SCD Legals & Illegals

[Guest guest]

I've seen several " I didn't know X wasn't legal " posts of late.

Here is my file of basics, obviously aimed at the SCDer himself or herself,

not someone implementing it for a child.

Page 43 of BTVC gives the details, but the basics are:

==> Any cereal grain is strictly and absolutely forbidden. (BTVC p49),

including, but not limited to, wheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, millet,

buckwheat, triticale, etc. This means none in any form. Bread, cake, toast,

macaroni, etc. etc. is absolutely forbidden if made with grain.

==> Carbohydrates (starches and sugars) other than those found in

fruits, honey, properly prepared yogurt, and certain vegetables are also

forbidden.

==> Liquid milk is forbidden. Milk must be properly fermented, as

yogurt, or as cheese made with rennet or other enzymes. Some people find

even yogurt which has been fermented for 24 hours difficult to digest, and

do better with " dripped " or " drained " yogurt, also called yogurt cheese.

Small amounts of heavy cream, treated with lactaid drops, and kept in the

refrigerator for 24 hours after treatment may be used in coffee or tea.

==> Most beans (legumes) are forbidden. Dried white (navy) beans,

lentils, split peas, and both dried and fresh lima beans are permitted.

(BTVC, p 53-54) These must be prepared according to the directions in the

Gourmet Section of BTVC: specifically, they must be soaked for at least

eight hours, drained (throw away the soak water), rinsed, and then cooked

until tender in fresh water. All legumes other than the ones mentioned

above are illegal. Illegal legumes include, but are not limited to chick

peas, bean sprouts, soybeans, mung beans, faba beans, garbanzo beans, and

pinto beans.

==> Canned, processed vegetables are forbidden. They often have

unlisted sugar or starch. Use fresh, or fresh frozen. Be sure to peel, seed

and cook these at the beginning of the diet. Ripe avocado, peeled and

seeded is legal raw.

==> Most canned fruits are illegal. Read labels carefully, and only use

those packed in their own juice with no added sweeteners. Fresh or fresh

frozen are preferred. In the early stages of the diet, all fruits should be

peeled, seeded, and cooked, with the exception of really ripe banana.

==> All sweeteners except saccharin and filtered honey are forbidden.

Be especially wary of any products labeled " sugar-free " - even those

without illegal aspartame will often have mannitol and sorbitol, which are

sugar alcohols. Products containing these are allowed to call themselves

" sugar free " because alcohol sugars are indigestible by human beings. But

the bad bugs in your gut will have a marvelous time dining on them, and

keep you sick!

==> Be aware that fruits and raw vegetables have laxative qualities, so

if active diarrhea is your reason for coming to the SCD, these must be used

with caution until normal function resumes. These same raw fruits and

vegetables can also cause other forms of gastric upset, like gas, queasy

stomach, etc. if you eat them too early in the diet.

==> Everyone is different. Cooked carrots, as an example, are usually

well tolerated by most people, one reason they are included on the

introductory diet. I, on the other hand, didn't tolerate carrots at all -

they simply came through completely undigested. Yet I could eat both cooked

and raw broccoli and cauliflower (both notorious for giving people trouble)

with impunity. Even legal foods can be a problem if you eat them too soon,

or eat too much of them.

==> It has taken you quite a few years to become ill; it may very well

take months, or even years to heal from all the damage that has been done

to your system.

==> In any healing situation, it is often a case of two steps forward

and one step back. Don't give up! You are giving your body the nutrition it

needs, and you have eliminated the foods which made you sick in the first

place.

-- Marilyn (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA)

Undiagnosed IBS 25 Years, SCD Five Years

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund