What about the SCD diet??? Anyone try that?

FitzyK23> If you're worried about weight *gain*, then I would suggest the "Life Without Bread" diet.

It may seem paradoxical, but the modern human condition of obesity is caused by over-consumption of carbohydrates, not fats and proteins. Look at it this way: one can sit and eat an entire bag of potato chips, and still manage to feel hungry afterwards (the "Chinese restaurant" syndrome of feeling hungry again in an hour). Try that with a meal comprised primarily of fat and protein. It is much more difficult to overeat in the absence of excess carbohydrates.

What constitutes excessive carbohydrates? In LWB, Lutz bases his assertions on insulin resistance. If you consume about 72 grams of carbohydrates per day- and no more- your cells are less likely to become resistant to insulin. Your body produces insulin, of course, as a response to consuming carbohydrates. Note that insulin is anabolic- it helps *build* things. In this case, it helps produce body fat (sugar --> blood sugar --> triglycerides --> body fat). Is it any wonder that the false assumptions fed to us by the American Heart Association have led to obesity? Increased reliance upon dietary carbohydrates to replace fats has done nothing for the epidemic of obesity in this country.

Moreover, there are links to dietary carbohydrate intake in numerous metabolic issues (thyroid dysfunction and insulin resistance), mental health issues, and (possibly) cancer. All this because researchers fudged their data and said fats were making us fat and killing us.

"Life Without Bread" by Lutz can help with Crohn's *and* prevent weight gain. It's tough, and if you're a sugar junkie, it takes some getting used to. Mentally, it takes some adjustment as well: how can eating fat *possibly* be good for us? Calm down and read. When you're done with LWB, try "Good Calories, Bad Calories," or "In Defense of Food." Prepare to be outraged.

EDITED TO ADD: I noticed in your profile that you're on Zantac and Protonix. One of the first things that Lutz notes is that once the carbs are restricted, the heartburn goes away. I was astounded; I read this about 2-3 months after I noticed my heartburn- which led to a virtual addiction to Tums- had gone away and never came back. That was when I realized WHY it was gone- the carbohydrates were gone as well.

Post Edited (Osprey101) : 10/15/2008 12:56:38 PM (GMT-6)

Hi All,

In the long run the SCD usually stablizes everyones weight to a healthy level. It took 4 years of SCD and Organic Foods for me, but I was a fat crohnie. I think it was due to Medrol. Good luck to all.

I started 2 weeks ago newbie and I feel like a nw person...it took all of 5 days before I was feeling great but low and behold the diet is working for me!

Newbie> For me, it's about 72 hours once I ditch the "bad stuff" and go feral on the SCD. It's not a light switch (and I hadn't been affected by the disease for very long, so 72 hours may be pretty short), but after 4-5 days, I'd notice the past day or two wasn't so bad. And there will be setbacks- both from dietary experiments and your physiology working things out- but if you respond well to the diet after the first couple of weeks, then there's a good chance you're on to something and further experiments are called for.

Good luck!

OK need guidance .... For the past week all symptoms have been getting worse - diarrhea, cramping, fever, night sweats, etc. I started the SCD on Sunday - eating the chicken soup, cheesecake and the 50/50 welch's grape juice. Diarrhea kept getting worse and worse. Monday my temp was 100.5 and Tuesday (yesterday) it spiked up to 101.8. But today my temperature has returned to completely normal - 98.1, in fact, and I can actually function (took my dog for a walk, actually getting work done and not needing a nap every five seconds) - but diarrhea is getting WORSE and WORSE! Now there's blood in it. I'm at the point where I'm only eating the broiled hamburg and drinking the 50/50 juice/water every 2-3 hrs. Is this normal? Does the diarrhea get worse before it gets better? Should I cut out the juice???

Newbie...If your bleeding definitley call your doctor...I was bleeding very bad when I started, It turns out I had a Cdiff infectio that was causing the sympstoms and the bleeding...and causing my crohns to flare...Ask your doctor to do a stool test! I have had a few major flares in my life and when I was bleeding etc the docs wouldnt do anything but up my pred and my asacol...when actually it wasnt my crohns at all it was a bacterial infection. My new doc told me for some reason a lot of young healthy people are coming down with this infection as well.

Sometime I think these doctors dont know anything.....you have to tell them how to treat you!

