Whenever I hear of someone who is starting the SCD diet with the goal of putting their colitis symptoms into remission, I get really excited.  And the reason for this is I hope that whoever it is that’s in pain with UC will find relief with this type of treatment like I have.  Unfortunately, I am learning that it doesn’t always work out this way for the other person.  And this is frustrating for me.  And I’m sure it is super frustrating for the person who is dealing with bleeding and pain, and cramping and different medications, and everything else that comes along with active ulcerative colitis.

It’s been almost two years now that I have been following the SCD diet, and not only have I seen its benefits, I have reduced pretty much down to nothing my health costs associated with my colitis.  I don’t count my annual physical exam into a colitis related cost, and that’s pretty much all I have done this year.  I know it’s not easy being on this diet for new people who are starting it for the first time, but with feeling better and getting back to my normal self, it sure has been easy to get used to it once I saw the results.  And, since the results don’t always come right away, and it often takes time, I believe that is where the real issue lies for the majority of people who are not successful with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

People Who Follow SCD But Fail:

Now I don’t know all the details, but I have heard from quite a few people who have failed the SCD.  And it bothers me, I’ve said that before in this post.  But what is the reason for the failure?  Is it that they have symptoms which are too severe that any diet even SCD can’t fix?  Is it because they have something different with them genetically that prevents the diet from helping them?  Or is it something totally different?  I don’t know.

One thing that is for certain is that many of the people who fail to see colitis symptom relief from the SCD diet have not followed the diet during their trial period.  By this, I mean, STRICTLY FOLLOWED the SCD diet rules.  Does this bother me and make me angry, no… well actually YES it does.  I know it doesn’t hurt my physically, but mentally it bugs the crap out of me because by breaking the rules of the diet, or following it only 90% ESPECIALLY when you are starting it is almost like you are NOT doing the SCD diet at all.

Let’s come up with some rules:

#1  The diet is NOT EASY for people who are not used to following a diet.  If you’ve had problems following a diet before, you might not want to attempt this.

#2  If you can’t live without desserts and sweets, and you would rather eat those foods and live with colitis symptoms, don’t attempt this diet

#3  If you have a very hard time controlling yourself when you see a fast food restaurant, of if you LOVE friend food and can’t live without it, again, don’t try this diet

BUT

If you are at rock bottom with your UC, and are facing surgery or other medicine treatments as your next step and you don’t want to do that.  This might be something for you to consider.  Even if you are just dealing with minor colitis symptoms, and are sick and tired of the disease jumping into and out of your life constantly for no reason, this as well might be something for you to try.    Either way, the SCD diet requires 100% attention for quite some time, ESPECIALLY during the early introductory phases.

Well, this is enough of my ramblings, I just wanted to let it out that I’m frustrated when I see people trying SCD and failing intially, and then I learn that they are eating all sorts of foods that are NOT allowed.  And of course then wondering why they are not seeing great results.  I mean come one, you are either following the diet(and that means 100%) or you are not.  End of story.

If after reading all of this you are ready to begin SCD, you can do that:

****** CLICK HERE ******

Lately I have been getting much better at detecting signs and symptoms of my ulcerative colitis.  Now I should mention right away that I am medication free for about two weeks now, which I am so pumped about.  But I want to talk about eating habits, and in particular fruit within your diets.

I have always been a big advocate of fruit, especially since it can have such great sweetness.  I always have been drinking a home made morning smoothie almost everyday for quite some time now, about one and a half years.  What I am beginning to notice is that when I eat an extra large amount of fruit, lets say an entire freshly cut up pineapple(like I am known to do) there is always a chance that later on that day or the next day I can see how my stools will start to become less formed.  I am so happy that my ulcerative colitis symptoms are very close to remission, and I want to keep things that way.  But, I am afraid that excessive amounts of fruit are not great, and even may be getting the gut bacteria in my colon all riled up and out of control.

So, my solution to limiting fruits ability to act up in large amounts is pretty simple.  I have decided to limit my intake of fruit.  If on some days I notice that I am potentially starting to show signs of looser bowel movements or an extra time or two to the bathroom, I simply skip fruit for the next 24 hours and it seems to do the trick.  Nothing too scientific here, just doing some simple food elimination to help out my ulcerative colitis.  Let me know if you share this thought with yourself.

SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) and UC Success Stories

One of the most important things for people who are considering trying the SCD for treating their ulcerative colitis is to know that other people before them have had success.  This is by far the most important thing to know with many things in life, but especially when you are dealing with symptoms, and looking at alternative treatments because medications just aren’t working.  What makes SCD success stories even more important, is the fact that nearly every doctor who practices Western medicine will deny that the SCD is a valid treatment for UC.  So as you can see, the cards are already stacked against people who want to use the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Since there are so many people treating their inflammatory bowel disease with SCD, the time is getting closer to when doctors will have to start recognizing the effects that diet has on the gut.

SCD Does Work Well for Some People Who Are Suffering with Symptoms

The good news is that the SCD does work for many people.  Many of the people who’s stories are listed below had been dealing with ulcerative colitis symptoms for many years and were literally at their last options before having to seriously consider surgery.

First Hand SCD Experiences That May Change Your Colitis

I had such a negative image of this SCD diet when I was originally introduced to it.  I learned about it from a book that was sent to me in the mail by a family friend.  The book didn’t look too interesting, and when I started reading it, I remember thinking the SCD could not possibly be a practical long term diet.  The food was just too limiting I thought.  That was three years ago.  What a difference three years can make.  Not only have I finally found a way to control my ulcerative colitis symptoms, but I have learned that there are literally thousands of other people with IBD who use the SCD just like I do.

Examples of 3 Different SCD Success Stories from Ulcerative Colitis Patients

Jessica began the SCD diet just a short while ago, and was able to see some great results within 3 months on the diet.  Her ulcerative colitis was beginning to really get bad, so it was great that she found a new treatment.  You can read Jessica’s SCD diet story here.

Maisie had been dealing with ulcerative colitis for 5 years and had dealt with countless amounts of prednisone steroids too.  Read how she finally started the SCD diet to treat her UC

Adam was dealing with one final option of surgery, that’s me.  At the point when I started the SCD diet, it wasn’t even an option, it was my only option as all the medications had not worked out or were giving me very bad side effects.  I was very happy to meet another person at my house who used SCD for her colitis, and that is what convinced me to begin the Specific Carbohydrate Diet also.

Something that really got me EXCITED is A NEW Personal Story about Healing Colitis

Yesterday, I heard news that someone has uncovered a secret to get their ulcerative colitis into remission.  Well, it’s not really a big secret I guess, but rather it is finding a treatment plan for UC which works.  That’s right, everyone has access to the same information these days with things like the internet, but finding out and then actually doing something different is what its all about.  And in the end if the new treatment works, you are in a whole new world finally.

A girl who I came into contact with has been dealing with Crohn’s/Colitis symptoms for an awfully long time.  By the suggestion of her doctor, she was turned onto the GAPS diet.  This is a diet which closely follows the rules of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, but it is based on some other ideals such as supplementing things with probiotics to achieve digestive healing of the colon and ultimately colitis remission.

When people tell their stories of their previous treatment plans for ulcerative colitis, often drugs like asacol don’t work.  Then there is a common theme sometimes that even more powerful medications like Remicade infusions don’t work for them either.  This usually puts the UC patients in a dangerous and strange position because often the next plan on action is to consider a colon removal surgery.  Yikes, colon surgery is a major ordeal, and pretty drastic, so what is a person living with UC to do?

Luckily, there are some gastro doctors out there who are open to alternative treatment therapies.  The GAPS diet is what helped this particular girl out, and she is now colitis symptom free, and has been for quite some time.  No more medications, just some probiotics and a structured diet regime.

Hearing success stories for UC patients is always good news.  Congrats to her.  For more of her story, you can visit www.ihaveuc.com

Food Is Unique to the Colon it Lives In

Why is it that some people can eat a can of soda without any side effects or painful reactions, and another person might have a tummy ache for a few hours with the same drink?

The answer is that everybody is different when it comes to digestion.  Each person has their own set of bacteria working for them inside their body, and no two sets of bacteria are the same.  Also, there might be genetic differences that allow certain people to digest food in a certain way, and others might need to take a different route to reach the same digestive goals.  All of the processes that take place inside our stomachs and intestines are very complex.  There are thousands if not billions of chemical reactions happening every hour inside of us, far too many to keep track of, and its a big miracle that is all happens relatively well most of the time.

For the people who suffer from inflammation of the colon due to ulcerative colitis, it is particularly important to pay attention to the foods you eat, and to especially take note of foods that do not sit well in your stomach.  What has been very useful for many of ulcerative colitis patients is to simply write a diary of the foods that you eat(everything) and keep track within the same diary as to how you feel a few hours or even the next day after that particular meal.  Without taking good notes on the food that you digest each day, it becomes very hard to narrow down any particular foods that might be a problem for you.

