Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)

[lonewolf]

I wish I could get my son to eat squash. I love zucchini, yellow squash and all of it. He eats just about any veggie except squash. I'm trying to change that. I got a butternut squash today that I'll be making into fries tomorrow for dinner.

I'm way too chicken to try dairy with him. I really think it has a lot to do with why he developed UC in the first place. We MIGHT try the 24 hour yogurt at some point, but not now. I'll let him have some butter, but that's all.

I made almond butter "brownies", which remind me of the 3 ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe. All the recipe has in it is almond butter, honey, egg and baking soda. The first time I made them he thought they were barely okay. Today he thought they were delicious! Funny how your perspective changes!

[YoloGx]

I wish I could get my son to eat squash. I love zucchini, yellow squash and all of it. He eats just about any veggie except squash. I'm trying to change that. I got a butternut squash today that I'll be making into fries tomorrow for dinner.

I'm way too chicken to try dairy with him. I really think it has a lot to do with why he developed UC in the first place. We MIGHT try the 24 hour yogurt at some point, but not now. I'll let him have some butter, but that's all.

I made almond butter "brownies", which remind me of the 3 ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe. All the recipe has in it is almond butter, honey, egg and baking soda. The first time I made them he thought they were barely okay. Today he thought they were delicious! Funny how your perspective changes!

The brownies sound plenty delish to me too!

I'm betting you could bake some goodies with squash as an important ingredient. Pie or pudding comes readily to mind... Maybe others here have some ideas?

It might help to think about making the 3 day fermented cabbage instead if you don't feel ready to try the yogurt. The enzymes will help your son digest things better--actually will do that for all of you.

Tonight I started my first batch of "yogurt cheese" ... plus was easily able to tolerate eating Swiss cheese today. Both milestones for me! I want to make some cheese cake soon to help celebrate getting all the cottages here rented.

My next fermented item meanwhile will be the cabbage.

Bea

[AliB]

I find that too much dairy tends to 'bung me up' so I keep it to a minimum. I do wonder sometimes if raw milk and cheese would have the same effect but it is just impossible to get hold of any here so I have to limit the pasteurized stuff.

Funny isn't it that when I was eating gluten and dairy 'normally' and had IBS it always veered towards D. I can only assume that the gluten D reaction was stronger than the dairy C reaction!

Correct me if I am wrong but I always assumed that those who eat a lot of yogurt, like in Turkey for instance would just leave the milk to naturally ferment, which suggests that the culture is already in the raw milk.

The only reason store milk lasts so long is because it is so sterilised nothing can grow in it!

I long for the time when we will be able to live in a world where everything is good, natural, unadulterated, un-mucked about with, and unprocessed. Bliss.

[fig girl]

I long for the time when we will be able to live in a world where everything is good, natural, unadulterated, un-mucked about with, and unprocessed. Bliss.

I long for that time too Ali - it would be a dream come true.

I made my first fermented cabbage juice and it's not that bad. Jan - i think you're right on the carrot juice - it was probably too sweet. I started it Sat. and drank my first juice Tues. night and have been drinking a little with breakfast and with dinner diluted with a lot of water. Wed. i had a little bit of rumblies in my tummy but i haven't eaten the goat yogurt in a while so maybe it was the good guys eating the bad guys. I don't drink any at lunch because it may be a little smelly bringing it in to work. It does taste a little like carbonated water like the recipe says but it does smell and taste like cabbage but not bad.

The carafate my Dr. prescribed seems to be working really well (even though it has sorbitol and maybe 1 other illegal ingredient, i've got to check into it) - no more sore stomach. I haven't really checked into what exactly is illegal in it besides the sorbitol because it's working so well. I hope it's just the sorbitol - i haven't eaten any illegal foods since beginning the diet so maybe this little bit won't hurt me. A couple of mornings i felt a tiny bit of soreness but that was after a few days of starting it and now i haven't felt any soreness. I have a followup with my Dr. on Sept. 3rd so i'll find out more and how long i'll need to be on it - hopefully it'll help heal the irritation and i'll be able to add some new legal SCD foods soon! Squash season is coming up and i hope to be able to eat it again...yum! The past 2 mornings i've been drinking warm water with a little fresh squeezed lemon juice and a little sea salt and it hasn't irritated my stomach....YAY! Lemon juice irritated my stomach before.

