SCD and other diets

I'm a nutrition major with Crohn's (ironic?) I was wondering what types of diets other people are on and have found success with. I also have an eating disorder primarily stemmed from a bad stint of prednisone (on it for over a year, 60mg for 3 months, gained 30lbs in 2 months on my tiny 110lb frame, stayed at 140 for over a year, at age 19 you can imagine what that did to my psych ) I've tried gluten free with some good results especially with my psoriasis and depression, tried raw diet, and weston a price diet and all sorts of things. Any stories, tips, advice?

Hi there,

I tried SCD with no improvement but still make the yogurt as it is good for those who cannot tolerate lactose. There is another diet called FODMAP which is great for some of us folks who deal with IBS. The idea with that diet is to eliminate sugars that are hard for some to digest.

I had a terrible time with an eating disorder many years ago and my best suggestion is to try to understand and come to terms with body image issues as they apply to you personally. Eating disorders are about control. One way to develop a healthy sense of control is to exercise enough to reap the physical and mental benefits, which are substantial. A good exercise program also takes the mental energy away from food and trying to control what you eat. Fitness improves your mood and gives a sense of self confidence. It can also include a healthy social aspect, i.e. hanging out in the gym or running with a friend.

I'm glad you are open about your eating disorder as secrecy is your enemy there. How is your CD treating you? Are you in remission?

By the way my handle Big Betty alludes to my ambition to live large not to my size. Big is beautiful!

Diet? Eat only when hungry, small quantities and try to stay active or more active. Coffee is my main staple. Take B-12 and B-9, FWIW, I read about the B-9 supposed to be good for digestion, giving it a try, Need the B-12, low B-12.seems to help. If I really need a boost one of the 5 Hour type drinks clear the fog from Remicade for me. I'm just too lazy to travel to GP to get B-12 shots.

T

My reading and experience tells me that there is no one single answer for all athough I do believe that if a person can tolerate a diet that consists of only natural foods it has to be better than the standard american diet.
I have read about success on FODMAP, Makers, LowRes, GAP, SCD, Gluton Free, Dairy free and others.
My path re diet started with doing tons of research. I bought all the books and read them cover to cover (sometimes 2 or 3 times). I thought it would be easy. Just do what the diet says, but it was way more complicated. It took me about 8 months before I saw results as I had to learn what works for me. This includes tweaks like, low carb, no raw veg, very little nut butters, coconut oil, .....
So my recommendation is read lots and figure out which diet speaks to you. Then give it 100% and understand even on the diet that you will have to make adjustments for your body and you might not see the results you are hoping for an extented period of time.
I was about to declare myself a person that diet does not work for after 6 months of fanatical complinnce on SCD and drop the whole thing, but for some reason I did not. I am so blessed I stuck with it because diet has put and kept me in remission for the last 2 years.
Hope you find something that works for you
Dave

Here is my theory...

Some people say Chron's, UC and IBD is caused by bacteria/pathogens. That's the theory I subscribe to. When you are genetically susceptible, meaning.. your gut lining is a bit more sensitive then someone elses because maybe you were raised more hygenically so your immune system wasnt challenged due to a gene that was turned off for you by your parents and their parents not using it... or whatever, epigenetics is a whole nother can of worms..

Then you get a time of stress, or an illness where you are a bit weaker.. and boom.. the pathogen that can attack will. So it eats what you eat, in essence, or it encourages your body to eat what it needs to produce the things the pathogen likes.. like an acidic environment, or high sugar content. I remember when I used to SWEAR a fountain coke was my panacea. No. it just fed the stuff that was dying off and making so much rukus that caused me to need to drink the coke in the first place. So, it was a deceptive quiet. Silently causing inflammation. Alot of these bacterias love sugar and wheat.. milk is sugar, so you react to that first and maybe take some lactaid to digest the lactose before the bacteria can... but then you get leaky gut and one day, bam.. a histamine reaction to the dairy protein instead..

Anyway, by the time I finally stopped dabbling in gluten and dairy free.... (I went on the gf diet so many times before but I wasnt frantically scanning labels) I was still eating things with labels! To get well, I really have had to abandon things with labels and eat whole foods. Nothing was safe. 10 days in with complete compliance I lost a good 80% of the joint pain and 17lbs of inflammation (I was eating 2000 calories atleast a day). I told my husband that I felt like I was walking on the moon, no more gravity. The rapid weight loss from the flare I had just made it through with the lack of joint pain was better then I can ever remember feeling in my life. I had hung on to coffee and the cream in it for a long time.. but that motivated me to not consider them food for me anymore. I went low fodmaps and the constipation didnt stop, but my colon started actually working, slowly but surely. I tried IV nutrition cause my guts were so bad that i couldnt eat well enough to heal. The ND put me on a meyers cocktail and iron.

