how to grow grains - we were delighted because a barn full of grains grants life without running around and seeking and risking to starve in winter. It was far more comfortable. And we could handle it - life still was hard work so our body needed quick fuel which we always used up with physical labour.

Finally we built up industry, life became more and more technical and the physical labour got less until nowadays most people spend their lives sitting at a desk and driving cars... But we got used to eating grains - of course we didn't change because it has become a habit, and it's a comfortable habit, too. Not much work for our body to digest and not much work to prepare - you can feed crowds of people on a simple way. But our poor bodies still are made for hard work - for using up all the ready-to-burn fuel which is offered. But the engine of our body is going on economy mode now - digestion is no longer on high speed level - and we still offer high speed fuel, combined with all the other things industry has invented first to make life more comfortable and then to make money. Just what Ali said. No wonder our engine is running mad...

But if we go back to what nature made us for, our body remembers what is good for it. We develope likings for those things. Body intelligence...

Reading the description of your problems I'd suggest not testing all foods in the first way but starting with histamine intolerance. Many of your seemingly random symptoms are quite typical for histamine intolerance which would explain a lot. And you wouldn't be able to discover that going on SCD because many histamie provoking foods are essential in SCD. Maybe you ask a GI about that?

Mia

[fig girl]

Hi everyone,

Welcome DMarie and lizard00....hope you both see improvement on the SCD. I could see a difference pretty quickly (lot less joint pain and brain fog, better bm's and much more energy). I had cut out dairy before starting SCD and am still avoiding it but i seem to be doing good on the goat yogurt. I make mine with a heating pad and it works well. I just got a bigger pot to put my quart jars of yogurt in so now i can make double what i was making and hopefully will only have to make it every 2 wks. I follow Sherry's method with sitting it on 2 toaster oven racks in my big pot and sit that on top of my heating pad and wrap the pot with towels. I get that started first to try to get the warm water in the pot up to 105 - 110 before putting my yogurt in to ferment. Here's a link to breakingtheviciouscycle.info's instructions with the temp.'s and pics on using a heating pad.

Open Original Shared Link

I also have had a little sore on the outside of my ear for a while that was pretty constant but not long after starting SCD it went away and hasn't come back - has anyone else had this happen?

My stomach started getting sore again the end of last week and my back was hurting and i had a little joint pain - i think it could be i made my first batch of chicken/carrot soup with onion - i sometimes add celery and it doesn't bother me. Silly me though cut the onion in half and didn't remember until after it had cooked for a while that you need to put it in whole. I ate on it the first of last week so i'm thinking that is probably it. Although i have been eating many nut brownies and muffins and squash everyday so i think it could be either of these. I made more soup w/no onion or celery and have been eating on that with meat and well cooked/de-seeded green beans, spinach, asparagus, avocados w/lime and yogurt and bananas the past 2 days and i've seen some improvement. My face also broke out so maybe i'm detoxing some too?

Ali - you give me hope that i'll be able to eat eggs again one day! I hope nuts, onion and squash are just a little too much for my system right now. I have to remember to start off with eating very little of a new food.

Mia - i used to hate cooked carrots too (could only eat them raw) and really like them now and loved dark chocolate. I like making the brownies w/the pecan flour or pecan butter too because they turn out dark like chocolate - i sure hope it's not the nuts bothering me....i'll add them back in about a week little by little. I'll have to look up histamine intolerance - i have some of the same symptoms as DMarie.

Sherry - glad you mentioned about adding 1/2 cup of already made yogurt to your new batch, i keep forgetting to do that - i've been using fresh Kirkman capsules every batch but will use some left over yogurt next time. I like the nut flour/butter recipes also better than most of the gluten-free flour snacks.

Shay and Yenni - love your doggy pics!! I need to figure out how to post my 4 legged little girl! My husband lives with 2 girls with special diets. Our Abby (she's a mix - we found her at about 4-5 wks. old - we think someone had dropped her off at my Dad's house) has EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency). She has to have enzymes added to her food mixed in w/water 20 min. before she eats or she won't absorb anything. She's 3 yrs. old now and we found out when she was 1 and she's doing great thank goodness.

ArtGirl - glad you're feeling ok starting the diet...hope it continues to help you feel much better! Your crockpot method for making yogurt sounds great. If i need to make an even bigger batch i may try that.

[ShayFL]

Fig Girl - Gracie is our newest rescue. Can you believe someone dumped her and left her for dead, starving on the side of the road? She is like show quality and the sweetest lovingest kissiest doggie ever.

I just ordered Breaking the Vicious Cycle. I got everything I know off of the pecanbread site. I decided to go ahead and read the book. I also bought The Low Starch Diet for IBS. I want to learn more.....

[DMarie]

Thank you everyone for your informative (and encouraging) posts! I have been wanting to get in here and read all day - but it was a very busy day at work.

Ali/Mia - what you say makes a lot of sense. I felt encouraged and somewhat empowered. I do recognize what you say as truth (about the food industry and how our bodies are not being fed nourishing food, essentially). All the chemicals, white flour, sugar. I have looked a little bit at the histamine intolerance (I had never heard of that). I will ask my doctor about that. My food responses are random. Sometimes no response, sometimes a bad response, sometimes many symptoms, sometimes just 1 or 2. Very frustrating to try and figure out.

