Hi Everyone:
I’m very happy to have found your website. It’s terrific.
I was diagnosed with ulcerative proctitis about 6 years ago. After my second flare I tried the SCD and within a month all my symptoms were gone. I followed the diet strictly for about a year. After that I started adding a few illegal foods in, but was still quite careful. I moved to a different city about 4 months ago and was “cheating” a little more frequently. Last October I started having a flare. I went back on the intro diet for a few days and then back on stage 1 and 2 foods. Unfortunately, I’m responding much less successfully than the last time. But, I really can’t complain because I feel just fine (except I’ve lost weight and at least twice a day I have a trip to the toilet with bleeding). I guess I have two questions that I’d like to ask you:
1) According to the BTVC book, the author claims you can be cured after following the diet for one year after the last symptom has cleared. I was under the impression that one did not, therefore, need to be on the diet for life. Can you comment on that?
2) Also, when re-introducing foods, how can one know if a particular food is causing a problem. In other words, how can we know how long it takes for a certain food to pass through our digestive tract? Could symptoms be caused by days or weeks of eating the food in question? So, perhaps it’s more of a cumulative thing rather than having a bit of sugar or starch once in a while. Can we still have flares if we follow the diet strictly for life?
I really enjoy bread (I’m originally from Quebec and nobody makes bread better than the French!), pasta and yams. Rather than seeing if I can reintroduce these foods (well, probably not the bread) as a permanent part of my diet somewhere down the road, I would like to be able to indulge in small amounts a few times a year (especially for special occasions/holidays). I feel I can now live without these foods for the most part as there are so many enjoyable SCD foods. In a way, I’d rather not risk re-introducing the foods gradually as I wouldn’t necessarily know right away if they were doing me harm. Just a taste every once in a while would satisfy me. Can this be done or am I asking for trouble? It would also be interesting to know what kinds of illegal foods people have been successful in adding back (such as your corn tortillas). As well, which foods are commonly the worst offenders (as in don’t even think about re-introducing).
I am nowhere near re-introducing foods at this point, but it would be great to have some input as to what I can one day look forward to.
Sorry I guess that’s more than 2 questions!
I’m so happy to have found the SCD and if I have to be on it for life, than that’s the way it has to be. I find I do really well when I’m at home where I have complete control of what I’m ingesting. Traveling and eating out are such challenges. But, at least, I can cook quite well and I enjoy it. I want to avoid meds at all costs – I hope it’s possible to do this.
Thanks for your help.
Moxie
*** to learn more about the SCD diet feel free to check out the Specific Carbohydrate Diet Page