Bea and Liz - congratulations on your progress and hanging in there with the SCD....sounds like it's going well for you guys. Great to hear!! It was tough for me in the beginning but i've been so limited for so long....hopefully i'm on the road to being able to eat more SCD legal foods really soon!

Michelle

[AliB]

I am sure that Candida plays a much bigger role in gut dysbiosis than people realise. It really is very insidious and a hard nut to crack.

It not only releases a lot of toxins when alive, it also releases them when it dies too so the beggars get their own back on us.

The use and in the past the over-use and often unnecessary use of antibiotics undoubtedly plays its part - killing all the beneficial bacteria leaving the way open for the yeasts to take over. Add to it the high-carb, high-sugar, and high-pretty much everything else Western Diet and the beasties are 'made'.

As one of the most insidious of the by-products from Candida is acetaldehyde, the body, and liver is constantly under bombardment. I suspect that health problems like Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease may actually have the ethanol and aldehydes behind them.

I believe the diet is so successful because it finally gets to grips with the beggars. How rapidly it deals with them is totally dependent on how infested an individual is. From this point of view the slowness of the diet is actually a good thing because flooding the body with too many toxins through the die-off process could actually cause major problems.

So gradually getting the better of them by 1) withdrawing much of their food source, and 2) adding in to the diet a good proportion of beneficial bacteria is a two-pronged attack.

Those that still can't cope with fruit very well may actually still be in the grip of the yeasts to a certain extent because if the activity of them is contributing to fermentation of the fruit in the gut then along with the gas and bloating will come a further aldehyde burden on the liver. Fruit and even simple sugars may well still be an issue for some until they have got the yeasts under control.

Things like Coconut oil with its Lauric and Caprylic Acid may well help but again I feel it needs to be taken in moderation. I had a good couple of spoonsful last night and my lymph has been up most of the day. I do not think it is the coconut that was the problem but the effect it had on the yeasts.

I suspect that until I finally get my gut back into balance I won't see the back of the 'thumping', which may well be my liver struggling against the toxic burden these little beggars put on it.

I have been battling these little beggars for years and I know that many other out there have too, but it is comforting to know that through this diet finally I am starting to understand how to deal with them.

Open Original Shared Link

https://www.celiac.com/articles/21842/1/-Ba...ease/Page1.html

[pele]

Last fall and winter we talked a lot about "pumpkin pie" or some such thing.

I made a winter squash custard by blending

2 cups mashed winter squash

1/3-1/2 cup honey

3 or 4 eggs

a few dashes of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg

and baking in a glass dish at 350 till done.

Very filling and good. Liz, your son might like this.

If he is doing well, will he eat red lentils seasoned with cumin, coriander and turmeric?

[pele]

Here's a link to a list of questions that Elaine answered about the SCD:

Open Original Shared Link

[pele]

I should add, for those who haven't cooked much, that custard making is not rocket science. Change the ingredients if you wish.

You can make custard with 3 eggs, 1/2 c honey, 2 tsp vanilla and 2 cups of coconut milk, too. I've never used mashed carrots but I'll bet it would work.

[YoloGx]

Interesting links you guys! I agree with Ali that candida can be a long term nightmare.

Ali--I found garlic helps plus oregano oil. If you don't want to take the oil internally, you can apply it to your wrists. Ditto with thyme oil which really kills the yeast etc. Barberry is another good candida killer, assuming you can get past the bitter taste.--and yes it has to be taken internally. A little goes a long ways... Days on and off, that sort of thing.

I have always had an allergic reaction to grapefruit seed extract, however for those that can use it, it is a great yeast killer. A very little goes a long way...

And not to be unpopular, I would like to re-suggest the use of stevia instead of sugar while trying to kill off and/or keep away the candida and other assorted yeasts... Its my belief that Elaine got this one wrong. Stevia is just a member of the sunflower plant family. It has glycosides but no sugar and is not carcinogenic according to all serious studies. It is the sweetener of choice in Japan 40% of the time.... Both folklore and some studies actually show it to be helpful for maintaining a good blood sugar balance. Plus it helps calcium absorption.

