Starting SCD

I don't what website you were using online. But the original website, breakingtheviciouscycle.info has a beginners guide and includes all the instructions for the intro diet so you can start while you wait for your book.

If you go to http://nomorecrohns.com and click on 'Starting the Diet' it has really good info whilst you wait for the book.

Also check out http://www.scdiet.org the recipe section is vry good.

I started out on the SCD but have swapped to FODMAP on the advice of my GI.

Good luck and don't give up too easily as it is not a magic cure but may well help maintain a remission / ease symptoms.  

Thanks, I will check out those links.
Spookyhurst: Right now I am on pretty much meat fruit and veggies, I found out about a week and a half ago I am allergic to bakers yeast and brewers yeast, so the scd diet sounded like a good option, the paleo diet is also yeast free but there are alot of recipe books and websites with info and recipes for scd so it sounded a little bit easier. It has taken me all week to wean off the sugar but I finally did it:) I did get some almond butter and tried that with celery(I spit out the stringy stuff that I couldn't chew up completely). Lately I either feel fabulous or horrible, I wake up and have horrible splitting pain in my side for a few hours but when that goes away I feel great and have a ton of energy. I was actually doing cartwheels in the living room with my son the other day and got in the bounce house with him yesterday lol.

Is it hard to put on/keep on weight with this diet? Yesterday at lunch and dinner I felt like I just kept eating and eating and couldn't get full, I need to put on about 15lbs. My brother did the paleo diet for a few months, he said it made him feel better but he had to stop because he lost too much weight and just couldn't stay satisfied on just meat fruit and vegetables. I am wondering if I should ask my dr. about TPN or at least supplementing.

SCD is the only thing post dx that has allowed me to put any real weight back on. At my lowest, I was 139 pounds. As a 6' 3" male, you can imagine how depressing that was. I was on a very high sugar, high carb diet after my remission, but couldn't seem to break the 155 barrier. It was a diet that makes most people obese, but for skinny people like me, such diets can actually rev up the metabolism.

Anyways, I did the SCD strictly for 10 months and at the beginning of the summer began to to incorporate moderate amounts of sprouted (and very illegal!) Ezekiel bread into my diet. I'm up to 172 now. I'd like to put on about 10 more pounds. I'm actually having to start lifting weights because I'm getting a bit flabby.

Here's the trick to gaining on SCD in my experience: make your yogurt with half an half, add a TB of oil, sweeten with honey, and eat that twice a day. Make the nut butter brownies and eat two of those a day. That should be about 2000 calories right there. On top of that you can have your cheesecake, cheeses, olives, soups, omelette, guacomole, meat, fruit, and veggies.

I'd be surprised if that didn't put the pounds on!

spookyhurst: I have found can do a couple slices of cheese at a time, but not big chunks like I used to, between the yeast allergy and the scd there is a lot of things I have to cut. Some things on the SCD are on the list of things to avoid for a yeast allergy, anything aged or fermented, ie vinegar, cheese, anything prepared more than 2 days etc. I don't know if that would include the scd yogurt or not. I have tried probiotic supplements several times, various brands of capsules, and the activia yogurt, I am the only person in the world who has issues with it and I don't know why, I have asked my dr, the dannon yogurt company and even posted about it on here a few years ago and noone else has ever had or heard of this, it makes my legs and sometimes my hands and face swell up really bad. My dr. suggested I try Kefir(a few weeks ago before the allergy test results came back) I drank a couple bottles over a few weeks and it didn't make me swell but it makes my face numb? Reading on the scd website it is processed with bacteria and yeast, so I don't know if it is and allergy thing or what. I remember getting numbness in my face last year and assumed it was the prednisone since I was starting to get moon face, but quite possibly it was during one of my trials of Align or activia. (I should keep food diaries). I hope you are very short, I am 5'6 and I have been down to 98lbs at dx and then 95lbs last year and looked like I was about to die I had to borrow my 12 year old belt to keep up my size 0 pants. ha ha my bff laughs but I think it is so sad when you can't shave your underarms because they are sunken in so far the razor won't reach the bottom of the pit lol. Or looking in the mirror and your butt looks like Mr burns from the Simpson's bc your butt cheeks don't even touch anymore. My husband likes me at 120, I am comfortable at 125, 130 I start to look curvy but I figure if I can get that high it won't be so bad if I flare!!!! I wish I could pick a weight and stick with it. I have to keep a wardrobe with a size range from 0 to 4 in my closet because I never know what I will be next month, I have seen size 00 at the store but refuse to go there, I will stick with the belt.