Flagyl is the main course of treatment...I have fought it off pretty well I havent had any issues since I started the anitbiotic but read that it can be a nasty bug...I  think the diet helped because Im not feeding it carbs...jsut a thought...Now go get those boo boo samples! lol

NEwbie! Isnt it fantastic...The same thing happened to me...I was haveing diahrea very bad and then I started bleeding and then 4 days on the intro diet and BAAM!!! I felt better....I was on 6 mp for about a year. And I know it is not advisable to stop your meds but I havent taken it since I started the diet...I was also on asacol, but that might as well be a placebo  because it doesnt do crap!

I figured that if I stick to the diet like I have been and continue to eat my yoghurt and the legal foods I should stay in remission and full of energy. VS taking that chemo drug and hoping for the best and possibly causing who knows what damage!

I just started the SCD this week.  I've been eating nothing but starchy, bland foods for over a year, with the exception of Fage plain yogurt.  I haven't gotten any better on the bland diet; in fact I feel like I'm dying a little at a time from the lack of vitamins.  So I bought the yogurt maker and cultures, and made the yogurt, made the chicken soup, and after the second day I felt more energy.  That's not saying much, because I had NO energy before, but improvement is improvement.  Today, I made applesause from apples in my backyard, and it may be the most delicious thing I've eaten in forever.  Except for the soup.  I'm not even crazy about apples, but after a year of stinking noodles, this is FOOD!!! And I'm waking up in the morning, not having to be awakened by my husband so I can take my meds. 

I can see where it would be a lot harder for someone who has been eating a greater variety of foods to get used to the limitations of the SCD, but it's opening up a lot of foods to me that I haven't been able to eat.  I feel hopeful for the first time in many months. 

My son is getting married next week and I have to travel.  My husband is driving with an ice chest filled with my SCD legal foods and I'm flying out, since I've been really sick lately, the drive would be too much.  So I'm making extra soup and yogurt, and I'll have food for the few days I'm there.  I'm really excited about this diet.  I can gladly give up noodles and crackers in exchange for vegetables and healthy meals.  And, if along the way I get stronger and healthier, I can live with that, too!

It's not really surprising that you feel better sweet. Many here feel better when they reduce their gluten, and it sounds like you were eating huge amounts.

I just restarted the SCD for the first time in a while after symptoms getting worse and worse. I started last Sunday (5 days ago). When I started I was having urgent Diarrhea, and some blood. The first couple days of starting the diet I felt a bit off, but am feeling "clearer" now. Physically I'm not doing as good as I was when I started the diet. I've added pain/cramps to my list of symptoms.

I of course was hoping a couple of days on the diet would clear things up. I'm going to stick with it though because this urgent Diarrhea has affected my life too much. The tough part is that I was doing great up until July. I was just drinking fermented cabbage juice and it had put me in a place where I was almost symptom free. I started eating worse, smoking some, and around a month ago after having diarrhea and urgency started bleeding some, plus the cabbage juice didn't seem to be helping.

It's been good reading this thread for encouragement. I'd love to hear anyone else's experiences with the first week or two on the diet. Did symptoms get worse for you initially? How long did it take for them to go away?

MattS- Yes!!, I felt much worse when I started my antifungal diet ( a similar diet to the SCD). It is called a Herxheimer response, a die off of fungus and toxins. You may feel worse for up to a few weeks, depending on the severity of your disease and symptoms. Mine lasted for 4-5 days. I thought I was literally going to die...lots of cramping, pain, major D, aches, headaches, joint pains....Actually, this may be a good thing for you, as it is showing that you are killing off fungus, among other toxins, in your body. Don't give up. It will get better :) I am still symptom-free and I still follow somewhat a reduced diet of grains, sugar and processed foods.

emsgigi said...
I was wondering, many of you say that scd helps with the big D. I am more prone to constipation and I need to lose
lots of weight (thanks meds) do you think scd would help with both issues? I have crohn's, rhuem arthritis, fibro, fatty
liver and blah blah blah. Thanks for listening.

I too suffer from constipation. I've tried everything, and currently find that 1 metamucil wafer a day and 2 doses of milk of magnesia a week are mostly managing the issue. Once I start the SCD, metamucil will be illegal, but I think milk of magnesia is okay (the plain stuff with no flavoring added to it). Elaine Gottschall recommends prune nectar for dealing with constipation, but I would assume that that since the SCD is heavy in fruits, veggies, and yogurt, the constipation will eventually lessen. At least that's what I hope! I've also read that a lot of people have been successful losing weight with the diet. Here's a site whose author talks about her family's success at losing weight: http://www.austinscdfriends.citymax.com/page/page/3689765.htm