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Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)


AliB

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kmuniac Newbie
Anyone following this?

I have started it today. I knew gluten and dairy were a problem, but I also knew that my problems went further than just gluten-free/DF.

A lot of this makes sense. I have bought Elaine Gottschall's book and am doing the chicken and carrots stuff. Even within a few hours I am beginning to feel a little better.

I noticed on the other thread that whilst some were having some success, they would talk about problems with corn and eating different makes of tinned veg. Anything that comes out of a tin is going to be suspect! What is wrong with just cooking raw carrots? They were also looking for commercially made products without corn - if you make it yourself, you know what is in it.

So - any SCD success stories out there?

i am on it too tried before but fell off so started again last monday. ive been eating almonds though like it suggests and now im reacting to them... suggestions?

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mftnchn Explorer

What kind of almonds are you eating? Some are processed with gas in the pasteurization process. Some people do better with the blanched. I bought some that are pasteurized with steam only.

You can do alternative nuts like hazelnuts, just more spendy. :( Cashews are also ok however, they are hard to digest so may not be tolerated until later.

Sounds like you haven't done intro? What symptoms are you having that you are hoping to address with SCD?

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AliB Enthusiast

Hi. Welcome to the thread.

Many fall into the trap of thinking that just because a food is SCD legal, it must be ok, when in fact not even all legal foods can be tolerated at the start when the gut is really damaged. That is why the diet recommendation is to start with the intro and gradually add different foods as more toleration is reached.

I could not cope with some of the legal foods initially - things like eggs were an issue for a few weeks - even chicken was a problem for the first week or two - I reacted to the soup, and it was several months before I could really cope with nuts - especially in baked items, but now after over a year I am fine with them.

This is not an overnight healing system. It takes time for your body to heal - after all, even though you may not have been aware of it, the damage has likely been progressing for some considerable time and now needs to be reversed.

The diet does work for many people because it gives their body the time and opportunity to heal - it's not just the gut, but often other organs like the liver which have been impacted and need time and support to heal too. If the liver is sluggish and clogged and cannot cope with the toxins in our bodies, then it is obviously going to cause health problems of some kind or other.

You have to think long-term with the SCD. It is not a life-sentence, but a very good and healthy way to eat. Many who embark on the SCD find after a while that they have no desire to go back to eating the junk that contributed to getting them into the mess in the first place.

I fell into the trap initially of eating everything that was on the 'legal' list and not being able to understand why I couldn't cope with some of them, but if your body is not ready then it is not ready - we can't force it to be by eating those foods. I would suggest you just back off anything that you get a reaction to and just keep your diet simple - perhaps trying the foods again at later stages until you are ok with them.

For some, even the yogurt can be problematic, honey may cause a reaction, nuts and seeds, etc., but the most important thing is learning to 'read' your body. Many of us get into the mess because we ignore the warning signals. Any kind of reaction is a warning signal. There is nothing wrong with the 'legal' foods per se, but the problem lays with our body's ability, or lack of it, to cope with them.

Slow and gentle is the best route when you start the diet. Just stick to the foods that your gut can cope with and bring in other foods gradually.

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Yoekie Apprentice

Hi Ali & mftnchn,

I was breastfeeded for a long time, but my mom has had her own gut problems all of her life as well as her grandmother who had 'a lazy stomach'.

I was examined for possible malabsorption and deficincies, the only thing that came out was a serious lack of iron/anaemia, that has been looked after.

I am now officialy dx with nervous breakdown and benzo-dependency so I'm taking supplements to strengthen my nervous system and I guess cutting back on complex carbs will have to wait for a while since they play a major role in functioning of the nervous system... But I do avoid processed food and prefer organic.

Also, I will have the mold cleaned up next week, meanwhile I'm going to move out and see if I feel better sleeping elsewhere.

I will check out what you mentioned of heavy metal toxicity.

Thanks!

