Does diet help maintian/induce remission?

The diet I did is different than the SCD, although there are smilarities, so I won't comment on your questions about what to eat. Not a good plan to try to crossover between 2 diets, so stick with the good advice imagardener2 gave. Be aware that you may feel worse before feeling better with toxin die-off. I felt horrible from about day 2-5. Some people don't have any ill effects, while others have worse symptoms. I was extremely fatigued, aches everywhere, nausea, pains in stomach. By day 14, it was like a "feel good" switch turned on in my body. For me, the results were dramatic.

Natural antifungals can be bought in health food stores. If you have one in your neighborhood, ask their advice. I bought Nature's Way olive leaf extract capsules, took 2 pills with each meal, 3x a day to start, but you may want to start more slowly. I think that is why my die-off was so strong; I was annihilating the fungus with heavy doses. Drink lots of water. Psyllium helps lessen the effects, as it binds the toxins and carries them out of your body. Not sure if that is SCD safe, though.

There is no magic pill or diet. Each person's disease is individual and what helps others may not do the same for you. It doesn't hurt to change, and experiment, however. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten. Give it a fair try and at least you'll know if diet change can help you. If you need a cheerleader to help you through this, we're here!

Yeah, this probiotic thing is becoming difficult. I just went to whole foods and tried to find a probiotic without bifidus and there were hardly any. But, I did come home with an acidophilios, but it has pectin in it, which is illegal on SCD, so now I don't know what to do... should i use bifidus or try to find acidophilus without pectin in it?

also, kim, thanks for the advice. i guess i'll go with the scd diet for now and see how it works, but i got the olive leaf extract and other stuff you recommended at whole foods. is it ok to use that with scd? i can only see it helping... also, do you take both at the same time or alternate? is it better to alternate like you said?

thanks,
Emma

Emma, rotate the antifungals monthly. I would start with OL extract and then caprylic acid, or another good antifungal. I am not up on the SCD, so can't comment on the probiotics you bought, but I would take them, if possible. When I first started taking probiotics, I had to try 3 different ones before I found one that made a difference for me. One actually made me feel worse. When are you starting your program?

Emma
Good luck on your intro.
After the intro you can add any/all of the "legal" foods into your diet.
I was never hungry on the diet (unlike blueclassring) because you are allowed unlimited amounts of allowable foods and I even took out a few legal foods that didn't agree with me.
I also did not have "die off". In general I got better slower than blueCR. BCR seemed to get better faster but had more side effects. Everyone is different.

Here are some recipes for after your intro.
www.scdrecipe.com/recipes/
I'm sure you can find more by googling scd recipes.

about probiotics: I tried the acidophilus first but didn't see much improvement. So later I switched to VSL#3 and that is better for me, you'll have to try them out to see what works for you.
I can't give advice on any others but stay away from those with FOS (a form of sugar) in them. That is an illegal ingredient. I don't know about pectin, sorry. (Check with the Yahoo SCD group)
The SCD yogurt will have probiotics in it so you'll be getting some from that.

I bought VSL#3 directly from the co. on internet. Google it. It is EXPENSIVE. If you can do it with a less expensive probiotic you should do that.

I did not and still do not drink fruit juices because my gut was just too crazy. I would keep juices/sugar to a minimum, maybe as a special treat. They are allowed on SCD as diluted.

I am happy to answer your questions, I'm sure others may be wondering the same things. I got help online when I was seriously ill with UC and am glad to pay it back.

The creator of SCD, Elaine Gottschall, was apparently someone who would take phone calls personally at all hours in order to help people. She passed away so it is up to the rest of us to help one another.

I was only on the intro diet 2 or 3 days. You should only be on it longer if your symptoms continue to be severe. Perhaps my D and cramping got better sooner because I did not use juice or yogurt. I went into the regular SCD with veggies and other allowable food after 3 days. You need to monitor yourself BUT do not go longer than 5 days on the intro diet.

It still took me a couple of months to see the urgency and D decreasing slowly. It was not an overnight miracle at all. And BCR says that after 2 weeks he/she was thinking of quitting. I never thought that because I had the immediate improvement of bleeding stopping.

