SCD

Hello everyone!

I am new to the forum and I was wondering if anyone has had success with the scd diet.  I am going to start it next week.  I am wondering if I can still take Citrical as I have osteopenia.  I am hoping to get off all meds with this diet.

I also have a few ?'s about the diet.  Where do I find plain gelatin, dry curd cottage cheese, and which kind of butter should I use? 

I was thinking of getting organic valley cultured butter would this be safe?

Also how slow should I introduce new foods and if my symptoms are mild do I need to cook the fruit?

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diagnosed with crohns at age 2 now 30 years old

current meds 6MP 50 mg 1xday, Entocort 2 pills 1xday

supplements vit D 2000 calcium 1200

Check out pecanbread.com for guidelines of the diet.

Welcome and good luck! The best source of info on SCD is the book, "Breaking the Vicious Cycle," and the web site www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info

Gelatin can be found in many supermarkets. Dry curd cheese, too - one brand I've found is Friendship Farmer cheese. We use Organic Valley Cultured Butter (unsalted) - the only ingredients are pasteurized organic sweet cream (milk) and microbial cultures...I think Elaine said cultured butter is best.

I think some people might be having problems with yogurt because it isn't being prepared in the right manner. Mainly because yogurt makers like Yogourmet were not intended for 24+ hour cycles....they tend to overheat the yogurt. We thought we had the problem solved with a dimmer switch, but I have had to throw out three batches of yogurt since last week because the Yogourmet maker is overheating the yogurt (which kills bacteria and prevents fermentation of sucrose and lactose). Am really frustrated because so far am unable to find a dimmer setting that is able to keep the yogurt in the 100-110 degrees (no higher and no lower) needed for fermentation.

I ordered an Excalibur yogurt maker, which is much more expensive, but is supposed to be able to keep the yogurt in the exact range. We will see. At least the Excalibur can be used to make other things, too, like fruit rollups.  

Hi Snowgirl

Welcome and good luck to you. I have been only doing SCD for a year and there is so much to learn, not only about the diet but also about what works for you specifically.

As well as going to the site referenced by Mom, I suggest you buy the book. I have read the book many times as learned to keep on track. I also suggest you look at the stages outlined on the site pecanbread.com. I took on too mnay foods too fast when I started, and the diet did not work. When I followed the stages and went very slow in introducing new foods I got better. I believe the combination of the meds and the diet has done wonders for me, so of course I hope the same for you.

Dave

Hi Mom

I have the yogourmet also. I have found that there is a temp difference depending on the temp in the room. Is this your issue or is there just general temp variance?

Also, now that I am confirmed SCDer I will buy the excalaber if there is a real need. However, my yogurt conistently comes out great and almost never varies in temp. I might be a couple of degrees hot sometimes, but from what I read that should make no difference.

Thank you

Dave

Yes, the Yogourmet Multi, like most yogurt makers, tends to overheat when you're trying to heat yogurt beyond 4-6 hours. These yogurt makers don't have thermostats...they just heat and heat, and were not meant to run for 24 hours or longer...as hours goes by, they tend to gradually get hotter. Our yogurt turned out great (we thought) - good consistency and tasted good. But horrors, we found out it was heating at more than 125 degrees F, which kills friendly bacteria (especially Lactobacillus) and can prevent full fermentation of the lactose and sucrose in the milk and yogurt starter mix.

Before returning the Yogourmet, which is much cheaper than Excalibur, you could try testing it with a dimmer switch. Here's a great post about some trial and error you can do: http://eatingscd.com/2008/10/01/yoghurt-dimming/ The yogurt maker is affected by the air in a room - the optimal temp of the air is 68 degrees...one reason I'm having so much trouble, now, is because I moved to an apartment controlled by the building's central heating, which tends to run hot.

Any hardware or lighting shop might sell dimmer switches. You can also buy them here: http://www.digestivewellness.com/itempage-1588-24-30-1731.html I also bought a cooking thermometer from them - you can set an alarm to sound when the yogurt reaches 110. Even though 110 is OK, you don't want to wait until the temp is higher, because even though an alarm sounds, it will take some minutes for the temp to go down, minutes that can be killing bacteria. http://www.digestivewellness.com/itempage-1583-24-30-1762.html The temp needs to be between 100-110.

The yogurt is a very important part of the diet - my daughter really misses it. She has been off the yogurt since last week, while I have been going through trial and error to get the temp right. It's just not worth it for us to take chances - for her to sabotage her diet by eating yogurt that still has lactose and sucrose.

Btw, here's a HW "blast from the past" thread about SCD yogurt and yogurt makers: https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=17&m=1476118