Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)

[Ms Jan]

Jan, I have done the liver cleanse, feel free to PM or email me about it. Mia, I'd be interested in what you plan to do as well.

Sherry

Sherry & Mia,

Thanks - would interest me a lot.

Since I understand, Sherry, that you've problems with the PM - If you email Mia, perhaps if you allow her to, she will then ... ... PM me with your email address, and we can exchange the info by email.

Jan

[mftnchn]

Jan, yes that's fine. I already told Ali she could let you know my address.

Michelle, I'll need to somehow get an email address in order to send you that information, since I am not allowed to PM here.

Basically: I simplified the Hulda Clark protocol to what I had access to. I also did only apple juice for one day before.

[mftnchn]

I'm still frustrated with trying to figure out how to prevent bloating. I'm wondering if it is a time of day thing, if it has to do with acid/alkali balance, amount of fat in the diet, etc.

I was doing fine on my basic SCD foods the last several days, then bloated badly yesterday evening after having yogurt with banana (which I had eaten for breakfast with no bloating).

[Ms Jan]

Sherry,

Do you drink lots of coffee or tea? That's one of the main culprits for me when it comes to bloating. Sometimes, though, it's also simply too much of something that the stomach has to work hard on, like having two very different foods at the same time. Wouldn't know about yogurt and banana, since I never tried it. But it could be that they each demand different enzymes and ways of processsing in the intestines, which your system is not yet sufficietly healed to manage. Or perhaps you can manage a little of it, but not a lot, like depending fx, on how many enzymes your body can produce. Just a thought ...

Jan

[fig girl]

Jan, yes that's fine. I already told Ali she could let you know my address.

Michelle, I'll need to somehow get an email address in order to send you that information, since I am not allowed to PM here.

Basically: I simplified the Hulda Clark protocol to what I had access to. I also did only apple juice for one day before.

Thanks Sherry! I appreciate the information. I had gotten Hulda Clark's book about 3 or so years ago, "The Cure for All Diseases" (i think that's the title) and it did have a liver cleanse in there. I was too chicken to do it back then. I've been meaning to get it out and take a look at it again since Ali had mentioned it a while back so i'll try to remember to do that tonight. Thanks again!

Thanks Mia for the pm!

Michelle

[mftnchn]

Jan,

No coffee or tea for me, other than coffee used for detox purposes.

I suppose it could be mixing foods, or simply that my system overloads easily or an enzyme problem. My enzyme levels and bile levels are low. In terms of the bloating, I don't think it is the foods themselves, but maybe the amounts of the foods. Its weird that the same food may be okay sometimes and not other times.

The next thing I am going to try is a day or so on broth. Probably will do that tomorrow, to see if I can get the bloating to decrease. Since the apple juice alone has led to decrease in bloating and water retention, I want to see if the broth does too.

I'm also wondering if the bloating is from too much yogurt, maybe I have a ceiling of tolerance for digesting it. I recently had an IGG test for goat milk and did fine on it.

If my KPU test comes out positive, one thing I read is that acids are a problem, including yogurt. So that could be part of the issue as well. My specimen will be shipped out next Monday, so its apt to be a month or more before I know the results.

Sherry

[mftnchn]

You're welcome, Michelle. I appreciated receiving Mia's information, it was very similar but I liked several things that I want to incorporate next time.

I think anyone who is trying it needs to do their research about what the side effects might be and contraindications.

My hope is that ultimately this will help improve my bile salt production, and my digestion, and help me be able to advance on the diet a little better. Also am hoping it will help with detox.

[fig girl]

You're welcome, Michelle. I appreciated receiving Mia's information, it was very similar but I liked several things that I want to incorporate next time.

I think anyone who is trying it needs to do their research about what the side effects might be and contraindications.

My hope is that ultimately this will help improve my bile salt production, and my digestion, and help me be able to advance on the diet a little better. Also am hoping it will help with detox.

Hi Sherry,

I hope it will help you improve also and advance more on the diet. I'd like to be able to do that also. I looked at Dr. Clark's book and remembered why i hadn't done it in the past. I hadn't done a parasite or kidney cleanse and she mentions doing those before the liver cleanse. I am taking Capryl still and being on the SCD should be helping with the parasites so maybe i'd be ok.

I've been having a little more bloating as well and i've been wondering for a while if i cut out dairy completely (the goat yogurt is the only dairy i'm eating) if it would help me improve. Today i didn't have any yogurt and I'll try to avoid it for 2-3 days and see how i do. When i eat too much at one sitting it'll give me some brain fog, a little joint pain and i think a little bloating. I had a little gurgling in my stomach today but it could have been that i took the Capryl at breakfast today since i didn't eat any yogurt. I usually take it with a snack later in the morning about 3 hrs after eating the yogurt. Or i guess it could have been not getting as much of the probiotics as normal.

