Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)

[mftnchn]

Mia, did they do copper levels? My doc explained zinc and copper should be about the same ratio. Can you do your own research on those findings? At least you could take some minerals and D3??

I think to dismiss your symptoms as psychosomatic just because they don't understand them is a travesty. On the other hand, since we are whole people, help in one area sometimes helps in another area. Dr Klinghart's writing is interesting in that regard.

[clearsky]

I'm excited for you that it seems you are making clear progress! Congrats!

My sense is that your flare was the 1 month one that is common for many. And you will likely have more of these. My suggestion would be that when you flare, go back to intro again, just for a day or two. (Reduce any strain on your gut.)

Elaine never did figure out exactly what was the mechanism behind these flares, but it is a consistent experience by many. One idea I have is that if we are harboring bad bacteria and parasites, these have a life cycle. So they can naturally ebb and flow. I've even read that the parasites can flare according to the waxing and waning of the moon.

Another idea along the same line: I experience the pain flare and then improvement with my lyme disease treatment. The pain comes both with the flares of the disease (when I'm not able to fight it off naturally or with antibiotics), and also when the treatment is working and killing bugs (known among "lymies" as "herx", short for herxheimer reaction due to toxins excreted with the spirochete bacteria dies).

Also my allergist has told me that join pains tend to be an allergic response that is quite delayed, and also slow to clear.

I think the key to what you are describing is that after the "flare" and with the diet, the joint pains are improving overall. So I'd just stick with what you are doing--it takes quite awhile before most of us feel stable all the time.

Thank you for the encouragement

Going through this diet has been the hardest thing I've ever done, and because everything is uncertain and ambiguous, it's so easy to get discouraged and frustrated. But on those days when I see progress, I realize that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

[GermanMia]

Mia, did they do copper levels? My doc explained zinc and copper should be about the same ratio. Can you do your own research on those findings? At least you could take some minerals and D3??

I think to dismiss your symptoms as psychosomatic just because they don't understand them is a travesty. On the other hand, since we are whole people, help in one area sometimes helps in another area. Dr Klinghart's writing is interesting in that regard.

Thanks, Sherry - It's just so good to be able to "talk" with people who have gone through similar things (physically, at least). Yes, I'll see to the vit. D3 and zinc. One year ago my naturopath already told me that there had to be something with copper because of my muscle cramps. I'll see that I get someone do my copper levels.

I'd never be so foolish as to deny that there always is a link between body and soul, and of course I know that it is quite possible that there may be things wrong without me knowing it, too. In our place we are the ones who preach the holistic approach, and I'm working on things my way with the people I choose. That's what made me angry - I'm working with a great lady who happens to do regression therapy. She is good - so good that the police round here consults her to work with heavily traumatized people from incest families although she is not a psychiatrist but "only" psychologist without academical degrees. And this idiot of a psychiatrist told me this couldn't be successful because it wasn't some classical psychotherapy and evidently it didn't help. Now of course I'll talk to that lady again, but I'll for sure track down the test results which tell that there is something wrong physically, too.

[AliB]

Having finished the Liver Detox book I am cemented in my belief that the SCD works because it helps the liver to heal as well as the gut. Certainly there are big similarities between the two as they both concentrate on the basic pure foods.

Perhaps the Liver Diet may work a little quicker than the SCD but to be quite honest, after having gone through the trauma of a very rapid detox and the outfall from it I think in many ways the fact that the SCD helps the body to detox and heal more slowly is no bad thing.

Ok, it takes time, and many are impatient to get better which is understandable, but health problems have often taken several years to get to the stage where they manifest and reversal does not happen overnight.

Although the book does not particularly mention it (the one I have was published in 1998) I am going to try and incorporate more virgin coconut oil into my diet (and externally too) as it seems to have many good health benefits.

I am sticking to the SCD with an odd tweak here and there but my diet won't be that different.

[mftnchn]

Thanks, Sherry - It's just so good to be able to "talk" with people who have gone through similar things (physically, at least). Yes, I'll see to the vit. D3 and zinc. One year ago my naturopath already told me that there had to be something with copper because of my muscle cramps. I'll see that I get someone do my copper levels.

