One of the main motivations for documenting our son's experience with the SCD is that we cannot find testimonials other than: (1) I've been healthy for 5 years thanks to the SCD (but don't describe the journey towards healthiness), or (2) that the diet is difficult to follow (mainly from Amazon.com reviewers of BTVC). I really want someone to tell me to persevere and that this is exactly what I should expect....
So after 3.5 months on the diet, while we have a happy med-free kid, we still have the classic IBD symptoms. Slightly crunchy asparagus the other night with homemade hollandaise sauce did not do any of us any favors and added some pain for our son. At least, that's what I think it was!
We still need to get the allergy tests completed that were requested by the naturopathic docter. Who knows? Perhaps he is allergic to something that is hindering progress of the diet.
Not all is bad: he had a homemade "pumpkin pie" (under stage 2, made with butternut squash) for his fourth birthday this week and he just devoured it.
So after 3.5 months on the diet, while we have a happy med-free kid, we still have the classic IBD symptoms. Slightly crunchy asparagus the other night with homemade hollandaise sauce did not do any of us any favors and added some pain for our son. At least, that's what I think it was!
We still need to get the allergy tests completed that were requested by the naturopathic docter. Who knows? Perhaps he is allergic to something that is hindering progress of the diet.
Not all is bad: he had a homemade "pumpkin pie" (under stage 2, made with butternut squash) for his fourth birthday this week and he just devoured it.
I've been on the SCD diet for about 2 months at this point and things are going well for me, so I'd encourage you to continue with it. One thing I've noticed (and that has led to one or two flare-ups over that 2 month period) is related to ripeness of fruits and vegetables. Perhaps I just didn't read the BTVC book closely enough, but I've found from personal experience that you have to be sure that your fruits are ripe before eating them (even the ones on the "Legal" list). For example, the two issues I've had were with avocados and butternut squash. After eating unripened versions of both, I had stomach pain the next day. I'm no expert on ripening, but I think there is some process where the enzymes in the fruit break down the complex sugars into more simple sugars (I assume that explains why it's sweeter). So one additional thing to look out for. Hope that helps.
And then obviously the other thing I've done is start really really slowly. I only add about one new food every two weeks (max) and keep a detailed diary of what's going on. That's helped narrow down problems.
Best,
Steve
http://beatingcrohns.blogspot.com
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the recommendation - we really appreciate the feedback. While I know we're good about ripe bananas, we'll investigate whether or not other fruits are ripe. Butternut squash, pears, avocados, mangos, and cantaloupe are really the only fruit we've given him at this point. Apples did NOT go over well and we're staying well away from them.
I think the real struggle we face is that a 4 year-old can't offer us the insight that folks like you can in terms of what hurts and what doesn't.
The naturopathic doctor we've visited described the SCD as like a "target" -- he advised us to stay within the first couple of rings closest to the bulls eye (intro diet). So we're taking it slowly. We've seen improvements in his spirits and attitude, but we're very interested in other symptoms as well...
Thanks again!