Meat only OK for a while?

January 13, 2007

Is it OK to eat only meat for a while? That is what our son is doing right now.

Apples are the only fruit he would eat before SCD and now they have to be

cooked. Veggies were limited to raw pre SCD and now they have to be cooked too.

Sneaking them into other foods will not work as he will not eat them fixed that

way - for example a chicken nugget - he did not eat that type of food before SCD

(we never fed it to him either). Smoothie - forget it. Juice - has not been in

our home in years. Yogurt - now there is a funny one to try to get him to eat -

fruit popsicles either. He did not eat yogurt before nor popsicles. Though

tonight he did eat one baby carrot - I just put it on his plate and said one

carrot for your veggies today. We all acted silly about the horrors of a

veggie; then he ate it. (12 yr old humor at work here)

I'm hoping he will branch out soon as before age 6 he would eat anything healthy

we put in front of him.

- Zachariah, 12 yr, dyslexic, dysgraphic - SCD 1-07

January 13, 2007

Hi ,

Welcome to the list.

Eskimos used to only eat mostly meat in the past but they made sure

that it was fatty meat. For example, give him the leg and thigh of the

chicken rather than the breast.

http://www.discover.com/issues/oct-04/features/inuit-paradox/?page=3

I am not sure that an all meat diet would be optimal in the long term

since we cannot easily find wild animals. However, it might be OK as a

a transition to SCD. If the refusal to eat other foods continues then

please get the help of SCD counselors.

In the early 1900's, children with celiac were put on a meat only

diet. SCD was developed in order to give these kids the chance for

eating carbs. SCD is about eating a balanced diet.

I am thrilled that he ate the carrot. How about sneaking a minute

amount of veggies in a hamburger patty and then slowly increase it?

Parents are very pleased and surprised as their children start to like

other foods after being on SCD.

mimi

> Is it OK to eat only meat for a while? That is what our son is doing right

> now. Apples are the only fruit he would eat before SCD and now they have to

> be cooked. Veggies were limited to raw pre SCD and now they have to be

> cooked too. Sneaking them into other foods will not work as he will not eat

> them fixed that way - for example a chicken nugget - he did not eat that

> type of food before SCD (we never fed it to him either). Smoothie - forget

> it. Juice - has not been in our home in years. Yogurt - now there is a

> funny one to try to get him to eat - fruit popsicles either. He did not eat

> yogurt before nor popsicles. Though tonight he did eat one baby carrot -

> I just put it on his plate and said one carrot for your veggies today. We

> all acted silly about the horrors of a veggie; then he ate it. (12 yr old

> humor at work here)

>

> I'm hoping he will branch out soon as before age 6 he would eat anything

> healthy we put in front of him.

>

> - Zachariah, 12 yr, dyslexic, dysgraphic - SCD 1-07

>

January 14, 2007

Hamburger patty - I'll try that - forgot that one. Though he has fantastic

taste buds. I used to try the blending and sneaking veggies in before SCD and

he always knew - " Mom what did you do to the soup. It looks different and

tastes different? " I'm hoping as things die off - a more " normal " eating

pattern will resurface eventually. As I said, he used to eat a wide variety.

How long do you think I should let this continue before contacting a counselor?

Would three months be too long? Kind of searching for a parameter/guide to go

by. Would we be risking constipation if he eats only meat that long? I'm

remembering some of the problems the and team had when they ate only

meat for months on end. Difference in genetics / how the different cultures

evolved over time I suppose.

I guess I'll talk to him about this risk and ask him to mark a calendar when he

has a BM and that way we'd know if a problem develops. Right now his pre-SCD

" normal " pattern has been to have a BM every 2-3 days. (my pattern my whole

life too) So if it goes longer than that I should worry right? I know we are

trying to get his gut healed so he goes every day, but for now?

Thanks!

W. - Zachariah age 12, dyslexic,dysgraphic, adhd, SCD 1-07

January 16, 2007

I can tell you that one of the families I'm working with right now has been

dealing with the same thing... a child that wants to eat massive amounts of

meat and very little else, although they were managing to get small amounts of

squash and green beans in, pureed and mixed into his meat patties.

Even with that, not only did this result in constipation, but the child recently

ended up in ketosis. You can Google that for more info, but basically it's when

the body is not getting any carbs for fuel and is being forced to burn fat for

fuel. Ketones are the residue from that process that are spilled into the urine,

so can be measured by special urine dip sticks. They had also noticed that his

breath had a funny " chemical " smell.... though slightly sweet. You might compare

it to acetone, or nail polish remover.

Under doctors orders, this family had to force their child to eat some cooked

fruits, juices, etc. to get him out of ketosis. The body also gets very acidic

when eating only meat, so it's certainly not a healthy situation. If you were

one of my clients, I would be strongly urging you to do whatever you can to get

some legal carbs into him NOW.

If he has accepted any sort of popsicle prior to this, I would strongly advise

trying to do some pureed fruit sauces and just freeze them into popsicles. Or if

he's wanting something crunchy, just steam some slices of apples or pears,

freeze them on a cookie sheet and let him eat them frozen. Some kids just hate

the mushy texture of cooked fruits but will accept them this way.