For People Who Used The Scd To Recover More Quickly

[newlyfree]

Hi all -

I went on the SCD (specific carbohydrate diet) to speed up my healing process, and it's been working great (especially after adding in the homemade yogurt, beats any other probiotic I've ever taken hands-down). Just wondering, for the others who tried it to speed up their intestinal healing, how long did you stay on it? Did you go off gradually? What were your experiences?

Thanks!

[corinne]

I've been a variation of the SCD (no dairy, no nuts, no beans) for 1.5 years. I have colitis, though, and not celiac. Every time I try to go off the SCD I get sick. I tried potatoes at Christmas, tapioca in march and rice in May and got sick all 3 times.

[newlyfree]

So sorry to hear about your colitis So does your modified SCD help you keep it under control?

Also - what do you do for a probiotic if you can't do the yogurt (dairy)? I have a trip coming up trying to lug a jug of homemade yogurt onto the plane will probably get me booted from the airport

[bigapplekathleen]

I followed the SCD diet for about a month during my healing process. I have never felt better - Honestly! My stomach was so calm and digestion worked better than I ever remember. However, I found it nearly impossible to stay on this diet, since it is so strict. Elaine states in the book that if you aren't going to follow it EXACTLY, it's not worth doing it. So I gave up eventually. However, I have stuck by a Paleo diet about 90% of the time. When I eat a lot of grains, I don't feel well, even if they are gluten-free. I also avoid dairy, beans, legumes, and unhealthy oils. I eat virtually no processed or boxed foods. Mostly organic whole foods that I could hunt or gather, as I tell my friends. It works well for me, but that SCD diet is an amazing thing if you have the patience to stick to it !

Kat

gluten-free four years and HEALTHY !

(Doing my first triathlon very soon!)

[corinne]

The SCD (and especially gluten-free) helps me keep the colitis under control; I have far fewer symptoms - bad D every few months instead of every day. Things are much better but still not under control so the GI decided today that I should try Asacol. I don't take probiotics, but the GI I visited today also strongly recommended probiotics so I'll do some research to figure out what to take and that might help too.

[newlyfree]

Thanks, Kat! It is hard to stick to, but I've been on it for a month now and like you I've never felt better

If I didn't have a dear future husband at home with the time to cook (he's a writer, cooking is his de-stress mechanism), I'd never have made it this far.

I've been super-strict with it, and I'll probably be doing something more Paleo-like when I'm done as well. But fruit in homemade yogurt will probably be with me for life - I've always found storebought yogurts to be far too sugary for my tastes, and I'm not a fan of fat-free plain yogurt either (it's near impossible to find plain whole-milk yogurt anymore!).

I'm going to try for another month, if I can. We're getting married in the fall, and I want to be as healed up as possible, but still give myself some time to reacclimate to a more standard gluten-free diet before the honeymoon trip (because SCD will be impossible, but the cruise line is very familiar with gluten-free - YAY!).

I followed the SCD diet for about a month during my healing process. I have never felt better - Honestly! My stomach was so calm and digestion worked better than I ever remember. However, I found it nearly impossible to stay on this diet, since it is so strict. Elaine states in the book that if you aren't going to follow it EXACTLY, it's not worth doing it. So I gave up eventually. However, I have stuck by a Paleo diet about 90% of the time. When I eat a lot of grains, I don't feel well, even if they are gluten-free. I also avoid dairy, beans, legumes, and unhealthy oils. I eat virtually no processed or boxed foods. Mostly organic whole foods that I could hunt or gather, as I tell my friends. It works well for me, but that SCD diet is an amazing thing if you have the patience to stick to it !

Kat

gluten-free four years and HEALTHY !

(Doing my first triathlon very soon!)

[newlyfree]

Glad to hear that it helps you that much! I have a friend at work with colitis, I recommended the diet (first gluten-free, then SCD) to him, but he's not up to the challenge yet, I think :\ Oh well, we do what we can, right?