When I use honey instead of stevia very much at all my brain starts registering that old candida mentality and my ears etc start itching and flaking. It alters my thinking seriously... there is a definite before and after, although its not nearly as bad as other sugars!

I have read on occasion that yeast overgrowth can be there in part to protect one, especially if one has mercury or other heavy metal etc. problems...but then of course the candida etc. can get too carried away. I finally got rid of my mercury etc. but the yeast like symptoms continued. Oh yeah, how can one mention everything??? All those twists and turns meandering in search of health like someone on a lost quest.

I am so thankful to at last (now on the scd) be able to eat fruit. Am hoping I am not overdoing it due as implied due to all the candida overgrowth I have had over the years at least since I was six or so... Or could it have just been the celiac and need for simple instead of complex sugars.... and then way too many antibiotics years ago?

Thanks Michelle for commenting. I am so thankful to this forum for helping me get on track for this last bit of healing.

Bea

[YoloGx]

All about eggs:

Meanwhile I am still leery about using eggs. Historically I get migraines from them, though one egg cooked in food now and then has been relatively OK, though even then I am not entirely certain; I did have trouble with various goodies using grains with the egg added when I was just doing the gluten free foods. The plain pancakes (mainly using ancient grains like teff, amaranth and sorghum) without the eggs were always easier on me. You get the point.

I notice a lot of the desserts for the scd depend on eggs. Is there any kind of scd OK binder that might work instead of eggs? Am guessing from my own past experiments in making alternative muffins etc. that squash and/or bananas might be the answer?? Anyone figured how much squash/banana would replace an egg?

Bea

[AliB]

You know, I keep picking up on links to low-carb eating. Everyone who eats this way seems to benefit in one way or another.

I know that it is beneficial for me and always has been although I have never been very good at implementing it until now.

The biggest factor in my finally turning around and accepting the benefits and doing something about it was not just the digestive issues and the gluten intolerance and the Diabetes and all the other really annoying issues that went along with it, but the realisation that the carbs are damaging everybody to a greater or lesser degree.

This may seem like heresy to some, but the thousands of people who have recovered their health, lost weight, and experienced a fantastic sparkle of life are not figments of any imagination.

That is another reason why the SCD works so well - because essentially it is low-carb. For some, dropping the level of carbs lower than even the diet requires has been even more beneficial.

I even picked up a link written by an athlete - Charles Washington, who is a marathon runner - who actually follows a NO-carb diet. Because he eats a little extra protein and plenty of good fats - even animal fats, he never experiences muscular aches and pains, never has to 'warm up' before running and keeps plenty of energy reserves in stock to see him through the race.

There is definitely a ground-swell tide-change going on as people realise the damage that processed foods, and particularly carbs, are doing to us all.

People like Jimmy Moore, Nina and Clarke Wagaman (you would be interested in this one Bea - Open Original Shared Link, Richard Morris, Barry Groves, are just a few of the thousands who have 'cottoned on', and I keep finding more and more.

I have to say that I feel that along with the low-carb SCD, coconut oil is one of the most beneficial of all the foods I am taking. As long as I get enough good fats I don't want the carbs (not even the chocolate!) and do feel much better for it. Even better, I am now on just 1/3rd of the Diabetic meds I used to have to take, and no other meds at all. My aim is to be able to get off it completely.

[YoloGx]

You know, I keep picking up on links to low-carb eating. Everyone who eats this way seems to benefit in one way or another.

I know that it is beneficial for me and always has been although I have never been very good at implementing it until now.

The biggest factor in my finally turning around and accepting the benefits and doing something about it was not just the digestive issues and the gluten intolerance and the Diabetes and all the other really annoying issues that went along with it, but the realization that the carbs are damaging everybody to a greater or lesser degree.

This may seem like heresy to some, but the thousands of people who have recovered their health, lost weight, and experienced a fantastic sparkle of life are not figments of any imagination.

That is another reason why the SCD works so well - because essentially it is low-carb. For some, dropping the level of carbs lower than even the diet requires has been even more beneficial.

