Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)

[ShayFL]

Childhood diabetes = high sugar cereals, soda pop, candy, white rice, white flour PLUS sedentary lifestyle

The kids just follow Mom and Dad. All likelihood is parents have diabetes or pre-diabetes too.

It breaks my heart to see the parent at the supermarket shove a cookie in the face of the crying baby. Teaching them young that "sugar" makes you feel "better". Setting them up for a health disaster later in life.

I really wish that the frantic parents that come in here with a newly dx Celiac child would want information on a "healthy well balanced" diet instead of "is there a gluten-free sugar pops cereal" or "can he still eat McDonalds fries". So sad.

Anyway......I agree that bifidum is overused. It is helpful in some cases of infant D. Adults really dont need it as it is most plentiful in the infants digestive tract. It must serve some purpose since in the beginning it is more abundant than any other bacteria in there.

[AliB]

Anyway......I agree that bifidum is overused. It is helpful in some cases of infant D. Adults really dont need it as it is most plentiful in the infants digestive tract. It must serve some purpose since in the beginning it is more abundant than any other bacteria in there.

Ah yes, but is it so abundant because their little guts are already out of balance? It depends whether the research was done on babies who are surrounded by the SAD or whether it was done on babies brought up in a natural unadulterated fresh foods with loads of yogurt environment. Just because it is abundant doesn't mean that is how it should be!

[AliB]

It breaks my heart to see the parent at the supermarket shove a cookie in the face of the crying baby. Teaching them young that "sugar" makes you feel "better". Setting them up for a health disaster later in life.

I really wish that the frantic parents that come in here with a newly dx Celiac child would want information on a "healthy well balanced" diet instead of "is there a gluten-free sugar pops cereal" or "can he still eat McDonalds fries". So sad.

Hear, hear. Absolutely totally agree with you on that one. If we end up replacing the high-carb, high-sugar gluten food with even higher-carb, higher-sugar gluten free, then it is no wonder that so many are not getting better.

The only way to have any semblance of health is to eat food as near as possible to the way God made it. Any intervention by Man is only detrimental to our health.

[ShayFL]

It produces an acid that helps discourage the growth of unhealthy bacteria. And it also helps process cholesterol. I dont think it is useless. But it should not be abundant in an adult intestine.

Kefir is one of the oldest probiotics and it does not contain bifidus.

No need to supplement it.

[mftnchn]

Ali, you might be interested in the book on the Gut and Psychology...or are you the one who mentioned it on here?

Fig girl, I find the lactobacillus acidophilus yogurt very mild as well. I love it. The other probiotic that I have here has chickory, FOS and inulin, and I think it also has bifidus in it.

Shay, getting the probiotic is tough, huh? I cancelled my order when I couldn't get it before I left the USA. Maybe I should order now for January, LOL!

Right now I am only getting probiotic in my yogurt, so only one organism. My doctor said after a couple of months of healing the FOS, inulin and chickory won't be such a problem so I might try adding my other probiotic one or two capsules a day.

Fig girl, I think your symptoms are pretty common for early on the diet, and are similar to what I experienced, along with huge shifts in BMs. I think the intro might help, symptoms might get more intense (although since you are already into the diet a week maybe not), and it also may shorten the time when you feel symptoms.

So far after 1 day on intro I am not seeing changes, but will go another day or two. I read the book and websites again and it says some people have a relapse at about 2-3 months, so that might be what I have been experiencing.

Nut milk yogurt instructions are on www.pecanbread.com under the yogurt section--if I remember correctly.

[pele]

Currently my issue is figuring out a way to make the almond flour--not much baking until that is resolved.

I have the best luck baking with almond butter that I make myself. I buy raw almonds and lightly roast them in the oven. When they are cool I put them through a Champion juicer that has a part for making nut butter.

One cup of nut butter is heavier than a cup of nut flour. I use one cup of nut butter to every two eggs.

[mftnchn]

Pele, that's helpful. Making nut butter seems a lot easier. I'm still experimenting with options.

[mftnchn]

Well I think I am detoxing on my second day of repeating the SCD intro, so either I added some things too fast, or I just still have a bunch of bad bugs to clear... Recently I had been seeing a lot of undigested food again.