Yoekie

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mftnchn Explorer

Yoekie, one more thing to read about might be pyroluria. Some of your symptoms fit that too. I'm considering that for myself too.

SCD has made a huge difference in my intestinal health, though I am still needing additional help to solve my remaining issues.

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Ms Jan Rookie

Hi All,

Last week I was sick again for three days - so annoying! Also because I've really been improving lately, and I couldn't identify any slips at all in staying within the diet & safe foods, which is very strict for me. So I came down to it being stress, having pushed me over the edge this time, since I had had too much on my plate for my present energy levels. I wondered if any of you have tried that: that external stress can create the same symptoms as wrong foods ?

Also, all kinds of gluey substances make me sick immediately, even all natural peanut butter, home made nut flour foods, eggs etc. Since it seems to have more to do with the substance of the food rather than with the particular kind, I wonder if it's to do with the microvilli not being ready to move along gluey substances ? Or maybe it's to do with the size of molecules, as I gather that smaller molecules more easily penetrate a damaged intestinal wall? It's even almost impossible for me to eat any fish without getting sick, except for canned tuna - and it's the same feeling, that the molecules are too small to be broken down by my system. Anyone has any ideas about this or similar experiences?

Whatever poisons me, wrong foods, gluey substances, stress, it's all the same reaction: like a toxic build up that my body (liver?) can't deal with, and then I get poisoned, get nauseous, terribly headachy, feverish and start throwing up. And it only stops after 72 hrs, when I'm totally cleared out. The only good thing I noticed this time was that I recovered half a day faster than normally, I didn't get as dehydrated as I used to during these bouts before the SCdiet, and then that my recovery was much faster. So the diet is working, also when I'm at my worst ... ;)

Still think that impairments of my liver might add to my digestive problems; I'm having that checked starting next week together with a whole run of the GI system.

One exciting thing: I made my first batch of yoghurt over the weekend - fermenting for 36 hours in the oven - and it came out all right :D . Even tastes very good. I got a stomach ache after eating some the first time, but today I've had some more and I seem to digest it better. But I probably should use another kind of milk than cow's. I tried to find coconut milk wihtout any additives but couldn't find any. Any suggestions? (I have a real taste problem with goat's cheese, and think that the same would go for goat's milk, so I prefer other options ... :P )

Hope you're all doing well :)

Jan

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mftnchn Explorer

Jan, I am not sure about the symptoms other than that flares on the diet are common especially the first year. My thought is you might ask the SCD official group, the yahoo group. There are people there with various GI issues, that have been on SCD for years, and might know the answer. I'm wondering if you have a concurrent GI issue. I've learned there about many different ones I haven't heard about before and someone there might be able to steer you in the right direction.

With the yogurt you can check the pecanbread.com site for instructions on making yogurt from alternative milks. I'd try the goat milk once though. The Meyenberg (?) brand is mild in flavor. I agree with you about purchased goat cheese, way to strong for me too. But the yogurt is fine and I drip the yogurt for my own homemade replacement for DCCC, and like it in baking and dips, etc.

Try just doing a small amount of yogurt that you can tolerate without symptoms, then very gradually increase. Also the cow's milk might be a problem. Goat milk is better tolerated by many.

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pele Rookie

Hi Jan

I think having a flare up while under a lot of stress is perfectly normal for us. We seem to carry stress in our guts--that's where our health issues manifest and that's why we are here.

I feel pretty good most of the time digestively, but if I don't stick with my routine that works I run into problems. I had an episode of intense stress last winter and yes, it affected my gut.

Another thing that I suspect happens sometimes is we eat some food that just happens to have a load of bacteria on it and we get a little dose of food poisoning. This is probably very common in the whole human population but we are hypersensitive and aware, so we notice it more.

I can't give you an answer about gooey foods. Your instincts are most likely correct. I suggest eating lots of vegetables and drinking lots of water.

Glad you are improving overall.

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mftnchn Explorer

Jan someone just mentioned on the SCD group (the one I referred to above) that she heard of a case of severe vomiting and diarrhea that was undiagnosed for a long time. It turned out to be hereditary angioedema.

