Anyone do better after quiting SCD?

There are other diets than scd for healing colitis. I was wondering what non-scd diets have worked for people. I've tried scd but have not gotten the results I am hoping for so I am thinking of exploring other diets.

Impressive Soystud.Very Impressive.
When I was a little kid back in the 50's I was always scared of the boy in the iron lung,or I should say that what hapened to him that he had to be in that thing, and yes we had TV,even though it might have been a 12 inch screen.

Link

Canman: Yes Paleo,FODMAP,we have a current resistant starch thread,and a spinach and sunflower thread.

I am starting to believe that a steamed or boiled/gently cooked diet,is worth a shot,no fried.baked.broiled,grilled food. An extreme of this would be raw paleo. I tried SCD 3 times,the worst part was giving up the beer, had no effect on my UC,but nothing does much of anything for the better.

Old Mike

CanMan, Ive read some good testimonials about the GAPS diet, havent tried it (or any special type of diet ) but might be something worth looking into.

The problem I've been facing is eliminating starch from my diet. I just feel low energy. I avoided starches like the plague thinking they were going to feed bad bacteria but ended up not having enough energy to be physically active... I've been thinking of introducing certain starches to give me energy... I just recently learned about the Resistant Starch diet which has peaked my interest. There are also the legal starches on SCD which I was waiting until I was symptom free to introduce.

Bascially I tried to be a fat burner (as paleo promotes) but never felt good that way. So introducing certain starches is my focus. Currently I got some navy beans boiling. I'm using as a guide safe starches on the Perfect Health Diet, SCD legal starches, starches on the Resistant Starch diet and just what I find works for me.

This way I'll be able to stick to a diet long term because the low carb way always made me binge on something bad for me.

I wonder if anyone has found certain starches to actually help them?

Our experience was like notsosicklygirl. I think you are on a good track, Canadamark. I have lots to say on this topic SCD as it is written is incomplete, IMHO, and unfortunately unchanging as it is left as Elaine has written it. There are SO many variables that need to be adjusted, just like in any other diet. Just our experience with it - I know those who do very well with it with just minimal adjustment.

I have read that forcing your body to burn fat for energy as you state above, can be very hard on the liver. That concerns me.

One dietary thing to consider is looking into alkalizing foods. I am reading an excellent book on healing leaky gut and it is recommended to eat 80% alkaline and 20% acid.   Good bacteria flourish in this alkaline environment is the theory.  There are lots of free alkaline/acid food lists online.  This has led me into a slow start in juicing for my son.  Starting with very slow amounts and will take it from there.

Another recommendation I would like to put out there is the book, Inside Tract, by Gerard Mullin. He is an integrative gastroenterologist - I love this fact. He has a very interesting history with healing his own autoimmune disease himself. He is head of Integrative Gastroenterology at Johns Hopkins. His "diet" is in three stages based on your personal level of symptoms/disease. Good concepts presented, and flexible for individual needs and for anyone's good gut health, imo. He takes the best of all worlds, (ie, low FODMAP, gf/df, etc.) and helps you chart the course of trying these things and seeing which are most important to your own health.

Best of luck to you in finding what works!

Post Edited (Formyson) : 4/6/2013 10:05:02 AM (GMT-6)

I was doing SCD for 8 months and now I'm doing my own diet which has SCD/paleo components as well. I still eat chocolate and have some sugar and white bread but all in all I'm doing ok.

I've had Crohn's/Colitis for 45 years. I have been on a roller coaster of symptoms and drugs over this time. I finally decided that I wanted to try some diet although my GI said my disease was non related to specific foods and that I should just avoid my trigger foods. I thought about trying the SCD but realized that I probably could not stay on such a strick diet very long Also a lot of the foods on there list would be on my trigger list. about 1 month ago I went on a total lactose free-gluten free diet. For the first time since the last time I was on prednisone, I have no diarrhea, bloating, gas or urgency. At first I wan't certain that this was working but, now I am.
Don't get me wrong, its not a cure but my symptoms have definitely eased and become more manageable. I have read elsewhere that in a few studies that about 60 of Crohn's patients have intolerances to either lactose or gluten or a combination of the two. This may not work for everyone like the medication we are all on, but it did for me.

soystud: I totally agree - except for the fact that that only works in some. Of course if you take UC completely out of the picture I see nothing wrong with being on a diet that makes you feel better. Now in relation to UC, everyone is so different that diets work in some, not in others, and different diets work in different individuals. I really do believe that it is strongly related to microbial bacterial imbalance in your gut. For some certain diets would bring that imbalance closer to normal but I think people make a huge mistake in believing that "healthy" diets are what helps with that imbalance and I don't believe that is always true. For some eating all meats helps bring that imbalance back to normal while in others they should avoid meats altogether. For some eating fruits and veggies would help with the imbalance while in others it would have the opposite effect. For some eating grains and wheats would improve their balance tremendously while in others it would hurt tremendously. It all depends on the particular imbalance you have and what you need to eat in order to get that imbalance more on track.

Generally speaking, much of the diet hype here is so called "healthy" diets where you eliminate gluten, dairy, etc. but the truth is, in a select few, eating sugars, fat, starch, gluten, are what your gut needs to be more in balance. If you are going to use diet to help your condition then you need to do trial and error and see what works best in you, and if you find it, continue. There have been many here who have gone gluten free or whatever for months, not had any improvement whatsoever, and yet they still get encouraged by others to stay the course and that it can take years before you feel better. It's easy to go down the wrong road trying UC treatments but you have to be smart enough with meds, diets, supplements, or whatever, that if the road is a dead end you need to back up and go down a different road instead of following that one all the way to the end of the dead end.

ya well gary, i don't believe i said it works for everybody -

show me examples of people saying they are cured or symptoms go away when they start eating grains/gluten ?

and i am soooooooooooo happy for them dude -

GGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR !

(really, i am)

wow, just the 80% thing looks too complicated for me

beatUC said...
I did better after quitting SCD. I tried for a year and a half, my UC just got worse. When I finally quit the diet things stabilized, but it wasn't until I went on Imuran that the flares slowed down at all.

My theory is that there are different "types" of UC. That's why one responds do diet modification and others to immune suppressants, probiotics etc.

I'm glad Imuran is helping you.

My two cents on the SCD diet; I tried it for six months with no improvement to my condition. I am sure that it is of value for some individuals, but it didn't help me. I finally gave up the SCD after I became ill with a bad sinus infection. After resuming a diet that includes SCD forbidden items my daily health data indicated my UC neither improved or grew worse. Still, I feel much better eating a wider spectrum of foods. Ultimately we need to experiment and determine what works best for us.