I'd never be so foolish as to deny that there always is a link between body and soul, and of course I know that it is quite possible that there may be things wrong without me knowing it, too. In our place we are the ones who preach the holistic approach, and I'm working on things my way with the people I choose. That's what made me angry - I'm working with a great lady who happens to do regression therapy. She is good - so good that the police round here consults her to work with heavily traumatized people from incest families although she is not a psychiatrist but "only" psychologist without academical degrees. And this idiot of a psychiatrist told me this couldn't be successful because it wasn't some classical psychotherapy and evidently it didn't help. Now of course I'll talk to that lady again, but I'll for sure track down the test results which tell that there is something wrong physically, too.

I think it will be a great idea to check the copper. Sometimes also I think the minerals can be out of whack due to toxic metals in the system. I guess you'll have to do a lot of research to figure out what to adjust.

Yes, unfortunately classical psychotherapy practitioners often do think other approaches are not that helpful or only temporarily helpful. I agree with you, that is pretty ego-centric to believe that!! I think it is great that you have a person that you are comfortable working with. Checking the credentials--yes it is important IMO.

[mftnchn]

Ali, can you say again what you did that was too rapid?

I'm trying to encourage bile production, so have started drinking ginger water, using more tumeric in my carrot soup, and today I did a castor oil warm heat pack over my liver for 20 minutes. I'm thinking to try that twice a week.

[AliB]

Sherry, I'm not really sure, but I had been taking the Wormwood prep for about three weeks beforehand. I had also been drinking pau d'arco and oregano herb tea twice a day, taking goldenseal and echinacea, raw garlic and pure garlic capsules.

I wonder now whether the strong approach caused a rapid die-off and released a host of stuff into my system. I started on the 11th April with the shivering/freezing thing in the afternoon and evening then went downhill after that ending up with extreme diarrhoea.

I think it is possible that the garlic oil and consequent castor oil that I took to try and get the toxins out asap may have caused a blockage in my liver - possibly a stone and the lack of bile would have contributed to the constipation. That meant that the toxins had longer to divert back into my body.

I am feeling better now - things are starting to move now and I seem to be off-loading the toxins better but it was very unpleasant while it lasted.

That was one thing it mentioned in the Liver book (why do I always get this information AFTER the event??!!), that there should be 'activation' and 'conjugation' - in other words, they have now realised that if the released toxins are not dealt with properly they can cause more problems in the long run.

To quote (Liver Detox Plan - Xandria Williams) - "There is an important enzyme in the the Liver, cytochrome P450 that plays a vital role in dealing with toxins by oxidising them into forms that are water-soluble and that can be transported out of the body. The enzymes involved in this activation need a variety of coenzymes to function at their best. These include vitamins B2, B3 and B6 and the minerals iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum and zinc.

Unwanted by-products of these reactions include highly reactive oxygen free radicals that could, if not dealt with, cause the production of other very reactive and possibly even more toxic substances. To avoid the build-up of free-radicals and to reduce this risk of unwanted oxidation side-effects you need additional amounts of the antioxidant nutrients, vitamins A, C and E, beta-carotene, flavonoids, proanthocyanidins and selenium. Beta-carotene has both anti-viral and anti-tumour properties. Silymarin, or Milk Thistle, is an excellent anti-oxidant herb to use at this time as it also has a particularly protective effect on the liver. You can also use dandelion as a supporting herb."

She then mentions that adequate amounts of B6, B9 (folic acid) and B12, magnesium and selenium should be available, along with Vitamin C to enable the body to form conjugating molecules to bind up the toxins into forms that the body can deal with.

Perhaps that was my problem - I was concentrating so much on the herbs that the vitamins got sidelined. I am taking them now and getting the benefit and better late than never but wish I had had this information at the time. Even with all the research I was doing I never picked up on that. I could have bought a different book and not had that information. I could have consulted a health professional and not been given that information, but there you go. At least others can learn from it and not make the same mistake!

Stick with the SCD, make sure you get enough good supplementation and the same results should come eventually.

[AliB]

This is an interesting link, and site, concerning the benefits of Coconut Oil.

Open Original Shared Link

I took two teaspoonsful last night before I went to bed and I tell you - World War 3 woke up in my intestines! Not diarrhea or anything, but there was certainly an awful lot of gurgling and movement going on. It kept me awake for a while, but I wasn't complaining - the fact anything was moving at all down there was a blessed relief!

I am off to make myself an apple and veg smoothie and will definitely be adding in some coconut oil!

