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SCD Diet Day 1 - Miserable

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Posted 6/28/2012 9:10 PM (GMT 0)
I'm on my first day on the SCD diet and I'm miserable because it feels like no matter how much I eat I am still hungry. So close to giving up.

...I guess I'm looking for any words of encouragement, discouragement or advice
Posted 6/28/2012 9:14 PM (GMT 0)
I have been on it for little over a year,strict other then recently started cheating with dark chocolate. I was hungry at first but got used to it after a while. If it im- proves your symptoms its worth it. I eat 3 bananas a day every day. they are filling and legal cheese.
Posted 6/28/2012 9:20 PM (GMT 0)
I'm on the intro diet so I'm not even supposed to have bananas yet :( thanks though.
Posted 6/28/2012 9:43 PM (GMT 0)
I know it's tough but so is having severe urgency and bleeding. It takes time for your body to adjust to not getting those sugars it craves and you are punished with feeling miserable and hungry. I can't make you feel any better but I can tell you that after you make it through it is amazing how different you feel in terms of no hunger pangs daily, no cravings.

I have never been a dieter, never needed to, but even with my previous "healthy" diet ate a fair amount of sugar which comes in many forms including starchy foods, sugary baked goods, lots of fruit, etc. Getting away from sugar has been terrific for me as well as my UC. Yes I still use honey (2 years on modified SCD) but no gluten, very little fruit and low starch has been the reason for my remission. And I feel better besides the UC improvement.

Yes the intro period is very, very hard. If you break down and cheat then try again. No one is perfect. I drank a lot of water and chicken broth. It gets easier.
Posted 6/28/2012 10:26 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you! Any idea how long it will take to stop feeling so hungry? I'd actually rather have 20 bms a day so that's an idea how hard it's been to stick with this.
Posted 6/28/2012 10:34 PM (GMT 0)
EqualsTwo, I hated feeling hungry all of the time too, it could also be the prednisone contributing too, the drug changes your hormones alot.

Peanut, Almond, Sesame, Tahini, or Cashew nut butters are very filling. I used to eat by the spoonfulls when I was hungry. At Costco, they have huge 2 packs of Kirkland Signature Plain Greek Yogurt, 24g of protein in 1 cup.

Larabar's are probably one of the only minimally processed foods in stores. about 200-400 calories per bar, they are made up of few SCD ingredients (nuts, fruit, etc). They do pack a little fiber on them so look out for that.

Believe it or not, fish oil has many calories, up to 50, whether a teaspoon x2 a day will make you feel fuller, is up to you. :)
Posted 6/28/2012 11:06 PM (GMT 0)
stereo

the foods you mention aren't on the intro diet so she can only dream about them lol. Except I think olive oil and other oils might be legal.

equals
just do the best you can. I agree the prednisone is probably contributing to the hunger feelings. how about just taking small tastes of things and continuing to try. Your experience is probably why doctors want nothing to do with SCD, patients want a pill, whether it's for UC or dieting. Pills are so much easier.

Maybe you can have have some decaf tea or coffee with a small amount of honey? Repeat as needed. Distract yourself by staying away from places with food (like the kitchen). I don't remember what I did now but somehow got through it, I just remember lots of liquids. I had more trouble with the next phase because SCD yogurt was not liked by my gut and I didn't figure that out for quite a while. Dairy and fiber are not that great for me even now so I've shifted more to the Paleo diet which is similar to SCD but not as much dairy or fruit.

You'll need to keep a notebook and see what your gut says, once it stops yelling for sugar and starches.
Do your best and if you can't do it then at least you tried.
Best wishes. Been there.
Posted 6/29/2012 12:27 AM (GMT 0)
My daughter survived with warm home made chicken broth and broiled fish mostly flounder.I made the broth with chicken,lots of celery,carrots,onions,ginger and garlic and cooked it for 4 to 5 hrs.Then I strained and squeezed the juice out including the chicken flesh.So broth is kind of thick but tastes more vegetables.
She watched TV a lot those days and slept for hours.Hang in there...
Posted 6/29/2012 1:01 AM (GMT 0)
I didn't mind the SCD diet but I didn't stick to the intro which probably wasnt smart on my part. For most meals, I just had a piece of meat and a veggie. That filled me up. Prednisone made me so hungry, I couldn't stop eating regardless of what diet I was on at that time. I don't know if I could have lasted on SCD while I was on pred, I was just too hungry. I had no self-control at all. I am with stereofidelics suggestions, nuts and larabars are great and unprocessed. Some don't do well with nuts though and larabars are mostly nuts.
Posted 6/29/2012 1:42 AM (GMT 0)
e2 - i've never actually done scd, but i do restrict a lot of things - don't beat yourself up if you can't stick to it to a T - the way i look at this thing is long term - at least i do now - it 03 when i got sick, i figured i'd have it licked in no time - well guess what - still working on it - so just have a goal in mind and stick to that but realize that two steps forward, one step back is .... well u know, still moving forward -