I even picked up a link written by an athlete - Charles Washington, who is a marathon runner - who actually follows a NO-carb diet. Because he eats a little extra protein and plenty of good fats - even animal fats, he never experiences muscular aches and pains, never has to 'warm up' before running and keeps plenty of energy reserves in stock to see him through the race.

There is definitely a ground-swell tide-change going on as people realise the damage that processed foods, and particularly carbs, are doing to us all.

People like Jimmy Moore, Nina and Clarke Wagaman (you would be interested in this one Bea - Open Original Shared Link, Richard Morris, Barry Groves, are just a few of the thousands who have 'cottoned on', and I keep finding more and more.

I have to say that I feel that along with the low-carb SCD, coconut oil is one of the most beneficial of all the foods I am taking. As long as I get enough good fats I don't want the carbs (not even the chocolate!) and do feel much better for it. Even better, I am now on just 1/3rd of the Diabetic meds I used to have to take, and no other meds at all. My aim is to be able to get off it completely.

Hi Ali,

I think you are right about the low carb thing. Am so glad to hear that you are improving so much and able to reduce your insulin, esp. with what sounds like reduced carbs and the use of coconut oil. It makes me want to go buy some again. I was using coconut oil for a while but then stopped about 6 months ago when I was first on the paleo diet. I had a bad reaction to having so much coconut milk that I thought I should go off the oil too.

But back to the low carb diet. I seem to now require a lot less squash for instance now that I am eating fruit. I do think that a no carb diet could work for a while, but it also could possibly be dangerous for the kidneys if taken to excess. An athlete often sweats so much that that their skin could possibly be like an extra kidney. However for most of us who maybe work out but not to such a great extent as an athlete I worry that it might create problems in the long run to avoid all carbs... Whatever diet one follows, I think its important to eat a lot of vegetables for instance.

I was unable to access your link. So could you check it and resend that?

Meanwhile I discovered some limits yesterday. I seem to be allergic to Swiss cheese if eaten two days in a row... Got all bloated and hurt terribly. Also inflamed my old sacrum and L-5 (low back) injuries. Thank heavens for baking soda, walking and yoga etc. The 24 hour yogurt helped soothe my gut too. Am still sore today, but much less so...

Bea

[AliB]

Open Original Shared Link

I don't know why it wouldn't work - try it now?

I really can't understand why there is so much panic about reducing carbs. The Inuit and those who live in similar circumstances live predominantly on fish, meat and fat and very, very little in the way of carbs (there ain't much that will grow there!) and yet they are fit, hale and hearty.

They don't get our diseases, in fact they rarely get sick and usually only die of accident or old age. I'm sure if they had big issues with kidney problems as a result it would be well documented.

They are living proof that man does not need carbohydrates to exist.

Have a read of Richard Morris's website - Open Original Shared Link

His makes interesting reading too.

The governments and Medical Professions of both Britain and the US (and undoubtedly a few other countries too) have been promoting high-carb, low-fat for the last 30 or 40 years. Where has it got them? The incidence of obesity and related diseases like Diabetes have sky-rocketed. It ain't working!

Personally, I have come to the conclusion that whatever the Powers That Be tell us to do, I am far better off doing exactly the opposite!

I never did believe that low fat was a good idea and fortunately never jumped on to that bandwagon. When I read about Charles Washington's agility and flexibility on the higher fat regime I am glad that I took that decision. I wonder how many others there are at 16 stone (as I was) who could still touch their toes!

I am very glad that the SCD is not a low-fat diet or I wouldn't be on it!

[YoloGx]

Open Original Shared Link

I don't know why it wouldn't work - try it now?

I really can't understand why there is so much panic about reducing carbs. The Inuit and those who live in similar circumstances live predominantly on fish, meat and fat and very, very little in the way of carbs (there ain't much that will grow there!) and yet they are fit, hale and hearty.

They don't get our diseases, in fact they rarely get sick and usually only die of accident or old age. I'm sure if they had big issues with kidney problems as a result it would be well documented.

They are living proof that man does not need carbohydrates to exist.

Have a read of Richard Morris's website - Open Original Shared Link

His makes interesting reading too.

