I shared in my What is Lupus? blog post that I suffered from an autoimmune disease for many years and was transformed into vibrant health by three words written on a scrap of paper by a friend.
The picture above expresses how I felt most of the years that I was sick. It's hard for me to look at still. But, I'm ecstatic to report that now I feel like this (jumping up and down)!
These were the three words that saved my life…
Specific Carbohydrate Diet
As promised in that post, I said I would share the diet with you all and let you in on why it was powerful for me.
So let’s jump right in, shall we?!
What is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)?
If you are like most people you’ve never even heard of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet or SCD for short. I was in the exact same boat 10 years ago.
One thing that really hit me when I first start researching the diet online was that there was an entire website dedicated to educating people on the diet and all the information was FREE. Click the link below:
http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/
Nobody was trying to profit from helping people heal and giving them the opportunity to live life to the fullest.
I read all the reviews on Amazon for the only book that I could find on the subject. And the stories were incredible, absolutely amazing in some cases.
And here’s the thing, I had followed my doctor’s advice and taken all the medications as prescribed for many, many years. With only one result, I was getting sicker and sicker.
I figured at this point that I had nothing to lose. It’s ONLY FOOD after all and the side effects from the medications were horrible. At that time, I was slowly dying.
So, I went for it 100%. I gave it everything that I had left.
And guess what?! It worked fabulously. Serious!
Before I started the SCD Diet I had been in a flare up for over a year with no end in sight. I was taking loads of prednisone and other medications...pretty much a handful of pills everyday. And within three weeks of following the SCD diet perfectly...I went into remission.
When I look back on that time, it is still incredible to me. And as the years pass, I just keep getting healthier and healthier.
I was able to stop taking all of my medications after 2 and ½ years and still take no medications to this very day. Yahoo!
Okay, so WHAT IS THIS DIET? Let’s dive right in.
The SCD Diet is very similar to the Paleo Diet. A lot of the foods are exactly alike, with very few exceptions.
Paleo and SCD both include all foods that people ate before all of the agriculture began. The diet that people ate for millions of years included fish, eggs, low sugar fruits like berries, meat, nuts, and vegetables.
Where they differ slightly, is that Paleo does not include dairy like hard cheeses or yogurt. It does not include peanuts which are actually a legume and not a nut. But it does include sweet potatoes and regular potatoes in moderation.
People follow Paleo to different degrees too, some eat flours made of different grains as well as additional sweeteners like Maple Syrup.
The SCD does not include any potatoes, or any substitute flours except for those made out of nuts and coconut. And it does not include sweeteners like maple syrup or coconut sugar.
What truly separates them is this little bit of info...
The SCD diet was structured to avoid any foods that were proven biochemically to irritate or aggravate the lining of the digestive tract, or are impossible for a damaged digestive tract to break down and digest.
The SCD diet was clinically tested for more than 50 years by the doctor that created it and a biochemist named Elaine Gottshall. Dr. Haas formulated the diet to treat his patients with Celiac Disease and had phenomenal success.
Dr. Samuel Gee
“We must never forget that what the patient takes beyond his ability to digest does harm.”
How Does the SCD Diet Work?
There are a variety of things that can throw off the balance of microbes (little bugs good and bad) inside your digestive tract. Examples are overuse of antacids, poor diet, malnutrition, and antibiotic prescriptions.
When an imbalance occurs, your body has difficulty digesting types of foods like complex carbohydrates and synthetic food ingredients. Examples of complex carbs are bread, pasta, and rice. When those foods go undigested, they ferment inside you and give off toxins that even further damage your digestive tract. It becomes a pretty nasty cycle!
The SCD diet is designed to stop the cycle going on inside you. It removes the foods that have become damaging to your digestive system and allows your body to begin healing naturally. Hooray!
It’s that simple!
The SCD diet is neither a low carb diet or a no carb diet. You can eat lots of carbs!
The carbs you eat just have to be easy to digest, like veggies, berries, and honey.
Have a giant stir-fry (cook those veggies til they’re soft), eat homemade vanilla yogurt with fresh raspberries, grill up a 100% beef hot dog and wrap it in fresh piece of lettuce! Soooo good!
Believe me, you will not be missing out!
There are so many great foods on the market today, compared to when I started the diet. When you are healed enough and no longer have symptoms for about three months you can start eating beans, so totally refried bean dip! I’ll share my recipe.
And I make taco shells out of baked cheese and fill them up with chicken, or beef and sometimes fish. My friends beg for these tacos!