I'm glad you are still seeking for solutions, and especially glad that SCD is reducing the symptoms at least.

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AliB Enthusiast

Jan, obviously I am not an expert but I would agree with Sherry that it is common to get set-backs as you go through the process. It is still early days and although the stress may well be a factor - it is possible that you might also have had a detox session.

I am wondering whether the problems you are experiencing with certain foods might be suggesting that your liver is struggling at the moment.

I too had problems with eggs for a while after starting the diet - I also couldn't cope with nuts and particularly cooked nut foods for at least 10 months or more.

Eggs, nuts, and things like peanut butter are all cholagogues. In other words, they stimulate bile production. It could be that you liver is struggling in that area at the moment. It could be producing enough but with difficulty.

Have you tried taking Milk Thistle? It is a gentle herb that helps to support and cleanse the liver.

What is your 'elimination' like? If the colon is impacted, perhaps your liver is unable to release the toxins and your body unable to expel them rapidly enough. That last set-back I had has made me realise that elimination is the key. If we have a sluggish digestive system and the toxins are slow to get out then they can end up back in our bodies going round and round and doing damage. I got very poisoned because for some reason my colon had ground to a halt and none of the toxins that had been released by the 'cleanse' could get out.

I am trying to eat more raw food, drink plenty of fluids and take supplements like vitamin C and magnesium to help get rid of it all. Hopefully next week I will have another colonic. It is working better now - still not as well as I would wish but at least it is working!

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Ms Jan Rookie

Hi Pele, Sherry and Ali,

Thanks os much for all your inputs :D

Sherry, I'll check out that SCD site. And will push to be tested for all conditions I know of when I start my hospital check-ups next week (also the meta-metrix).

Ali, I have taken milk thistle for six weeks, then stopped about two weeks ago. Will get new supplies and begin again soon, since I do feel they do something good for my liver/body. My digestion/elimination is working amazingly well. It's really so strange. I hardly ever have either D nor C, not even when sick. I generally have what is described as perfect BM, three times a day ..., a little depending on what exactly I eat, but no problems in that department. It starts much higher up in my stomach. my GP thinks I lack part of the enzymes in the chain, or that I might have a narrowing of the duodenum (don't know how to explain it in English :lol:) so that the food builds up and starts rotting instead of being digested. Now I'll see with the tests. And as you say, it might also just be that I've still only been 4 mths on the diet, and that the real healing will take much longer. I must also have them check about the villi damage, that might point me to the level of healing going on.

The SCD is surely working - I am certainly better and stronger here after four months on the diet. It's just that such small mistakes immediately make me sick. But yes, I guess it could also be simple healing crises.

Or perhaps you're right Pele, that I might have also gotten something spoiled.

In any case, I'm up and well again now. Thanks for all your support. It helps keep up my morale :D

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AliB Enthusiast

Thought I would post this as an interesting article about SIBO and how it may be a contributory factor in fructose intolerance for those who seem to have this issue.

Open Original Shared Link

Ali.

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marthamom Newbie

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well---it's been a while since I've been on.

So now I'm probably into about week 6 of the diet.....still haven't tried the yogurt again since the first time, but I think I will try to make the goat's milk yogurt as soon as I get the non-dairy starter sent to me (keeps getting back-ordered from GI Pro Health....any other sources for it that you know of?).

I think I'm seeing small improvements, but I'm wondering how long it's going to really take......I had to totally give up on the peanut butter (even though I LOVE it) because that seemed to bother me, and I've had to stop eating anything with almond flour because it really doesn't seem to agree with me. I guess I must be having a nut problem.....

The other thing that is bothering me is that I'm wondering if I'm eating too much fruit---I'm having Welch's grape juice in the morning, with lunch I have some baked apples and pears (baked with apple cider and cinnamon), and then after dinner I make a smoothie with banana, frozen peaches, frozen blueberries, and apple cider. After I eat any of those things I tend to get a very bloated, full feeling and end up belching more (sorry if that's tmi). But with such a limited diet as it is, I can't imagine cutting out the fruit.......any suggestions?