Good luck with the probiotics, I know they (via the yogurt) make a world of difference for me.

The SCD (and especially gluten-free) helps me keep the colitis under control; I have far fewer symptoms - bad D every few months instead of every day. Things are much better but still not under control so the GI decided today that I should try Asacol. I don't take probiotics, but the GI I visited today also strongly recommended probiotics so I'll do some research to figure out what to take and that might help too.

[corinne]

I get D from dairy, but I think I'll try yoghurt with a good dose of lactaid and see if that works for probiotics.

[bluejeangirl]

I get D from dairy, but I think I'll try yoghurt with a good dose of lactaid and see if that works for probiotics.

Corinne, In this case the yogurt is in the yogurt maker for a long time, much longer then what regular yogurt recipes call for. It just get rid of all lactose whatsoever. You might be able to handle it. I'm hoping your body will except it since it's so important for your healing.

Gail

[newlyfree]

Agreed - that's one of the major reasons to go with homemade over storebought - the 24 hour fermentation gets rid of all the lactose. And you wind up with way more good bacteria in the process

I tried to 'cheat' with store yogurt at first, but the homemade is a HUGE difference.

Corinne, In this case the yogurt is in the yogurt maker for a long time, much longer then what regular yogurt recipes call for. It just get rid of all lactose whatsoever. You might be able to handle it. I'm hoping your body will except it since it's so important for your healing.

Gail

[darkangel]

According to the book, celiacs respond and heal much faster on the SCD than Crohn's or UC sufferers. Elaine says a year on the diet for most celiacs and then they're able to return gradually to eating "normal," although I find that hard to believe.

Lots of folks swear by the SCD homemade yogurt, but I was never able to tolerate it. Tried everything... even making it with goat's milk. Instead, I take a high quality six strain probiotic blend from Custom Probiotics. It's pricey, but potent. Other probiotics I tried seemed to have no effect.

www.customprobiotics.com

[newlyfree]

According to the book, celiacs respond and heal much faster on the SCD than Crohn's or UC sufferers. Elaine says a year on the diet for most celiacs and then they're able to return gradually to eating "normal," although I find that hard to believe.

Lots of folks swear by the SCD homemade yogurt, but I was never able to tolerate it. Tried everything... even making it with goat's milk. Instead, I take a high quality six strain probiotic blend from Custom Probiotics. It's pricey, but potent. Other probiotics I tried seemed to have no effect.

www.customprobiotics.com

Off-topic question - is your avatar a picture of you? 'Cuz if so... kick ass!!!

On-topic, thanks for the Custom Probiotics recommendation - I'm looking for some traveling probiotics And their office is right near mine, go figure! I'll have to check and see if they have a company store.

I also don't think celiacs can be 'cured' with the SCD, I wonder if it's some hold-over from the first edition when a lot less was known about Celiac. But it sure does seem to speed up the healing, at least that part's still true!

[corinne]

I tried homemade yoghurt when I first when on the diet and got REALLY sick from it and I've moved since so I no longer have a yoghurt maker. I have a gas oven which is either hot or off so I'd need to buy another yoghurt maker which would be a nuisance if it only makes me sick again. That's why I was thinking about trying storebought yoghurt and using lactaid. Maybe, for now, I should just take probiotics as pills.

I started Asacol on Monday and so far it's making things worse, but I've heard that it can take a while for your system to adjust to it so I'll give it some time.

[darkangel]

Off-topic question - is your avatar a picture of you? 'Cuz if so... kick ass!!!

I wish. That's the fabulous Ms. Jada Pinkett-Smith - Will Smith's wife - actress and kickass rock musician.

On-topic, thanks for the Custom Probiotics recommendation - I'm looking for some traveling probiotics And their office is right near mine, go figure! I'll have to check and see if they have a company store.

I also don't think celiacs can be 'cured' with the SCD, I wonder if it's some hold-over from the first edition when a lot less was known about Celiac. But it sure does seem to speed up the healing, at least that part's still true!

