Re: Restricted low carb SCD

[Guest guest]

Lori

I am on " lean carb " SCD because I have functional digestive disorders and can't

tolerate much fat, fiber, carbohydrate or seasonings. I figured everything out

by trial and error during my first year on SCD. As a matter of fact I'm writing

up using a " lean carb SCD " approach for the pecanbread website, so I'll let you

know when it is finalized and on the website.

I use a combination of monitoring my body's reactions and looking at nutritional

analyses of SCD foods before I try them. It is somewhat time-consuming, but not

as overwhelming as it sounds. I found myself gravitating to foods that my

digestion handled better and realized they were low in carbohydrates, along with

my other restrictions. That's when I did the research and learned about

carbohydrate intolerance [grin]. Once I figured that out I began to check the

nutritional analysis information regularly before I tried a food or recipe,

which avoided plenty of symptom flares. And the longer I was on lean-carb along

with my other restrictions, the better my digestion worked and the faster my gut

ecology was restored.

The candida information files in our group Files list vegetables by carbohydrate

content, which can be a start for you. In addition I use several nutritional

websites regularly. Unfortunately my bookmarks are on my home computer and I'm

at work, so I'll send you those links tonight or early tomorrow morning.

Whether you limit certain high-carb foods, or avoid them depends on your

daughter's reaction and how symptomatic she is. It is a balancing act between

finding foods that our digestions cope with, and getting good variety and

nutrition. Sometimes we do have to avoid a food for several months, then find

we can handle a small amount once in a while (in other words, limit). Sometimes

a certain food or group of foods trigger symptoms no matter how long we've been

on SCD.

In other words, there isn't one path using the lean carb SCD approach, just some

strategies that will help you and your daughter discover which foods are best

for her at this point in her healing journey.

Basically I limit some high-carb vegetables, avoid others; limit my fruits and

fruit juices; limit the nut flour items to once a day (if my digestion is

behaving); and avoid dairy (but not because of the carbohydrate content). I

cook or juice everything, and dilute my juices significantly. I do some other

things to help with my particular digestion, since things like fiber and fat

content can trigger severe symptoms which means how I prepare food makes a

difference.

Keep asking questions!

Kim M.

SCD 6 years

Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction 6+ years

neurological and spinal deterioration 3+ years

>

> Is anyone doing a restricted low carbohydrate version of the SCD?  I am

wondering if this would be better for us in these early months to help our

daughter progress more quickly. I wonder if we need to look at this issue as

possibly our daughter may not even be able to absorb the mono-saccharides well

at this point. 

>

> Would it speed her healing if we went this route--and if we do, how do we do

it?  Do we try to limit fruit or avoid certain ones?  Which vegetables are

better to eat and which should be avoided?  It would be helpful to know how to

do this. I know that I get so sleepy if I eat fruit of any kind, and other than

pumpkin pie I made the other day, our daughter isn't eating any honey, nut

products, and no squash.  The squash made her gassy and bloated so I

stopped cooking it for the family.

>

> Our daughter rarely drinks juice,although she drank a lot when we started

out.  She is trying to be careful as we are trying to eliminate a chronic yeast

problem.  Most of her fruit is in her yogurt smoothie which is usually dripped

yogurt, frozen dark sweet cherries, or cherries and frozen green grapes and

legal vanilla and almond extract--one to two times a day.  She eats bananas,

dried apricots (not so much lately), grapes and some honeydew melon.  She is

afraid of strawberries and even blueberries (the seeds).  The longer we are on

this diet, the easier it is to see when something bothers her--and the

blueberries were very hard on her the last time she had them.

>

> Thanks, Lori 

> Daughter Crohn's 6 yr., SCD 4 1/2 months 

>

[Guest guest]

Low-carb definitely helps me. I don't eat the fruit or sweet veggies, and

mostly eat meat and things like zucchini and cabbage. I have heard kids don't

do as well with high-protein as adults, so be careful with that. You wouldn't

want kidney damage, for example, so don't overdo!

>

> Is anyone doing a restricted low carbohydrate version of the SCD?  I am

wondering if this would be better for us in these early months to help our

daughter progress more quickly. I wonder if we need to look at this issue as

possibly our daughter may not even be able to absorb the mono-saccharides well

at this point. 

