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My GI has never heard of the SCD diet. Typical or unusual?

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 1/15/2010 2:24 PM (GMT 0)
I told my GI I've been on SCD and he had no idea what it was. However, when I explained it he thought it sounded like a good diet. I was kind of surprised he'd not heard of SCD because he's very knowlegeable about crohn's in general. Anyway, as I continue to have success with the diet I plan on educating him. I hope I can help lots of other people with my experience, as you all have helped me!
Posted 1/15/2010 2:29 PM (GMT 0)
I am not a SCD'er, but I think its probably more unusual for a doc not to know about it. My GI and I have had conversations alot about diet as I am on a low res diet myself, and he knew about the SCD diet too.
Posted 1/15/2010 2:32 PM (GMT 0)
I get the feeling my GI doesn't really value diet as a solution to crohn's. He's never made any suggestions to me about what to eat, but maybe just because my gut has never been the big issue.

Posted 1/15/2010 2:49 PM (GMT 0)
My daughters old doc said diet didn't matter with crohns. She actally discouraged us and said just don't eat what bothers you. To me, this sounds totally ridiculous. How can what you eat, not possibley matter when you have a bowel disease! We followed her advice at first, but when the meds were not working and they wanted to try Remicade, that is when I began to research alternative things and found the SCD diet. This has been much more effective that the methotrexate my daughter took for a year. Her new doc is very impressed with how well she is doing on the SCD diet. To me, doctors only know about the meds that are pushed by the drug companies. And since they are the ones with the money for research, that is all you hear about. I think we need to try things on our own and do what makes sence to us. I'm not saying meds don't matter, but I think diet also plays a huge roll in bowel disease.Diana
Posted 1/15/2010 2:50 PM (GMT 0)
TOTALLY agree, Diana!

Posted 1/15/2010 3:22 PM (GMT 0)
At the time of my son's diagnosis, a veteran pediatric GI told him "eat whatever you want. No dietary restrictions or recommendations". shakehead I have no idea whether he knew about the diet, but he sure wasn't recommending it.

As time went by (and we started the diet), I met the youngest pediatric GI at our hospital. She did not know about the SCD, so I took the opportunity to share the background of the diet with her. She knows that ultimately my son was told by one of the veteran GIs that he should discontinue his one and only medication (Asacol), so hopefully she made the connection that the SCD did the trick.

I think, if they DO know about the diet, that it's unfortunate they don't share the information. They wouldn't have to PUSH the diet, just throw it out there as a "this works for SOME people" kind of thing. Just my two cents...
Posted 1/15/2010 4:44 PM (GMT 0)
So I had asked my dx about 3 months ago about a no carb diet and he discouraged it.  He told me that most people can't follow it properly or stick to the diet so he isn't for it.

 

Now I am overweight and really want a good diet.  This week when I went to my dx I asked about a good appetite suppression.  Here is what he told me (and I was shocked it came out of a dx's mouth.) He told me that there is no good medical treatment for weight loss out there.  He also said that exercise is good for the body but not for weight loss.  He then told me that he is a weight management specialist and is doing research on it.

 

Long story short....he knows Crohns and he know nutrition.  I am not saying SCD is bad or wrong..but as per him the low carb doesn't make a big difference with CD.  He does say that if something you eat doesn't agree with you..don't eat it.

 

Just my 2 cents worth here.

Posted 1/15/2010 5:21 PM (GMT 0)

JavaJay said...
..but as per him the low carb doesn't make a big difference with CD.

Well, if he thinks the SCD is a low carb diet, he is misinformed. It is a SPECIFIC carb diet that eliminates disaccharides, not monosaccharides. Methinks he needs to really study the science behind it...smilewinkgrin jmo...

Can you lose weight one the SCD? Sure! I did, because it eliminates all sugar and junk. Can you gain weight on the SCD? Sure! I did because I fell off my exercise routine and probably increased my portions somewhere along the line! Back to square one... lol! tongue Bottom line, though, is that it really isn't a low carb diet. You can make it such by eliminating ALL forms of sugar, but Elaine was very adamant that it is NOT low carb.
Posted 1/15/2010 5:26 PM (GMT 0)
I lost 25 pounds (back to my normal weight after years of Remicade weight gain) with it and my marathoning. Before the diet I would actually GAIN weight while marathoning because I ate so much pasta and junk. And I just feel so much better overall.

Posted 1/15/2010 6:16 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry...my bad.  I actually meant to say low carb not no carb.  I didn't ask specifically about SCD...just lowering carbs.
Posted 1/15/2010 8:29 PM (GMT 0)
You can eat as many carbs on SCD as you want, so long as they are monosaccharides.
Posted 1/15/2010 9:09 PM (GMT 0)
fructose monosaccharide, in alot of berries, fruits
glucose monosaccharide, simple sugar

sucrose dissaccharide (fructose + glucose), table sugar

honey:
fructose: 38.2%
glucose: 31.3%
Sucrose: 1.3%
maltose: 7.1%
Water: 17.2%

a starch polysaccharide, plant starch,(many repeats of either mono-or disaccharides chained together)


Humans eat plant starch which breaks in glucose and then we rebuild the glucoses into glycogen (polysaccharide in humans)
Glycogenin, a protein core surrounded by many glucose chain units, is the enzyme.

SCD: no disaccharides (therefore no table sugar), no complex carbs (therefore no polysaccharides). This leaves monos, although honey has been indicated as a table sugar substitute. Therefore the explanation of whether the SCD permits glucose is needed.
My guess is that SCD is referring to refined table sugar as being not allowed but permits glucose, is that correct snappy? So if my drink contains glucose it is permitted while if it contains sucrose it is not?
So then we can evaluate if we agree with such a proposal. Do you have any evidence saying crohns has trouble with sucrose as opposed to glucose. breaking the double molecule into fructose and glucose seems doable. but I think perhaps when this gets real long chained such as in plant starches and especially wheat starch, which then involves the gluten, however gluten is a protein not a carb, this might become an issue.

I do agree however that honey, even though it contains some glucose is better than refined sugar but i cannot give you a reason why.
sorry if i have any thing here incorrect.
Posted 1/16/2010 5:22 AM (GMT 0)
My GI doctor had never heard of it. I was disappointed in that, hoping I could get some more information from him...When I told him about it, he said diet didn't matter and it was too restricting and in so many words didn't effect it and I should enjoy life and eat what I wanted.....unless something bothered me. I notice a difference in my symptoms when I stick to the diet. I've noticed, when I stick to it, it's easier to stick to it....does that make sense?
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