Might be 2-3 days a month on the intro would speed things along.

[aprilh]

April, if you daugher is drinking the yogurt okay, maybe you could put a little water in a cup and add the honey, melt it in the microwave. Then add your yogurt and stir. It would be more runny but maybe she wouldn't care.

My son loves it runny. (He's the one with the gut issues for the most part.) I call it yogurt milk and I put it in a cup and treat it like a drink! I think I'll try that. I don't want to heat it too much for that kills the good stuff found in honey. But a little heat probably would be okay.

Do you know why I couldn't put the honey in before fermenting? Why couldn't it be part of the fermenting process?

That's great Sherry your appliance may work - sounds like it will. My juicer will grind nuts also so i'm glad you mentioned it - i had forgotten it did that so i'll try that soon. I had started making the almond milk right before trying the SCD but i think i'll quit drinking it for a while since it's listed to try later in the diet. I'm going to try and do the intro diet really strict for a while - a couple of days this week i ate some raw strawberries and a raw apple and i had some gas pain and backache (Ali - i get the backache too). I had baked some apples and pears and i think they are giving me gas right now so yesterday i didn't eat any - just had a brown speckled, non-green banana. I'll eat those as my fruit for a while.

April - you had mentioned loguls (sp?) for your breath before - what are those and where do you get them? Oh and your cake sounds wonderful....i can't wait to get more into the diet and try some of the yummy sounding recipes. I think i'll enjoy baking with the almond flour as well.

Sorry this is so long guys! Hope everyone is feeling well today!

Fig girl,

I think I have the same juicer as you - the Omega? I haven't tried making nut butters - but I am thinking of trying. Do you have to soak or wash the almonds? Do you stick them in plain and grind them and out comes nutbutter? Guess I need to do a bit of research on that.

The lugol's is a iodine that I take internally. After I went to the holistic dentist and he told me I had high bacteria counts including spirochettes (yuck!) that he would disinfect with iodine. I figured in the meantime I could probably swish with my iodine. I realize the one he uses for rinse the mouth is different. But what I am doing seems to work.

Also, because I don't have that much iodine (Lugol's) left, I decided to try hydrogen peroxide swishes. That seemed to help. I notice that when I am having die off or bug activity - that's when the breath seems bad. So, its definately related. Imagine that being in your mouth and then swallowing! YUCK! You should have seen it on the computer screen. He took a couple of sample from my mouth and then put it on a slide under a microscope. The microscope is hooked up to a computer monitor and it showed those mouth bugs moving around! I was FREAKED OUT! It was so gross. I know that we all have some type of bacteria/bugs living in our mouths, but to see it was certainly a shock!

Hey just wanted to mention that I made the coconut yogurt. Bought a fresh coconut. Only put the white flesh in my Vitamix (worlds greatest appliance ever!!!) with water and some honey. Blended until the right temp. Added my yogurt starter, poured into the cups and let ferment for 9 hours. It is delicious!!!

Does the caprylic acid in the coconut not discourage bacteria growth? This sounds really yummy and I would love to try it. You would get a good yeast fighter in the coconut PLUS the good bacteria's to replenish. SOunds great!

Very, very interesting little snippet I cut out of the paper today. Apparently there has been some research to show that women who take probiotics during pregnancy and who give them to their babies, halve the risk of their babies getting eczema.

Even more interesting is that the research found that whilst Lactobacillus Rhamnosus worked well, bifidobacterium did nothing at all!

Doesn't that back up Elaine's research where she feels that we are better avoiding bifidus - yet so many so-called probiotics are full of the stuff! The last paragraph is very clear that many of the commercial 'probiotic' yogurts and drinks are a total waste of money and actually can be extremely counter-productive.

"Experts have warned that many probiotics do not contain the right sort of bacteria in the right quantities and often contain large amounts of sugar". Exactly.

I do concur that most of the over the counter yogurts do not contain any good probiotics. In fact a lot of them contain soil based organisms instead of human based and these just have not been studied enough to tell if their safe.

I have always read that infants need bifidum bacteria's but its supposed to change over time and as they get older. When I told my ND recently about the SCD and the fact that bifidum is to be avoided, she was surprised considering she was always taught that infants needed bifidum. My son is now 4 so he is past the point of needed that so it doesn't really matter to me.