The governments and Medical Professions of both Britain and the US (and undoubtedly a few other countries too) have been promoting high-carb, low-fat for the last 30 or 40 years. Where has it got them? The incidence of obesity and related diseases like Diabetes have sky-rocketed. It ain't working!

Personally, I have come to the conclusion that whatever the Powers That Be tell us to do, I am far better off doing exactly the opposite!

I never did believe that low fat was a good idea and fortunately never jumped on to that bandwagon. When I read about Charles Washington's agility and flexibility on the higher fat regime I am glad that I took that decision. I wonder how many others there are at 16 stone (as I was) who could still touch their toes!

I am very glad that the SCD is not a low-fat diet or I wouldn't be on it!

Hi Ali,

This time I got the url to show. To me Nina and Clark's diet looks very much like the paleo diet. I like the scd since it really seems to work better fro me. For instance I need the cheese to be more aged. I think we are all individual in our responses. I also like the 24 hour yogurt.

It is interesting that they limit the type and amount of fruit. Good advice I think overall. I notice they didn't eliminate all carbs, just reduced them greatly. I don't think they know about the 24 hour yogurt. Apart from that their diet seems to be very similar to the scd---though scd without the honey or fruit juice. They use Splenda instead. I still think stevia is best.

No matter what its interesting to see how a low carb diet is so very helpful. I think it could help people here on the scd to reduce some of the carbs further by avoiding fruit juice and not having much honey plus reducing the amount and type of fruit.

I still think a no carb diet would be a bit extreme for most people however.

I really think the Inuit diet with no carbs is relatively site specific, though I could be wrong. They eat the seal etc. intestines which likely have lots of vegetable matter in them. This is how most carnivores get their vitamins etc. after all--from the animal intestines of foraging animals. The Inuits also drink the fresh blood and eat a lot of uncooked meat, including the brains. Probably would work, but I for one don't feel that adventurous... I have read elsewhere of certain individuals who have cured their diseases eating that way however so I am not really knowing it. Just know I would not go that direction by choice. I really do not like to eat uncooked meat for instance.

Did you know that chlorophyll and blood have similar properties? Thus I have heard it said that eating a lot of fresh greens and/or freshly juiced green vegetables is like getting a blood transfusion...

Meanwhile Ali I admire your open minded ability to find new clues useful to healing celiac, diabetes and other degenerative conditions. As I said before, you seem to be a fount for finding new information and resources! I am so grateful to you for creating this thread on the scd and bringing in all this new info for us to think about.

Bea

[AliB]

I just thought that it was interesting that Nina felt that they had been eating healthily for years with their wholegrains and home-made bread, etc., only to realise that actually it wasn't that healthy at all.

Funny - you know, I always felt that our diet was pretty healthy when I was younger. I remember our 4 year-old son Steve coming back from visiting 'Auntie' Barbara-next-door-but-one, and telling me he'd had a 'real treat'. What was that, says I? "White bread an' margarine" came the reply!

As you can probably guess, we always had wholemeal and butter. White bread (decent, not the pappy stuff) was an occasional purchase and fortunately I never did jump on the 'healthy' margarine bandwagon. But even so, I still bought the kids crisps and choccie bikkies and we always had dessert after dinner (a fail-safe 'carrot' to get our son to eat his dinner!).

I see the same pattern repeating itself with our daughter and grandsons. A constant drip-drip of high-carb foods. She hates me banging on about it but she knows I'm right. I did us all a low-carb dinner tonight. Prawns (atlantic, not farmed) and avocado on shredded lettuce followed by home-made beef and onion meatballs, stir-fried veggies and chick-pea mash (not SCD I know but still pretty low-carb). It was all polished off except Connor (the eldest) didn't like the mash. Even Ashley, who is normally very picky ate it all, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they both had a doughnut when they got home! Sigh.

Ashley has some kind of cradle-cap (he's 6) and red patches on his cheek which are both suggestive of fungus of some kind. He's always had a very sweet tooth so I wouldn't be at all surprised if he isn't riddled with Candida already. But he did try some pieces of a clementine yesterday and ate all the prawns, avocado and lettuce tonight which was brilliant, so maybe the tide is starting to turn. I really hope so.