The only other thing I'm ingesting is my supplements (acidophilous from GI Pro Health, digestive enzymes from GI Pron Health, Frieda multivitamin, Frieda calcium, magnesium) and my daily 20 mg. of generic prozac (which I was told may contain trace amounts of corn startch).

I really want to stay on the diet and want it to work, but I would just like to know at what point you have to decide that the diet just isn't working?

thanks for any feedback! I'm going to my dr. (at the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia U.) next week and hopefully can get a blood test to see if my antibodies are going down. 9 months gluten free since diagnosis now.....hoping things begin to really improve!

Best to all,

Martha

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AliB Enthusiast

Hi Martha.

I'm not sure that we can determine that the diet isn't necessarily working - only that the gut damage we have is perhaps limiting the foods we can cope with.

Even some SCD 'legal' foods can sometimes be more than our gut can deal with so maybe we just have to take a step back and reduce the food types until we find a combination that both we, and our gut is happy with.

I had difficulty at first with different legal foods and could have felt that the diet wasn't working but deep down I knew it should and I just had to give it more time.

It's funny but what I found was that one day, about 10 months or so after I had started the diet it hit me that I wasn't getting certain symptoms any more. They had gone so quietly that I hadn't noticed!

I know Naomi Devlin said in her blog that she didn't really start to make progress with the diet until she removed nuts, seeds, pulses, honey, dried fruit and even the yogurt. We may not necessarily have issues with the same foods, but we may still be reacting in some way to something.

Naomi has started adapting her diet to foods that suit her blood type - albeit still SCD legal. I feel that there may well be something in that. We are all different after all and what's good for the goose isn't always good for the gander.

I have to say that I thought that concept was somewhat ridiculous, but I am wondering if there isn't some logic in there somewhere. Although I haven't tested for it I am pretty sure from years ago that I am type AB. As far as digestibility and flavor is concerned, my favorite meat is lamb and my favorite fish is seafood and salmon - oily fish - white fish sticks in my throat. Hey ho, both are suited to a type AB. I am going to do as Naomi is and try sticking to Blood Type foods for the time being to see if I can do even better on the SCD.

We have such a cosmopolitan lifestyle and eat cosmopolitan foods these days that perhaps we just stray too far off the track from the foods that our genetic type was designed to eat. After all, people from Scandinavis would not have eaten mediterranean foods until now, nor would their genetic be used to eating those foods. There are strong similarities between Metabolic Typing and Blood Type food groups.

Anyway, sorry, I deviated a bit.

My diet was very limited to start with, and I did make mistakes - I couldn't cope with the nuts, dried fruits and seeds for quite some time, even though I kept persevering, and that undoubtedly slowed my progress. I would have been better dropping them and concentrating on the gentler foods however limited. Back then I hadn't learned to read my body quite as well as I do now!

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marthamom Newbie
Hi Martha.

I'm not sure that we can determine that the diet isn't necessarily working - only that the gut damage we have is perhaps limiting the foods we can cope with.

Even some SCD 'legal' foods can sometimes be more than our gut can deal with so maybe we just have to take a step back and reduce the food types until we find a combination that both we, and our gut is happy with.

I had difficulty at first with different legal foods and could have felt that the diet wasn't working but deep down I knew it should and I just had to give it more time.

It's funny but what I found was that one day, about 10 months or so after I had started the diet it hit me that I wasn't getting certain symptoms any more. They had gone so quietly that I hadn't noticed!

I know Naomi Devlin said in her blog that she didn't really start to make progress with the diet until she removed nuts, seeds, pulses, honey, dried fruit and even the yogurt. We may not necessarily have issues with the same foods, but we may still be reacting in some way to something.