[Bee-Jr]

Good morning,

I came to this thread last night to tell you all that I had decided to go back to my regular Anti-Inflammatory diet, because I am finding it difficult to manage the SCD. I started reading some of your posts, and thought better of my decision to change back; decided to think it over a bit more before really doing anything. Meanwhile I had a weekend "on the road" and food intake was decidedly non-SCD at times. The low point was a visit to Baskin Robbins for an insane bowl of ice cream. It was my Mother's Day treat, but I'm sure I will pay for it today.

This morning as I was waking up I could feel that something I had eaten was a no-no. My right eyelid was all puffy, plus my nose is congested, hands are swollen, and my gut is doing the rolly-polly thing again. So I've had the decision made for me, and there's no question now that I should stay put on SCD. I should be in repair mode today, and eating chicken soup, but I didn't have time to make any over the weekend. Perhaps tonight...

Ms. Jan, I've been thinking about your question a few pages back about coffee and candida. I read somewhere a few days ago (on a Nature's Sunshine website, I think) that caffeine can kill up to 75% of the L. acidophilus bacteria in the gut, and it takes the body as much as 5 hours to replenish it. So I wondered, if we MUST have coffee (and I think I really MUST), perhaps timing it with no-carb foods would minimize the damage. So, say, coffee and eggs/meat/cheese in the morning, then a few hours later (at least 3 hours later, I would think), banana and yogurt but NO coffee. Give the fruit or carbs time to move well into the gut before putting more coffee in there, again about 3 hours. Does this make sense? The addition of digestive enzymes might change the landscape a little, too; wouldn't they help the food move through the digestive tract quicker? (Y'all sound like old hands at this, so please forgive me if I'm proposing something that's been terribly obvious to everyone else.)

Need to go make myself useful. Hope everyone had a great weekend and is geared up for a productive week.

Regards,

Janie

[Ms Jan]

Hi All,

Went to a major family celebration this weekend - staying over the night. And even though I had brought my own reserves, and specific foods were made for me, I made the mistake of tasting a little piece of meat, making me go down with a terrible headache for a day and a half.

And that's when it hit me: since I feel I've come really far in ridding myself of parasites, it has to be my liver capacities that just can't cope with the toxins. Because such little meat that's even SCD legal ought not give me these intense troubles. So now I've ordered some books on detox and liver/gall bladder functioning (again all earlier medical tests have come back normal, so now I go my own routes). Just have to figure out how best to balance my current anti-parasite cure and the liver detox.

Ali, I also think you're very right about it having to be done slowly and in small steps. Releasing too many toxins all at once might potentially be lethal.

Mia,

It sounds as if you're really on an uphill battle for the moment. Hope you can get far, far away from that terrible psychiatrist, and just continue on your own course of healing.

Of course, the body depends on the mind, but being sick is being sick ... and I do believe it's more often the other way around: I get totally depressed and even a bit obsessive in my thinking whenever I'm down with my headaches, which again is no wonder, since I'm totally poisoned at those times. But that doesn't make the headaches psychosomatic. In fact, it's the opposite. Why isn't there a concept of physiosomatic - for those psychological symptoms that occur due to physical health problems ???!!!

Ms. Jan, I've been thinking about your question a few pages back about coffee and candida. I read somewhere a few days ago (on a Nature's Sunshine website, I think) that caffeine can kill up to 75% of the L. acidophilus bacteria in the gut, and it takes the body as much as 5 hours to replenish it. So I wondered, if we MUST have coffee (and I think I really MUST), perhaps timing it with no-carb foods would minimize the damage. So, say, coffee and eggs/meat/cheese in the morning, then a few hours later (at least 3 hours later, I would think), banana and yogurt but NO coffee. Give the fruit or carbs time to move well into the gut before putting more coffee in there, again about 3 hours. Does this make sense? The addition of digestive enzymes might change the landscape a little, too; wouldn't they help the food move through the digestive tract quicker? (Y'all sound like old hands at this, so please forgive me if I'm proposing something that's been terribly obvious to everyone else.)

Janie,

thanks. Very interesting about the caffeine/acidohphilus effect.

Don't know about the exact timing with which foods, think it depends on one's reaction to various foods. Probably I should stay with fruit/vegetables with the coffee, and then only five hours later have anything else. But whichever way, I think unfortunately it'd be a good thing for me to cut back on the coffee as mush as I can ....

