Specific Carbohydrate Diet?

[cornbread]

I'm on day 4. Based on Elaine's recommendations for those who have C rather than D, I've added in the muffins after day 2:

"Get on the introductory diet for two days. Then introduce the muffins, one per day, along with COOKED AND PEELED vegetables and fruits. Raw fruit and vegetables (with the exception of the ripe banana) can aggravate both diarrhea and constipation."

So now I'm eating the soup, grassfed beef patties, well cooked zucchini/carrots and drinking 3 litres of water per day, one glass of grape juice and one cup of green tea (she recommended a hot drink with breakfast and I can't do coffee yet). Oh, and baked apples with honey and cinnamon or baked pears. Mmmm!

I'm very tired and my skin is breaking out, which I guess means I'm detoxing (?). I'm now going to the bathroom after each meal (not saying something happens each time, but the urge is there now at least! ) and I've had no stomach pains or bloating at all since starting the diet. Compared to the previous week when I was bloated and in pain after eating anything. So I think it's working. Nothing dramatic, but baby steps. My stomach feels so calm these days that it actually feels odd! Isn't that depressing? I'm sure you can all relate...

Re: the muffins, I can't eat eggs so I substituted 1T flaxmeal and 2T water for every egg. Works a treat in the muffins, but I'm not sure how 'legal' flaxmeal is. The book doesn't mention it. It's given me no problems (only 3T flaxmeal per batch of muffins though), and if anything I think it's been a benefit for me, being on the C rather than D end of the spectrum. Any clues?

I also took a leaky gut test today. So I guess today I was off the diet, as you have to drink a lactulose/mannitol mixture. I should have the results in 7-10 days.

I'm also doing a 'Colonix' cleanse, whiich I started the same day as the diet. I guess it could be that which is causing me to feel 'detoxed'.

I think I'm going to try eggs soon. I don't have an intolerance to them, just a sensitivity (IgG) and I intend to get them back into my diet as soon as possible. I want to retry them every few weeks whilst I'm making progress with the SCDiet. Anyone got any pointers on when we should retry foods we couldn't handle before? Is 1 week too soon?

[Guest greengirl]

Thanks Patti, for the info on the gluten free bacon. I just started the SCD diet, though, so was wondering which bacon is okay for that. All the bacon I've seen is sugar cured.

ChelsE - Thanks for the Blue Diamond tip and the homemade roasting, salting idea! I'll have to give that a try.

Christine

[PreOptMegs]

Re: the muffins, I can't eat eggs so I substituted 1T flaxmeal and 2T water for every egg. Works a treat in the muffins, but I'm not sure how 'legal' flaxmeal is. The book doesn't mention it. It's given me no problems (only 3T flaxmeal per batch of muffins though), and if anything I think it's been a benefit for me, being on the C rather than D end of the spectrum. Any clues?

I also took a leaky gut test today. So I guess today I was off the diet, as you have to drink a lactulose/mannitol mixture. I should have the results in 7-10 days.

I'm also doing a 'Colonix' cleanse, whiich I started the same day as the diet. I guess it could be that which is causing me to feel 'detoxed'.

I think I'm going to try eggs soon. I don't have an intolerance to them, just a sensitivity (IgG) and I intend to get them back into my diet as soon as possible. I want to retry them every few weeks whilst I'm making progress with the SCDiet. Anyone got any pointers on when we should retry foods we couldn't handle before? Is 1 week too soon?

FLAXMEAL? BAD, VERY BAD. That is why you are not healing faster.

[cornbread]

FLAXMEAL? BAD, VERY BAD. That is why you are not healing faster.

Erm... at 4 days in I said it appears to be working! I'm not sure how much faster it could be going! Are you getting me confused with somebody else?

[danikali]

What is the difference between flax oil and flax meal? Because Elaine says that flax oil is legal.

[penguin]

From breaking the viscious cycle website:

Flax seed is illegal.

From Elaine: "lignin is found when the whole seed (and its stiff coat) are ground up. I think it is harmful for people just starting out on SCD. I think some bacteria feast nicely on lignin - it is tough like bark."

Flax seed oil is legal.

From Elaine: "The oil itself, in very small amounts, (and one will have to reduce the prescribed dose by at least 50%) may be helpful." On SCD, without the groundup almonds, I would highly doubt if one would need a supplement of these oils. The huge amount of supplements being pushed are questionable as to the fact that they may be doing as much harm as possible good.

Flax meal is just ground up flax seeds, hull and all.

I just happened to be researching the SCD!

[Rachel--24]

Hmm...I havent cheated but I did add in flaxmeal. I have C. so was hoping it would help.