I usually take a probiotic first thing in the morning and eat SCD goat yogurt at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Today and tomorrow i'll take a probiotic in the morning and before bed....i hope that's enough. I just want to hold off on the goat yogurt for a few days to see how i feel.

I've thought at times acid is a problem for me - it seems when i eat too much animal protein and yogurt i would get too acidic. Sorry, tmi, but i would feel burning when i went to the bathroom (no. 2). When i cut back on those it would get better. I haven't had that in a while thank goodness.

Good luck with your KPU test - i hope you don't have this but if you do maybe knowing this will help get you further along in your healing.

Michelle

[mftnchn]

Michelle, I didn't do a special kidney cleanse but that part has seemed pretty functional. For me, SCD helped a lot with parasites, but I also did several rounds of treatment recently for strongyloides and protozoa. So I felt pretty confident that I was okay to do the liver cleanse.

I'm trying to figure out if it is the amount of yogurt that is the problem with bloating. I'm also wondering if it is the amount of fat at once that is the issue, since my bile salts are low.

So today I am doing just broth. Tomorrow I'll add my carrot/chicken/ginger pureed soup, with only a little salt. I'll do it in "rice bowl" size amounts, so at any one time I am limiting the amount of food. If I don't bloat on that, I'll try adding yogurt in small amounts at first. There's got to be a reason for the bloating!!

[pele]

Sherry

Are you in Oregon or going to be soon?

[Rhoger1]

Hi All, week 4 into the SCD diet and starting to introduce Phase 3-4 foods with pretty good success so far.... One question, over the past week or so I seem to have started to get constipation (stomach pain, pellet stool, hard to go, etc). Other than Prunes / Prune Juice any other remedies....I eat quite allot of vegies and 2 fruits per day (usually 1 green apple and 1 Rip Banana) sometimes a peach all peeled. Many things I read on the web speak about low carb diets lead constipation. Also, how about Metamucil. Is it SCD legal (sugar free version?)

Thanks

[glutenfreeeugene]

I'm on it too!

I decided to modify the diet a bit to make it safer in my eyes. instead of starting at the intro diet I started with roughly the full diet taking all the high calorie foods (ie honey) and have had a week of that before toning it into the intro diet which I shall begin tomorrow when my yogurt is ready. I didn't think my body would be happy with too sudden a drop in calorie intake, for one it sets your adrenal glands off a bit.

So after that week how do I feel? well no that much different, however when I initially started a week ago I felt very tired and needed lots of pick me up honey so Its improving. Cutting out foods for me is real easy so think I may stick with diet even it doesn't yield improvement, after all its very healthy, and I need all the help I can get!

[AliB]

Hi Rhoger. There are a few things you can try. It does seem to be fairly common - all the 'experts' say that we need plenty of roughage to help keep the bowels moving, but I found that although I was having plenty of roughage it wasn't working - roughage on its own is not the answer.

What is working for me is the higher fat intake. I think that carbs help to keep the 'elimination' working because the body converts a lot of the carb to fats and some of it is 'ejected' along with everything else - makes sense, after all you need to keep your car well oiled to keep it moving!

I wonder if the Inuit and their 60%-odd fat consumption ever get constipated???

Another few things that can help is Milk of Magnesia taken now and again or a magnesium supplement during the day (I find the evening better), and if you are desperate - Epsom Salts!

[mftnchn]

Sherry

Are you in Oregon or going to be soon?

Yes, soon; toward the end of August for 6 weeks.

[mftnchn]

Rhoger,

It could be part of the adjustment process. Elaine mentions healing crisis are common at the 1 month and 3 month points as I recall, she couldn't expalin it, just observed it often.

I agree about the Magnesium, extra vitamin C can also help. On the www.pecanbread.com website is Elaine's protocol for constipation, you could consider that.

Roughage actually makes C worse for me, I don't seem to tolerate any more advanced foods.

[mftnchn]

Welcome, glutenfreeineugene,

The fatigue at first is a familiar symptom, and you might have more symptoms when you move into intro. Cravings may be high also for a couple of weeks.

Remember that the diet helps kill off parasites and the bad guys in the gut, all of which cause symptoms.

I hope you'll stay with it for awhile. What were the symptoms that led you to try SCD?

[chatycady]

This is off subject, but I just wanted to send some words of encouragement for those of you starting or following the SCdiet.

I am 53, celiac with all sorts of food intolerances. I found SCdiet about 10 months ago. I have just retuned from a 10 day vacation visiting family and hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. I hiked 6.3 miles one day and 10 miles another day, and rode horses another day. I could not have done this last summer as I was too weak and sick - although I was gluten free.

Stick with the diet, I know it's hard, but don't cheat. I have two sisters who continue to cheat and they haven't improved like I have. (I realize we are all so different in the healing process, but cheating delays the healing process.)