Jan

[AliB]

Well, I have had more energy today and felt better generally after having the coconut oil so I am going to keep on with that. I read that it is an old remedy for constipation and it certainly seems to be working on that front. Weirdly, in the night I had a sudden bout of restless legs for 20 minutes or so as all the gurgling was going on whilst everything was moving through my gut - the oil obviously must have been dislodging something.

I already had Mary Enig's book 'Eat Fat, Lose Fat' on the benefits of coconut oil and am re-reading it at the moment. I bought it some months back but didn't really give it the attention I should have.

Hippocrates did say 'Let food be thy medicine'. The 'medicine' has to be out there doesn't it. In reality we need many different good foods but it is just a matter of figuring out which are the most beneficial.

I was actually naughty this evening. We had been working hard all afternoon in our daughter's garden and had to grab food on the go.

I had a beefburger (100%), a pork sausage (93% pork gluten-free) and some (whisper - horror of horrors) shop-bought (and possibly contaminated) chips (fries) (plus a little salad). If I had eaten those a few weeks ago I would have been on the floor. If I had eaten them a week ago I would have been on the floor. I have eaten no meat except chicken or fish for months because I couldn't digest it properly. I can't believe I ate those foods without any problems!

My digestion does not seem to be struggling anything like it was. Whether it was the non-recommended radical clearing of my liver or perhaps the coconut oil or even a combination of the two I haven't a clue, but something is working. It's not 100% but it is 70% better than it was even a month ago before this episode. For the last month I was hardly eating anything and a 'proper' meal, like the lamb I tried to enjoy a couple of weeks ago would give me major digestive grief yet tonight I ate that food without any problem. How weird is that?

It was also fantastic not to wake up with the 'dog-breath' this morning.

Hmm. I like this.

[mftnchn]

Ali, what good news!

I don't seem to tolerate coconut at all, so I can't try your remedy...

[fig girl]

Thank you so much. I know that it can take time...patience just isn't my strong suit! I will try the goat milk yogurt and see what happens. Do you know if it's easy to find goat milk? And do you have any recommendations for SCD-safe probiotics?

Also, I'm wondering if digestive enzymes might be good for me.....know anything about them?

Thanks again,

Martha

Hi Martha,

I'm trying to catch up on posts and wondered if you've found any goat milk yet? I buy mine from Walmart (Meyenburger as Sherry mentioned - not sure if that's spelled corrently). I almost buy them out each time as i make about 4-5 quarts at a time. I also have found a nearby goat farm that sells it and i just love the raw goat yogurt. It takes less time to make (you only heat it to 110 instead of 180) and i like the taste a little better. They are drying up the goats right now but will soon start back milking...yay! The raw also has enzymes which helps me i think. The store bought pasteurized goat milk is really good too though. Our Kroger also carries the Meyenburger goat milk. Hope you've been able to find some near you.

[fig girl]

That is good news Ali...sounds like you've made some good progress! Sherry, last time i tried coconut i couldn't tolerate it either. I love it so i hope one day i'll be able to eat it again. I do add a little in my dog's meals and the leftover on the spoon i rub on my skin or in my hair.

I've been feeling better since my Dr. increased my Vit D3 to 5,000 iu's per day. Although when i bought more last week i bought the 5,000 dose instead of the 1,000 dose that i had been taking 5 times a day with food. The first day i took the 5,000 capsule once a day i could tell a difference - i started feeling a little bad again. I think i absorb it better spreading the dosage out throughout the day - i felt better within a day of increasing it to 5,000 iu's with the 1,000 iu capsules. Since i bought a large bottle of the 5,000 pills (argh!) i've been dumping the capsules out and just sprinkling a little in my food 5 times a day. I felt better the first day of doing this but i think i will have to get some more 1,000 iu capsules especially for traveling - it's a little easier to take.

I've also been taking Capryl and i think they have helped a lot too. I can only take 1 capsule a day - i tried adding another dose and my stomach became sore so i dropped back to once a day. I've been taking it for about 2 weeks now - i think i'll take it a little longer. I'll have to do a search on approx. how long to take it - i think Jan you and Rice Guy may have said around a month or 2 but can't remember.

Welcome to the newbies....just want to say hang in there. I really had to go slow and felt discouraged at times not being able to eat new legal foods. I've been eating my same safe foods for over a month now and plan to do that a little longer because i think it has helped me heal more. This month will be 8 mths of being on SCD and i've felt i've made really good progress within the last month. I used to get back pain whenever i was having a hard time digesting something and i haven't had that in a while. Yay! My stomach will get a little sore still but not as bad as before and i'm having more days waking up and it's not sore. I think stress contributes to the sore stomach.