[cornbread]

Rachel, I've found it helps me and the diet is still working, so I'm not afraid to use my personal discretion on this one thing, esp. since I had C (past tense! woo hoo! ).

There's a guy who has kept his Chron's in (drug-free) remission with the SCD since 1997, and his blog (Open Original Shared Link) has multiple references to eating flax seeds. So although I can see how the seeds might be tough on the system at first, I don't think they will prevent the diet from working. Flax meal isn't any tougher on the system than almond meal once you're at the muffin stage, and in cases where people have C rather than D, I think it is probably very beneficial. But of course, it's a personal choice. For those lucky enough to be able to eat eggs, it's probably very easy to say everyone should stick rigidly to the book because it works 'as is' for them. For the egg-free, dairy-free types, there need to be some inventive workarounds!

Speaking of which... anyone tried Young Coconut Kefir? I'm not going to be able to do the yoghurt, and this seems like a great, dairy-free alternative. Open Original Shared Link

[Guest greengirl]

Article on the SCD...

Open Original Shared Link

[cornbread]

Thanks greengirl - I just read that article. It amazes me to read over and over again how 'restrictive' people feel this (or even just the gluten-free) diet is. I pretty much ate the SCD way (minus dairy and all legumes) for 6+ months before starting the SCD, purely based on eliminating foods I felt bad eating, and it left me with a Paleolithic diet - the very diet humans were designed to eat! People (esp. doctors) who consider a diet like this restrictive should take a long hard look at their own issues with food and addiction to it, IMO! It's simply not that hard or restrictive to live on meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and nuts. It's horrifying that there might be people who could benefit from a simple dietary change (ie: cutting out all the crap we weren't supposed to eat in the first place) but they are steered away from it by doctors and into a lifetime of drugs to mask their symptoms.

[Jackmat]

Hi all,

My first post.

Don’t know that I’m coeliac, but I certainly don’t have gluten because I don’t have any complex carbohydrates.

I became very ill in March last year. Don’t know what happened, but I somehow lost the ability to digest food. I know stress was a factor.

After losing 33 pounds in 3 months, constant nausea, diarrhea, and all the relevant invasive tests showing absolutely nothing, I was at the lowest point in my life when I somehow stumbled on to the Specific Carbohydrate diet.

After two days on the diet, the nausea stopped, the diarrhea stopped and everything (except my eating habits) returned to normal.

Whenever somebody tells me they have an intestinal illness, I always recommend this diet. Obviously, it doesn’t work for everybody, but I know that it has thus far saved my life.

Dont worry, the cravings will go

My best wishes to everybody.

Jack

[PreOptMegs]

Of course you will feel better very quickly because you are staying away from processed foods, but to be truly healed in SCD sense, it is going to take a while, so please stay away from flaxmeal.

If you have C, the best thing I have found is mashing up carrots that have been cooked into oblivion. I make a puree using a blender and truthfully it goes right through me after just eating that and simple meats for 2 days straight. I just sort of started the intro diet again just to clean out.

[cornbread]

Of course you will feel better very quickly because you are staying away from processed foods, but to be truly healed in SCD sense, it is going to take a while, so please stay away from flaxmeal.

I've actually not had any processed foods in months because I can't eat any grains, dairy, soy, eggs or yeast. Yes yeast, so that also means no coffee , black tea or alcohol. My diet could not have been cleaner. I have been on a strict, Paleolithic home-cooked diet (grass-fed meat, fresh wild fish, organic fruits, organic veggies, a few organic almonds) for months. Apart from a couple of pieces of fruit per day it has also contained very little sugar - not the honey-fest it now is! I was consuming a lot of my veggies (and all my fruit) raw, and I think this is where I was going wrong. Things got really bad when I tried to ramp up to ~90/95% raw (all raw except a piece of cooked fish/meat at dinner). I still believe a mainly raw diet is best (enzymes, etc.), and that's what I will work towards eventually, but I know now that first my gut has to heal.

If you have C, the best thing I have found is mashing up carrots that have been cooked into oblivion. I make a puree using a blender and truthfully it goes right through me after just eating that and simple meats for 2 days straight. I just sort of started the intro diet again just to clean out.

As stated in my earlier post, the C has now cleared thanks to the SCD. I truly appreciate your concern but the diet (with a little organic flaxmeal in my case) is working for me and has worked this way for others in the past. I respect your choice to not eat it though. It's unfortunate that the Drs Haas are no longer with us to further evolve their diet. But since they're not, we have to make our own decisions on these things. I'm sure there are a million schools of thought on exactly which supplements one should or shouldn't consume on the diet, but of course every body is different and what works for one may not work for all - much like the diet itself.

