new to SCD, going well I think, but bit confused

[Guest guest]

Hiya,

Been reading the posts for a few days, and getting some good information, but

have a few concerns and questions. Hope some of you are able to give me a bit

of clarity...

I have been on the diet for 11 days, and my 4yr old daughter for 9 days. I am

gluten and dairy intolerant, and have tried to keep my daughter gluten and dairy

free as much as possible for optimal health but found that if she did eat it, it

would affect her with a bit of gas, bloating etc. Fortunately she is generally

very healthy, but I wanted to do SCD for her to heal any possible damage done to

the intestine, and for me to heal all definate damage I have. I haven't really

experienced any bad die-off effects other than extreme hunger initially, and my

daughter had a slight cough one evening. I thought it would be worse.

I think we are going well and have seen several improvements over this time.

Initially, I had heaps of energy, but after the 5 day intro, I added honey in

and maybe with having candida, I should have left it a little longer. I went a

bit overboard with it and have polished off a 520g jar in under a week. I know,

I know, it was just so good. My vision went a bit fuzzier again and felt a bit

blah, and I presumed it was the candida/bad bacteria being fed again. Anyways I

decided to cut back on the honey and go back to a simpler diet of chicken broth

and soup and have been eating that for the last four days with a bit of DCCC,

eggs, butter and just added in bananas and cooked zucchini and squash. My

daughters BM seems fine, but up until last night, I was feeling very full and

quite constipated, and decided to do an enema to get things moving along, which

I think has helped, although didn't pass as much as I thought I would (sorry for

graphic details). I was wondering if this could be due to my high metabolism,

and the foods being so easily digested, and therefore not much left in my bowel?

I am quite active also and surf about 4 times a week, usually for about an hour

and or two at a time and don't want that to be too affected. Today I feel

zapped of energy, and went for a very short jog, but legs felt heavy and slow.

I'm wondering if the cardio exercise is requiring more energy/carbs?

As my daughter and I don't have crohn's disease etc, am I being too cautious

with being so restrictive and not really adding foods in? Aside from

constipation, I haven't had gas or bloating or seemed to react to any foods in

particular, altho if I press my stomach (just beneath my ribcage) it is very

tender. I guess I just want to make sure I'm doing it properly so that I don't

have to start over. Please help me so I know if I am doing it right or what I

need to change.

Couple of other questions:

If I am doing a soup, is it ok to put herbs in for flavour ie. bay leaves,

paprika at this point? Is the rule of thumb here not ingesting the fibrous

parts, or is it very much dependent on the biochemical makeup of the herb which

may affect me, even if it isn't ingested?

When should I add yoghurt in?

Is lemon juice ok?

How can I tell if something affects me, in the past, I would get gas, bloating

and D, but even if those things don't occur with foods I add in, could it affect

me other ways, ie. energy, emotions?

thanks so much in advance for your great info and help. So appreciated.

Davina

11 days SCD

[Guest guest]

Hi Davina,

Since you have been on the diet for barely 11 days, you may want to give

yourself a couple of more weeks before analysing too many ups and downs during

this introductory phase. There will be die-off which includes feeling tired

every now and then, since the body is now working even harder to get rid off the

toxins.

I am posting a link for you regarding temporary symptoms when starting the diet.

It is from the pecanbread web site that helps kids following the SCD for autism.

http://www.pecanbread.com/new/temporarysymptoms.html

As far as the yogurt, if you are intolerant to the casein protein in cow's milk,

you could try using goat's milk to make the yogurt. You can get a dairy-free

yogurt starter from GIProHealth. People have also used homemade nut milk to make

yogurt, though you may want to wait a bit before adding that into your diet. You

can use SCD legal probiotics in the meanwhile.

The suggestion (for ASD kids who cannot tolerate dairy) is to wait about 3

months before adding little amounts of yogurt if you have been off dairy before

starting the diet.

Yes, you can have lemon juice, made at home!

For the soup you can now add herbs that are SCD legal, avoid powdered spices,

unless powdered at home. Bay leaves are fine.

A lot of us have given into the temptation of eating sweet foods (like honey),

because the die-off reaction makes us tired and the carbs help with the energy

(actually so do proteins!). Try well-ripened avocado as a filling food, cook in

coconut oil - (antifungal), give yourself at least a week of eating just easy

foods, then start adding one new food every 2-3 days to see how you react. Go

slow and steady!

Good Luck.

Suneeti (Crohns, SCD 2000)