Sherry and Artgirl - thanks for the pointers on the yogurt. I need to look into ordering the starter needed so I can try it.

Fig Girl - I am glad you are noticing some improvement.

I sort of had a mini-meltdown last night pondering all of this. Actually, I think it was more due to trying to adjust some medication I am on - but I was fixated on this diet. I have Hashimoto's (autoimmune hypothyroidism) and am also being treated for low cortisol, which often goes hand in hand with hypothyroidism. I have been trying to decrease my cortisol replacement medication (cortef) - and it was not going well (the reason for my meltdown). I removed a very small amount from my total daily dosage and had a pretty drastic (negative) response to that. I seem to require a fairly high dose of cortef to function normally and I have pondered why. My theory is that my body sucks up any cortisol like a sponge due to chronic inflammation caused by food intolerances. Which is another reason I am trying to unravel the puzzle.

I will look more into the histamine intolerance. Is that something regular doctors might likely be aware of? Or would they be as clueless about that as they are about celiac/gluten intolerance? They are also clueless about low cortisol levels. I just got lucky to find one who sees the gray area between normal adrenals and non-functioning adrenals. It gets very frustrating to try to work with doctors. I quit waiting for answers from them a long time ago. They just don't get it!

I have to say that I was a very allergic child. Severe asthmatic too while growing up, and on allergy shots for years. Whenever they would try to stop the allergy shots, the asthma would get worse, and I would end up back on shots (many trips to the emergency room). My mom said as a baby I was very fussy, always sick, always spitting up (was put on soy formula). She indicated that one winter when I was a baby, I was in and out of the hospital 9 times, put under oxygen tents. I was allergic to just about everything (of course, they did not test for food allergies). Eventually I was able to go off the allergy shots and the asthma seemed to disappear. I can remember random instances of hives though. Once was right after I graduated from high school. Feet were so swollen, hurt to walk, hives all over my knees, elbows, hands. Doctors couldn't figure out why - and one day it was gone. That has happened a couple of different times. Weird things like that which didn't add up at the time. I think food has always been an issue - I just didn't know.

Anyway, I think I am just rambling now, so will continue reading about this and plotting my course.

[pele]

Hey guys! Hope you don't mind someone else dropping in!

Just wondering, is Agave nectar on the ok list??

I'm thinking of trying the SCD to see if I notice any improvement. We're not big sugar fans around here anyway, but we use that when we do have to have it.

Thanks!

Liz

I have read that there is a major problem with agave containing a lot of high-fructose corn syrup, something to avoid.

[pele]

Dawn--welcome to the thread.

I also have hypothyroidism and adrenal issues. Sometimes I wonder which is affecting me--the endocrine system or the digestive system.

I hope you start on the SCD soon. It's made a big difference for many of us who post here. I found after a few weeks that vegetables started to taste better, almost as if my taste buds had been dulled by grain and sugar. And knowing that what I eat isn't going to make me sick is wonderful.

Maybe you could make some SCD legal sauces or chutneys with flavors you like and use them as toppings on vegetables to help you get going on the diet.

[GermanMia]

Dawn,

I have no clue how it is in the states but here in Germany don't seem to be many general practitioners who know about any kind of food intolerance / allergy. It was not my GP but the GI he sent me to who had this idea. My hubby is a physician, too, and he phoned the GI to find out if she's fit. First thing she said was I should test for lactose, fructose and histamine which could explain a lot or even all of my problems. I'll see her tomorrow.

So maybe you should see a GI, too.

Fig girl,

I had no sore specks but kind of neurodermitis all over - barely visible, but my skin (especially the face) and my head were itching all the time. Only some days ago I realised the itching is nearly gone!

[ArtGirl]

I just ordered Breaking the Vicious Cycle. I got everything I know off of the pecanbread site. I decided to go ahead and read the book. I also bought The Low Starch Diet for IBS. I want to learn more.....

Shay, I think you'll really enjoy reading the book. It'll fill in some informational gaps for you. Although pecanbread site seems to have the diet mapped out in a good logical order - somewhat easier to follow than BTVC which (to me anyway) scatters the information around.

Years ago when I was very sick with constant D I found a book, "Restoring Your Digestive Health". It followed a similar protocal to BTVC and was targeted for people with Chron's and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. The diet started out with a similar soup, followed by lots of goat yogurt. Then reintroducing foods in a certain order.

Finished up day two of the SCDiet yesterday. I really think I won't have any withdrawal symptoms (shakeyness, headache, irritability). I did have some detox, mostly D several times but no way severe. I think that it will not be so bad today. I broke down and had a banana with my jello last night because I was so hungry and couldn't face more soup. My coconut yogurt is "cooking" and will be out of the pot mid morning so I'll be able to add that into my diet today - looking forward to it (hope it turned out - this is my first batch using the crockpot method.)

I had an outbreak of the psoriasis on my forehead yesterday - really itchy. I am hopeful that this persistent patch of red, itchy skin will clear up on SCD and completely go away once my GI health is restored.

DMarie - Hoping you get some answers soon.