HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

SCD without total compliance: help with craving or partial implementation please!

Support Forums
>
Crohn's Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 4/10/2010 7:25 AM (GMT 0)
I've been working my way towards using the SCD and find already that I'm feeling way better. And as I was previously eating low residue, I'm thrilled at all the fruit and veg I can suddenly tolerate. I definitely notice how much better I feel when I eat low sugar, and how fast I get diarrhea when I eat something fried or high fat.

However, I'm having some cravings that are killer, and some foods that are hard to get out of my diet. I can't seem to keep from craving pizza, or the occasional soda. I've seen lots of posts from people who stuck with it for six months or more, and I'm curious if anybody has tried it in part or just tried to go low carb in general, and what results they had.

I'm currently in okay health. I just had a resectioning in August of 2009, and am not actively flaring. I'm lactose intolerant and have problem with diarrhea once or twice a week, more when I eat greasy food or cheese. I'm in grad school and don't have the luxury of time to cook or prepare food as I'd like, and get stuck grabbing stuff on the go, so 100% SCD compliance seems near impossible at this time.

I'm trying to make this SCD more of a lifestyle change than an intense regimen that I follow for only a short period of time. Has anybody had experience in a similar situation? How badly were you affected if you ate something illegal (say, a tortilla or something), or didn't watch your ingredient labels as closely as recommended? How do you deal with your cravings for things like bread or pasta?
Posted 4/10/2010 12:58 PM (GMT 0)
Hi gilsonal! Welcome to the forum!

I probably cannot answer many of your questions, but I want to take the opportunity to encourage you! smilewinkgrin Keep up the good work!!! I believe tackling this diet in grad school likely presents more challenges than I can imagine... My son JUST turned 18 and will be heading off to college in the fall, so he has yet to hear my long-winded speech on staying as close to the diet as humanly possible while there. devil Thankfully, he won't be too terribly far away, so I can take him yogurt and other "legal" snacks every couple of weeks.

As far as the cravings go, you might want to try going extremely low carb for about a week to end the cravings (just a thought, not necessary). Remember the Atkins diet? No, you're probably too young! LOL! But after you get past the first 4 to 7 days, the cravings go away on that diet; your body adjusts. You will find this to be the case on the SCD, as well. Eventually you will lose the craving for soda and pizza... the problem is probably that you are around this kind of food ALL the time in college...therein lies the challenge...

So try to have as many alternatives for yourself on hand as possible. And when your friends all say lets order pizza and you want to order something, have a contingency plan in place. Perhaps your pizza place also offers a meatball sandwich? You could possibly eat the meatballs... just thinking out loud here...

Also, Raman Prasad (and others!) has great recipes and recipe books with an amazing variety of menu items! Here is a link to a page with more recipes. Click on "pizza" if you would like to try making your own with almond flour:

http://www.scdrecipe.com/recipes.html

Btw, almond flour can be pretty expensive. Trader Joe's has been my cheapest source!

One more thought. You mentioned you are lactose intolerant. You may already know this, but the yogurt that is recommended for the SCD is nearly lactose-free due to the 24 hour fermentation process. You can reap fabulous benefits from the beneficial bacteria!!!

Best wishes to you!
Posted 4/10/2010 1:03 PM (GMT 0)
Just thought I'd post this link to several of the FABULOUS SCD-compliant cookbooks available:

http://www.lucyskitchenshop.com/cookbook.html

I have "Eat Well, Feel Well" and "Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet". I like them both, but especially love the second. You can get these books anywhere....I ordered mine from my local book store.
Posted 4/10/2010 3:00 PM (GMT 0)
I think there are a few folks here who do modified SCD diets. For the life of me though there names are escaping me. Hopefully one will be along soon. Hugs!
Posted 4/10/2010 3:15 PM (GMT 0)
I do so much better when I stick to this diet! It does take work and commitment. And more than anything planning. I know you are supposed to follow it completely. However, when I have traveled it is difficult so I still do the best I can.

I (most) always have the chicken soup available and the homemade yogurt.

I purchased a SCD cookbook and have tried some of the recipes. Love it!

Yesterday I made the shortbread. (with almond flour) This was the first time I used this. I purchased it at a healthfood store and it is expensive. Now that I liked it, I will look into buying it cheaper online. So I made this and I took a piece of the shortbread, put my yogurt, blueberries and a little honey on top!! It was so delish!