Naomi has started adapting her diet to foods that suit her blood type - albeit still SCD legal. I feel that there may well be something in that. We are all different after all and what's good for the goose isn't always good for the gander.

I have to say that I thought that concept was somewhat ridiculous, but I am wondering if there isn't some logic in there somewhere. Although I haven't tested for it I am pretty sure from years ago that I am type AB. As far as digestibility and flavor is concerned, my favorite meat is lamb and my favorite fish is seafood and salmon - oily fish - white fish sticks in my throat. Hey ho, both are suited to a type AB. I am going to do as Naomi is and try sticking to Blood Type foods for the time being to see if I can do even better on the SCD.

We have such a cosmopolitan lifestyle and eat cosmopolitan foods these days that perhaps we just stray too far off the track from the foods that our genetic type was designed to eat. After all, people from Scandinavis would not have eaten mediterranean foods until now, nor would their genetic be used to eating those foods. There are strong similarities between Metabolic Typing and Blood Type food groups.

Anyway, sorry, I deviated a bit.

My diet was very limited to start with, and I did make mistakes - I couldn't cope with the nuts, dried fruits and seeds for quite some time, even though I kept persevering, and that undoubtedly slowed my progress. I would have been better dropping them and concentrating on the gentler foods however limited. Back then I hadn't learned to read my body quite as well as I do now!

Thank you so much--this is very reassuring. I agree that it probably just takes some faith in the diet and patience (which I'm not very good at!). And you're right, it takes a while to actually make yourself realize that just because a food is "legal" we might not all be able to digest it.

And I know what you mean about thinking that the diet should work and giving it time---the other day I was tempted to "cheat" (not with gluten, but with non-SCD food) since I was feeling discouraged, but I didn't, and I'm really glad I didn't......when I really thought about it, it just didn't make sense to me to start eating something that I know is harder to digest because I wasn't feeling better on a diet of things that are easier to digest.

So....I will just try to bide my time and trust in the small improvements....I think you're right that sometimes you're so focused on the end result that you don't see little improvements along the way.

Best,

Martha

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GermanMia Newbie
Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well---it's been a while since I've been on.

So now I'm probably into about week 6 of the diet.....still haven't tried the yogurt again since the first time, but I think I will try to make the goat's milk yogurt as soon as I get the non-dairy starter sent to me (keeps getting back-ordered from GI Pro Health....any other sources for it that you know of?).

I think I'm seeing small improvements, but I'm wondering how long it's going to really take......I had to totally give up on the peanut butter (even though I LOVE it) because that seemed to bother me, and I've had to stop eating anything with almond flour because it really doesn't seem to agree with me. I guess I must be having a nut problem.....

The other thing that is bothering me is that I'm wondering if I'm eating too much fruit---I'm having Welch's grape juice in the morning, with lunch I have some baked apples and pears (baked with apple cider and cinnamon), and then after dinner I make a smoothie with banana, frozen peaches, frozen blueberries, and apple cider. After I eat any of those things I tend to get a very bloated, full feeling and end up belching more (sorry if that's tmi). But with such a limited diet as it is, I can't imagine cutting out the fruit.......any suggestions?

The only other thing I'm ingesting is my supplements (acidophilous from GI Pro Health, digestive enzymes from GI Pron Health, Frieda multivitamin, Frieda calcium, magnesium) and my daily 20 mg. of generic prozac (which I was told may contain trace amounts of corn startch).

I really want to stay on the diet and want it to work, but I would just like to know at what point you have to decide that the diet just isn't working?

thanks for any feedback! I'm going to my dr. (at the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia U.) next week and hopefully can get a blood test to see if my antibodies are going down. 9 months gluten free since diagnosis now.....hoping things begin to really improve!