>

> Would it speed her healing if we went this route--and if we do, how do we do

it?  Do we try to limit fruit or avoid certain ones?  Which vegetables are

better to eat and which should be avoided?  It would be helpful to know how to

do this. I know that I get so sleepy if I eat fruit of any kind, and other than

pumpkin pie I made the other day, our daughter isn't eating any honey, nut

products, and no squash.  The squash made her gassy and bloated so I

stopped cooking it for the family.

>

> Our daughter rarely drinks juice,although she drank a lot when we started

out.  She is trying to be careful as we are trying to eliminate a chronic yeast

problem.  Most of her fruit is in her yogurt smoothie which is usually dripped

yogurt, frozen dark sweet cherries, or cherries and frozen green grapes and

legal vanilla and almond extract--one to two times a day.  She eats bananas,

dried apricots (not so much lately), grapes and some honeydew melon.  She is

afraid of strawberries and even blueberries (the seeds).  The longer we are on

this diet, the easier it is to see when something bothers her--and the

blueberries were very hard on her the last time she had them.

>

> Thanks, Lori 

> Daughter Crohn's 6 yr., SCD 4 1/2 months 

>

[Guest guest]

Lori, if you haven't already asked this at the Pecanbread group they would have

a lot of information for you there.

>

> Is anyone doing a restricted low carbohydrate version of the SCD?  I am

wondering if this would be better for us in these early months to help our

daughter progress more quickly. I wonder if we need to look at this issue as

possibly our daughter may not even be able to absorb the mono-saccharides well

at this point. 

>

> Would it speed her healing if we went this route--and if we do, how do we do

it?  Do we try to limit fruit or avoid certain ones?  Which vegetables are

better to eat and which should be avoided?  It would be helpful to know how to

do this. I know that I get so sleepy if I eat fruit of any kind, and other than

pumpkin pie I made the other day, our daughter isn't eating any honey, nut

products, and no squash.  The squash made her gassy and bloated so I

stopped cooking it for the family.

>

> Our daughter rarely drinks juice,although she drank a lot when we started

out.  She is trying to be careful as we are trying to eliminate a chronic yeast

problem.  Most of her fruit is in her yogurt smoothie which is usually dripped

yogurt, frozen dark sweet cherries, or cherries and frozen green grapes and

legal vanilla and almond extract--one to two times a day.  She eats bananas,

dried apricots (not so much lately), grapes and some honeydew melon.  She is

afraid of strawberries and even blueberries (the seeds).  The longer we are on

this diet, the easier it is to see when something bothers her--and the

blueberries were very hard on her the last time she had them.

>

> Thanks, Lori 

> Daughter Crohn's 6 yr., SCD 4 1/2 months 

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Lori,

Is your daughter able to handle fats well? If not, then this would not be the

route to go for the time being, since she'll need to be getting enough energy

(calories) into her.

I'm on a low carb version of SCD (due to candida issues as well). I don't

consume fruit, except for avocados and lemons/limes. I also don't consume any

higher carb vegetables like butternut squash and carrots. So I'm eating a lot

of egg yolks (can't tolerate the whites), fats (ghee and coconut oil),

meat/fish, and veggies that I tolerate well like zucchini, green beans, endive

and asparagus.

I hope this helps and that others here and on pecanbread can give you some

insight.

Meli

>

> Is anyone doing a restricted low carbohydrate version of the SCD?  I am

wondering if this would be better for us in these early months to help our

daughter progress more quickly. I wonder if we need to look at this issue as

possibly our daughter may not even be able to absorb the mono-saccharides well

at this point. 

>

> Would it speed her healing if we went this route--and if we do, how do we do

it?  Do we try to limit fruit or avoid certain ones?  Which vegetables are

better to eat and which should be avoided?  It would be helpful to know how to

do this. I know that I get so sleepy if I eat fruit of any kind, and other than

pumpkin pie I made the other day, our daughter isn't eating any honey, nut

products, and no squash.  The squash made her gassy and bloated so I

stopped cooking it for the family.

>

> Our daughter rarely drinks juice,although she drank a lot when we started

out.  She is trying to be careful as we are trying to eliminate a chronic yeast

problem.  Most of her fruit is in her yogurt smoothie which is usually dripped

yogurt, frozen dark sweet cherries, or cherries and frozen green grapes and

legal vanilla and almond extract--one to two times a day.  She eats bananas,

dried apricots (not so much lately), grapes and some honeydew melon.  She is

afraid of strawberries and even blueberries (the seeds).  The longer we are on

this diet, the easier it is to see when something bothers her--and the

blueberries were very hard on her the last time she had them.