Plus, there are many sprouted grain products. I know I said no grains, but sprouting a grain basically turns it into a vegetable! I may have made that sound a little too simple. But that is the gist of it! Sprouted grains are way easier to digest.
Did I mention that there is a pasta made entirely of lentils that is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! It is truly great!
Then there’s the whole zoodles craze happening! Totally okay to eat. Those are available now in grocery stores in the produce section.
And using cauliflower for rice! I could go on and on…
I have tons of experience eating this way and I have made something to satisfy absolutely every craving that I ever had!
I mean you gotta have your sweet, your crunchy, your cake, your mexican, your pasta! I know!!!
But, here is the big question. Will this diet work for you?
Should I Practice the SCD Diet?
If you are currently having digestive issues, or have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease then you can benefit from the SCD diet.
Digestive Disorders and Diseases may include:
- Celiac Disease
- Crohn’s Disease
- Cystic Fibrosis
- FODMAPs
- Diverticulitis
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- Irritable Bowel Disease
- Ulcerative Colitis
- Digestive Disorder/Disease Symptoms you may have:
- Abdominal Pain
- Bloating
- Brain Fog
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Fatigue
- Bloody Stools
- Low Grade Fevers
In addition to the symptoms and conditions listed above, if you are taking any prescription medications that are creating digestive issues for you then this diet may bring you some relief.
Interesting side note, the SCD diet started being used for children with Autism. Parents of kids with Autism found that their children were suffering with a lot of digestive issues. So when they began implementing the diet it was discovered that it relieved a lot of other Autism symptoms as well. There are some pretty powerful testimonials online about the high degree that these kids recovered while on this diet.
What Benefits Should I Get from Eating SCD?
Like starting any new routine in your life, there is definitely an adjustment period when moving over to eating such a wholesome and clean diet. Experts say that it takes about 30 days to form a habit.
So keep that in mind as you adopt this new way of nourishing your body.
There are specific benefits that you should see after about 30 days. That is not a set-in-stone timeframe. It depends on the severity of your condition and the level of inflammation in your body. Every single body needs to heal at its own pace.
Some things you should experience is increased energy. I painted my entire living room in a weekend. LOL
Being able to go to potty like a normal person. You don’t have to plan your trips around bathroom locations anymore. So, that’s cool!
Before I started the diet, I ate a bowl of soup one evening for dinner and it put me in the hospital for a week. So, that kind of thing stops happening! Which I found delightful!
Also, I used to get sick A LOT! Like A LOT! I only get sick maybe once a year now, which is pretty typical for a normal person. Sometimes that doesn't even happen.
Yep, I said it! I’m normal now.
And more science stuff that I get into below...
Lowers Your Inflammation
Here’s the deal with your intestines, there are tiny little fingers that stick out. These tiny little fingers protect your guts and help you digest things like In-N-Out Burger. You definitely want these little guys to be working in tip top shape because those burgers are the best on the planet.
Yes, I eat those. Just ask for Protein Style without cheese and they’ll wrap it up for you in lettuce. Stay in the game!
When your tiny gut fingers (actually called microvilli) get damaged, digestion becomes difficult and tiny rips can appear in your gut lining.
This is bad because then little pieces of food can escape through the holes, out of your gut, and into your bloodstream. People are now calling this Leaky Gut Syndrome. Some experts are saying that Leaky Gut could be the cause of a lot of autoimmune diseases.
So, there’s that.
SCD eliminates the food from your diet that is creating the damage to your little gut fingers. Therefore, your gut lining starts to heal and the microvilli can do their job again.
This naturally lowers inflammation in your body because your immune system does not like little pieces of food floating around in your bloodstream. It does not look favorably on them, and attacks them like they’re a virus or bacteria.
Gotta stop the attack to lower your inflammation.
Helps You Absorb Nutrients
A lot of stuff happens to undigested food in the gut. This pertains to what I was saying above, the gut lining is damaged and your body is not absorbing nutrients well.
The undigested food is over-feeding bacteria in your gut, and the bacteria are growing in number. Also, there are digestive enzymes that live in there and these are getting damaged or pushed out by the growing number of bacteria.
This is all starting to sound pretty bad, isn’t it?!
Well, with all this crazy stuff going on your body starts to produce extra mucus to protect the lining of the gut. It’s trying to deal with all the toxic waste the bacteria armies are creating and it ultimately becomes impaired.
This impairment prevents nutrient absorption, can create pretty significant weight loss (not the good kind), and you could start experiencing diarrhea.
Just like with the inflammation disappearing on the SCD diet, the impaired gut can begin to heal with the removal of the irritating foods.