I still can't eat a lot of the "legal foods" but maybe in time I will.

Just wanted to share my story.

P.S. I rented a little cottage with full kitchen and cooked my own food. I also made lots of the yogurt before I left home and took it with me. I was gone for 10 days.

[mftnchn]

Wonderful! What an encouragement. In my case (1 year on SCD), my improvement isn't so dramatic but there are multiple factors in my health problems. SCD has made a clear difference, and I stay very strictly SCD compliant--still on the easiest to digest foods.

[Ms Jan]

Chatycady,

That sounds wonderful - congratulations ! And a great encouragement for the rest of us.

I've done 5 1/2 mths of SCD and am much improved, but still get set-backs far too often. I'm very strict with the diet, and stick with only those of the legal foods that I know are safe for me, but still, it takes so very little of a slip - or stress - and I fall sick again. I do know I'm on the right track though, and hearing stories like yours surely helps keeping the spirit up.

[fig girl]

This is off subject, but I just wanted to send some words of encouragement for those of you starting or following the SCdiet.

I am 53, celiac with all sorts of food intolerances. I found SCdiet about 10 months ago. I have just retuned from a 10 day vacation visiting family and hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. I hiked 6.3 miles one day and 10 miles another day, and rode horses another day. I could not have done this last summer as I was too weak and sick - although I was gluten free.

Stick with the diet, I know it's hard, but don't cheat. I have two sisters who continue to cheat and they haven't improved like I have. (I realize we are all so different in the healing process, but cheating delays the healing process.)

I still can't eat a lot of the "legal foods" but maybe in time I will.

Just wanted to share my story.

P.S. I rented a little cottage with full kitchen and cooked my own food. I also made lots of the yogurt before I left home and took it with me. I was gone for 10 days.

That's great news Chatycady! Congratulations! This gives me a lot of encouragement also as i am still only able to eat certain legal foods. July 20th will be 10 mths for me being on the diet also. I'm very strict too and have healed a great deal but still have a long way to go. I have more energy than I've had in a long time and it just continues to get better. I have set backs too with stress and i did have a couple of accidental glutenings i believe but i can tell i'm on the path to much improved health. I've stuck to just my safe foods for the past 2 mths or so and that's helped a lot. Since my healing is very slow i think i need to do that for a good bit longer. It's hard though with summer and all of the yummy fresh fruits and veggies around but one day i may be able to eat all of them again. Thanks for sharing and it sounds like you had a wonderful vacation!

Michelle

[fig girl]

Michelle, I didn't do a special kidney cleanse but that part has seemed pretty functional. For me, SCD helped a lot with parasites, but I also did several rounds of treatment recently for strongyloides and protozoa. So I felt pretty confident that I was okay to do the liver cleanse.

I'm trying to figure out if it is the amount of yogurt that is the problem with bloating. I'm also wondering if it is the amount of fat at once that is the issue, since my bile salts are low.

So today I am doing just broth. Tomorrow I'll add my carrot/chicken/ginger pureed soup, with only a little salt. I'll do it in "rice bowl" size amounts, so at any one time I am limiting the amount of food. If I don't bloat on that, I'll try adding yogurt in small amounts at first. There's got to be a reason for the bloating!!

Hi Sherry,

I introduced the yogurt again after about 2 days and i couldn't feel much difference so i'm glad. I love the yogurt. I did have some tummy rumbles the first day off the yogurt which was probably from not having the probiotics as often...i think. I hope your broth and soup helped with your bloating. I have spontaneous menstrual cycles on my own (very rarely but it does happen on occassion - seems to be mainly when the seasons change???) and i believe i had one and started on Sat. so i believe that was part of my bloating issue. I have switched to a compounded prometrium cream and i didn't have much of a cycle last month so this could be just break through bleeding (sorry, tmi) but i'm not sure. It seemed like a regular cycle (from what i can remember!).

I can't eat a large amount of the yogurt at one sitting either. I'm starting with a small amount of cod liver oil today with no lemon or additives so i'll see how that goes. Oh, and i had purchased a tampica (spell?) skin brush a while back and started with the skin brushing and my skin feels and looks better. I had seen your post that you were doing the skin brushing and i've been wanting to get one and finally found one in a nearby health store.

Speaking of skin, i had seen a post about a skin condition (not vitiligo but it's something like tanicious ritilogo..sorry i can't remember) but it stated that for some this condition cleared up after going gluten free. It's usually white or red spots/patches in the upper arm, neck and upper back area and it's caused from yeast overgrowth on the skin (i think). I've had a small area on my right upper inside arm since i can remember and started with a little place kind of similar on my neck as an adult - they're not real noticeable. I noticed not long after gluten free and scd it looked like the neck area was getting better. Anyway, i'll have to search and find it but i thought it was interesting and will have to look into it more - maybe i'll ask my GP about it. I've been rubbing the extra coconut oil that's left on the spoon that i add to my doggy's meals on my upper arm and neck to see if it'll help! I guess another one of those mystery things probably caused by gluten and other sugary processed foods.