That went bad.. started losing all my hair, felt horrible..

Went to see a live blood analyst and totally changed my life.

she put me on a parasite cleanse and I felt a whole lot worse but after 14 days I started feeling so much better! I was able to stop the enemas. I was feeling fantastic by day 30.. and then by day 90 I realized how sick Id been for so long and had a real glimpse at what a functional life would feel like. The iron feeds parasites. It was horrible for me.

Anyway, I was eating paleo and she said to continue but absolutely no sugars natural or otherwise. She said I could have grains tho, and I ate them in moderation with no issues whereas before the cleanse I couldnt eat any carbs period without my stomach sounding like war of the worlds and horrible pain. I started eating sugar as soon as the cleanse was over and it was too soon. Sugar is such a seductive vixen. I headed into a flare.. collodial silver and probiotics VSL3 and PB8 pulled me out along with stopping the protein. OMG, ef protein. Everything in moderation including moderation. and animals are the only thing that makes protein so now that my gut is healed a but I dont have to go for such specific nutrient dense foods. I also really like the Trimazyme product.

Now I eat no more then 20% protein.. but it was a process to get there. I probably ate 80% protein and a crapload of enzymes in the beginning with low residue foods and lots of water, bone broths and magnesium. I really needed to get my intestines clean of all the stuff that builds up around the strictures before I could tolerate any raw veggies.. even cooked ones were sketchy, squash was about all i could tolerate. Then I added in green smoothies. That really helped. My body really liked the enzymes from the plants and it helped my digestion. When Id eat the whole plants it strained my body, but this way was really healing. I had to make sure to not use any bananas or sugar tho.. sometimes I do half an apple or a few low sugar berries but that is a once a week kind of thing.

I now eat alot of nuts (only soaked), beans (properly soaked and cooked), wide variety of vegetables, potatoes, squashes.. about 20% of my calories from animal sources, mostly fish, chicken or pork. If I dont eat sugar, dairy, wheat or soy or alcohol Im fine.

But I dont think that is a sustainable and joyful way to live and am still looking for the way to kill out the bad bacteria so that I can eat in a more moderate way. Dont get me wrong. Im so grateful for the way I eat now. I dont want to eat pizza every day.. but darnit, Id love to not get sent into an immune flare because I looked at cheese sideways ;)

Slowly I could add things in.. within a month I was eating a full FodMaps diet.. then I went into paleo using some of the things I had learned from SCD. For me, milk is a problem. I cant have it, not raw, no goats milk.. no milk. I couldnt tolerate probiotics cultured on dairy at first.. now I can.

Anyway, that's my journey. I also love this cookbook
http://www.amazon.com/The-Healthy-Gluten-Free-Life-ebook/dp/B007BFRGYA/ref=pd_ybh_1 - I dont eat anything with grains or gums in them tho..

Post Edited (PathogenKiller) : 1/29/2013 8:41:54 PM (GMT-7)

I would literally starve to death on these diets. Animal protein and veggies I find hard to digest, and cannot see what else would be left over for me to eat.

I hope you can join me tonight as I am hosting a show with my husband.
We are trying to educate the trucking community as their health is going downhill( like the rest of America)
We will be discussing GMO's, the problems, diseases, and solutions tongiht at 7PM Eastern TIme
I hope you will join me.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/truthabouttrucking/2013/02/01/truck-stop-solutions-to-better-health

I am a science major myself and worked in FOod research years ago ( How Ironic)
As far as keeping "the bad guys away" believe me, it's not the chemicals you're ingesting that are keeping them away.
Please read about how the GM corn and it's BT toxins are what is causing much of our problems. THe "Bad guys" are a result, not a cause.

I cook all my veggies, but do eat some raw BC I like them.

So basically you've joined to push an agenda against GMO foods? On a Crohn's support forum?

NiceCupOfTea said...
So basically you've joined to push an agenda against GMO foods? On a Crohn's support forum?

I'm not pushing anything but trying to find a "cure" from myself and others. I'm pushing education, research and reading. Then people make up their own minds.

I want to get well! I am assuming others on here want to also, and if GMO is a possible cause of our illness and other auto immune illnesses, then YES, it needs to be on the Crohn's Forum....don't you think?

I have somewhat indeterminate IBD- many indications if UC but a few of crohns - anyway, a low carb paleo diet is what I do best on by far. Was on SCD for years but eventualky refined it by eliminating the honey, fruit, fermented daury and nutflour breads permitted on that diet and I di bettervthan I did on the SCD and far better than I do on the standard american diet, or vegan or macrobiotic type diets... However, whatever diet one finds works best via trial and error, a universal truth for all diets that will likely benefit you is to avoid, as best as possible, all processed i e not-rel foods.