Too much butter/protein or too many carbs?

[Guest guest]

Hi, I'm back with more newbie questions...

We're at the end of our 2nd week on the diet and are still having

challenges with constipation (which we had before the diet, so I'm not

sure it's just die-off). We're taking up to 300mg of activated

charcoal daily, having near-daily epsom salt baths, eating prunes and

drinking the electrolyte drink--none of these seem to help much.

Maybe constipation isn't the right word. We do have bowel movements

almost daily, they're just sticky and hard to pass resulting in

painful hemerrhoids.

I want to get some advice on digestibility of fat & protein foods. For

many years prior to SCD we were on a low-fat grain-free vegan diet.

Now, my children are putting tons of butter on everything they can

(well, maybe not tons, but up to 1/3 cup a day). I'm sure they need to

make up for lost time on getting quality fats, but could this much

butter so early into the diet be causing problems?

I have a related question on chicken, eggs & baked dripped yogurt.

They are hungry boys and with the limited foods available, I waiver

between being concerned about the amount of protein & fat they eat

(which perhaps they don't have the ability to digest well) and the

amount of carrots, bananas, apple & squash they eat (which in such

large amounts so early on may be feeding the yeast too much). I'm not

sure how to best meet their hunger.

Would 3-4 eggs, 1 cup chicken, 1/3 cheesecake, and 1/3 cup butter

daily be too much to easily digest for a typical young child (7-10yrs)

starting the diet?

Would 2 cups carrots, 2 cooked bananas, 2 cups cooked apples & 1 cup

squash daily be too much this early on?

They also have about 1 cup chicken broth daily, 2-4 muffins (or the

equivalent almond flour in pancakes), a serving of grape juice jello,

and every few days several Tbsp of dripped yogurt.

I started butternut squash today with about 2/3 cup each blended with

carrot & apple (and they were begging for more). Tics returned tonight

along with trouble getting to sleep. Was this too much to start with?

Am I right that increase in tics might indicate he's not ready for the

butternut, and that sleep disturbance indicates die-off?

I think I'm going to try to completely cut out the honey and make a

non-honey electrolyte drink. There was a post that describes one made

with pear juice. Can this be substituted equally for grape juice?

I'm thinking of drinking the Epsom salt water as I saw a note that if

children drink the Epsom bath water, they may get diarrhea (and it's

an ingredient in a liver flush protocol). Does anyone have any

experience with this?

Thanks again for your advice!

Kay

[Guest guest]

Hi, Kay,

I am not the moderator who knows about yeast, never having been able

to identify its presence or absence. But I do have a good memory and

fair research skills.

Anyway, I know Sheila thought the type of poop you describe could be

due to yeast. For yeast, some people rely on natural anti-fungals.

I do not know about these so I will not recommend anything specific,

but you can search the list to see what has been said. If it were

me, I think I would try one of these before I cut back on fruit.

However, some people with severe yeast problems do cut back on

fruit. Elaine did not think honey was a problem, but did say that

with severe yeast problems you might try reducing the amount of honey

you use by 2/3.

If it's regular constipation, you might slip some olive oil into

their food. Also, you might try beets in some form even though they

are usually not for beginners. There are lots of posts in the

archives, especially from 2004, you can find by typing in beet +

constipation. Beets have helped many people who were not helped by

other methods. People have used beet juice (1 cup/day) mixed with

pear, apple, or carrot to give it sweetness. [Do dilute juices 50%

with water. Juices can be made with raw fruits and veggies even this

early in the diet if you strain out the pulp, seeds and skins.}

People have used cooked beet puree mixed with orange juice. They

have used one fresh roasted beet daily.

Here's a post that even includes a beet brownie that works.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/pecanbread/message/12559

The amount of butter seems high to me, but then again when kids are

hungry we do always suggest to put in more fats. I think that you

are meeting their hunger needs with a nice balance of foods, but if

you are not sure you can enter the amounts into www.fitday.com and it

will tell you what percent of protein, etc. you are giving them.

You have many concerns about digestion, so trying enzymes sounds

like a good idea. Please look at the pecanbread.com supplements

section to find legal enzymes.

It does seem that you started with quite a bit of the squash for a

first try.

It seems that people can drink the Epsom salts dissolved in water as

a laxative, though we have never done this. Hopefully someone with

experience will post.

I hope the person who has the pear juice electrolyte drink

information will post more details. I do know that eating pears is a

reliable " mover " in our family.

I also don't know much about die-off. But it seems that two weeks

into the diet just about anything can happen. had diahrrea the

entire first two weeks. So let's see how they do this week.

mom to -12

SCD 4/23/04