I wonder if the babies are getting eczema because the mother is having die off of some sort. I believe that eczema = toxins. That's what I don't like about these studies is that they just aren't *deep* enough. Here are the other questions that I would want to answer if I conducted that study:

Did the mother have toxicity of any sort?

did the mother have yeast, digestive problems?

did the child *inherit* the yeast/digestive/toxicity issues and therefore is having die off as well?

My son had eczema after a shot he got around 4 months. The eczema appeared in a circle around the shot site. It's not like he wasn't having issues prior to the shot, but the shot exacerbated the symptoms. He had gut issues that he inherited from me, yeast problems, digestive issues, gas, bloating, pain. He was basically sick the entire first 2 years of his life. Up until the time I decided to figure this out on my own. I started going to the ND, researching on my own, ect. And through experiences I encountered in my own health.

[ShayFL]

My coconut yogurt turned out tart and sweet. I added that little bit of honey. So it clearly allowed for bacterial growth.

[AliB]

Here are the other questions that I would want to answer if I conducted that study:

Did the mother have toxicity of any sort?

did the mother have yeast, digestive problems?

did the child *inherit* the yeast/digestive/toxicity issues and therefore is having die off as well?

I would go as far as to suggest that most people who follow the SAD/SED will have gut dysbiosis to a greater or lesser degree. Most people suffer with gas and flatulence to a greater or lesser degree. Yeasts convert sugar into alcohol and a by-product of that is copious quantities of carbon dioxide (if you've ever made wine you'll know what I mean).

The fact that an individual may not be bothered over-much by any gut problems does not mean that they do not have unbalanced gut flora. It may just mean that so far, the damage caused by the imbalance has not yet reached a manifestive state. Depending on the degree of imbalance, some of us get there quicker than others!

I suspect that the eczema and/or psoriasis is actually a reaction to toxins produced by rogue bacteria. Many find that dropping dairy from their diet stops the eczema - it may just mean that they have cut off the bacteria's food source and they are no longer getting the release of the trigger toxins.

My two young grandsons had quite 'rough' skin on their bodies, particularly the youngest (like sandpaper in places!). My daughter changed from cow's milk to goat's and it has definitely improved. In a week or so she is going to try removing dairy completely to see if that takes the benefit any further.

[mftnchn]

Do you know why I couldn't put the honey in before fermenting? Why couldn't it be part of the fermenting process?

I have always read that infants need bifidum bacteria's but its supposed to change over time and as they get older.

I am not sure about it, but have always read that you should not add anything during fermentation. My LLMD said that the issue about what bacteria are in the probiotic is that some strains have a tendency to mutate. It is also the concern that drives the instructions to use fresh starter every time (but he says that is not necessary).

Perhaps sugar/honey added would support more mutation to take place? Or cause airborne organisms to grow at a greater speed during the fermentation process?? Or maybe this bacteria only eats lactose and sweetner would inhibit growth??? I'm just guessing.

Ali, I have a question since you have read the book on the Gut and Psychology. How does the author suggest that we rebalance the gut after killing of the bad bugs? I was looking at BTVC last night, and it appears to me Elaine thinks it is a long healing process with several stages, where eventually the body can fight off the bad bacteria and keep a balance. I am wondering though, if we only replace lactobacillus acidophilus (the recommended probiotic for our yogurt making), how do we regain balance with the rest of the flora?

Shay, the coconut yogurt does sound good, but I am pretty sure I am allergic to it.

[ShayFL]

Ok I wasnt going to mention this because I am still in the experimental phase, but mftnchn this might help you. I have started drinking raw goat milk kefir. It is made by a small local goat dairy nearby. Kefir is reported by many to be a most healing food for digestive issues and food allergies/intolerances. It contains many beneficial bacteria and yeasts for our intestines. Where yogurt passes through rather quickly offering transient help. Kefir actually colonizes the intestines crowding out the bad guys and making vitamins for us and healing acids.

This is from my extensive research on Kefir. Do your own of course.