Clearsky - i have struggled with joint pain a lot too but it's gotten better thank goodness. It's usually my first symptom of not tolerating a food. I hope yours continues to improve. The Capryl and vit d3 seems to help with it. I had looked up the celiac gene i carry (DQ8) - someone had posted a link somewhere on this forum and it said i was prone to getting diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. Hopefully the SCD will help me to avoid these.

I get a little pain every now and then on my upper right side near my rib cage and have wondered if it's my liver having troubles. I was drinking freshly squeezed lemon in my water for a while and squeezing it on my salad but then i realized it was bothering my stomach - i think lemon is good for the liver isn't it? Sherry - the castor oil heat pack sounds like a good thing to try.

Sorry this is so long! Better get to bed. Hope everyone has a good night!

[pele]

Well, seemingly the liver thing is an issue for me, too.

I just got the report from my testings and - well - can't say I'm exactly happy. Adrenals are completely okay, which is good. Who would be fond of suffering from adrenal insufficiency...

Basically the report says I'm perfectly healthy and the psychiatrist was right: I'd go to some psychosomatic clinic and get help there. Wonderful.

Just curious--did they test you for adrenal failure or adrenal fatigue? Adrenal failure is Addison's Disease, while adrenal fatigue means the adrenals are still functioning, but not as well as they should. Adrenal fatigue is usually diagnosed with 4 saliva samples taken over 24 hours. I believe adrenal failure is a blood test.

Also, have you been tested for testosterone? Lack of it will cause weakness.

[Ms Jan]

Hi Fig girl,

If you take the caprylic acid against candida, I think the safest is to go for a long period, maybe 3 months. I've taken it for around that period of time by now, and am cutting down my dosage but keep taking a little to be sure the candida doesn't have a chance to recur.

And yes, lemon works well for the liver - particularly if drunk in warm water on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. I can tolerate it now, but before going on the SCD I'd never have been able to deal with the acid, as it is pretty tough on a sensitive stomach.

Jan

[mftnchn]

Sherry - the castor oil heat pack sounds like a good thing to try.

Yes, just a comment though. Be cautious about it. I guess it can be fairly powerful although it sounds innocuous. I'm sticking pretty close to the 20 minutes, twice a week, until I know for sure how it will impact me.

Thanks for the reminder about lemon juice. I need to get some lemons and add that in.

[GermanMia]

Just curious--did they test you for adrenal failure or adrenal fatigue? Adrenal failure is Addison's Disease, while adrenal fatigue means the adrenals are still functioning, but not as well as they should. Adrenal fatigue is usually diagnosed with 4 saliva samples taken over 24 hours. I believe adrenal failure is a blood test.

Also, have you been tested for testosterone? Lack of it will cause weakness.

Both - failure and fatigue. Everything seems to be perfectly normal in this field. And no, I haven't been tested for testosterone. Maybe that's an option, too. But now I had a short talk with my family doc who read the report and told me to look if maybe there's some heart insufficiency. They used to think there was something with my heart since I was a kid because there's kind of murmur. As I never seemed to have heart or circulation problems - always made sports without problems until now - and they couldn't for sure find anything, they dismissed that idea. But as hepatomegalie and increased CK could point to heart insufficiency and he still can hear that murmur he recommends looking into that.

Jan,

I just happened to read an article about furctose intolerance which said that modern research assumes that MOST cases aof depression which are combined with the so called irritable bowl are actually caused by fructose intolerance, because persons with fructose intolerance have too low serotonine levels. In their study they didn't find one single person with depressions who hadn't "irritable bowl", too, and turned out to be fructose intolerant. They also say exactly what you think, that maybe generally a great deal of psychological problems indeed arise from physical problems and not the other way round.

[AliB]

Caprylic Acid is of course derived from Coconut, which, because it is a powerful anti-microbial, anti-fungal and anti-parasitic, is why it works so well.

Sherry and Figgy, the problem you have with not being able to tolerate it very well could well be a 'fight-back' by the parasites, etc., in your system.

Have you tried taking the pure organic virgin coconut oil? It contains Lauric Acid as well as the Caprylic which is also a powerful anti-microbial. Apparently people who cannot tolerate Coconut can sometimes tolerate the oil.