[mftnchn]

Hi Michelle,

The broth days did help, and things are somewhat better. I did one day of broth, and one day of broth plus carrot/chicken pureed soup. Toward the end I started adding back a little yogurt. I don't think its enough nutrition, so I've gone back to eating some nuts (homemade crackers) and some soft veggies, and bananas and homemade apple juice.

I'm still not sure about the yogurt, but have cut it back to taking a couple of tablespoons at least twice a day. I'm going to watch and see if the bloating recurs. The only other dairy I use is a little cheese, mostly in the crackers. I can't get DCCC out here. I was making a cucumber dip with dripping yogurt, but I think I'll hold off on that until I know if the dairy is a problem. The weird thing is that I hadn't noticed the bloating being so bad until the last 3 months, so I don't know why the change if dairy is the issue.

I'm contemplating trying the other solutions for probiotic foods listed on pecanbread.com, and elminating dairy just to see what happens. When I first went gluten-free, I was also DF for 10 months but still had issues. However, I haven't tried totally DF since starting SCD.

The other thing is that I think if the bloating continues I'm going to do 1-2 days every week or two of just broth or broth and meat. I think this might give me a boost of healing plus help rebalance the gut flora.

[fig girl]

Hi Michelle,

The broth days did help, and things are somewhat better. I did one day of broth, and one day of broth plus carrot/chicken pureed soup. Toward the end I started adding back a little yogurt. I don't think its enough nutrition, so I've gone back to eating some nuts (homemade crackers) and some soft veggies, and bananas and homemade apple juice.

I'm still not sure about the yogurt, but have cut it back to taking a couple of tablespoons at least twice a day. I'm going to watch and see if the bloating recurs. The only other dairy I use is a little cheese, mostly in the crackers. I can't get DCCC out here. I was making a cucumber dip with dripping yogurt, but I think I'll hold off on that until I know if the dairy is a problem. The weird thing is that I hadn't noticed the bloating being so bad until the last 3 months, so I don't know why the change if dairy is the issue.

I'm contemplating trying the other solutions for probiotic foods listed on pecanbread.com, and elminating dairy just to see what happens. When I first went gluten-free, I was also DF for 10 months but still had issues. However, I haven't tried totally DF since starting SCD.

The other thing is that I think if the bloating continues I'm going to do 1-2 days every week or two of just broth or broth and meat. I think this might give me a boost of healing plus help rebalance the gut flora.

I haven't been completely dairy free either since starting SCD and now i'm wondering if it didn't help me being DF those 2 days last week. My poo seemed to be a little better after the 2 days now that i think about it. Today i had not as good poo (sorry tmi) but i did take a little of the cod liver oil this morning so i'll not take it for a few days and see how it goes. I may try that too and maybe have a few days each week DF and see if that'll help.

[pele]

I find it interesting that so many of us have set-backs related to stress. This happens to me, too. Do we get stressed easily becuase of longterm digestive issues? Does stress go right to our guts? Are our stress-fighting capabilities severely limited due to gut disease? In my case, I think all of the above.

[Ms Jan]

Speaking of skin, i had seen a post about a skin condition (not vitiligo but it's something like tanicious ritilogo..sorry i can't remember) but it stated that for some this condition cleared up after going gluten free. It's usually white or red spots/patches in the upper arm, neck and upper back area and it's caused from yeast overgrowth on the skin (i think). I've had a small area on my right upper inside arm since i can remember and started with a little place kind of similar on my neck as an adult - they're not real noticeable. I noticed not long after gluten free and scd it looked like the neck area was getting better. Anyway, i'll have to search and find it but i thought it was interesting and will have to look into it more - maybe i'll ask my GP about it. I've been rubbing the extra coconut oil that's left on the spoon that i add to my doggy's meals on my upper arm and neck to see if it'll help! I guess another one of those mystery things probably caused by gluten and other sugary processed foods.

Michelle,

This is very interesting since I have exactly the same white spots around my shoulders, lower neck. It itches when it gets warm, but otherwise it doesn't bother me much, nor is it very visible. Only, it's there and doesn't go away - think I've had it for about 4-5 years. I have noticed that it seems to be better since I started the SCD. And I also rub coconut oil onto the skin in some periods, which definately helps, although it hasn't cured it yet. No dr has been able to tell me what it is (surprise! ), but I'm also convinced it's some kind of tiny funghi, so it definately does sound the same. Did the article mention any cures for it?

Jan