Best to all,

Martha

Hi Martha,

you say that you are very bloated after eating lots of fruit. As a matter of fact, even in the best case our body can only digest about 60 g fructose per day. Even most people who are not fructose intolerant are supposed to digest less than that, and especially people with damaged gut mucosa are supposed to have trouble digesting lots of fructose as long as their intestines are not healed. The amount of fruit you take in at once is huge - considering that especially apples and pears are very high in fructose. Peaches also contain sorbit which inhibits fructose digestion, so eating apples and pears and drinking apple cider plus peaches and the other fruits is way too much fructose at once.

Peanuts, by the way, contain lots of sugar, and having trouble with fructose mostly means having trouble with peanuts, too. Maybe try what happens if you have some macadamia nuts - they don't contain any sugars, so if you are okay with them, maybe the problem with the nuts is because of their sugar content.

I know it's not nice, but the gut will have more rest if you cut out fruit for some time and only have veggies which are low in fructose - green salad, spinach, chard, some zucchini (not too much), maybe a bit broccoli. Sorry, I can't remember if you are okay with meat, fish and eggs, but if you are, try to limit yourself to those plain things and small amounts of green veggies for some time. If fruit sugar was your problem you will improve very soon after leaving out fructose. And then you can start adding some fruit again after being symptom free for some weeks. If you reintroducce nuts, start with almonds, because they are lowest in sugar.

The other thing is - you say you take calcium - please take magnesium, too, because calcium requires magnesium to work.

Hope that helps :-)

Mia

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AliB Enthusiast

I would endorse what Mia said, but if you feel you really need to have some fruit I would suggest that you confine it to the morning. Fruit is very cleansing and helps the body detoxify, but is much better eaten on its own.

I tend not to eat until mid-morning, then I usually have an apple followed by a banana or some other fruit an hour or so later if I feel like it (sometimes I don't even bother with the banana). The reason I eat later is because I am not hungry until then. My body is still busy going through the cleaning process and I don't want to jeopardise that by eating and putting any burden on it until it is ready. If you are a very early riser you may need to eat earlier and perhaps have a little more over the course of the morning. I used to have to have a good breakfast, but my body has got used to this now and is quite happy. My husband chooses to have a pear and a banana.

Fruit is light - most fruit will go through the stomach within 30 minutes and a banana in 45, it is absorbed readily into the bloodstream for instant energy and is very easily digested. I find that is enough food for me until around 1pm when I have lunch.

I do find that the more nutritious the food I eat, the less I need in order to be satisfied. The body needs nutrients, not just 'food'. We tend to get frightened that we won't get enough food on the diet - but that is because our stomachs are used to being filled with 'empty' stodge. Many of us undoubtedly could actually exist perfectly well on half the food we have been used to eating, as long as it is highly nutritious.

Although many prefer to start the day with tea or coffee, water, either plain or with a little fresh lemon juice is very cleansing first thing and helps flush out toxins accumulated during the night. Lemon (and lime) is very good for the kidneys too.

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marthamom Newbie

Ali and Mia,

Thank you so much for your responses--it's very helpful. My doctor actually tested me for fructose intolerance a couple of months ago, and she said I was negative, but I'm sure that you can still react to too much fructose when healing is in its early stages.

I think starting tomorrow I will try to cut out the fruit for a few days and see what happens....I just feel so limited at this point and fruit is kind of my "treat"----without the fruit, I'm down to eggs, meat, fish, and vegetables. And I just feel so hungry a lot of the day between my meals, and I feel like how much meat, eggs, and vegetables can a person eat?? Maybe I'll make some chicken soup and start having that between meals instead of the fruit to tide me over.....

And Mia, I did just start taking magnesium along with the calcium--thanks for that reminder.

Thanks again to you both!

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pele Rookie

Marthamom

I suggest eliminating the welch's grape juice first. Today's product is made with concentrate which could be as refined as high fructose corn syrup. It is NOT the same juice that Elaine approved. The apple cider could be a problem if it is adulterated.

I find some kinds of fruit bother me, some don't. I usually do okay with fruit I pick locally from wild sources or my own garden, and do worst with non-organic melons and mangoes.