Han Shan: mmmmm, thanks, I will definitely be checking into those brownies and cheese cake!!!! My brother is about 6'1 and when I saw him on the paleo diet I think he said he was 145, he didn't look well. I would like to get him to do the SCD but he works out of town and spends most of his week at work or in a hotel with no kitchen. Maybe he can get his boss to go in on an RV with him lol. I went to dinner last night with family to a mexican restaurant and there was nothing at all on the menu that was totally scd. I had the same problem last week end when my hubby and I drove to the mountains for the day and stopped at a burger hut.


So as far as the yogurt makers I have been looking at some online, are there any that are better or worse than others. I saw one that you can make individual jars, pint I think, or others that you can make up to 2 quarts at a time in one jar, probably good if I was going to make frozen yogurt? I don't know, lots to learn I guess

I too use the Yogourmet yogurt maker. If you buy it you need to watch the temp closly as for most it will get a little too hot. This is solved by buying a light dimmer (about $15 at any harware store) and plugging the yogurt maker into it. After a little experimentation I can get the temp exact and hold it for the 24 hours no problem. I use GI prostart and it works well also
David

Thanks, Yogourmet is the big one I was looking at

Emom: How do you use the dehydrator for making yogurt? use it like an oven? We have a dehydrator but it is horrible so I would love to get another one, and I may be able to convince my husband to spend the extra? Which size do you have? I see there are 3, will any of them work for yogurt or just the big one? We just planted 15 fruit and nut trees this year so hopefully in a few years we will have plenty to work with and the Big one might be a good idea for us.

What about the nut flours? I have only seen almond flour at one store here and I think it was around $6 for a rather small bag, maybe 2lbs or so? I have seen people post about pecan flour but have yet to see it in a local store. I know pecans are about $6 per lb here, not sure about the almonds. I saw on utube a lady made her own in with a vitamix blender, I don't own one but can easily borrow one. So how much do you usually use in a week/ month? not able to buy bread anymore seems like it would be alot? and expensive compared to regular flour which I hardly use and is very cheap lol.

Thanks for all of the info, it is really helpfull!!!

A word about nut flours...yes, they are considered an advanced food. I never use them anymore. They make really great baked goods like muffins and cookies, but the bread is so depressingly awful that it's not even worth it, IMO. Actually, it's only awful if you are expecting anything remotely like real bread. Again, just my opinion. The pizza recipe in BTVC made with almond flour, however, isn't half bad.

I can't wait to get the book, I checked the library and there isn't one in the entire county!! I hope it comes this week, I should have thought about it when i placed the order and atleast spent the extra atleast for the one book, bummer.


Han Shan: I have looked at the bread recipes and they do look heavy, but I like the sound of the brownies, and cheese cake, and hopefully pancakes, oooh and if you can have pancakes can you use the batter to make waffles? is pure maple syrup allowed on scd? i haven't checked on that one yet. I don't know, I like carrot cake and zuchinni bread so I am hoping I will like the nutbreads.

dfdavedf: I tried some whole raw almonds last week and that was a bad idea, I have had the nut butter twice and didn't seem to have a problem with it. I saw a recipe for nut butter cake with nut butter frosting but haven't tried it yet. I didn't know any beans were allowed on scd. Personally, according to the allergy test I was reactive to green beans, pinto beans and lima beans, so I don't know if I should eat any beans for awhile any way. I am soooo hoping to get to a point where I can cheat a little here and there, like garlic bread and chocolate every now and then:). right now I am at 108, and my arms are looking more like sticks, 10lbs or more would be great, especially by thanksgiving when we do annual family pictures. So far it isn't too bad after I got over the initial shock of no bread, and no sugar. I started making my tea with honey, tried my coffee with honey but decided I would rather drink it black. Great news so far is that I have been checking my ph for a few months and it has been so hard to even get alkaline and I could never stay there for very long. I haven't even checked in the past few days or been trying to get there. Today I was at 7 without even trying. I am sure the sugar has a lot to do with it. Now someone tell me the yogurt isn't very good so I won't be disappointed when I try it lol. I first read about this diet and the makers diet and all of the others stuff, 4 1/2 years ago when I got sick but was too stubborn (or stupid) to try them. It just seemed like too much work and I wasn't willing to give up sugar, bread etc. But now I am actually excited, after finding out I was allergic to yeast and had to give up bread anyway now is the perfect time right?

