Has The Specific Carbohydrate Diet Helped You?

[AliB]

Thought I would start a new SCD testimonial thread - it is encouraging to see how it has helped others.

Not everyone responds to the diet, but many do and it would be good to see how they fared, or how they are still improving.

I have been following the SCD since April 2008. My recovery is slow but positive. I have not been as disciplined with the diet as I would wish and am sure that my recovery may have been quicker if I had.

But I can now eat a lot more food without any reactions, my energy level is very slowly improving, the Candida problems are much better. I no longer have to wash my hair every other day. My digestion is much more settled and the IBS has gone. The diabetes is pretty stable and when I don't cheat I sometimes don't need any insulin at all. I am generally sleeping better and am much less restless than I used to be pre-gluten-free and SCD.

Depending on what I eat, and especially if I eat bad carbs, I still get some bloating from time to time but it is much improved to how it was this time last year.

I still get the 'body throbbing' thing but I am sure that is due to my still weak digestion (and not sticking to the diet properly!) and have just started to take Betaine HCL with Pepsin. I will report back on that one. It is always much better in the morning than at night which suggests that by then the digestion has settled down.

I had a few days of about 80% raw food a few weeks ago and it went away. As I had not had any carbs and only a little fish for protein - it just shows that if I could be more disciplined on the diet it would work!

My current project is to have a real blitz against the rogue bacteria and/or parasites that are causing all the mayhem. I will report back on that one too.....

How have you benefitted, or still are benefitting?

[rinne]

Hi, I haven't been on it long enough to really know but I am seeing improvement and it has only been a couple of weeks.

[rinne]

One symptom I will mention is that when I eat any kind of grains it feels like broken glass moving through my digestive tract. I was confused about that because sometimes I would have that sensation and I wouldn't have eaten any grains, now I am thinking that it was the bananas (not SCD ripe) or other foods not on the SCD. I am not having that symptom to the extent I was and every day it is a little better.

[ShayFL]

Going grain free has been the best thing for me. I have not had D since and my food digests better (you can see the results in the loo). And I just feel better. I feel cleaner and not "yucky" if that makes sense. I personally do not follow SCD to a "T". But I am probably 90% following it. I allow the occasional sweet potato or plantain. I think removing the grains is key to the success of the diet.

[mftnchn]

My doctor prescribed SCD after two stool tests showed I was excreting high levels of sugar (i.e. not digesting them) and carb digest enzymes didn't make much difference.

I had a lot of symptoms the first week on the SCD, huge shifts in BMs, then started to feel a lot better the second week. Much improvement with fatigue, brain fog, and the ups and downs I had been having for 15 months since gluten-free. My allergy reactions and my lyme disease flares are now much more distinct, but overall I am stable.

don't cheat because I don't want to go back to how I was before! However I take a lot of supplements prescribed by my doctors, and an antibiotic for lyme disease; many are not SCD compliant. This is the next stage for me, to try to switch everything I can.

The remaining issue for me is constipation and bloating. The first 6 weeks on SCD this was far better, but then I lost ground again. Still working this one out. I do have less undigested food coming through though.

[chatycady]

Yes, yes, yes the diet works for me!

I was gluten free for about two years and still wasn't feeling better. Some days sorta okay, others horrible. I have digestive and endocrine problems. Iron anemia, Pernicious anemia, Hypoglycemia, hepititis, enlarged heart, low blood pressure, osteoporosis,etc. etc. I have researched everything I could find about celiac disease and diet. I found the answer in "Breaking the Vicious Cycle". It explained why a gluten free diet isn't enough.

EVERYONE DIAGNOSED WITH CELIAC SHOULD READ THIS BOOK AND BE EDUCATED ON THE DIGESTIVE ISSUES CELIACS FACE.

I bought a yogurt maker and was scared to death to try the yogurt, expecting to be sick from it, cause I couldn't tolerate any dairy products, but I had no reaction and it tasted soooo good!

The diet is very nutrious and I don't have trouble following it, cause I feel so lousy if I cheat. I have tons of energy now, and I hope and pray my bones are getting stronger. I actually love to cook and love to eat! Before I hated cooking, getting groceries, and food in general.

My advice would be too give the diet a try and don't cheat for at least one week and see if you feel a difference. Maybe we can't be "cured" of celiac disease but we can get better and enjoy a productive active life!

And remember you are only giving up some FOOD! It's only FOOD!

[pele]

I've been on it for 8 1/2 months. I started because after one year gluten-free I was still pooping, like, seven times a day and had unpredictable diarrhea.

I did not go through a big die-off like some people report, but I went through sugar and chocolate withdrawal! Once that was over, after about two weeks, my mouth and tongue started to feel cleaner, and my stomach started to feel better. After a month or so I figured out that dairy products were giving me a major case of brain fog, something I was never able to discern before. At 5 weeks, I had an epiphany about processed food. I realized that we are hooked on it because of pervasive advertising. Humans should be eating whole foods (with a small w and a small f), not chemicals.

After 4 months I suddenly felt much better, both digestively and energy-wise. That feeling has continued. I don't foresee a time when I will want to eat rice again, or get in the car and scour the town for gluten-free donuts, waffles or bagels. Give me chicken and carrots any day, oh, and peanut butter, pinapple, kale, honey, almonds, eggs...

[rinne]

More: (ignore if you read this on the OMG thread, please excuse the repetition.)

About three weeks ago I started the SCD, I am having real success with it.

The reason I started was that a friend, recently diagnosed with a wheat allergy, asked me for some recipes and I went to town with my amaranth, rice, tapioca, etc. flours and baked up all sorts of goodies, then I ate all sort of goodies. Not really, but I did eat some every day for that week and by the end of it I felt like I was way back in my illness, it was really obvious that it was the grain, grain of any kind.

I knew that I just didn't want to know that.

At that point I had to admit that every time I felt better in the past three years it was when I grains free but I was also confused because sometimes I would feel bad but I hadn't eaten grains at all. Now I see a connection with the bananas I would eat, bananas that were still very starchy.

I could cry now just out of gratitude to have found this diet, I can eat again and enjoy eating, I have made bread that is not only edible but delicious, Sandwiches! Home made goat yogurt cream cheese with tomatoes and avocados..... and you can make yogurt with heavy cream so that you can whip it just like whip cream except it will have tartness to it.

I am excited about food again.

So yesterday I went and bought the second Grain Free Gourmet cookbook by Jenny and Jodi and I am reading along and I read that the basics of the SCD were used in the early part of the twentieth century to treat celiac. Dr.Haas developed the Original SCD and over 98% of the children treated by him for celiac (561) showed a positive response and many recovered, as in they went on to eat wheat.

In the early 1950's a theory was proposed, based on the flour shortages of the second world war and improvements seen in those with celiac, that gluten and only gluten was the culprit and from that point on the medical profession embraced that theory. What this means is that people get better but don't completely heal and so are always vulnerable to relapses.

There is lots more but I trust if you find this interesting you will investigate yourself.

I have known most of my life that wheat was just not good for me and I am not looking for a way to live that includes it but I realize now that I am no longer willing to accept the conventional view of celiac.

I am going to recover.

[feelingbetter]

Hi- I haven't been around much lately but I did promise Ali a reply to this thread. I have been on the SCD for about 8 months now. I decided to try it since I was not improving on a gluten-free/cf diet after 2 months.

I had chronic fatigue, fibro, migraines, bipolar disorder, super low blood pressure, anemia, chronic constipation and I was completely disabled. I have not been on any psyc meds for 14 months and all of the above are gone. The only thing to come back very slowly is my energy. However that being said I now work part time and am very active with outside groups as well as looking after all of my domestic duties. I rarely need an afternoon nap and stay very busy. I am still not working out at the gym but I want to give myself lots of healing time.