For example, I know that breads and sugars from soda like corn syrup are an absolute no no for me.  Those types of foods will literally throw me into a flare up of my colitis symptoms.

Sometimes it seems that it all depends on which doctor you ask the question:

“What food should I be eating for my colitis?”

Other times you seem to get the same answer no matter who you ask:

“It doesn’t matter what you eat for your colitis!”

What is really needed is some good user based data on all of the different ulcerative colitis patients who have tried using diet to solve their UC symptoms and what the outcomes were.  This of course would be against the traditional wisdom that the medical world has currently with regards to diet being a treatment for UC, but it would sure be interesting to the UC  people of the world who have a growing interest in this.

One ulcerative colitis diet which seems to be working for many people is called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.  It is based on limiting the different types of foods you can eat to a select few, with the hope of regaining digestive wellness.  The actual science behind the idea is based almost exclusively on the micro biota also known as gut bacteria.  As everyone has different communities of gut bacteria in your colon, there are all sorts of things that scientists can learn from this.  Some of these scientists feel that the imbalance in the gut bacteria potentially at the heart of the cause of ulcerative colitis symptoms.

There are many different dieting ideas that anyone can find when reviewing the internet, but so far, the SCD diet seems to be the only one that is consistently getting people to talk about it and often with positive reviews.

Yes and No.  That is the answer you are going to get depending on who you talk to.  There are several different ideas about foods and what to avoid when dealing with UC.  Some people say that potato is completly 100% OK to eat whenever you want to if you have UC.  Others say it is a starch and not good to eat to treat UC.

Some of the answer depends on how you plan to treat your UC.  If you are treating your UC successfully with medications, than it might be alright to eat potato when you like.  I would still eat it in moderation compared to other things.

But, if you are like me and follow a specific carbohydrate diet, the SCD diet, I avoid potato nearly 97% of the time.  Of course I slip in a few french frie every once in a while, but I am not sitting down and eating a whole baked potato ever anymore.  For me, the potato which is something I used to eat all the time prior to being diagnosed with UC is something I just try to avoid.

Whether or not you like Chinese Food, that is not really the question.  The answer to this question is based on someone who is following the Breaking the Vicious Cycle Diet.  If you are following this diet, you are not supposed to be eating any grains, processed sugars or dairy products for the most part.

When you are eating Chinese food, much of the times there are grains from rice, and also TONS of processed sugars in many of the sauces.

For this reason, eating Chinese food is going to probably be difficult for a UC patient who is following the SCD diet.

If you are not following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, you should take some caution in eating Chinese food.  There are all kinds of spices mixed in much of the time that may or may not agree with your diet.

Welcome to this post on Shellfish and UC.  I hope you find this interesting, and hopefully useful to compare with your current questions and situation with ulcerative colitis.

I have been on the SCD diet for just over one year now.  It has been great for me.  In-fact, it has allowed me to get rid of nearly all the UC symptoms I was suffering with for months/years, and has allowed me to return to 1-2 usually hard stools per day.  And most importantly, it has given me my life back.

Enter shellfish.  Maybe you don’t like shellfish at all, shrimp, squid, crab, lobster, that type of stuff.  But, if you are like me, you love that stuff.  I was eating shellfish without thinking about it at all for my previous life before the SCD diet, and I was usually eating shellfish without thinking about it for the 1st year on the diet too.  But that is now going to change.

My theory is that my body can’t tolerate shellfish, and it helps to bring back symptoms of the old nasty UC.

Two weeks ago, I was in Maine, and since seafood is so common up there, I was joining in on the fun.  Nearly every meal had something like fried Calamari, shrimp, lobster, crab or something along those lines, at least for lunch and dinner meals.  Going into the trip to Maine, I was feeling great.  But, towards the end of the 4 day trip, I started to feel some joint pains in my upper body and even had a diarhea crap if you know what I mean.  The joint pains were identical to the ones I had when I was going through nasty flares about 1 1/2 years ago.  The pains that landed me in three rheumatologists offices, and had me swallowing vicadin pills to control the pain.  Yes, they were nasty.

But, the good news was, those pains have just slightly come and gone over the past year.  Yes, I have probably had Calamari 12 plus times, maybe once a month lets say.  Yes, I’ve had shrimp slightly less.  Maybe even a lobster, actually, nope, this was the first lobster for me in a year.