Lara bars are very advanced though, so I wouldn't eat those until you're no longer symptomatic.

Little cheats aren't a good idea. Basically, as you starve out the bad bacteria, the weak ones go first, and the strong ones hang in there. When you cheat, you give the strong ones an opportunity to start reproducing. Elaine recommends staying on the diet 1 year after your last symptom has cleared up. Personally, I'm going to stick to it for years, maybe forever. I've read too many stories of people who leave the diet, feel good for a couple years, and then get sick all over again, and their second try at SCD is typically tougher then the first one. You can take medications with illegals, but try to get your supplements with SCD legal ingredients if at all possible.

I'm a big fan of the yogurt! Not everyone is though. You can drip it to get rid of some of the tang, if you don't like it, and to make it thicker. I only do this for the yogurt I use in recipes, like ice cream and cheese cake.

Scroll down this page to see a pretty good list of what is allowed/not allowed on SCD: http://scdiet.net/healingcrow/HealingCrow/www.healingcrow.com/dietsmain/scd/scd.html . Beanwise, you can have lentils, navy beans, black beans, kidney beans, split peas, and lima beans. There might be some others, but those are the ones I remember. I'm about to venture into lentils! I just bought some red ones, and hope they go over well .

Now for nut flours. It's important not to try to replace all of the non-SCD breads you eat, because that would be entirely too much nut flour! I think Elaine said not to eat more then the equivalent of 2 (maybe 3?) muffins a day. I usually only eat nut flour 2 times a week (although I eat a serving of nut butter everyday), and only started this summer. I was probably being overly cautious on holding off for so long, but I just didn't want to rush things and cause problems. I've made strawberry muffins and blueberry muffins, and believe me, they're so good I don't miss non-SCD muffins. I've made rosemary crackers, which are really good, but you can't eat many are you'll end up consuming a gazillion calories and a bajillion grams of fat. Too much fat at once gives me a belly ache, which I found out after consuming 2 not very big pieces of SCD pizza with an almond flour crust. Absolutely delicious though! I've been making my pizzas with cauliflower crusts lately (oddly, it's quite good) because I can then have a great big piece .

Nut flour sources:

I buy almond flour from Honeyville. 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.

I buy pecan flour from Sunnyland Farms: http://www.sunnylandfarms.com/store/subcategories/Fancy-Pecan-Meal

Digestive Wellness has a huge variety of nut flours, but it's more expensive then some sources: http://www.digestivewellness.com/subcategoryitems-digestive_wellness_scd_legal_food-nut_flours-24-11.html

I've heard the Vitamix is great for making nut butter, but not great for making flour. A guy at the BTVC board said he made good nut flour using an inexpensive coffee bean grinder.

Speaking of the Vitamix, it rocks! My mom bought one recently. Makes great soup! Here is a picture of some broccoli cheese soup. It doesn't look that great, but it tastes fantastic. The picture also demonstrates how well the Vitamix obliterates everything. Not a chunk of broccoli to be seen: http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e373/spookyhurst/SCD/BroccoliCheeseSoup.jpg

Yeah, there are lots of recipes available for making SCD legal pancakes and waffles. I hear they are quite good, but I've never tried them myself. Maple syrup is definitely on the illegal list. Honey is the only natural sweetener allowed on SCD. I'd imagine that the SCD carrot and zucchini breads would be very good. I made pumpkin bread once that turned out great.

Han Shan: ewww honey on pancakes? what about SCD strawberry syrup recipes or something? Do they exist? What do you guys put on your pancakes? Good thing I didn't buy that bottle of Maple syrup last week : ) It was about $20 for I think about a 12oz jar