Inbox: Starting the SCD

Inbox: Starting the Diet

Hi, My daughter was diagnosed with UC in 5/09. We have quickly blazed through the medications for treatment with very limited results. Our last hope was with Remicade, where she received almost immediate results, but then became symptomatic by our third dose. Our gastoenterologist is now suggesting we speak with a surgeon. Before we go to this, we have decided to try the scdiet. We started sampling some of the recipes right away while we were getting our kitchen prepared and vitamins ordered. During this time she was on a low dose of prednisone 20mg, as symptons had returned. We are about 2 weeks into the diet and 10 days off prednisone. Liquid stools have increased, but no bloody diarrhea. Should we go back to beginning phase of diet or continue?? Savannah is 18yrs and seems discouraged as she is not seeing more results from the diet, but remains hopeful/willing to keep going. She's applying to colleges and has decided to stay closer to home because of the disease. Not where she wanted to be close to home! Any advise or encouragement would be greatly appreciated I guess for both of us! I want this diet to work just as much as her! 

Anxious,

Dear Anxious,

I'm so glad that you and your daughter found the SCD! It really does work and although it is overwhelming at the beginning as you learn the ropes, it does get much easier after the initial learning curve. Keep up the good work! It takes a little time to see substantial results, but as long as she stays 100% on the diet, your daughter's symptoms should keep getting better and better.
 
I would not feel like you have to go back on the beginner's diet in order to keep getting better. The beginning diet is mainly meant to clear the system and prepare it for the change of diet when it will only be getting short-chain carbohydrates.
 
I would probably just keep on trying new legal foods, avoiding the fibrous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage, cooking all vegetables and even fruits if you feel that is necessary, I peeled my apples in the beginning, for example, to cut down on extra fiber that could bother the gut as it heals. She could eat foods that are easy on the stomach, for example the chicken soup, SCD yogurt, homemade applesauce with peeled apples, fruit smoothies, etc. Whatever she can easily handle right now...keep a food journal so you can identify which legal foods might be causing symptoms/problems for her, and which are tolerated well. Also a food journal is a good way to make sure no illegal foods have accidentally slipped in.
 
If you have any questions about what she's eating and want to send me a list of all foods she's eating, I'd be happy to look it over to see if anything jumps out at me as being a possible problem for her.
 
If you haven't seen it already, I have a Starting the Diet page where I give some tips on starting the diet, as well as a food journal page that you can download and print out copies of to make that easier.
 
Also, just a word of encouragement on college...I have been able to live away from home pretty easily while on the diet. Once my symptoms were completely gone, it was just a matter of making sure meals were planned and shopping lists made regularly so I was always sure to have enough legal food on hand to eat. I have given some advice on dorm living in the "Peek in our Inbox" section of the website, as well as an article in the Sept/Oct issue of I Want to Thrive! web magazine, if you want some further ideas on this.
 
I hope this helps and that she will be feeling much better soon!

Take care,
Erin

I was diagnosed with Crohn's in September of '09, and have been on the diet for 1.5 months. I have become dizzy and light headed, and was wondering if you had any insights into this... I went back to the beginner diet b/c i wasn't seeing any colorectal improvement. i don't (never did) have any diarrhea, just rectal bleeding, fissures and fistula.

Thank you for having this site, and dedicating time to people trying to get better... VG

Hi VG,
Thanks for your note!  
 
It sounds to me like you probably have been on the beginner diet for too long. It's meant to be followed for 2-7 days, to clear the body out and get it ready to add new legal foods. I would just make sure that you're getting enough well-rounded nutrition and enough calories. I think that it's important to add as many legal foods as you can handle. Keep a food journal of all you're eating along with any symptoms you have so you can trace symptoms to any new food you're eating. Try a new food every 2-3 days to see how you're handling it, and keep a list of all foods you are handling well.
 
Foods that give a good amount of calories and nutrition are avocadoes, dates, cheese, SCD yogurt, fruit, honey, meat, eggs, almond flour, etc. Just try to get a well-rounded variety so you're getting enough nutrition.
 
That is what I can come up with off the top of my head. Does that sound like it might be true? I can also go over a list of all you're eating if you would like, to see if there is anything that might be a possible problem.
 
I hope that helps and that you'll be feeling better soon!

Erin
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I have had Crohn's since age 18, and I am now almost 34 years old. It has become worse and now I went for my first Remicade treatment. I am afraid that my immune system will not function well, and I will not be able to fight off other diseases.

My problem is that I am allergic to tree nuts, so I can not make many of the treats discussed in Elaine Gottschall's book. Do you think that I can still be successful on SCD diet? GN

Hi GN,

I'm so glad to hear that you're considering the SCD! It truly does work, and is totally worth the effort it takes, especially at the beginning as you learn the ropes.
 
I do think that you could be successful on the SCD while avoiding nuts. I actually go for days or weeks without eating a nut flour recipe. There are many foods that you can eat that are legal, and you can get plenty of variety and nutrition without the nuts. Also, once you have been symptom-free for a few months, you can try cooking with coconut flour (it's fibrous so it's not recommended at the start of the diet). We have a couple of good coconut flour recipes in the Nov/Dec issue of our web magazine "I Want to Thrive!"  and there are many great recipes in her cookbooks, here.
 
Also, Elaine did say this about allergies...see the below link....
http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/knowledge_base/kb/allergies.htm

Some of our picks for getting started on the SCD.