Can you eat honey? If so, eat a spoonful when you get that treat craving. It is legal. Sweet mint tea can be very satisfying.

Elaine says give the diet at least 3 months. I had major gut improvement after 9 or 10 months (and after I quit welch's!). So 6 weeks is short.

I'm glad you checked in. Its been quiet here.

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GermanMia Newbie
Ali and Mia,

Thank you so much for your responses--it's very helpful. My doctor actually tested me for fructose intolerance a couple of months ago, and she said I was negative, but I'm sure that you can still react to too much fructose when healing is in its early stages.

I think starting tomorrow I will try to cut out the fruit for a few days and see what happens....I just feel so limited at this point and fruit is kind of my "treat"----without the fruit, I'm down to eggs, meat, fish, and vegetables. And I just feel so hungry a lot of the day between my meals, and I feel like how much meat, eggs, and vegetables can a person eat?? Maybe I'll make some chicken soup and start having that between meals instead of the fruit to tide me over.....

And Mia, I did just start taking magnesium along with the calcium--thanks for that reminder.

Thanks again to you both!

Martha, I really can understand you missing fruit badly! Summer coming now with all those strawberries, peaches, nectarines, melons etc. nearly drives me crazy, but I just remember last summer with all that bloating and cramps and that's enough to kill my desire...

My "rescue" for the badest cravings is cranberry marmelade. I cook frozen cranberries with rice syrup - you would use honey for strict scd - and spread some plain pancake with it. Just beat one egg with a little honey, make an omelette and spread with some cranberry marmelade. I also do okay with lime juice - mix some lime juice with water and honey and make jelly out of it.

Maybe that helps, too :-)

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Ms Jan Rookie

Hi marthamom,

just to chip in on the fruit discussion. depending on what the exact problem is, you might also be helped by following the principles of 'Fit for Live (Harvey & Marilyn Diamond), of always eating your fruit before and not after any other foods. As Ali mentionned, fruit is digested much faster than other foods, and due to the sugar contents it'll ferment in the intestines if clogged up by 'slow' foods. thus, make sure to eat fruit on an empty stomach. and wait about half an hour after eating fruit before having other foods (I don't always follow the half-hour-rule, but I do feel it's right... :lol:). the same goes for fruit juices/smoothies. choose fruits which have low sugar contents, such as grape fruits, kiwi, green apples or berries. try them out one at a time to see how you react to them. despite its sweetness I also find pineapple easy to digest probably because it contains the enzyme bromelain. banana is the exception which can be eaten after meals as a dessert.

as to grape juice, I make my own by simply blending one glass of water with a peeled grapefruit. it comes out delicious and totally fresh and pulpy. and if too thick I just thin it by blending more water into the juice.

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clearsky Newbie
Ali and Mia,

Thank you so much for your responses--it's very helpful. My doctor actually tested me for fructose intolerance a couple of months ago, and she said I was negative, but I'm sure that you can still react to too much fructose when healing is in its early stages.

I think starting tomorrow I will try to cut out the fruit for a few days and see what happens....I just feel so limited at this point and fruit is kind of my "treat"----without the fruit, I'm down to eggs, meat, fish, and vegetables. And I just feel so hungry a lot of the day between my meals, and I feel like how much meat, eggs, and vegetables can a person eat?? Maybe I'll make some chicken soup and start having that between meals instead of the fruit to tide me over.....

And Mia, I did just start taking magnesium along with the calcium--thanks for that reminder.

Thanks again to you both!

Hey there,

I am about 10 weeks in and I get the same exact reaction from fruit. Even fresh juice from a juicer gets me bloated, though not commercial juice. That means that tiny bit of pulp in fresh juice is still too much for my system to handle. Walking through the produce section of the grocery store is unbearable at times, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to tolerate fruit in a couple more months.

As far as commercial juice goes, I find that Bolthouse Farms Clementine Juice is really well tolerated and delicious (though expensive). It is very tangy so I dilute it heavily, with almost twice as much water. I drink their carrot juice sometimes as well.