So here is the bottom line:  I think shellfish is a no no for me, I think my UC has something to do with my intolerance for shellfish, just like my obvious intolerance for wheat, gluten, dairy etc…  Yes, I think I might be allergic to shellfish if you want to call it that.  AND most importantly, I am feeling better now, its been a week since I touched shellfish, and I don’t plan on having any for a while.

I do plan on testing out this theory sometime over the next year.  When I feel 100% again, I do plan on going off and eating a weekend full of shellfish, maybe at a buffet in Vegas, and then seeing how I feel afterwards.  If this strange pains come back, BINGO.

Let’s face it, for the most part, diets are not easy to get started on, and not easy to follow.  That is for sure the case for most people.  If you are on the SCD Diet, well, you are like me.  I am on that diet too.  I have been following it very strictly for one year this August 11th, so in 9 more days…

If you are not liking the SCD Diet, I think you should ask yourself a few questions:

1) Why did you decide to try the SCD Diet?  what was your reason?

2) How long have you been on the diet?  1 day, 3 days, 4 months, 6 years?

3) Have you seen any progress towards your reason for trying the diet yet?

4) Do you think you have given the diet an honest try so far?  have you been cheating at all?

5) Have you ever met someone who has also tried the SCD diet, especially someone who has had success on it?

I know for a fact that it took me 10 months to even consider the diet.  I was given the book written by the woman who invented the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and it sat on my bookshelf while I crapped bloody craps and went through all kinds of medications to try and stop my ulcerative colitis from spreading… and that book did nothing but collect dust for 10 months.  And then I finally tried the diet.  And now its almost a year after being on it, and I will for sure say its the best thing I have ever done.  I am now medication free, saving over $800 each month on insurance and doctors bills I don’t have to pay anymore because I HAVEN”T BEEN TO THE DOCTOR THIS WHOLE YEAR YET!.

I hate it when I hear that someone is not happy on the diet.  The reason is I assume they are not getting the type of results that I am getting, and that is very sad.  If that is your case, I feel very bad for you, and I am not able to offer you much help.  But, if you are not happy on the diet because you are not seeing results you want to see, and you are also not following the diet 100%, well, I for sure can offer you some help and encouragement.  Here it is:  READ THE BOOK, and FOLLOW THE DIET!  Otherwise you will never know your potential with it!

Lastly, if you are not happy with the SCD diet and want to try a new diet, try the Great Taste No Pain diet, it might work for you better:

Most people enjoy soft drinks, pop, soda, whatever you want to call them… Well maybe not most people, but they sure can be tasty.   Then they also have all those diet drinks, similar but just quite the same.

Well, if you have ulcerative colitis or some other IBD, you might want to do what I do, and not drink soda AT ALL.

Here is why I stopped drinking soda:

1. I have UC, and had it very severely for over a year and was getting ready for surgery
2. I remember having stomach aches all my life after drinking soda, or at least I thought they were stomach aches
3. There is a ton of sugar in soda, mainly high fructose corn syrup
4. I am on a strict diet called THE SCD DIET
   now that prohibits processed sugars
5. Since changing my diet a year ago, I have been feeling great

So, that’s my answer when someone asks me if they should be drinking Coke, or other sodas with UC….NO.  It’s that simple.  I think the sugars are no good for our colitis intestines, and Coke, Pepsi, 7-UP, Gatorade for that matter all have tons of sugars in them.  That’s why they taste so good.  Find yourself some fresh orange juice, or some fresh water(if you can anymore)

What is the best bread to be eating if you have ulcerative colitis(UC)?  I think its banana muffins.

Many people wouldn’t consider muffins to be bread, at least I didn’t.  But after coming down with nasty UC symptoms and finally being diagnosed after years of dealing with it, muffins are now bread for me.  There is so much talk out and about these days related to gluten free meals, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel symdrome etc…  Some of it you might believe, some of it you might not believe.  For me, I believe some of it.  The reason is that I follow a diet called the specific carbohydrate diet, or SCD for short.  The person who invented the diet wrote a book on it called Breaking the Vicious Cycle which I highly suggest you read if you are reading this site.  The bottom line regarding bread is that I no longer eat bread as common people think of it.  By common people bread, I mean bread that has wheat in it.  It turns out that the wheat was most definitely a reason for many of my symptoms.