To quote Mary Enig - "Approximately 50% of the fatty acids in coconut fat are lauric acid. Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid, which has the additional beneficial function of being formed into monolaurin in the human or animal body. Monolaurin is the antiviral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal monoglyceride used by the human or animal to destroy lipid coated viruses such as HIV, herpes, cytomegalovirus, influenza, various pathogenic bacteria including listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and protozoa such as giardia lamblia. Some studies have also shown some antimicrobial effects of the free lauric acid."

If you have an (as yet undiagnosed, as it can be difficult to pick up) infestation of H. Pylori then that could well be why your stomach gets sore as the beggars squirm with discomfort against all that Lauric and Caprylic Acid! Maybe the soreness is an indication that you are getting to them!

It has been sore since I started all the herbs 5 or 6 weeks ago but I have noticed that the lump by my coccyx is particularly sore at the moment which suggests to me that not only is it parasite-related, but that the coconut oil is biting back at the beggars. I will keep taking it and hopefully it will get the mastery over them eventually!

When I was following the Alkalizing Diet two years or so back although I felt better and all the external signs of Candida went away (which suggested that the internal ones were too) and as did the IBS which had plagued me for several years, after 3 or 4 weeks my stomach got really sore and I had to stop the diet. I am now wondering if the diet was getting to whatever was living in my stomach and giving me a flare-up. Perhaps if I had stuck with it I might just have got past that point and destroyed them. Who knows?

Still, I really feel as though I am getting there now, finally. I will monitor all this with interest. I noticed that the gurgling was miniscule last night - just maybe the coconut oil had already done the dirty on the Candida and it couldn't produce any more gas. Yay!

[Bee-Jr]

Good morning,

I need an attitude adjustment. Can anyone help me out?

I was doing well yesterday, and then decided that I wanted to eat popcorn popped in coconut oil. Then I decided I'd have a Coca Cola with it. So that was my first and second mistake. On the way home from work, my face started itching.

Did ok at dinner, but after H went to bed, I ate yogurt, then chocolate, then two frankfurters and a piece of cheese. My digestion is a total mess this morning.

I've gotta get hold of myself. This afternoon I have an OA meeting to go to, and I'm going to really try to behave until I can get to my meeting. I have nothing with me for lunch, but decided to go to the grocery store to get something legal. We have some limited cooking facilities here (microwaves and electric griddles) so all is not lost, if I can just make myself buy the right things.

Also discovered over the past couple of days that I haven't been making my yogurt correctly. Martha got me thinking, after saying how tart her yogurt is. Mine isn't (or hasn't been). So the batch I made on Friday, I stuck a thermometer in it when I brought it out of the oven, and it was at 140 degrees. Well, dang. That's why it wasn't very tart - I was cooking it instead of culturing it, and probably killing most of the bacteria in it. So the batch I made yesterday, I tested this morning. Boy, it is LIP SMACKIN! Talk about TART! Think I have it right now. But that's another thing to think about - I really haven't been getting the benefit of the yogurt because most or all of the beasties were dead. Sniff. Guess you could say I had my first serving of SCD yogurt this morning. We'll see what happens.

But please, talk to me, folks. I have absolutely got to stop eating junk.

Thanks,

Janie

[Ms Jan]

Hi Janie,

One trick I'm using when craving all the wrong foods is to make myself FIRST eat all the right stuff, preferably lots of raw or slightly sauteed vegetables. I tell myself that once I'm through with the vegetables, I can eat something else, but surprisingly they often take away the craving. And if they don't I make sure to have lots of healthy snacks, like paranuts, honey, coconut etc. Most often if a craving start, it actually begins with hunger and a low blood sugar. So it's essential never to get too hungry. Eat a little plate of something healthy every two hours, or munch on nuts (unsalted!), and you'll make it.

For now, just drinks lots of water, eat vegetables and fruit - eat light and SCD legal this evening and get ready to get back into the diet tomorrow. Make sure that your fridge is full of good foods, so that you don't have to reach out for bad stuff.

Popcorn gave me lots of trouble, even though I have no problems with corn in general. And one bad food tend to call for another one.

Hope you get better - good luck !

[marthamom]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to all of you for responding to all my questions---I haven't gotten the goat milk yet, but I'm planning to do that tomorrow, and we'll see if that yogurt works better for me than the cow's milk yogurt.

I've started with the probiotics (Scdophilus from GI Pro Health) and digestive enzymes (ProZymes from GI Pro Health), and am now taking magnesium along with my calcium. The other supplement I'm taking is a Freeda SCD-legal multivitamin........