[AliB]

Interesting. I was just reading in Bruce Fife's 'Coconut Cures' that according to research coconut oil in the diet makes nutrients much more available to the body (bioavailable), so nutrient deficiencies are less likely.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies like B12, magnesium and calcium are much less likely. That is why medium chain triglycerides from coconut oil are added to baby formula - human breast milk contains MCT's - MCFA's (medium chain fatty acids). It is often added to animal feeds too to prevent deficiencies.

The amount of MCFA's in mother's milk is dependent on the type of food she eats. A poor diet will contain much less and will impact on the health of the baby. Mothers who eat two or more tablespoons of coconut oil during the day can apparently increase the MCFA value by up to 18%.

The book includes a testimonial by a woman whose baby was skinny and sickly. Her naturopath suggested that she take coconut oil and within 2 months her baby had gained three pounds and was thriving. This was her 9th baby and the naturopath felt that as she had had so many babies her milk quality had diminished. The coconut oil brought it back up to a good level of MCT's.

I wish I had known this a year ago. There was a woman on here who had the same problem - I think it was her 7th baby and it too was sickly. Each successive baby was less healthy than the last one. If only I had known about coconut oil and its benefits.

I tell you - this is amazing stuff.

[OliveBranch]

Dear SCDers,

I have a question about the 24-hour SCD yogurt. I just started with it about five days ago, and since then I have been feeling noticeably worse. I had felt that I was on a pretty good, though gradual, path of improvement with the gluten-free diet and then the SCD, but a day or so after starting the yogurt my brain fog increased, along with moodiness, fatigue, headaches, and some other more minor symptoms. I am still hoping that this means the yogurt is helping me to detox, but I'm worried that perhaps I'm consuming too much dairy and it is actually keeping me from healing. (I am keeping a food journal but still having a difficult time making a pattern of my symptoms versus my foods.) I'm cutting out cheese and butter first (though grudgingly), but my husband has really been suspecting that the yogurt is just as much of a problem.

So my question is: how long do you all think I should keep on with the yogurt before deciding I can't handle it (yet)? If you experienced initial detox with the yogurt, how long did it last?

Thanks for your help!

best,

Emily

[Ms Jan]

Hi Emily,

I've been on the SCD for 7 mths now with very good effects. I cut out all dairy, also all SCD legal ones, but I tried the yogurt twice about 5 mths into the diet, and reacted with a string of bad symptoms, like headaches, brain fogs etc. So I just cut it out again and only ingest probiotics by capsules.

I've been on a very limited version of the diet for a long time: No meat, eggs, dairy, legumes, honey or nut flour products - but only vegetables, non-sugary fruits, chicken, canned tuna and nuts, but it has truly helped. And with so few foods, it's been rather easy to read my body's reactions to individual items. Recently, I've been able to add in some wild salmon, and in the last few days, I've been able to have my first hard boiled egg with no ill effects (will do only one a week for a while and see how it goes). So I'm definately improving. But yogurt I'm not willing to try again. I really think that my inner resistance to it, is a reflection of an intolerance (as I love the taste), and the brain fog was so bad that it's not worth a try.

Listen to your body. With the reactions you're having, I probably would try cutting out all dairy, and then once you feel well, try to add them in one at a time.

Also, I markedly improved about a month ago when I went through all my supplements and weeded out anything with the slightest potential for SCD-illegal substances. So apparently even the smallest amounts of something bad (in my case it was tiny amounts of cross caramelose and manitol), is enough to hold up the healing. So if you haven't already done so, it might be worth checking out the supplements as well.

Hope you figure out what's bothering you.

Michelle,

As mentioned above, watch out for the sorbitol, it really messed up my progress, and I'm so much better since I stopped taking the B-sublinguals containing sorbitol. Hope it doesn't bother you, but do keep an eye on it ...

Ali,

Thanks for all the links. I'm so with you on the healing and healthy long term effects of low-carb and healthy fats.

[AliB]

Hi Emily.

This may well be a reaction between the 'goodies' and the 'baddies'!

As things like Candida die they release toxins which can cause different symptoms. It might be worth seeing if you could hang in there for another few days and see if it settles down.

It could be the dairy, but I doubt it somehow because most, if not all the lactose is predigested by the bacteria and the casein proteins are metabolised into a more digestible form.