So I tried it. After only 2 days of drinking 1 cup per day, my bms look normal. Brown. Formed. No undigested food in them. Pointy ends. This may not sound like much of a triumph, but NEVER in my life have I EVER had a normal looking bm. Always loose, unformed, undigested food in them. So this is major for me.

I am only 1 week into the Kefir. So not enough time for me to declare it a wonder food or a cure or even completely helpful. But I am hopeful.

I follow the SCD mostly, but still incorporate things into my diet/life that I feel are beneficial based on my own research.

[aprilh]

I just checked my yogurt starter and here are the ingredients:

skin milk powder, sucrose, ascorbic acid, lactic bacteria (bulgaricus, thermophilus lacidophilus)

I swear I thought I read this brand was okay for scd (Yogourmet) but sucrose is illegal.

Any thoughts?

[mftnchn]

April, I'd go back to the Kirkman, I think. But if you use the starter once, then use your own to start, the amount of sucrose will decrease with every batch.

Shay, that is fascinating. What do I use for starter though? I think I have seen kefir in Beijing, but not in my city.

[mftnchn]

April, I'd go back to the Kirkman, I think. But if you use the starter you have once, then use your own to start, the amount of sucrose will decrease with every batch.

Shay, that is fascinating. I don't have anything loose, just not passing much again, and what I do is narrow--like there is a spasm going on. At first on the SCD everything looked really normal, but gradually its gone back to this in the last 3 weeks maybe. So it is formed but I can see food--like chunks of carrots, that has just been a recent thing though.

On the intro the past two days I didn't see all the changes and shifts like the first time I did intro, but I have seemed to dump excess fluid so I know there has been some kind of inflammation going on. I'm going to go one more day and observe. I am thinking I could be just experiencing some relapse like the book says may happen at 2-3 months.

I'd love to give the kefir a try. What do I use for starter though? I think I have seen kefir in Beijing, but not in my city. I'll keep an eye out though. What does the kefir taste like?

[ShayFL]

You might be able to find kefir starter grains if you sniff around online. Several people sell it on eBay. You could then make your own. It is pretty easy and I am considering trying to make it myself. But find just grabbing it at the store seems easy enough.

It is a lot tangier than yogurt and thinner. It can also have a slight carbonation to it depending on how long it was fermented. I dont like the taste particularly, but it is helping me.

I tried it in a smoothie and just didnt care for the sharpness of it. So what I do now is drink the kefir through a straw and then enjoy my fruit only smoothie. Works much better for me this way rather than combining them.

[mftnchn]

Thanks, I'll look into it. I may have to wait awhile until I have a visitor who can hand carry some starter to me. But I'll keep my eye out for it.

[aprilh]

Sherry,

I think I will try the Kirkman's. How many pills do you use for 1 quart of milk? You might have told me but I went straight to the starter I found in the store.

I have tried kefir from the store and it is very tart. I bought one that was made from goat milk that had blueberry flavor. My son liked it, but I am sure it has sugar. I would love to make it myself. I have heard of it being very healing for those of us with gut issues.

Sounds like you either started eating something that was reversing your progress or you were having the normal 2-3 month relapse. Glad going back to intro seems to be helping.

I dropped 7 pounds so far in a short time.

[mftnchn]

April, I suppose I'd use a couple of capsules. One is really okay, but we're going for the higher organism count.

Well three days on the intro, and except for a slight detox feeling for a little while, and some loss of fluid I was apparently retaining, there hasn't been much change. So I think the progressed diet wasn't that problematic.

Unfortunately I cannot find prunes without sugar and prune juice, or safe orange juice, so I can't do the next steps on Elaine's constipation protocol. When the oranges come into the market as the weather cools I can make my own, but I don't know how to resolve the prune issue.

Guess I'll just wait this out and see if it resolves on its own eventually, and try the kefir if I can figure out how to make it.

[aprilh]

Here's a recipe I found

Open Original Shared Link

Your challenge is going to be getting the kefir grains where you are.

[fig girl]

The Vitamix heats the milk up nicely as it whirls. About 110 is what I shoot for. No more than this. Takes about 5 minutes on med/high speed. I use a thermometer. I never tested my yogurt maker's temp. But it works well. I have made both almond and coconut milk yogurt. I used the young coconut.

