SCD Menu Advice

[kdonov2]

Hi,

I hope this thread is in the right place. I am going to do the SCD but I have trouble eating veggies and meats without some sort of sauce or condiment. I know you cannot have anything with sugar, soy or vinegar in it, and already that limits many, Can anyone reccommend one? I really like complex flavors with lots of spice, so it is tough to go back to anything mild (I love Indian and Thai food).

[lucia]

Good question. I've been on the SCD now for 2 and 1/2 months. When I first started, I was cautious with spices but I used olive oil and freshly ground salt and freshly ground pepper on everything. I emphasize freshly ground because that made a big difference in the flavor. I didn't always use freshly ground salt and pepper before, so I went out and bought versions of it before this diet because I knew I needed something for my food. I also doused my food with virgin olive oil. It still wasn't super exciting, but eating like that was worth it because I got better. I slowly added other spices into my diet - basil, thyme, oregano, sage, and more lately tumeric, cardamon, cumin.

One interesting thing happened, especially in the early stages of the diet: I tasted food differently. I don't know if my taste buds adjusted, but cauliflower, spinach, zucchini, chicken, etc. never tasted so darn good. It was an unexpectedly pleasurable part of the diet. Also adding stuff in again after not tasting it for awhile - great! Like recently I started eating potatos again! Yum! With olive oil, salt, and pepper. And later with onion, garlic, parsley, tumeric, cumin! The diet really makes you appreciate simple culinary pleasures.

But, most importantly, I hope it works for you!!!

[jenngolightly]

Hi,

I hope this thread is in the right place. I am going to do the SCD but I have trouble eating veggies and meats without some sort of sauce or condiment. I know you cannot have anything with sugar, soy or vinegar in it, and already that limits many, Can anyone reccommend one? I really like complex flavors with lots of spice, so it is tough to go back to anything mild (I love Indian and Thai food).

As you get further in the diet, you'll get to experiment with all kinds of spices. You aren't limited except for spices that are mixed - curry for example (don't eat garlic powder - it has starch in it). The first condiment I introduced was yellow mustard because, like you, I was very used to "saucing" food. You can use honey, so honey-mustard is a staple for me (I'm 6 months into the diet). You can use Tabasco sauce - so make spicy honey mustard. If you get mustard powder, you can make Chinese mustard sauce. My favorite fresh salad dressing (good for marinating, too) combines fresh lemon juice, fresh mint, red onion, honey, mustard, and olive oil. Don't limit yourself to the scd websites. Check out your cook books or web sites with recipes and you'll find all kinds of sauces. Just substitute honey for the sugar. You'll get good at substituting things. Trust yourself.

Brine food in apple cider. I slow cook pork tenderloin with onion, celery, carrots, some apple cider and water - sprinkle pork with salt, pepper and basil (optional) before you put it in the cooker. All those spices are okay if you try them one at a time to see if your digestive track handles them well. Mine did. Oh, don't forget the spicy honey mustard when you eat the pork!

Another hint - you can eat Pace Sauce (not salsa) in Mild formula. Just make sure you've tried out all of the ingredients separately first to make sure you handle them okay. That was a great addition for me. I can make black bean soup... make the black beans, mash half of them and put them back in the pot with the others (keep some of the liquid in the pot), and dump in the Pace. Use the leftover pork tenderloin to add meat to the soup. Voila! Spicy bean soup with pork. I got that recipe out of Food magazine. Again, I don't limit myself to scd recipes... the more foods I can eat, I find that I can make all kinds of gourmet dishes. Just sub the stuff you can't eat.

Good luck with the condiments!

[kdonov2]

Thank you!

I want to try some of the recipes you mentioned.

As you get further in the diet, you'll get to experiment with all kinds of spices. You aren't limited except for spices that are mixed - curry for example (don't eat garlic powder - it has starch in it). The first condiment I introduced was yellow mustard because, like you, I was very used to "saucing" food. You can use honey, so honey-mustard is a staple for me (I'm 6 months into the diet). You can use Tabasco sauce - so make spicy honey mustard. If you get mustard powder, you can make Chinese mustard sauce. My favorite fresh salad dressing (good for marinating, too) combines fresh lemon juice, fresh mint, red onion, honey, mustard, and olive oil. Don't limit yourself to the scd websites. Check out your cook books or web sites with recipes and you'll find all kinds of sauces. Just substitute honey for the sugar. You'll get good at substituting things. Trust yourself.

Brine food in apple cider. I slow cook pork tenderloin with onion, celery, carrots, some apple cider and water - sprinkle pork with salt, pepper and basil (optional) before you put it in the cooker. All those spices are okay if you try them one at a time to see if your digestive track handles them well. Mine did. Oh, don't forget the spicy honey mustard when you eat the pork!

Another hint - you can eat Pace Sauce (not salsa) in Mild formula. Just make sure you've tried out all of the ingredients separately first to make sure you handle them okay. That was a great addition for me. I can make black bean soup... make the black beans, mash half of them and put them back in the pot with the others (keep some of the liquid in the pot), and dump in the Pace. Use the leftover pork tenderloin to add meat to the soup. Voila! Spicy bean soup with pork. I got that recipe out of Food magazine. Again, I don't limit myself to scd recipes... the more foods I can eat, I find that I can make all kinds of gourmet dishes. Just sub the stuff you can't eat.

Good luck with the condiments!