I started having more energy, probably due to not eating sugar and complex carbohydrates.
When you "graduate" to foods with more fiber (much later) you might struggle with constipation (I did). Citucell has solved that, other people like Metamucil. Fiber is a tricky thing with UC. Too much can be worse than not enough. You will have to discover your own path.

I do not know VSL ingredients. Perhaps someone else can answer.

Most probiotics contain several billion or at most 50 billion colony forming units. Each packet of VSL3 contains almost a half trillion units of the following strains which is probably why it is so effective:

* Bifidobacterium breve
* Bifidobacterium longum
* Bifidobacterium infantis
* Lactobacillus acidophilus
* Lactobacillus plantarum
* Lactobacillus casei
* Lactobacillus bulgaricus
* Streptococcus thermophilus

I take 2 packets twice a day when I feel a flare is coming. Mixed with psyllium seed, apple sauce and blueberries which may or may not be legal but trust me, very effective. Shell fish throws me for a loop. Weevil said that coffee does the same for him. Coffee and shell fish are legal under SCD. So the bottom line is what imagardener2 said earlier that success or failure may ultimately depend on listening to your gut.

I don't think that bifidus and Bifidobacterium are the same thing. One is a species the other a genus

All bifidobacterium were once referred to as Lactobacillus bifidus.

I think Bifidobacterium bifidum(or bifidus) is what is being called bifidus now but I am pretty confused at this point. Companies renaming strains to patent them has made things even more confusing.

Anyone know the real scoop?

I'm an anomaly, then. Worked for me...so far so good.

A Gluten-Free Diet has me in remission.

Hi Emma Ann,

I'm also on the SCD and one site you might find very helpful is Pecanbread. Note that it's really targeted at parents whose kids have autism, but the instructions and guidelines for the diet are great, especially if you don't have the BTVC book. Start here: http://pecanbread.com/p/how/success1

To make your SCD yogurt, you can use Yogourmet yogurt starter (just check for the one that doesn't have bifidus) - it's available in most health food stores and at Whole Foods. The homemade SCD yogurt isn't as hard as it sounds - but if you're like me, you've never done much cooking "from scratch" so pretty much everything on SCD requires a lot of cooking and it can be very overwhelming at first (especially if you feel crappy).

I can vouch for its benefits for me - I have been lucky not to be a bloody D kind of UC victim, but I always had horrible gas, cramping, bloating, and C with mucus and bleeding. I took sulfasalazine when first diagnosed, which helped stop the bleeding for about a year, but then I started getting really mushy stools, which I'd never had. I still had bad bloating, gas, and cramping. I had been keeping a food diary and I felt like I was eating healthy, but I was still eating a fair amount of sweets (mostly chocolate, my big weakness). Increasing the meds didn't change a thing.

I Googled "sugar and UC" and found the SCD. I figured I would give it a month and see what happened. I didn't follow the intro and gradual stages of introducing foods as well as I should have, but I noticed a change in my intestinal system almost immediately. I firmly believe that refined sugars are my trigger, as I eat tons of fruit and honey and don't get any problems now. I've been on the diet for 3 years and I just can't see eating the "Standard American Diet" -- or SAD -- ever again.

One word of caution - beware of deli meats - almost ALL of them have some form of sugar in them (usually listed as dextrose). Whole Foods sells sliced deli meat from Applegate Farms that is legal - or just make roasts (like a tri-tip roast or even a big turkey breast) and slice your own.

Good luck - I hope you find what works for you!

Kathy

UC since 12/05

SCD since 7/07

in remission

The spinach and sunflower seeds are a way to get lots of magnesium and beta carotene. You have to eat lots of both at first (preferably cooked spinach and Sunbutter to be gentle on your stomach), but you'll be able to eat it much less frequently when you're in remission (once every week or two, maybe more but I haven't tried).

You should definitely search for the topic on this website, because it can be more complicated than this. I can only vouch for those foods - I do not substitute with other foods as some people have.

Like Kiss520 eating sunflower seeds and spinach frequently has put me in and kept me in remission. Been in remission for 4 years now doing this.