This is my maker:

Cuisipro Donvier Electronic Yogurt Maker

I like the perfect serving size cups too. I poured the coconut milk in with the white meat of the nut and some water and honey. I used a probiotic I found at my local health food store that had the right organisms (and gluten/dairy/rice free). GI Pro is now backordered till November.

Thanks Shay! My next batch of yogurt may be made from almond milk and when i can get my hands on a young coconut again i'll try the coconut yogurt. That is neat yours comes w/the perfect servings size cups - that would be nice and convenient. Yum, can't wait to try the almond and coconut yogurt!

[fig girl]

Very, very interesting little snippet I cut out of the paper today. Apparently there has been some research to show that women who take probiotics during pregnancy and who give them to their babies, halve the risk of their babies getting eczema.

Even more interesting is that the research found that whilst Lactobacillus Rhamnosus worked well, bifidobacterium did nothing at all!

Doesn't that back up Elaine's research where she feels that we are better avoiding bifidus - yet so many so-called probiotics are full of the stuff! The last paragraph is very clear that many of the commercial 'probiotic' yogurts and drinks are a total waste of money and actually can be extremely counter-productive.

"Experts have warned that many probiotics do not contain the right sort of bacteria in the right quantities and often contain large amounts of sugar". Exactly.

I believe that more and more of this will come out as time goes on and the nutrient starved high-carb, high-sugar Western diet fuelled 'rogue' bacteria and gut dysbiosis 'theory' will, in the end, be proved as a large, if not the largest factor in the epidemic of 'Western' diseases.

Just out of interest the paper also carried an article about the extremely high levels of salt, and particularly sugar in children's cereals. As the great majority of kids on the SAD eat this stuff for breakfast every day, no wonder there is an explosion of diabetes in the very young now.

Thanks Ali for the information...very interesting! I hope you're right in that more and more will come out about the theory of the western diet being a large part of western diseases. It sure seems that way!

[fig girl]

Ali, you might be interested in the book on the Gut and Psychology...or are you the one who mentioned it on here?

Fig girl, I find the lactobacillus acidophilus yogurt very mild as well. I love it. The other probiotic that I have here has chickory, FOS and inulin, and I think it also has bifidus in it.

Shay, getting the probiotic is tough, huh? I cancelled my order when I couldn't get it before I left the USA. Maybe I should order now for January, LOL!

Right now I am only getting probiotic in my yogurt, so only one organism. My doctor said after a couple of months of healing the FOS, inulin and chickory won't be such a problem so I might try adding my other probiotic one or two capsules a day.

Fig girl, I think your symptoms are pretty common for early on the diet, and are similar to what I experienced, along with huge shifts in BMs. I think the intro might help, symptoms might get more intense (although since you are already into the diet a week maybe not), and it also may shorten the time when you feel symptoms.

So far after 1 day on intro I am not seeing changes, but will go another day or two. I read the book and websites again and it says some people have a relapse at about 2-3 months, so that might be what I have been experiencing.

Nut milk yogurt instructions are on www.pecanbread.com under the yogurt section--if I remember correctly.

Thanks Sherry! I found the recipe for almond yogurt on pecanbread.com and saved it in my favorites....i'm going to try and make it next batch. I'm glad my symptoms sound like they're pretty common. I cooked some peaches yesterday and mashed them up really good and made some peach sauce and put a little in my yogurt tonight but now i'm gassy....ugh! Maybe it was because we ate out tonight for dinner but the place we went to has a gluten-free menu and i ordered tilapia with lemon butter sauce and steamed veggies (i only ate the green beans, carrots and a few bites of yellow squash). Does cooking the fruits produce more sugar from them? Hmmm, guess i better freeze the peach sauce and apple sauce to save for later, darn.

I'm only getting the one organism also since i'm just using Kirkman and my first batch was from pure encapsulations.

[fig girl]

I have the best luck baking with almond butter that I make myself. I buy raw almonds and lightly roast them in the oven. When they are cool I put them through a Champion juicer that has a part for making nut butter.

One cup of nut butter is heavier than a cup of nut flour. I use one cup of nut butter to every two eggs.

Thanks for the nut butter recipe pele. I can't wait to make my own with my Omega juicer. I guess it'll be a while before i can eat the nut butter.