New to SCD, need help

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I'm new to SCD, but not to strict diets. I have one son, who's three,

who has recovered from all signs of autism with a strict GF/CF diet

and supplements. Funnily enough, that was the easy one to fix. Who kne?

My older son, Sawyer, who's seven, I suspect has celiac disease, and

he's been on a strict GF/CF, soy-free diet, but he still has awful

diarrhea and he can't gain weight. He only weighs 44 pounds, and he

looks like a stick. It's getting to the point that he's pooping in his

pants and it runs down into his shoes. That's no way for a healthy

seven-year-old boy to live!

So, we started SCD Saturday. It was mostly to see if maybe there was a

food allergy we missed, but you know, first thing Saturday morning,

the diarrhea was gone. For two days straight, he had normal poop and

we were very excited.

So, yesterday, I let him have a few bites of pear and we had pork

sausage for dinner. I thought, apparently incorrectly, that since the

sausage was from Whole Foods and the ingredients were fresh, organic

pork and spices, that it would be all right.

His problems were back with a vengance this morning -- you all

probably could have told me that, right?

I guess my question is, now what?

I'm not really clear on how to add in new foods once past the intro

diet, obviously. I guess we're back on the intro diet until his guts

are better, and then what do I do? Are all meats OK right away, or

should I stay with chicken? Can I add more than one new food a day?

And how long will this take -- he's not very patient with this,

although he does want to feel better. The faster he can have fruits

and vegetables, the more likely he'll be to stick to this completely.

I'm eager to cook and to come up with new recipes -- I run a GF/CF

organic food business, so I'm used to playing around with food. The

whole SCD diet is a whole new world, though, so I'm looking for all

the help I can get!

Thanks,

Meagan McGovern

mcgovernsorganics.com

[Guest guest]

Hi, Meagan,

Spices can include starch and even gluten. It would be best to

season your own pork for sausage.

As you plan, it's best to go back to the intro now. Be sure he eats

the well-cooked carrots and the gelatin made with diluted juice or at

least drinks the diluted juice so that the intro diet is not just

protein. I know we all are impatient to add foods quickly after that

since the early diet is so limited. You can get more apparent

variety by serving the same foods in different forms. Read here:

http://www.pecanbread.com/new/scdfoods1.html#intro

On the intro he can have chicken and broiled ground beef. After the

intro I would stick with those meats (not because you have to, but

because he's eager to have different fruits and veggies and it's not

a good idea to introduce more than one food at a time) and introduce

some additional fruits and vegetables to please your son. Ripe

banana (with spots), applesauce, and pearsauce are good fruits to

start with. Other than ripe banana and avocado, all fruits and

vegetables need to be cooked and peeled and have the seeds removed.

Good vegetables to try are green beans, zucchini, spinach, and winter

squash of various kinds.

Other meats can be tried after the intro. You need to make sure they

do not have additives, such as broth and seasonings.

The idea behind introducing one food at a time it to be able to watch

for reactions, which may take a couple of days. You are then fairly

sure that the new food is the one that caused the reaction. So you

should wait 3-4 days between introducing new foods. When you

introduce the new food, introduce it in a small quantity at first and

then increase over time.

mom to -12

SCD 4/23/04