I had to guard it tho. It is so expensive...& my family wanted some. They can eat all the other junk in the house....so I felt ok being stingy...I don't mind sharing my yougurt, but they don't like that!

Anyways, I feel that if I stick to this, but don't 100%, I still benefit from it. But 100% is required to see if this is for you....But I still feel so much better not eating grains, sugar and alot of the other carbs. There is an alternative for everything...pizza included, in this cookbook. But you're right it takes time. I would say cooking ahead on a day of studying, and freezing items or prepackaging is the best advice I can give.

Let me know how you are doing. Best of luck in school and on the diet.
Posted 4/10/2010 4:46 PM (GMT 0)
My daughter does the SCD diet modified to include potatoes and rice. Based on last year's colonoscopy, when she was on one Entocort pill and modified SCD, we know the modified diet helped, but did not put her into full remission.

Right now, she is still on the modified SCD diet and LDN. I suspect she is not in full remission - she is waiting for the results of a second "leaky gut" test to find out, for sure. 

If she isn't in remission, she might try the full version of the SCD to see whether that will do the trick, along with the LDN. 

 

Posted 4/10/2010 9:10 PM (GMT 0)
I don't care for TJ's almond flour myself, because it isn't real fine and isn't blanched. I just bought 10 pounds of Honeyville almond flour for $50 (they had a 15% off sale). Go to http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/blanchedalmondflour5lb.aspx and sign up for email alerts. They usually have a sale once a month.

I hear the almond flour from Lucy's kitchen is even better (very very fine). Some people prefer hers for making cakes. It's more expensive then Honeyville though.

If you like pecan flour, I've found Sunnyland Farms to be good: http://www.sunnylandfarms.com/store/subcategories/Fancy-Pecan-Meal

I just made strawberry muffins from the almond flour yesterday. Super yum!
Posted 4/11/2010 12:53 AM (GMT 0)
I was hoping you would post on here! I went to the healthfood store & purchased some (fine) almond flour for 10.75 per pound..bought 1 pound..But I will look into online order...Thanks for the infor on where to purchase it.

I will be making something yummy tomorrow! I have a recipe book that I purchased on line. It helps to make the treats!! At least it did the last few days, it was my first time to bake....very happy with the outcome!
Posted 4/11/2010 1:18 AM (GMT 0)
How closely do you adhere to the stages. If you can tolerate the foods for a specific stage right away, do you need to do the earlier ones?
Posted 4/11/2010 3:40 PM (GMT 0)
I started the SCD last July while in remission. My own personal belief is that a diet free of (or mostly free of) complex carbbohydrates is the healthiest way to eat. Plus, given the amazing anecdotal results most people on the diet experience, I figure it's the best way to maintain remission. I'm still on Remicade every 8 weeks, but recently my GI doc suggested we might stop those infusions altogether in another year. That motivates me to stay with the SCD.

I do stray from the diet every once in a while, although I'm compliant 99.9% of the time. Last week I was out of town and while I brought most of my own food with me, I did eat a few "illegal" meals out of convenience. Strangely, I didn't feel very satisfied psychologically from eating pizza or hashbrowns. I could have easily gone with the fish and grilled veggies option and not felt deprived.

So I've actually never experienced issues with cravings. Not once. I guess I'm a freak of nature that way and can't offer any advice on dealing with cravings. I've never had a sweet tooth to begin with, but ironically I'm eating more sweets than ever on SCD with the almond butter brownies and honey sweetened yogurt. I've also put on a good 15 pounds, something I was never able to do on a high-sugar, low-fiber diet, standard American diet.

Posted 4/13/2010 2:39 AM (GMT 0)
I stick to the SCD but not strictly, I quite often stray. I know that Ellaine says you must adhere with ‘fanatical adherence’ but I find this difficult in the work environment etc – however, 90% of the time I am eating ‘legal’ foods, and I slip up occasionally. It is difficult to tell how well the SCD is working for me, as I went onto remicade around the same time (and I know remicade worked wonders because literally days after my first infusion I was healing like a crazy-woman!) but I figure sticking to the SCD while I am already in remission gives me a great ‘back up plan’ and I agree, its SUCH a healthy way to eat, cutting out refined foods and carbs, its healthy in general, and makes me feel good. I couldn’t live without my homemade yoghurt and honey (I mix gelatine in to make it the consistency of crème caramel).
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply