Your post hurt my feelings.

[Guest guest]

Since March 15, 2004 I have spent no less than two hours per day

" reading around " . I try to read at least one page of posts from over

twenty lists each night on a wide range of topics pertaining to my two

sons' autism. Topics include basic biomed, advanced biomed,

ABA/discrete trial, alternative medicine, biofeedback, LDN, Valtrex

and B12, alternative diets, political action related to vaccine

issues, NVICC, autism advocacy, and more. There are several groups

whose posts I read every night- every one of them- and offer help when

I can.

The requirement for joining this group is reading the book BTVC and I

have read it once and have tried to find answers to my questions in it

before turning to this list. If you don't feel like answering a

question on any list, you can simply not respond. It is not necessary

to insinuate someone is a free-loader for asking a question that you

feel is too basic or already sufficiently covered in past posts. I

could not possibly read every post on this site every night as well as

all of the posts on all of the lists to which I subscribe. I am as

desperate and answer-seeking as any mother on this list as I have TWO

toddlers with exceptional needs.

Pardon me for irritating you with my question.

And yes, it is a lovely world where we just ask and get the answers.

I have spent over a year volunteering countless hours for Generation

Rescue (as the only rescue angel in my state for 8 months). I have

spent hours online, on the phone, and in person with many parents who

all ask the same questions of me, and I provide the answers without

making them feel bad. My husband feels very neglected because instead

of spending time with him when the kids go to bed, I " read around " for

hours every night.

Janice

Rhogam mom to Billy (3 severely autistic) and Colby (2 moderate

PDD-NOS) both SCD since finally being convinced to try this diet at

the 3 days I spent listening and " reading around " at the DAN!

conference in DC

> > >

> > > There is a diet that is pretending to be SCD and fooling many

> > > parents.

> > > Many parents think that they are doing SCD and are not aware that

> > > they

> > > are actually implementing the Nut Diet instead of SCD,confusing

> the

> > > Nut

> > > Diet with the real SCD.

> > >

> > > Many parents begin SCD by replacing the breads

> > > and cookies of other diets with nut flours They also feed their

> > > children any food that is SCD legal without first going through

> the

> > > introductory diet and making sure that their child can tolerate

> that

> > > food. This is done because most parents think that the rules of

> > > SCD

> > > and GFCF are the same. When parents start out with GFCF,they are

> > > allowed to use all the GFCF legal foods. It is important for

> parents

> > > to

> > > realize that the rules for SCD are different. While the goal of

> > > GFCF is

> > > the elimination of foods that contain gluten and casein,the goal

> of

> > > SCD

> > > is to avoid foods that cannot be digested. A certain food can be

> OK

> > > for

> > > one

> > > child but not for another. Also,a food can be difficult to digest

> > > for a

> > > child during

> > > the first months on SCD but fine at a later time when more gut

> > > healing

> > > has happened.

> > >

> > > The important idea behind SCD is that " We must never forget that

> > > what

> > > the patient takes beyond his ability to digest does harm. "

> > > Undigested

> > > foods become great nourishment for the gut microorganisms that

> have

> > > an

> > > excellent ability to digest carbohydrates. These parasites then

> emit

> > > toxins that destroy our children's gut and brains.

> > >

> > > Certain foods that are fine for advanced SCDers are not OK for

> > > beginners

> > > and might harm them. The most famous example is the nut flour.

> Many

> > > children cannot tolerate nut flours in the beginning stages of

> the

> > > diet.

> > > It is advised to start out with the intro diet and gradually

> > > introduce

> > > new foods. The " stages section " on www.pecanbread provide

> > > inspiration

> > > but there are no hard rules

> > > because our children are all different. The idea is to introduce

> new

> > > foods gradually and watch carefully for reactions.That is how you

> > > implement the " Real SCD " . If you just feed your child any food

> that

> > > is

> > > legal SCD food without taking into consideration that some foods

> > > might

> > > be difficult to digest during the first months then

> > > you are doing the " Nut Diet " .

> > >

> > > As we see,there are two different ways to implement the legal SCD

> > > food

> > > list:the nut diet and the real SCD.

> > >

> > > Is the Nut Diet better than GFCF? Of course! Despite its

> > > shortcomings,it

> > > is a lot easier to digest than the starches that are allowed in

> GFCF

> > > and

> > > other diets. I will give examples that might clarify this

> confusion

> > > and

> > > show us that our children are unique and have different outcomes

> > > with

> > > the Nut Diet.

> > >

> > > Sue R-F had a 2 year old child who was extremely picky.

> only

> > > ate

> > > goat yogurt,banana,meat and nut muffins. She had constipation

> but

> > > recovered with SCD and almost no other intervention (just a few

> > > sessions of Tomatis and a couple of hours a week of speech

> therapy).

> > > While this nut diet was not optimal,it did recover a child from

> > > autism.

> > >

> > > Another mother,ST, had 2 children,she started with the nut diet

> and

> > > got improvements for both children. After about half a year

> > > later,she

> > > went back to the intro diet and introducing foods gradually. She

> > > reported that she got EVEN better results after reintroducing the

> > > foods

> > > gradually.

> > >

> > > Jen Young reported that her child was only able to eat a few

> foods

> > > during his first months of SCD. He could not tolerate nuts during

> > > his

> > > first 3 months on SCD. After starting the goat yogurt,Jen was

> able

> > > to

> > > feed her child more foods and enable him to recover from Autism.

> Jen

> > > was only able to get results if she gave foods that were

> tolerated.

> > > If

> > > Jen had just followed the legal/illegal list,then her son would

> have

> > > made no progress.

> > >

> > > L is a brilliant man who is very talented in science. He

> has

> > > written that SCD,supplements, and enzymes have helped his autism

> > > spectrum issues. He

> > > has stated that he does better without any nuts,despite the fact

> > > that he

> > > has been doing SCD for over a year.

> > >

> > > The advantage of the Real SCD is that it allows the parent to

> design

> > > a

> > > diet that is custom made for that child and just right for each

> > > particular child. The Nut Diet is not optimal for a child who

> might

> > > have

> > > difficulties digesting nuts and other SCD legal foods during the

> > > first

> > > months( or with extreme cases,during the first year) of the

> diet.

> > >

> > >

> > > I have read on other lists the posts of parents who assert with

> > > great

> > > authority that SCD did not help their child's GI issues. In their

> > > post,they list the foods that they gave their child;there is

> always

> > > an

> > > advanced food on that list. I want to shout: " you cannot feed

> > > lentils to

> > > a child who has constipation,your kid's gut was not ready to

> digest

> > > this

> > > food and the undigested food fed the gut bugs. "

> > >

> > > I completely understand that it is hard for parents to do the

> real

> > > SCD,many children see other kids eating junk foods and feel

> > > deprived...some children are very picky.... I understand these

> > > difficulties and that is why we started a special list for

> children

> > > and

> > > SCD to help parents with these issues. What I ask of you is that

> you

> > > be

> > > fair to other parents when you are evaluating your child's

> outcome

> > > with

> > > our diet. If you cannot do the real SCD but are doing the nut

> diet

> > > and

> > > not getting results,then please explain it to other parents. It

> is

> > > not

> > > fair to discourage other parents from doing SCD if one did not

> do

> > > it

> > > correctly.

> > >

> > > Before reporting about your child's SCD experience on other

> autism

> > > lists, please make sure

> > > that you implemented the diet correctly. When I used to do SCD

> > > counseling for free some time ago (I no longer have the time to

> do

> > > that), I found out that some parents asserted that they were

> > > following

> > > the diet 100% and not getting results. After talking to me,the

> > > parents

> > > quickly became aware that they were not implementing SCD

> correctly.

> > > After the mistakes were corrected, the child progressed with SCD.

> I

> > > no

> > > longer have the time to do SCD counseling but there are excellent

> > > ways to transform failures into

> > > success with this wonderful diet.

> > >

> > > If you are not happy with your SCD results,then please seek the

> help

> > > of the list,websites,SCD pals and

> > > SCD counselors. It will be the best investment for your

> child :you

> > > will

> > > save lots of money because doing SCD correctly will shorten

> > > dramatically

> > > the amount of time that your child need to do ABA or other ASD

> > > interventions.

> > >

> > > Most parents of ASD children understand that a parent who

> > > implemented

> > > ABA,VB or RDI without the supervision of an expert might not get

> > > good

> > > results. ABA,VB and RDI are powerful tools for improving our

> > > children

> > > but they are complex and mistakes can easily be made by an

> untrained

> > > parent. We need to understand that this situation might also

> occur

> > > with

> > > SCD for children with extremely difficult GI systems.

> > >

> > > We have been very lucky that we have been able to help so many

> > > children

> > > without private counseling but some children did fall

> > > betweeen the cracks when their parents stopped SCD without

> getting

> > > private counseling. This is a tragedy because a few sessions of

> SCD

> > > counseling can usually fix the problem and are so much more

> > > economical

> > > than other ASD interventions.

> > >

> > > Please do not give up on this wonderful diet without seeking help

> > > from this list,SCD counselors or experienced parents!!

> > >

> > > All the best,Mimi

> > >

> >

>