Apart from the C clearing and the post-meal pains/bloating gone, I have further proof that the diet is working: Yesterday I ate a banana that clearly wasn't ripe enough for me (it had brown spots, but only a few). Within 10 minutes the old stomach pains and bloating came back. The pains subsided within an hour, but it was clear proof to me that the theory behind the SCDiet is sound. I'm glad it happened because without D I was wondering how I would be able to test new foods when I introduce them. Now I know!

[Nancym]

Interesting Cornbread! I've also noted how similar SCD is to the paleo diets. But my one thing where I'd diverge on is that I think cooking foods is very healthy. It breaks down cell walls and lets us digest things that would otherwise pass right through us. Of course, some vitamins are destroyed by cooking, so I think having a mixture of cooked and uncooked things is probably best.

I've also become concerned about introducing bad bacteria into my gut, since I've got at least one autoimmune disease caused by that. And I suspect the pathway was through uncooked food.

I'm quite skeptical about probiotics though. Every time I've attempted to culture them, like yogurt, I think has failed. So I'm nearly convinced they're DOA by the time they get to your gut.

[cornbread]

Nancy, I've also had no luck with probiotics in the past (I've been on them solidly since November), but I've ordered some pure acidophilus to try with the SCD, since I can't do the yogurt. They're being shipped on ice from Kirkman Labs. I'm hoping they won't be DOA! The probiotic blend I was taking before contained some of the bifo- strains that Elaine's web site tells us to stay away from. I'm hoping a straight up simple dose of the 'good guys' will help, in conjunction with the SCD not feeding the bad guys anymore. I might also try coconut water kefir. I'm a bit worried about how I'd react to that though, having dietary yeast intolerance.

I know what you mean on the cooked food thing - I'm a little torn too on the pros vs cons, but the brief time I spent 95% raw I felt mentally great (until the stomach ache kicked in!). I felt really alert but with this incredible sense of calm at the same time. And younger! After years of brain fog and no energy, that was a great feeling! So, once the SCD has done it's work, I'd like to very slowly work up to mainly raw and try it for 6 months and see how I feel. Maybe start with juicing, try and incorporate that as soon as I can. I may well get the benefits I want just from that.

To be honest, the reason I started looking into it was that they pretty much only eat what I can eat anyway, so their 'cook' books opened up this whole new world of amazing, delicious recipes, all made of Paleo foods I wasn't allergic to. Also, raw I was eating much higher carb than I usually do, but I was losing 0.2 lbs a day at a steady rate. The idea to me that I can eat as much fruit as I want (I LOOOOVE fruit!) and not gain weight is very appealing! Also, I travel a lot, and the idea of eating raw makes so much sense for someone who is away from home but can't eat in restaurants anymore. I couldn't go totally raw though because, unless the price of sashimi comes down, that would mean being vegan, and I feel best with meat in my diet.

Oops - sorry to ramble!

[danikali]

All I have to say is I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH ALL OF YOU. This diet is ACTUALLY WORKING FOR ME. I feel like it is a miracle. SERIOUSLY. And yes, with all of the new recipes that I am learning through this diet, not ONE LITTLE BIT do I feel deprived in ANY way. There are TONSSSSS of foods to eat on this diet. And although we are avoiding things like rice and potatoes which are healthy, the SAD (hint hint), STANDARD AMERICAN DIET is 1,000,000,000,000,000 times worse! Hello!!!!!!!!!!! Are we allowed to stay on this diet FOREVER?????????/ Because I believe that is what I'm going to do. I LOVE IT.

I also want to comment on the whole raw foods issue. I was eating mostly raw foods as well before, not knowing or even thinking for a second that that was a problem. Now I know that I cannot handle anything raw, at least now of course. But it's just interesting the things that I am learning on this diet!

Also, coffee has yeast in it? How come coffee is legal but yeast is not? And also, flax MEAL and flax OIL are different, right? Because I use flax oil for my constipation, but I want to make sure that it is safe because I'm sure I can find other ways to 'go' without the flax oil. I only use it about once a week anyway, but I'm just checking. I want to do this 100% to the book.

[cornbread]

Hi Dani,

Elaine said that she approved of flax oil (in small amounts) but not of flax seeds, because they are tough on the system. My recent posts were re: flax meal, which makes things even more confusing! So yes, flax oil is officially ok by Elaine, although it wasn't mentioned in the book itself.

I think raw foods are just too much work for out delicate little insides right now. My 'theory' was that if I was eating foods with their enzymes intact, that would give my body a break from using it's own enzymes to digest and it could concentrate on fixing me. I think it worked to a degree (I did feel good), but I don't think my GI system was ready. It's incredible to me that within one week I have gone from eating mainly raw to not even being able to tolerate a banana! I think this is GREAT though. I feel like the SCD gives us a level playing field again, so that we can actually tell what's going on. I don't care if it takes me a year or more to get back up to eating raw fruit and veg, I will know when I do get there that my body is really ready.

