Reintroduction -- Marilyn

[Guest guest]

Heyla, folks....

I finally have enough time to look over some of the digests. I see familiar

faces, and people who are new since the last time I was able to post here.

I'm Marilyn Alm.

I don’t have ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s, IBD, IBS, although my grandmother

did have diverticulitis. I do have ADD, and I also have a B.A. in

Psychology and an M.Ed. in Special Education. Some people may wonder why a

person in seemingly good health, barring the fact that she was extremely

overweight, would go on a diet designed for gut health?

As it turns out, the overweight was a symptom of undiagnosed IBD. That was

a shock when I realized the urgency and soft, mushy stools I had suffered

with for 25 years weren’t *normal* as I had been told by various

physicians. I was also very surprised when I realized SCD reduced my ADD

symptoms.

I actually came to the SCD backwards. My husband Harry and I have had

dachshunds and cats (moggies) for most of our married life. In 1998, we

became mom and dad to a pair of gorgeous long-haired red dachshunds, Shadow

and Sunny. We were determined they would get the best food money could buy

-- and our vet and the breeder recommended several kinds of kibble. But

despite really small servings of this premium, and mostly grain kibble,

Shadow and Sunny both ended up very overweight. I was frustrated, because

this was the same situation I was in -- eating very small amounts,

continuously hungry, and still gaining weight.

Through the recommendation of a holistic vet I found when my regular vet

had no answers, I learned about species-appropriate diets, that is, diets

made of the kinds of foods an animal evolved to eat. Sounds logical,

doesn’t it?

My dachshunds lost weight on a grain-free diet.

I attended a seminar during Easter of 2001 by the Australian vet, Dr. Ian

Billinghurst, who is one of the advocates of the bones and raw food diet.

Dr. B was a fascinating speaker. He noted that as a vet, he wasn’t licensed

to prescribe for humans, but that he had come to believe that humans needed

grain about as much as dogs did, which was to say, in very small

quantities, if at all. He also indicated that he and his wife had gone

grain free and felt much better for it.

So, I began a search for a grain-free diet for humans.

I found it in the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

Reading *Breaking the Vicious Cycle* made a number of things I had observed

about my body over the years fall into place. Suddenly, I had an

explanation for why some foods might agree with me one time, and not agree

another. This was a diet which didn’t tell me I had to give up everything

delicious for life. I didn’t have to accept tasteless food substitutes. I

could have real food.

There’s a problem with real food, though. It takes time to prepare. Modern

lifestyles are fast-paced and frantic. It’s so easy to stop at a fast food

joint for burgers or fast-Mex or MSG-laced fake Chinese. Real food requires

a bit of planning, and knowing your way around a kitchen.

Now, I grew up in a real kitchen -- my mom was a good, though not gourmet,

cook, so I did know my way around the kitchen. I started SCD, then promptly

had an attack of gall bladder which went undiagnosed for almost two months

(turning yellow, breaking out in weeping sores from the sky-high liver

enzymes, constant pain, not fun). I was inching my way into SCD -- giving

up bread and pasta and rice, adding SCD yogurt. Finally had a diagnosis and

ended up with surgery -- and I had too much anesthesia and what was

supposed to be same-day surgery turned into a five-day hospital stay,

followed by about two months of very slow recovery.

My gut took a pounding from that anesthesia, and for those first months, I

tolerated four foods: roast pork, roast beef, soft-boiled eggs, and

steamed, peeled zucchini. I can assure you that by the time I could

tolerate something else, I was really, really, REALLY tired of those four

items.

There was one thing I was craving, and that was a decidedly not-legal brie

cheese sauce which was always part of our holiday fare. So, I looked at the

recipe, and muttered a line I'd heard on the Long Island SCD List, " With

these ingredients, how bad can it be? " and experimented. Bingo! It came out

exactly the way I imagined it! And so, I posted my first recipe to the Long

Island list. (Pecan Bread and its predecessor, Elaine's Children, didn't

exist yet!) It went over pretty well, so I tinkered again... and again...

and again...

...and found myself with a reputation of being something of a gourmet SCD cook.

I participated fairly regularly on Long Island, plus Elaine's Children,

followed by Pecan Bread up until last August, when Hurricane Katrina hit

New Orleans.

We were out of town for a month (and returned to find our house damaged,

but unflooded, thank ghod!), but then I had no Internet access for another

month or more. By that time, the bookstore where I worked part time had

reopened -- with less than a third the staff it had before the storm.

Upshot was that I found myself working full time, something I hadn't done

since 1982, when I fell and injured my back. Borders was also the only

large bookstore in town that was open for nearly six months. I had to cut

somewhere, so while I read Pecan Bread when I could, I just haven't been

able to be active. (BTW, Borders was top-mark to ALL of us, paying our

full salaries the entire six weeks the store was closed, and providing

extra money for those who needed it.)

I basically worked, came home, fixed dinner, and collapsed, getting up and

repeating. We have eaten rather more hamburgers, grilled chicken, and

grilled fish with plain steamed vegetables or a tossed salad than I want to

think about.

The only time we had anything fancy was when I used my days off to do

gourmet Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for us and for my parents. (My

recipes are on Pecanbread.Com.) Our Thanksgiving was totally and completely

sincere -- our house had some damage, and my parents (who refused to

evacuate) not only survived Katrina, but got out safely afterwards, a story

in itself.

A couple weeks ago, Borders finally got enough people on board that I could

slide back to my pre-Katrina part-time status. (My hips thank them, my

knees thank them, my feet thank them, my back thanks them....)

We actually have had lasagna, baked chicken, beef-and-spinach pie, crockpot

Creole beef, BBQ spare ribs, and more. I'm looking forward to getting back

into the swing of real cooking again. Not to mention real yogurt. I've been

surviving on acidophilus, and while it's good, I can promise you that it's

not as good as our SCD yogurt!

So, I thought I'd drop this into the pot, as it were, and say, " Glad to be

back! "

-- Marilyn (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA)

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

aka Shadowdachs Imagination & Shadowdachs Amapola

[Guest guest]

>

>

> Heyla, folks....

>

> I finally have enough time to look over some of the digests. I see familiar

> faces, and people who are new since the last time I was able to post here.

>

> I'm Marilyn Alm.

>

> > So, I thought I'd drop this into the pot, as it were, and say, " Glad to be

> back! "

>

>

Marilyn,

How happy I am to see you back at last and recovered from catastrophe.

You have been an inspiration to me . Following your example I also have SCD life

imitating

art when it comes to foods that I don't need to miss---although you win hands

down for

the most ingredients :-)

Your return will add lots of life to the list and treats to the table. I am so

glad I was able to

touch base with you now and then while you were away.

People, start your ovens!

Carol F.

SCD 6 years