I tend to have juice all through the day (though always at least 45 minutes before or after each meal). Do you guys think it would be better to just have it in the mornings?

It is definitely tough without any kind of "treat", although I enjoy eating meat so much that it kinda does the trick for me. I go for pretty fatty cuts such as pork belly and beef ribs. It is strange but I notice a clear difference in how well I tolerate different cuts of meat.

My favorite fish is Mackerel, which is both ultra fatty and supposed to have pretty low mercury/PCB contamination. Very filling.

Here is a good site that shows contamination levels of different kinds of seafood - Open Original Shared Link

It shows Atlantic Mackerel at the bottom, saying it is safe to have more than 4 servings a month. I certainly hope so, since I eat it every day :D

-CS

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AliB Enthusiast

I was thinking about what you said concerning the commercial juice not causing the same issue as fresh juice - perhaps that is because they are getting lots of nothing very much but sugar in the commercial stuff that has no enzymes (they are destroyed during the heating process they usually have to put it through to kill bacteria).

Perhaps they only react and exude gas when they are confronted by certain substances like enzymes. When my stomach was really bad and I was really constipated a few weeks ago I was getting terrible gas in the night - when my stomach was seemingly empty. I know when I have gas it can sometimes make me feel hungry - until I burp and get rid of it. Maybe it is a ploy by the bacteria to try and force us to eat something that will feed them!

The problem is though this thought then throws up a dilemma. Is the bacteria producing gas because we are eating what they want, or something they don't like, or simply because we are eating something they are just reacting to? Wish I knew the answer! I wouldn't mind at all being bloated if I thought it was destroying the beasties!

Now my gut has settled and working far more efficiently, I get much less gas and bloating, so that has helped a lot, as has removing the rubbish foods in general.

I love mackerel too.

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marthamom Newbie

Thanks for all your comments. Today was a fruit-free day so far (including no grape juice or cider), and it's hard to tell if it's helping, but we'll see.....it wasn't as hard as I thought--I think I'm a very habitual person, and I have gotten very used to my smoothie after dinner (just like I used to be addicted to my bowl of coffee ice cream!)---it's kind of interesting, actually, to realize how so much of the eating I did before I was diagnosed was so habitual and not based on anything physiological.

I think I also have to get away from feeling like I should feel 100% now just because I'm on this diet---it sounds like some of you who have been on it for a long time (year or more) still have some digestive issues from time to time. I guess it really is a process.....But how do you know the difference between feeling not 100% because it takes time, or because you ate a food that you aren't ready for?

Hope everyone has a great week.

martha

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mftnchn Explorer

I agree that sometimes the fruit needs to be restricted or eaten in a certain way. I just read Dr. Burrascano's newest guidelines for lyme disease. He said that the fruit should be eaten at the end of the meal. I don't think he was considering digestion in that, he was considering not feeding candida for people on antibiotics. So that's just another side/opinion.

Martha, my improvement hasn't been a straight line. What keeps me going is that certain positive changes show me I am going in the right direction. Since my most recent parasite treatments, my constipation has showed another step of improvement. Reflecting on what happened initially on SCD in terms of parasite cleansing, plus this recent change, I suspect continued C was connected to this continued gut flora/parasite problem.

I'm trying to cut back my fruit and honey right now. I gained weight rapidly over the last several weeks, am not sure why. One of my friends gained weight after treating parasites (absorption suddenly better?), so that could be it. Or some inflammation again perhaps from the meds themselves. Also I am currently back on antibiotics (2 in combo), and this regimen is harder on the gut flora than the usual one I have taken.

I'm trying to eat more raw veggies. I've been making a dip that I really like. It has shredded cucumber and some spices and stuff, mixed into my goat milk yogurt to mix it well, then dripped until it is thick. This is so very good! I dip raw veggies in it, and also the breads/crackers I make with almond flour. It is "live" so it helps with the good flora--and keeps me eating many more veggies!

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