Anyone here using SCD???

Hi!

I'm new here.  My husband has had UC for 10 years or so, most of that time in remission with the use of Lialda.  He's been having a bad flare for 2+ months now, and has become desperate enough to try the SCD diet. 

So here we are, and I'm trying to figure out things like home-made yogurt, juices not made from concentrate, and a host of other things...so, I was just wondering if anyone here has tried SCD or is doing SCD.  If so, I would love to hear your stories and/or advice.

Thanks a million!

I tried it and didn't have any luck getting my UC into remission. After about 3 months, I gave up and took medication - luckily, I've had luck with the medication. If you do a search for SCD in the top search box, you will find loads of information. Many people here swear by the diet.

Welcome to HW.

i follow a combination of SCD and paleo. i've taken aspects from both diets that make me feel better. i'd have to say the most important part of the diet is the yogurt. it's a pain to make in the beginning, but it gets easier. i noticed improvement pretty quickly after i started eating it. i use a DASH yogurt maker that i got from macy's. i make one bath every week.

does your husband have any food intolerances that you are aware of? some people need to modify the scd diet- i have an intolerance to eggs and chicken so that is a big part of the diet.

the easiest juice to drink at first was apple cider. i'd dilute half of it with water because it's so sweet already. another great food is gelatin. you can mix it with juice- i used tart cherry juice.

in the beginning, really have him focus on low fiber and stick with high fats. no greens and peel the veggies/fruits. i use a lot of coconut products and make my yogurt using coconut cream instead of dairy.

i use the yogourmet starter, too, but the one without bifidus. they sell it at my health food store in the refrigerated section. it's SCD legal so that's the only reason i use it. the sugars in it will be eaten as the bacteria ferments and multiplies- that's why homemade yogurt is very tart and not sweet at all. it's so much cheaper than the actual SCD starter on the GI Pro Health website.

yeah, i agree that the cherry gelatin doesnt really have a noticeable taste. kind of plain. i usually eat it with fruit for flavor. you could also put gelatin in the yogurt when it's at the highest temperature and then let it cool. that will create a sturdier yogurt and you'll get the benefits of gelatin without having to eat it as "jello." it was hard for me to choke it down at first since i hadn't eaten it in years so the yogurt way was easier.

i know it seems so overwhelming at first to do all the prep and such, but it gets easier.

if he needs filling foods, i am obsessed with making freezer fudge. it's just a mixture of coconut oil, sunflower seeds, coconut flour, and honey in the food processor until it's pulverized. i've recently started adding banana to it. he could also try coconut butter (manna) as it is very filling and calorically dense. obviously, he'll have to go by his symptoms to see what doesn't bother him. i didn't start with eating nuts/seeds. butters are way easier as well as the nut flours.

My daughter follows SCD for the past 2 yrs. I use Dannon's plain yogurt as starter and yogurmet yogurt maker to make yogurt.

 Foods during Flare up:  lots of  Homemade chicken broth, broiled fish and ripe spotted banana, cooked and pureed squashes and other soft veggies,and yogurt. I always make fresh juices from fruits. The only store brought ones are the Apple cider.

 You will get lots of info and advice by joining BTVC SCD YAHOO GROUP.

 

I second Imagardener's experience- loved SCD yogurt and almond breads but could not tolerate either, so I ended up doing best on a paleo diet rather than SCD. In the end , even though I did best on paleo, this has still not prevented multiple flares requiring prednisone each year so I am finally throwing in the towel with surgery now (intolerant if all Meds other than pred) and though expanding my diet isn't a reason for this, it will be nice to enjoy a more varied diet again sans colon.

Does SCD prohibit taking Metamucil or some other fiber supplement?

Wow. That's too weird, given how important psyllium seems to be to so many of us.
Maybe I'll just try going without Metamucil for awhile and see if that helps.

I had good luck with the SCD (but mind you, this is only the first time, and as many of us know sometimes what works once doesn't always work the second time ). A few observations:

(1) The homemade yogurt is great, and it's easy to make even if you don't have a yogurt maker. There are some nice descriptions here: http://tinyurl.com/c3nw968 I use the the Yogourmet starter (I got it on Amazon; http://tinyurl.com/ctwrk3k), which *does* have sucrose but that's OK because the bacteria will metabolize it in the process.

(2) When on the SCD, I do *not* eat out, not ever, not once. I don't trust anything with "natural flavors" or anything that wasn't actually once growing in the ground or eating stuff growing in the ground or sea.

(3) After about a month and a half, I was losing too much weight on the SCD, so I started adding back in limited amounts of starches. Still, only things that were 100% ingredients that I know and trust. You'd be amazed at the crap that's in, e.g., sliced bread. Again, basically no eating out, since there's no way to tell what's in restaurant food.

(4) I highly recommend "Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet" by Raman Prasad.

(5) I also highly recommend Honeyville almond flour. It's good to have this on hand for grain-free breads, tortillas, muffins, etc.

(6) It's also really helpful to take some time to plan before jumping into the diet. Think about what would be good for different meals and snacks, get the required ingredients, etc.

(7) Finally, be sure to start keeping track of symptoms *before* and *during* the diet. That way, you can really see if it's making a difference. I write down every time I go to the bathroom, what I did in there, and tally it all up at the end of the day. Not sure if either of you have experience with Excel or computer programming, but it's really interesting to plot this sort of data up to see how things are progressing with time.

I also gave myself a month of the diet before I re-evaluated things. At a month, it seemed it was helping so I kept going. Even after I re-introduced some starches, I continued to get better. I'm still doing the yogurt (oh, and I take salmon oil supplements as well, Trader Joe's has good and inexpensive ones).

I hope this is of some help! Best of luck to your husband, I hope he's feeling better again soon.

Miriam

WOW, thanks to all for your replies!  Currently he has experienced a reduction of "episodes" (from 12-14/day to 3-5/day), but still d and bleeding.  Since we don't know if it's the Immuran or SCD that is causing the improvement, he is going to try adding some foods today and seeing what happens.  Having difficulty putting any weight back on w/SCD.  (Lost 17 lbs in 2 weeks. 5'8"/140 lb) Sigh. One day at a time...

It's really mind-boggling how many different remedies work for different people !

@mindoverbutter - yes, we do have BTVC, have joined the yahoo group, and visit pecanbread regularly, thx!

@Novagal - Excel program up and running for the past month and a half, per doctor's advice, thx!

@InSoFla - no supplements or probiotics right now, I guess I thought we weren't supposed to add those until later?  I do have some probiotics on hand; perhaps we should give them a try?  Does it matter what kind they are?

Thanks again, all, you have been a blessing!

it will take a while to gain weight on the diet. i started it in august when i was 84 lbs (i'm 5'4"). i've gotten up to 97 lbs but that's taken 9 months- so it's been about 1-2 lb gain per month.

he probably won't gain until the diarrhea stops and he's feeling stronger. don't focus too much on the weight though. just stick to healing the gut and the weight will come after. i know my doctors have been BEGGING me to do TPN since last year, but i told them i'd rather eat my calories instead of get them through an IV. now i'm up 13 lbs without any of their help.