I have found the coconut oil to be a powerful cleanser of the beasties. If you decide to try that start with half a teaspoon or so and see how you go with it, then you can gradually increase it - too much too soon and you may well get a big die-off reaction.

It's certainly worth a try.

Jan, I think it depends on which brand you get, some taste quite coconutty (which I like), others taste of hardly anything at all. Watch for rancidity. Properly purified oil is firm and white and will last a long time. Any moisture content in it will cause it to go rancid quite quickly.

I usually get mine from Holland & Barrett here in the UK and up to the last batch it has been fine but I had to take that one back Saturday as it didn't look or taste right.

[YoloGx]

I just wanted to add that I have had problems with the cheese. Its very possible that could be the culprit. Alternatively (to the yogurt) you could try the fermented cabbage.

Am glad to hear that about the egg. I just tried one--am hopeful it will be OK. So far at least so good. No brain fog...

Bea

[OliveBranch]

Thank you all for the responses -- I think I'll keep on with the yogurt for another day or two before cutting it. Cheese I will avoid starting now. I'll let you know if I have any success!

[AliB]

Whilst I seem to be ok with the yogurt I didn't eat any dairy at all for the first year or so. I do have a bit now, 18 months on, but I keep it limited otherwise it gives me C.

I would suggest hanging fire with the cheese for the moment. If you find that you are ok with the yogurt in the end you can always drip it to make Dry curd cheese which is good as another option.

[pele]

Hi Emily

A few short weeks after I started the SCD I discovered that dairy makes me sleepy, dull, and forgetful. I eliminated all dairy and felt much better. I still don't use any dairy products. I am going to a doctor who says some people have a kind of metabolism that converts dairy to an opiate-like substance. It wasn't until I eliminated all the junk from my diet that it became obvious, plus I was eating more dairy because I didn't know what else to eat.

You can succeed on the diet without yogurt.

[pele]

Adding to the low carb discussion:

I have been having trouble staying asleep, waking up around 3 or so and tossing and turning till dawn. I read that a high protein-high fat snack just before bed might help keep blood sugar from dropping at 3 am. So instead of my usual snack of some kind of nut and honey concoction I have been snacking on chicken or hard boiled eggs and sleeping better at least some nights. The experiement is still new.

[YoloGx]

Adding to the low carb discussion:

I have been having trouble staying asleep, waking up around 3 or so and tossing and turning till dawn. I read that a high protein-high fat snack just before bed might help keep blood sugar from dropping at 3 am. So instead of my usual snack of some kind of nut and honey concoction I have been snacking on chicken or hard boiled eggs and sleeping better at least some nights. The experiement is still new.

Sounds like an interesting experiment Pele. I hope it works for you!

I typically have trouble getting to sleep before 1 or 2 AM. I figure its habit due to years of having an uncomfortable body--as well as degraded nerves, old injuries and of course the celiac.

The truth is that I improved after I went off all trace glutens a little over a year and a half ago plus started taking the co-enzyme B vitamins. It used to be I couldn't sleep before 3 or 4 AM, whether I went to bed early or not. As long as I keep exercising I am finding that now with the scd I am sleeping a little better yet.

Like you, my room mate also has trouble staying asleep. Its hard for him to sleep after 4 AM. He is always not getting enough sleep.

I personally wonder if this scd will help with getting better sleep. Has anyone else here had trouble sleeping and improved with the scd? Is Pele's idea of eating protein late something that has worked for anyone else? I know that if I do wake up it seems eating some sunflower seeds helps me get back to sleep... And yes its true, eating some yogurt an hour or so before I sack out seems to help.

Pele I am thinking that you must have a lot of stomach acid to be able to digest meat just before you go to bed and have it actually aide your sleeping rather than keep you awake... I know I have a lot of stomach acid too, but maybe not quite as much as you?... It was actually one of the things that prevented me from realizing that my digestion was so fragile originally since my stomach didn't complain--I just had this protruding belly and lots of gas etc! And of course malabsorbtion etc. etc..

Am also wondering if introducing the coconut oil that Ali keeps mentioning might help with sleeping better too...

Bea