Anybody with only classic IBS symptoms?

[Guest guest]

Hi Shonda,I have a similar kind of condundrum as you, and have found that I feel more satisfied and balanced if I include fat and protein with every meal. I haven't yet gained any weight, but at least I haven't lost any. Maybe you could give that a try?Nina in MA----- Original Message ----

> This sounds familiar to me. This is what I've been banging my head

> against for some time now. Given that fructose is one of the carbs we

> frequently run into in almost every legal SCD carb source. I'm

> underweight, and get so tired if I cut out too many carbs (again, legal

> of course), but if I eat enough to feel satisfied and less tired, I get

> foggy headed, anxious, nervous, and obsessive. I really don't know

> what to do here. Maybe as Marilyn was discussing in another thread, I

> need to try adding more fat or protein with my carbs to see if that

> helps.

>

> Shonda

> SCD 6m

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[Guest guest]

Hi Shonda

I don't tolerate high-carb veggies, fruits, honey, dairy, or anything high in fat or fiber and anything spicy. I have several upper GI dysfunctions and poor digestive motility (C.). I still do well on SCD, though, and have done so for more than 4 years.

I just tested and experimented with the legal foods until I figured out what worked best for me. As the years on SCD have gone by I've been able to handle, once in a long while, more of the troublesome legals. But I'm quite content to be eating well on those foods my digestion and body tolerates the best.

The two strategies I've used that help me the most are:

-- eat small meals frequently. I eat something every 2 to 3 hours, and usually have some protein with every "snack." Basically I make a normal sized meal but eat it in two or three stages. This means that I have a combination of low-carb cooked veggies and some form of protein, sometimes with a tiny amount of fat, with every snack throughout the day. I have energy, and can keep my blood sugar levels from fluctuating too much in either direction. Even more importantly, my upper GI functions better with the smaller meals.

-- eat plenty of protein with each meal, and especially add protein/fat if I'm eating my daily fruit serving. I do have extremely diluted fruit juice with my morning meal (to take my daily Miralax) but I also have protein at the same meal. I usually have one serving of a cooked fruit later in the day, but I add a dollop of peanut butter to it (for that protein/fat combo), or eat it at the end of the meal (I know, not the recommended procedure...).

So I do well on SCD by selecting legals that aren't high in carbs, fructose, fiber, fat or seasonings. That's one of the benefits to the diet; we can fine-tune our choices of legals to suit our own body and manage our particular combination of health issues and disorders.

Sure, there are days when I wish I could successfully eat and digest one of the wonderful-sounding SCD recipes, envious when others discuss some fabulous, mouth-watering treat. But I worked too hard for 2 years to reach the point of getting my digestive symptoms under management, so I don't complain about it for too long [grin]. I eat well on SCD -- I've had to cut back a bit in volume to stop gaining weight, which is a really positive sign even if I hoped I wouldn't have to worry about my weight ever again....

Kim M.

SCD 4+ years

SofOddi dysfunction, GP, IBS-C 4+ years

several identified neurological disorders and several as yet unidentified 2+ years

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This sounds familiar to me. This is what I've been banging my head against for some time now. Given that fructose is one of the carbs we frequently run into in almost every legal SCD carb source. I'm underweight, and get so tired if I cut out too many carbs (again, legal of course), but if I eat enough to feel satisfied and less tired, I get foggy headed, anxious, nervous, and obsessive. I really don't know what to do here. Maybe as Marilyn was discussing in another thread, I need to try adding more fat or protein with my carbs to see if that helps.ShondaSCD 6m

[Guest guest]

At 07:41 PM 2/1/2008, you wrote:

Ok, that's what I'll try then.

I'll try eating a protein and fat with every meal and snack.

It helps. Keep in mind that a woman requires a minimum of 11 calories per

pound just to function. (A moderately active man takes 15 calories per

pound -- it's manifestly unfair to the female of the species!)

So figure your optimum weight -- in my case, 140 pounds -- and multiply

that times 11. So, my minimum calorie intake per day is 1540

calories.

Now, the USDA food pyramid claims that we should be eating

55% carbohydrates (by which they mean grains and potatoes and sugar)

15% protein

30% fat

So according to them, for my minimum function diet,

I ought to have

847 calories, or around 212 grams carbohydrate (4 calories per gram)

231 calories or around 58 grams of protein (4 calories per gram)

462 calories or around 51 grams of fat (9 calories per gram)

But I don't do grains and potatoes and sugar.

Carbohydrates are found, as BTVC says, in fruits, vegetables, and

properly prepared SCD yogurt, as well as honey.

A cup of orange juice has 25 grams of carbohydrate.

A cup (8 ounces weight) of butternut squash has 27 grams of carbohydrate.

One tablespoon of honey has 17 grams of carbohydrate.

A banana has 28 grams of carbohydrate.

Three Medjool dates have 45 grams of carbohydrate.

8 ounces of cooked carrots has 23 grams of carbohydrate.

A full eight ounces of zucchini, on the other hand, only has 8 grams of

carbohydrate.

So we SCDers have very little trouble in getting plenty of carbs.

However, this study might be of interest when worrying about too much

protein:

http://www.news.uiuc.edu/scitips/01/04diet.html

For an actual low carb diet, we'll go to the guru himself,

Atkins:

His opening phase, the hyper low carb phase calls for " Eat no more

than 20 grams a day of carbohydrate, at least 12 – 15 grams of which must

come in the form of salad greens and other vegetables. "

His formula for ongoing weight loss is more than I really want to type

in, but generally called for around 60-90 grams of carbohydrates.

(Depends on your activity level.)

Again, the formula for maintenance is more complicated than I'm

interested in, but allows anywhere from 25 to well above 90 grams of

carbohydrates per day, again depending on your level of

exercise.

So if you have a banana and scrambled eggs, or banana pancakes for

breakfast, maybe a glass of OJ midmorning, some yogurt (which also has

carbs in it) with a tablespoon of honey at lunch, a snack of some

dates midafternoon, and carrots with dinner, you've racked up 138 grams

of carbs that day, which is well out of the low carb range.

It's not as high as the food pyramid calls for, but the USDA food pyramid

changes with the politics of the day, rather than actual nutritional

studies. See n Nestle's Food Politics.

I hang out at the Compuserve Diabetes Forum (well, they call it

Netscape, but to me, it will always be Compuserve) because, among other

things, I'm considered pre-diabetic. One of the things which boggles my

brain is the advice given to many diabetics is to eat a diet low in fat

and high on complex carbohydrates. Excuse me? Diabetes is a disease of

carbohydrate metabolism. If the body is overloaded and can't handle the

carbs you're throwing at it, it would make more sense to me to reduce the

carbs, and give the body a breather. (And this, in fact WAS what a

diabetic diet was before Banting and his fellows discovered insulin.) One

of the things which some diabetics are cautioned about is the amount of

fat they eat because fat and protein slow the rate of absorption of

carbohydrates, and slow their usage by the body.

Which is what we're trying to do here. We want our bodies to take a

middle line -- neither overloading it with any one type of food, nor

underloading it. So, since fat and protein slow down the utilization of

the carbs, it follows that we won't get hungry as quickly if we have a

modest amount of protein and fat with whatever carbohydrate we're

having.

And you know what? Now I've forgotten what I was answering on this. Gah.

I will plead Mardi Grad Madness.

—

Marilyn

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

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