i'm doing pretty well right now but it's taken a long time to get here - you'll get there too - just keep hangin !
Posted 6/29/2012 2:05 AM (GMT 0)
Eat more fat if you can. Avacados are filling with cucumber slices.
Posted 6/29/2012 2:54 AM (GMT 0)

imagardener2 said...
stereo

the foods you mention aren't on the intro diet so she can only dream about them lol. Except I think olive oil and other oils might be legal.


You'll need to keep a notebook and see what your gut says, once it stops yelling for sugar and starches.
Do your best and if you can't do it then at least you tried.
Best wishes. Been there.

Oops! Completely forgot, my bad =/

I would also say be careful around the first few days of eliminating sugars (maybe even starches, grains, yeast) because your body needs to adjust, and while doing so you will likely go through temporary bouts of anger, anxiety, stress and sadness, but the body should adjust to compensating for the less-amount of sugar being put into your body.

Before supplementing with L-Threonine, I became so fed up with seeing mixed results in my stools that for a 2 days I cut out starches, grains, yeast and sugars cold turkey, went through emotional hell but saw the most perfectly formed bowel movements ever. Being hypoglycemic, i'm not sure its the best idea to completely rid my body of those things, as I crave them and always have, but i'm working just like you Equals, your not alone!
Posted 6/29/2012 3:22 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks everyone. In the end I decided it's not worth it for me, at least at this point. Everyone's gotta decide for themselves what kind of trade offs they are willing to make. It kind of drives me nuts when people get all judgmental on someone for not wanting to do a certain diet (I appreciate y'all not doing that, I'm referring to some websites I came across).

I'm feeling really well right now! The L-glutamine seems to have helped a lot from what I can tell and maybe with that and the Humira I'm about to start maybe I can get off pred without flaring this time.
Posted 6/29/2012 4:10 AM (GMT 0)
=2,

good for you for trying, and don't forget, it' sill there if you care to try again.

I had a disappointing experience with the GAPS diet and had to stop. I do plan on getting back on it, but it will have to be the right time.

Good luck.
Posted 6/29/2012 1:17 PM (GMT 0)

EqualsTwo said...
Thanks everyone. In the end I decided it's not worth it for me, at least at this point. Everyone's gotta decide for themselves what kind of trade offs they are willing to make. It kind of drives me nuts when people get all judgmental on someone for not wanting to do a certain diet (I appreciate y'all not doing that, I'm referring to some websites I came across).

I'm feeling really well right now! The L-glutamine seems to have helped a lot from what I can tell and maybe with that and the Humira I'm about to start maybe I can get off pred without flaring this time.

EqualsTwo, no problem in that. If you want to start out with small dietary changes, little bit little, you may find that by eliminating a few foods you'll feel even more better. Celiac disease and gluten intolerance are two different things, and going gluten free for a while could be of some help. As well as anything with starch or yeast or instead eliminating heavy cream/dairy sugar like milks, yogurt and ice cream. These are smaller things compared to the SCD or other diets.
Posted 7/1/2012 4:47 AM (GMT 0)
It's REALLY important with SCD or GAPS to utilize FATS consistently and large amounts - coconut oil, lard, ghee. That is nutrient-dense, fueling and healing. SCD and GAPS is tough but completely doable. I coach people on it daily because I have been through it myself! If you want to read more: http://simplisticwholistic.com/blog/2012/06/my-gaps-gut-healing-journey
Posted 7/1/2012 10:13 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Equals2, i understand. I suspect eth prednisone is having a major impact on your appetitie. It did with me and i'm not sure if i woudl have been able to do GAPS/SCD while on pred.

I Hope teh L-Glutamine and your meds get you out of your flare conditions. Maybe once you've reached a plateau and have tapered off Pred and been pred free it might be worth trying again with diet mod. Another thing you can do is substitute 1 normal meal in a day for an SCD meal. Maybe liek eth chicken broth. That way you're not gonna starve but you will get your body used to SCD type meals ...if you decide you want to try it again that is.

Good luck.
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