So now, now that I am symptom free and feeling much better and finally off all medications for nearly a year now, I am happy with knowing that the only bread I eat will be coming out of the oven in about 25 minutes in the form of almond flour with honey, blueberries, and two eggs, a tiny tiny bit of vanilla, some baking powder, and they are my favorite banana muffins.

Bread is something that I know most people take on a daily basis and don’t think nothing of it.   But for me, I know now, after not eating it for one year, that it was truly messing up my insides.  I think it very well could have been one of the main reasons for my nasty ulcerative colitis symptoms for so very long.  I love bread.  I will always be addicted to it.  Almost like an alcoholic in some ways.  But, the days of me chowing down a half loaf of bread in an hour, two bagels per day, all kinds of burger buns etc… are over.  At least as long as things are going this well for me colitis wise.

What’s the best bread for UC:  not the ones at the stores, the one you make with almond flour.

Here is another cookbook which goes into detail on cooking with almond flour: The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook

It seems that the general consensus from GI doctors is that banana is something that nearly all UC patients can tolerate quite well.  SO I think the answer is yes, banana is good for ulcerative colitis.   Just like all other foods for anyone, if you find that you are not able to tolerate something, in this case banana, you should talk with your doctor or consider stopping the eating of it.

I eat one banana every morning with the morning smoothie that I make, and it works out perfectly for me.  I also add orange juice and strawberries and blueberries to the smooothie and usually throw in some peanut butter too to get some protein.  The banana makes it really tasty and I don’t ever plan on cutting it out.

It’s quite tricky when you are in the middle of a colitis flare to figure out what you should be eating, and what might be causing you more pain, so take the approach of testing things out if you can.  If you are unsure of something, test it out by eating just a tiny bit at a time.  No need to pig out on ten bananas in one day to find out that you have an intolerance for eating them with your ulcerative colitis(UC).

So many people ask if it’s alright to drink if you have UC (ulcerative colitis)? And again, it for sure is not a one answer fits all situations. There are quite a few people who drink all the time, almost at their own leisure, who also have ulcerative colitis. But, I would use extreme caution in drinking alcoholic drinks and beer, wine, and hard alcohol if you are a newly diagnosed UC patient.

For me, I don’t drink alcohol at all. It seems to really help my UC when I don’t drink. Back in the years before being diagnosed with colitis, I was drinking whenever I wanted to. Beer, wine, and especially Jack Daniels whiskey. But, after speaking with quite a few people, it seems that either the sugars or alcohol, or combination is just not too great for most UC patients. So I stopped.

For many people, drinking alcohol is a major part of their lifestyles. That is great, and something that is common with people all over the world. It is also something that is very addictive, and a habit that may be hard to break. As the majority of UC patients are diagnosed before they reach age 30, alcohol is usually introduced to people in their teen or early twenties. So, the combination of starting UC symptoms, and also starting to introduce alcohol can potentially be a bad combination.

My suggestion is this, if you are developing UC symptoms with bleeding and pains in your abdomen, make sure to talk with some GI doctors. And then, if you also drink on a regular basis, or just once in a while, try to stop drinking alcohol and see how your UC responds. If it is a pleasant surprise, then you might be on your way to a alcohol free life just like me.

Yes, you can definitely eat hamburgers on a colitis diet.  But of course that depends on what diet you are on.

If you are like me, and you follow the Specific Carbohydrate diet, then surely you can eat hamburger, but you will need to modify the meal.  I don’t eat any wheat products or grain for that matter.  So, when I eat hamburgers, I have to use something else for the bun.  When I go to McDonald’s or Burger King, those places I have noticed are not very ulcerative colitis friendly as far as my diet is concerned, so I actually avoid them nearly all year long.  But, if I am somewhere else and really feel like a hamburger, you can either order a burger without the bun, or you can use lettuce or tomato as your bun.

I would definitely advise ulcerative colitis people against eating hamburgers if there favorite part is the bread bun.  But, if you can do without a hamburger bun with your burger, you should be alright in eating them.  One other side note regarding hamburgers is the ketchup.  I don’t eat that anymore with my colitis diet because there is usually way too much corn syrup and sugars in the common restaurant ketchups these days.

So the bottom line is this, I have ulcerative colitis, I don’t eat breads, so no hamburger buns for me.  I think diet is very important to keeping my colitis where its at, and quite a few other UC people feel the same.  I love burgers, but I eat them less now, and when I do, I get creative with the bun.  It’s that simple.