The SCD worked to a point. I certainly improved. However I have been 80-90% raw for the past 10 weeks. Everything got better. I now crave or should I say my body craves raw food. I do have one serving of either organic beef, chicken, eggs or salmon at supper each day. That is my only cooked food. I swear by the raw food diet. I am fortunate that my husband went raw also. He has lost 20 lbs since last March ( he is also gluten and dairy intolerant.) He has the body of a teen now. People are always commenting on how great he looks.

People are always telling me how healthy I look. I am 46 and 5'4" and now weigh 125lbs. I was 140 when I went gluten free last March/08.

My mind is crystal clear. No candida in this body. I really do feel like a new born. I cannot beleive how well I feel. It is miraculous. I have lost my emotional attachment to food. I have green smoothies for breakfast and lunch. Supper is a huge salad with home grown sprouts, veggies, avocado etc and some animal product. I feel energized after I eat a raw meal.

I have gone through many periods of detox only to emerge stronger after each one. I know my body is getting rid of all kinds of garbage.

My next upcoming event is to have the last 3 mercury amalgams removed in 2 weeks.

I have also stopped using all skin lotions and most makeup. I just use olive or coconut oil on my skin. My skin is so much nicer now.

I am getting off track but it really has been many things that have contributed to my turn around.

All the best to you all in 2009

Brenda

[Rosie's Mom]

Hi! My 8 year old daughter was diagnosed in June of '08 with Celiac and felt better on a gluten-free diet for about two months and then started in with more pain that was vague at first and then settled into always being around her appendix. This was going on for months.

After not very much help from doctors, we started on the SC diet this week. This is the first week basically since diagnosis that she hasn't needed Miralax everyday. This is also the first week that she went to school two days in a row. That may not seen like much, but trust me it's a world of difference in a few days.

She still complains of having pain, but it's not all encompassing. She has some energy and wants to do things. I'm not sure if it will last and it is a lot of work, but to see my little girl act like a normal healthy kid again makes it all worth while.

[rinne]

...... I'm not sure if it will last and it is a lot of work, but to see my little girl act like a normal healthy kid again makes it all worth while.

That is wonderful.

[tonyalee]

It is neat to read all of the SCD successes. I wish that I had been one! My family tried this diet about two years ago. I followed it pretty faithfully for a few months, but still was having serious problems. I finally figured out that I could not tolerate the almond flour, yogurt and honey. And I can eat some things that SCD does not recommend (potatoes, etc) with no ill affects, so I didn't see any reason to continue to cut those out. I'm still looking for my magic formula, though I don't think anyone has invented a diet that will work for me yet -- uh, unless that's what I'm working on.

[chatycady]

Hi! My 8 year old daughter was diagnosed in June of '08 with Celiac and felt better on a gluten-free diet for about two months and then started in with more pain that was vague at first and then settled into always being around her appendix. This was going on for months.

After not very much help from doctors, we started on the SC diet this week. This is the first week basically since diagnosis that she hasn't needed Miralax everyday. This is also the first week that she went to school two days in a row. That may not seen like much, but trust me it's a world of difference in a few days.

She still complains of having pain, but it's not all encompassing. She has some energy and wants to do things. I'm not sure if it will last and it is a lot of work, but to see my little girl act like a normal healthy kid again makes it all worth while.

At first I thought the diet was alot of work too. Making yogurt, broth, etc. etc. But I've gotten into a routine and I actually enjoy cooking again. I can make yogurt quicker and get other things done while I wait for it to cool, etc.

I've been on the diet for 6 months and have never felt better or had so much energy. And I sleep like a baby. Just be careful of the almond flour and honey. Too much at first can cause reactions. I eat baked goods only a couple days a week, and only one serving a day. Three or four bars or slices of bread is too much for my intestine to handle. Also the beans give me gas! But at least I feel good but no one else around me does though!

It is all worth while!