Harry, the owner is a great guy. I have no idea about walk-in type orders. I've always ordered by phone or from his Web site. He's a fellow sufferer who developed these special formulations for himself first and has meticulously tested their viability.

Yeah, I dunno. From everything I've ever heard, celiac is a life-long genetic thing. I was surprised to see that when I was rereading my copy of BTVC the other day.

[darkangel]

That's why I was thinking about trying storebought yoghurt and using lactaid. Maybe, for now, I should just take probiotics as pills.

I'd strongly urge you to take a probiotic supplement. Most store-bought yoghurt brands don't have reliable live bacteria count and a sensitive digestion just does better avoiding dairy whenever possible, IMHO.

I started Asacol on Monday and so far it's making things worse, but I've heard that it can take a while for your system to adjust to it so I'll give it some time.

I've heard alot of folks don't get relief or actually feel worse on Asacol. I've heard several reports of increased bleeding. The older drug sulfasalazine (Azulfadine) is highly preferred. I was on Asacol for ages with no improvement. I asked my doc to switch me to sulfasalazine after reading the recommendation from Elaine, the author of the SCDiet we're discussing above. Check out this discusssion: Open Original Shared Link I did much better on the older med.

<soapbox>

Asacol is owned by Procter and Gamble. They've got megabucks to promote it with slick fliers, quarterly newsletters and a glitzy, interactive Web site. If there are 500,000 UC sufferers in the US alone, it's in their best interest to get gastros to prescribe this stuff and keep their patients on it for life. Don't be sucked in.

</soapbox>

[corinne]

I've only been on Asacol since Mon. and I'm ready to quit. Things have gotten worse - 30 min. D. this morning, again at noon, and again late afternoon plus mild cramps all day. I do have regular flareups, where things are really bad, but that's only every 6-8 weeks. Occasional severe flareups are more tolerable than everyday moderate D. I can't afford to spend that much time in the bathroom at work.

I have collagenous colitis which has an incidence rate of about 2/100 000 so about 6000 people in the US. So there's not much research on it and docs really don't know how to treat it.

[heep70]

So what exactly is this SCD diet (food wise) and regement?

And what is a good (tasty) easy recipe for yogurt?

[darkangel]

So what exactly is this SCD diet (food wise) and regement?

And what is a good (tasty) easy recipe for yogurt?

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet is a grain-free, starch-free diet. Carbohydrates are limited to simple carbs that can be easily digested and absorbed by an impaired digestive system. Examples of allowed carbs are fruits, honey and non-starchy vegetables. All grains are strictly forbidden - including rice and corn. So, basically, it's an even stricter form of gluten-free diet. You can learn more about it here:

Open Original Shared Link

And here's a link to the SCDiet homemade yogurt that is lactose-free:

Open Original Shared Link

These directions are for use with a yogurt maker. The book, Breaking the Vicious Cycle, also gives instructions for making it without a yogurt maker. You can actually make a batch by the heat from the appliance light bulb in your oven. That's how I did mine.

[newlyfree]

I like the yogurt instructions on the 'official' website - www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info - 'cuz they have step-by-step pictures

The book itself may be a little outdated with regards to Celiac research (and the woman who authored it has since passed away so it will probably never be updated), but the principles of the diet are sound. It's fairly cheap on Amazon (where you can also read scores of testimonials by people who were helped by it) and well worth it.

For myself - I don't have Crohn's or colitis (as far as I know - docs are testing me for them but so far so good, just the colonoscopy left to rule Crohn's out completely), but I'd highly recommend it to anyone with any gut issues to help rebalance and get the system working properly again.

Side note: one of the SCD-related sites also has a chart of which Crohn's and colitis 'foundation' web sites and other 'official' mouthpieces are funded by which drug companies. Fascinating to look at - expecially when those drug-sponsored sites post an article about the SCD saying 'well, it may work, but it's no reason to go off your meds!!"

Oy vey.