>

> Thanks, Lori 

> Daughter Crohn's 6 yr., SCD 4 1/2 months 

>

[Guest guest]

I really don't know that she has a problem with fats, although I am learning

that the longer we are on SCD, the easier it is to tell what foods are causing

problems. Before SCD we were GF and mostly CF, and we could see what problems

they caused. But until we went SCD, I don't think the diet was " clean " enough

for us to see what was causing problems. Even though our daughter has Crohn's,

it wasn't obvious that nuts caused problems. After the intro portion of the

diet, she learned she couldn't have nuts (in the form of nut flour) without

severe pain and bleeding--which was such a suprize! It seems the diet before

SCD just blurs everything and you cannot tell what makes you ill!

We are still learning so much. It amazes me that 6 yr into Crohn's and being

careful, that it takes rereading of information repeatedly for seemingly obvious

information to sink in--a neighbor gave us Elaine's book BTVC to read right

after our daughter's diagnosis, but I didn't implement it until 5 yr later. At

the time we were in such a health crisis with Crohn's being only part of

severval other diagnosed illnesses. You couldn't have overwhelmed me more, but

it did cement my dedication to a GF diet--at that time our gastroenterologist

( Hopkins Medical trained) told us diet had nothing to do with Crohn's and

she could eat whatever she wanted.

Only our family doctor (U of M)told us she should never eat wheat or any other

gluten. Our neighbor is a nurse and her husband an internist and they have

three autistic children, so I really thought SCD was mostly relevant for them

(and SO restrictive). She truly was an my biggest support as I learned to be GF.

I am constanly rereading BTVC (or at least portions of it). It was rereading

information on The Healing Crow website that alerted me to the possibility of

needing to restrict legal monosacharrides. Now I need to go back to the

Pecanbread website and go over their info again, but I will obviously be looking

at it with different eyes. I wish I could absorb the information I need faster,

but I assume that others search for the knowledge they need really as they go

through changes and different stages as they heal.

Thanks, Lori

SCD 4 1/2 months, Daughter with Crohn's 6 yr.

ps.com, " raven_in_the_mist " wrote:

>

> Hi Lori,

> Is your daughter able to handle fats well? If not, then this would not be the

route to go for the time being, since she'll need to be getting enough energy

(calories) into her.

>

> I'm on a low carb version of SCD (due to candida issues as well). I don't

consume fruit, except for avocados and lemons/limes. I also don't consume any

higher carb vegetables like butternut squash and carrots. So I'm eating a lot

of egg yolks (can't tolerate the whites), fats (ghee and coconut oil),

meat/fish, and veggies that I tolerate well like zucchini, green beans, endive

and asparagus.

>

> I hope this helps and that others here and on pecanbread can give you some

insight.

>

> Meli

>

>

> >

> > Is anyone doing a restricted low carbohydrate version of the SCD?  I am

wondering if this would be better for us in these early months to help our

daughter progress more quickly. I wonder if we need to look at this issue as

possibly our daughter may not even be able to absorb the mono-saccharides well

at this point. 

> >

> > Would it speed her healing if we went this route--and if we do, how do we do

it?  Do we try to limit fruit or avoid certain ones?  Which vegetables are

better to eat and which should be avoided?  It would be helpful to know how to

do this. I know that I get so sleepy if I eat fruit of any kind, and other than

pumpkin pie I made the other day, our daughter isn't eating any honey, nut

products, and no squash.  The squash made her gassy and bloated so I

stopped cooking it for the family.

> >

> > Our daughter rarely drinks juice,although she drank a lot when we started

out.  She is trying to be careful as we are trying to eliminate a chronic yeast

problem.  Most of her fruit is in her yogurt smoothie which is usually dripped

yogurt, frozen dark sweet cherries, or cherries and frozen green grapes and

legal vanilla and almond extract--one to two times a day.  She eats bananas,

dried apricots (not so much lately), grapes and some honeydew melon.  She is

afraid of strawberries and even blueberries (the seeds).  The longer we are on

this diet, the easier it is to see when something bothers her--and the

blueberries were very hard on her the last time she had them.

> >

> > Thanks, Lori 

> > Daughter Crohn's 6 yr., SCD 4 1/2 months 

> >

>