Specific Carbohydrate Diet.....Who's on it or been on it and how is it working for you???.........

As I said in your other thread, I've been on it. I followed it religiously for over a year and did find it helpful. My current diagnosis is UC, but there's always been some doubt about UC vs. Crohn's and the symptoms I'm currently having seem to be more in line with Crohn's. Anyway, the diet has been shown to be beneficial for both, but has a better track record with Crohn's.

If it works for you, it will reduce pain, help normalize bowel movements and can possibly help you decrease meds. Some folks are even able to get off meds entirely and feel much better. There are plenty of supporting testimonials on the main Web site.

Supposedly, if the diet works and symptoms completely go away, you can begin to test forbidden foods and see how you do. Many folks, however, discover returning to a "normal" diet causes symptoms to return. This has been my experience, for the most part.

I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you. It's a restrictive diet and can be tough to get used to. It's alot of work and most everything has to be made from scratch. You will have to give up many common foods you're used to eating on the Standard American Diet. On the other hand, there are many allowable foods to choose from, some delicious recipes available and I often had other people wanting to eat my SCD food I brought with me to social events. And most of all, if it gives you relief and returns you to a feeling of health, energy and being "normal," you may find you don't miss the things you had to give up.

Here are some Web sites:

http://scdiet.org/
http://scdrecipe.com/
http://www.digestivewellness.com/

I have been on it for 3 weeks. You can read my tiny bit of experience so far on a recent post of mine "Third Week On SCD".

I just wanted to add that in her book, "Breaking The Vicious Cycle", co-creater of the diet Elaine Gottshcall recommended that people with IBD remain on the diet a minimum of 2 years after their last symptom before trying to go off it. That's all I really know regarding whether this is a short-term or very long-term thing.

I recommend giving it a try. The beginning is hard and should be done when you have some extra time to dedicate to cooking, reading, shopping, all the stuff you really have to focus on while you're on the hard part of the learning curve. I believe once you're well into the diet it becomes rather reflexive, though traveling and eating anywhere other than home is probably always challenging. Good luck whatever you do.