But I have to say that I'm getting discouraged---I've been on the strict SCD-diet for two full weeks now, and I honestly can't say I feel any better yet. I wonder if any of it has to do with the fact that I haven't been having the yogurt, but I'm thinking the probiotics should help?

I'm just having trouble figuring out how long it should take before I notice any improvement----I've been pretty good at sticking to intro foods (eggs, meats, cooked veggies, cooked apples and pears, Welch's grape juice, apple cider, grape home-made gelatin), and I haven't had anything "illegal," but I have also been having some natural peanut butter and the Breaking the Vicious Cycle nut muffins---maybe it's too soon for that? And I think I'm noticing that the gelatin doesn't sit well with me.

It's just frustrating how "trial and error" this all is, and it's hard to feel that even when I'm sticking to the diet 100%, I'm not noticing any real improvement (can you tell I'm a very goal-oriented person?!?)......how long should I stick with it before coming to the conclusion that it's not working for me? And there are so many variables to consider (food, supplements, candida, etc.), that it just seems hard to feel sure that I'm on the right track. ugh. I shouldn't really complain, because overall my symptoms aren't unbearable (mostly gas, bloating, belching, on and off constipation), but they don't seem to be that much better since going gluten free last September. Any words of wisdom??

Thanks,

Martha

[mftnchn]

Martha,

I think you have to make the call yourself--listen to your own body. I think though that you should give it a full month at least, and also recognize that some folk take months to really see the benefits.

Secondly, if it were me, I'd try to get the Metametrix microbial ecology test. It will show you what the main gut flora look like, as well as check for candida and all the parasites (via DNA).

How long since you started the probiotics? The yogurt and probiotics could make a difference.

My gut symptoms are almost the same as yours, pretty mild. It was shocking to realize how much actual damage there is/must be. I still have bloating, (10 months on SCD); constipation is much better as is the quality of stool--but is still an issue to some degree, gas is occasional. Currently I take 1/2 tsp of Oxy-Mag and 1-2 scoops of buffered C powder (with C, magnesium, potassium) and this has me very very regular. Compare that to taking 1600 mg of magnesium the first few months gluten-free to have any kind of daily movement.

Also I'm still treating parasites. Finished the strongyloides treatment for now, in the midst of the protozoan treatment. Had clear die off symptoms with the first, the second is hitting me hard as well. So this could prove to be the main factor in my slow healing, we'll see.

[mftnchn]

Janie,

For me it was one of those things where I told myself, "you just have to." I had clear testing results (twice) that showed I was not digesting carbs. Then during the first week I saw a lot of shifts with BMs, and then saw parasites being expelled. I was very impressed that diet could do that.

When I am tempted, I remind myself of this and that it takes 1-2 years to heal the intestines.

The other thing that is really helpful, is finding favorite foods again. Finding treats. For the latter, I'll eat some nuts with a little honey--that's like having a candy bar, LOL. I'll microwave honey with a little butter in it, just a small amount of both. It turns into caramel...so that's another treat. Also I love the apple crisp I make, so when I start to have regular craving, I make a batch of that.

Always having legal foods available is important too.

[marthamom]

Martha,

I think you have to make the call yourself--listen to your own body. I think though that you should give it a full month at least, and also recognize that some folk take months to really see the benefits.

Secondly, if it were me, I'd try to get the Metametrix microbial ecology test. It will show you what the main gut flora look like, as well as check for candida and all the parasites (via DNA).

How long since you started the probiotics? The yogurt and probiotics could make a difference.

My gut symptoms are almost the same as yours, pretty mild. It was shocking to realize how much actual damage there is/must be. I still have bloating, (10 months on SCD); constipation is much better as is the quality of stool--but is still an issue to some degree, gas is occasional. Currently I take 1/2 tsp of Oxy-Mag and 1-2 scoops of buffered C powder (with C, magnesium, potassium) and this has me very very regular. Compare that to taking 1600 mg of magnesium the first few months gluten-free to have any kind of daily movement.

Thanks so much---how long were you gluten free before switching to SCD? Have your antibody levels come down even though you still have some symptoms? Have you had an endoscopy since going on SCD?

How would I go about getting the Metametrix test? Is it something I would ask my gastro to do?

I just started the probiotics about 4 days ago, so I know I'm probably looking for results too soon....

Thanks again!