Re: coffee, the beans are fermented prior to being washed and dried. Even 'dry-process' coffee (old fashioned method of production where beans are dried in the sun right after harvest) still allows for some natural fermentation as the beans dry (I tried 'em all! ). I also have bad environmental allergies, the worst being to mould, so I don't think that helps matters for me when it comes to fermented foods/drinks. I don't get GI symptoms from them, just serious brain fog/fatigue and weird rashes. The yeast intolerance has been the hardest one for me - wine and coffee in particular. I got very into wine after going gluten-free, and suddenly it was off the menu. So I got into coffee - even roasting my own beans, etc. A month of so later, started reacting to that too. :( I'm seriously hoping that when my gut is healed I can start tolerating a few of my treats again.

[PreOptMegs]

From www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info

Flax seed oil Legal see Flax seed and flax seed oil

Flax seed Illegal see Flax seed and flax seed oil

Flax seed and Flax seed oil

Flax seed is illegal.

From Elaine: "lignin is found when the whole seed (and its stiff coat) are ground up. I think it is harmful for people just starting out on SCD. I think some bacteria feast nicely on lignin - it is tough like bark."

Flax seed oil is legal.

From Elaine: "The oil itself, in very small amounts, (and one will have to reduce the prescribed dose by at least 50%) may be helpful." On SCD, without the groundup almonds, I would highly doubt if one would need a supplement of these oils. The huge amount of supplements being pushed are questionable as to the fact that they may be doing as much harm as possible good.

This is all I can find on flax seed and flax seed oil.

[Nancym]

Cornbread, since you're into recipes for Paleo stuff, I have got a GREAT recommendation for you, maybe you already have it: It is called "The Garden of Eating". Just google that. If you order though, you might want to order it directly from the author's web site because it took 8 weeks for me to get it from Amazon. The recipes are incredible and very compatible with Paleo or SCD.

[cornbread]

Thanks Nancy!

[PreOptMegs]

For the SCDers---

At home, there are a lot of left over hard boiled colored eggs, but the coloring dye tablets have cellulose gum and maltodextrin in them. They are gluten free, but I am not sure how much can permeate the shell. It seems unlikely that the maltodextrin/cellulose could, but I am reluctant to eat the eggs because they are "blue".

Anyone eating their colored eggs? I NEVER cheat on this diet, so I just don't know what to do....

[PreOptMegs]

About the article posted on SCD. ..

The main argument was that the body was not getting enough short chain fatty acids in the diet because these are mostly found in starchy vegetables and the doctors said that long term effects without SCFA could potentially be bad. But the thing is, SCFA can be found in other foods that are legal for us...

"Omega-3 fatty acids come in two groups, short-chain and long-chain. Short-chain Omega-3 fats are found in flaxseed oil, walnuts, and some green vegetables. A small amount of these fats (between 1% to 9%) are converted to long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids by the body. The rest are used primarily for energy."

Open Original Shared Link

Walnuts are legal! THat sort of cuts down on any criticism of the diet.

[danikali]

I have a question, how did all of you go about this? After the intro. diet, did you really take the time to add in one new food every 3-4 days? I was doing so good, but I think that I really need to get this elimination thing started because I keep thinking, okay, well, as long as it's on the 'legal' list, I'm fine. But that's obviously not the case. What are your stories? Espeically those of you who have been on it for a while? Do you REALLY follow that addition of foods rule?

[Guest greengirl]

I have a question, how did all of you go about this? After the intro. diet, did you really take the time to add in one new food every 3-4 days?

I'm wondering the same thing. The first couple days I did stick with the chicken soup and jell-0 and yogurt, but I've sort of been haphazardly adding things because I was so hungry (all legal things!) Now mainly I stick with the almond flour in muffins or bread, meat, cooked vegetables and cooked fruit, except for some fresh strawberries and banana that I add to the yogurt. It's been 2 weeks since I started and I have no bloating, some D, no cramping, but I do get tired easily and late afternoon/evening I get this burning feeling in my intestines and sometimes nausea. This is probably the ulcerations that I know I have, but I'm wondering if the foods I'm eating are aggravating it or if overall the diet is helping me.

My gastro doctor prescribed Entocort for me, but I'm reluctant to start it if the diet is working. Once I start it, I won't know what side effects are from the medicine and I won't know which is helping - the drug or the diet. On the other hand, given this burning feeling, I don't want the ulcers to be getting worse.

Christine

[Green12]

I have questions:

Is there anywhere on-line where there is a list of safe/legal probiotic brands to use?

Does anyone know what the special instructions are for cooking the dried legal beans?