Reduces Your Gas, Diarrhea and Bloating
When your gut becomes impaired, there is discomfort, the inability to digest foods well, issues extracting the nutrients your body needs to perform at its best, and the bacterial toxic waste products are building up.
At this point, if you’re like me, you are experiencing constipation and diarrhea (that’s weird to say but it happens), gas, severe bloating, and changes in appetite. I was also super tired all the time, like a zombie.
Same deal as with decreased inflammation and improved nutrient absorption that we touched on above. Remove the food causing all the nasty problems and let your body heal naturally. The SCD diet guides you through that process.
What Foods Do I Eat or Not Eat on the SCD Diet
This diet has to be followed 100% of the time, all the time. And believe me, it’s totally worth it. I was beyond thrilled to start living my life to the fullest.
No cheat days or even moments. No more saying, "everything in moderation".
Time to get real and start to heal.
Slip up’s start feeding the bacteria armies again and can cause significant delays in healing. It’s like starting all over again. Best to stay the course.
I did and I never regretted it.
Let’s go over the science behind what foods you can and can’t eat. Every food has been evaluated based on its chemical composition.
The main question being looked at is, can a damaged digestive tract break down this type of food easily without leaving any unwanted residue for the bacteria armies to feed on?
We know that digestive enzymes are being pushed out and destroyed, so no more foods that will require their services. Digestive enzymes break bonds on food particles and make them digestible. So, no foods with complicated bonds to break down.
I’m just going to say it, no disaccharides or polysaccharides.
Not to worry, there is no quiz after this.
I’m going to make this easy by listing the foods you can eat. These foods are nutrient dense, and you can fill up on them.
Plus go to this website to get the complete lists of what to eat and what not to eat. They named them legal and illegal lists. Don’t worry there is no SCD jail.
http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/
Foods to Eat
- Veggies, but no starchy veggies like potatoes
- Fruits that are low in sugar, like berries
- Simple sugars like honey
- Fats that are healthy like coconut oil and olive oil
- Eggs, shoot for cage-free
- Meat and poultry, shoot for grass-fed or pasture-raised if you can afford it
- Fish that is wild caught, not farmed
- Homemade yogurt
- Weak tea or coffee
- Fresh or dry spices with absolutely no additives
- Mustard with no additives or sugar added
- Mayo that is pure and has no additives or sugar
- Beans and lentils can be added after about three months on the diet
- Yogourmet Yogurt Maker - Love this!
- Yogourmet Yogurt Starter - Gotta have it!
Foods Not to Eat
- Sugar, there are tons of names for sugar. To name just a few: lactose, sucrose, fructose, high-fructose corn syrup, maltose, isomaltose, fructooligosaccharides.
- Artificial sweeteners
- Grains and products made with grains. Examples are corn, spelt, soy, wheat, buckwheat, rice, oats, barley, amaranth.
- Starches like sweet potatoes, potatoes, yams and parsnips.
- Dairy like ice cream, store bought yogurt, and soft cheeses.
- Canned veggies
- Canned fruits with additives and sugar
- Some beans and legumes
- Refined oils like canola, safflower and vegetable
- Any condiment that contains additives or sugar
- Sweets and baked goods like candy, cookies, cake, pies that are made with sugar or flour.
- Sweet drinks like soda pop, beer, juice or juice drinks.
- Seaweed like algae, agar or carrageenan. Carrageenan is used as a thickener in some foods.
Tips to Help You Get Started
Go to the Breaking the Vicious Cycle website and check out all of their incredible resources. That was the first thing that I did 10 years ago.
Then if you want to buy the paperback book, Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall.
You don’t have to buy this book because everything you need to know is online. I did because I’m old school and liked having a paper copy to read over and over and over again.
After you’re ready, and you’ve decided that you’re all in it’s time to clean your house. Eliminate all the food that is damaging your gut. Toss it right in the garbage. Unless you want to donate it to a friend or family member.
Of course, then you have to go shopping to fill up your house with all of the good, wholesome, healing foods.
I started with recipes that are in the book Breaking the Vicious cycle then moved on to other SCD cookbooks as I gained cooking confidence and was looking for more variety.
That’s it!
I will recommend that you cook big batches of stuff to have for lunch the next day. Or even to stick in the freezer. If you don’t cook all of your meals now, cooking everyday takes some time to get used to and cooking large batches helps a ton.
I wish you fabulous health and an amazing life.
Let me know if you have any questions, or need any help on the diet. I will help as much as I am able.
XO,
Cheryl
