Introducing Myself, with some questions about starting SCD

[Guest guest]

My name is Ellen, and I live in Toronto. I have irritable bowel syndrome,

but I keep it mostly in check through avoiding food allergens, taking

digestive enzymes with my meals, and taking anti-spasmodic tablets and

enteric-coated peppermint oil capsules before meals.

I also have fibromyalgia, myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue

syndrome in the USA), multiple chemical sensitivities, underactive adrenal

glands, and a few other problems.

My environmental & nutritional specialist doctor would like me to cut out

grains and starchy carbohydrates, because recent research by a group called

Bodybio.com has found links between certain carbohydrates, such as grains,

starches, and high glycemic-index carbohydrates; and inflammation. I bought

Bodybio's " Detoxx book " last year but have found the recipes very difficult

to manage, partly because some of the key ingredients are not available here

in Toronto, and partly because the recipes tend to incorporate many foods to

which I am allergic (such as tomatoes).

While I have been wrestling with the Detoxx diet and failing, I have also

been preparing some of the recipes in " Breaking the Vicious Cycle, " since

they also exclude most of the same problem carbohydrate recipes.

Carol belongs to an online MCS support group. A few months ago, she posted a

message to that group about an SCD pizza recipe she had made, including a

link to the photo. However, to view the link, I had to join this list. So I

joined, but have stayed in the background, debating whether this diet would

meet my doctor's criteria.

Now I have my doctor's permission and encouragement to try SCD instead of

the Bodybio Detoxx diet. I am very happy about this. She thinks that

following this diet could help with problems I currently have absorbing

nutrients and my tendency to develop more and more food allergies, both due

to leaky guts.

I think it will take me a few weeks to get all the necessary ingredients and

to wean myself off my existing illegal foods (how long will I have to avoid

chocolate?) but I know that Carol, who also lives in Toronto, is able to

find the necessary products in this city.

My main question at the moment is whether I need to start at the first stage

though, as I don't currently suffer from either constipation or diarrhea.

The purpose of the antispasmodic tablets I take is to settle down the

painful spasms my colon experiences otherwise, a symptom of my fibromyalgia.

But my bowel movements are normal and regular.

Another question is about chicken soup. My usual technique for making

chicken soup is to use a pressure cooker, which allows me to prepare

delicious soup in less than 1 hour of stovetop time, without having to skim

the fat off during the cooking process. I skim fat off after I remove the

pressure cooker lid, then skim more fat off once the soup has cooled in my

fridge.

Is there any requirement that I go back to cooking the soup in a regular

pot, for 4 hours? Please tell me that Elaine's book doesn't mention pressure

cooking the soup only because she wasn't aware that it made better soup.

Once I learned how to make the soup in a pressure cooker about 10 years ago,

my mother stopped cooking chicken soup for family gatherings, as everybody

expressed a preference for my pressure-cooked chicken soup.

One other issue: the first allowed fruits are bananas and apples, but I am

allergic to both of these, as well as to oranges (but not to lemons, oddly

enough). Could I continue eating berries, as I have been doing without

intestinal distress for the last many years?

Thanks for this list, and thanks for any answers to my questions.

Ellen in Toronto

[Guest guest]

Ellen,

Welcome to the list! Many people here have multiple issues, and SCD is a

good and healthy diet. Tasty food, too.

You might find

www.uclbs.org to be

of help. It lists a number of resources available in the Toronto area,

and has some super recipes, as well. Raman Prasad's

www.scdrecipe.com

may also be useful.

Other handy web sites include

www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info, Elaines own web site and

www.pecanbread.com, the SCD children's website.

If you have a decent sized freezer, you might spend the time you are

gathering all your supplies together to make up lots of basic meals,

including plenty of soup. Many people find the hardest part of the diet

is the constant cooking because everything must be made from scratch. If

you get ahead on staples like broths and so forth, that can reduce

problems.

Yes, start at the beginning. Lots of people who don't think they have

much in the way of gut issues discover, after starting, that there are

more things linked to our gut health than we ever imagined. With no

special issues, a couple days of intro should be adequate, and then you

can begin adding foods.

>> Another question is about chicken soup. My usual technique for

making chicken soup is to use a pressure cooker, which allows me to

prepare delicious soup in less than 1 hour of stovetop time, without

having to skim the fat off during the cooking process. I skim fat off

after I remove the pressure cooker lid, then skim more fat off once the

soup has cooled in my fridge. <<

Pressure cookers are absolutely OK! Elaine specifies a regular pan simply

because a good pressure cooker isn't cheap, and most people have enough

to contend with when they start the diet. Many people also use the

pressure cooker to prepare well-cooked vegetables in a short time. (I

actually wish I had a good one....)

>> One other issue: the first allowed fruits are bananas and

apples, but I am allergic to both of these, as well as to oranges (but

not to lemons, oddly enough). Could I continue eating berries, as I have

been doing without intestinal distress for the last many years?

<<

Well, I'd strongly recommend against eating anything you're allergic to.

<wry grin> Many people do find that after time on SCD, their

sensitivities significantly decline.

You might try SCD lemonade: a tablespoon or two of fresh-squeezed

lemon juice mixed with honey or saccharin added to a tall glass of cold

water.

All fruits and vegetables must be peeled, seeded, and cooked initially.

(Yes, I know about good enzymes in raw vegetables and those are great --

after some healing has taken place.)

You can cook your berries and strain them to remove the seeds. Makes a

nice juice / syrup to mix with your yogurt or to dilute with water for a

beverage.

There's a " Nomato " sauce which can be made with carrots and

beets and honey or saccharin for people who have tomato problems. (I

still haven't figured out why so many non-SCD recipes call for two

tablespoons of tomato paste in a big pot of something: it must be for

color.) But yes, you're right that tomato sauces do feature in a number

of recipes, probably because they're easy, flavorful, and many people

without salicylate issues tolerate them quite well. <grin> Haven't

you heard that Ketchup is the North American Young Person's National

Beverage? Some not so young people, too, drown EVERYTHING in

Ketchup!

About the chocolate -- there's NO timetable on when you can add anything

back in. It all depends on your level of healing. I have obesity due to

malabsorption. I was losing steadily. Not as fast as I did at the outset,

but steadily. I really, really, wanted some chocolate. So I experimented

and found a chocolate that didn't give me apparent digestive issues. A

miserable 20 grams a week stopped my weight loss dead in its tracks, and

it took almost ten months before it resumed. Apparently, those wretched

bad bacteria were simply lying in wait for me to eat something they would

like, and woke right up -- and because they're the ones who survived the

years of starvation, they are very strong, and are proving very hard to

starve out again.

On the other hand, I know someone who was able to have an occasional

piece of chocolate after a mere two years on SCD.

Here's health and delicious eating!

—

Marilyn

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund