After initially founding this blog, I started to feel weird about documenting everything. Who would care? Did I really want to spend so much time talking about being sick? Given the nature of the disease, did I really want to be that
that girl that blogs about her colon? After recovering from my first flare on 6xAsacol HD, I had a second flare in August 2010 (treated with 6xAsacol HD and Rowasa enemas), another in May 2011 (treated with 2xLialda and Rowasa enemas), and another starting in October 2011 (still coming out of this one, but on an 4xLialda and Rowasa enema regime). I couldn't help but notice that despite some periods of long remission (about seven months), I was still spending about half of my time in flare of coming out of it. I hate to think about what that means in terms of damage and scaring in my colon... I also realized that my medication needs seem to be escalating.
This lead to two clear realizations:
1) Being sick this often an this much is not acceptable.
2) I need to start treating possible
causes and not just symptoms.
In order to address these concerns, I took a good look at my lifestyle. I am pretty good about getting exercise (I bike about 12 miles a day), but somehow I was still feeling like I didn't have enough energy to really live my life. I would get up, bike to work, work a (usually) pretty hectic nine hour day, bike home, and be to exhausted to make dinner or really engage with my husband. I was eating oatmeal for breakfast (at work), a salad or a canned soup for lunch, and usually pizza or a big bowl of pasta for dinner. I considered myself a fairly healthy eater, although I always felt a little embarrassed talking about my eating habits. I felt like they weren't really in my control... My body demanded pasta or other carbs, and I acquiesced.
Given this examination of my life, and the fact that I have a digestive disease, I thought I diet was a good place to start. I started doing research (and by research I clearly mean Googling), and I stumbled on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), pioneered by Elaine Gottschall. The basics behind the diet goes something like this: For some reason, my body has a hard time digesting long-chain carbohydrates. Maybe the enzymes in my cillia were damaged, or maybe a mucosal lining formed that didn't allow long-chain carbohydrates to get to the necessary enzymes. For whatever reason, these undigested carbohydrates were hanging out in my gut. A colony of bacteria grew that thrived on fermenting these carbohydrates. The byproducts of this fermentation were toxic to my body and damaging to my colon lining. In an attempt to protect my colon lining from , my goblet cells produced extra mucosal lining, making it even harder for carbohydrates to get to the digestive enzymes, leading to further fermentation, and the production of more toxic byproducts. Eventually, the goblet cells wore out, leaving unprotected patches in my colon that were then damaged by these toxic byproducts, leading to ulceration and bleeding.
My medications were just treating the inflammation symptoms of this cycle- they weren't treating the cause (that undigested long-chain carbohydrates were fueling this fermentation process). The SCD treats the cause. By depriving the bacteria of the long chain carbohydrates it needs to thrive, the colony will be greatly diminished, and the flora of my gut will essentially "reset" to digest food properly without this damaging fermentation cycle.
Ok, so that is the science. In practice, the diet means starting with a strict 2-5 day "Intro Diet" when you are jump starting the bacterial die-off. During this intro phase, the diet is limited to just a few foods like cooked carrots, boiled or broiled meat, dry curd cottage cheese, eggs, and a 50/50 dilution of apple cider or grape juice. After the 2-5 days you slowly start reintroducing foods, going at whatever pace your body tells you is right. Eventually, you are eating all of the foods on the "legal" list, which generally means anything but grains, dairy that is high in lactose, soy, and starches like those found in many pre-packaged foods and potatoes.
I started the diet on Friday November 11, 2011 . For a few days, I was eating all the foods on the "legal" list. I was traveling, and couldn't commit to eating on the intro diet. On Tuesday, I started the intro diet (with one cheat- I ate cooked green beans for dinner one night). I will be honest, I felt awful. The food was generally unappealing, I had a constant headache, and my symptoms weren't much better (still blood and mucus). I was also exhausted and moody. On Thursday, I started Phase 1, and reintroduced acorn and butternut squash (cooked), spinach (cooked), zucchini (cooked), as well as applesauce and pearsauce. I also made the decision to open up the use of honey and spices (without this I probably couldn't bring myself to stay on the diet... I LOVE good food too much). I found some AMAZING blogs by people who have used SCD in their own lives, and the creative recipes they post have made the whole diet seem really easy to follow (see the end of the post for some examples).
I am now one week and two days in, and I feel great! My symptoms have almost completely cleared up (although I am waiting for my system to be a bit more regular before moving onto Phase 2). My energy levels are incredible! My husband even commented on how much more helpful I have been around the house when we get home at night. I am not having a hard time sticking to the diet in this phase, and I plan to stay on it until my body let's me know it has healed a bit more or I feel like I MUST eat new foods or I will quit the diet. My favorite recipes so far include
squash french fries,
breakfast sausage and
carrot pancakes, all of which I would love to eat on the diet or not!
I am looking forward to continuing on this journey, and coming up with some great recipes of my own (which I plan to share here). Until then, here are some fabulous and inspirational blogs I have found:
TheSCDGirl A blog by a woman who is using SCD to control her rheumatoid arthritis. Has GREAT recipes that are often really simple. She also breaks it down by recipe's that can be used in different phases, which I REALLY appreciate.
Against All Grain Founded by a woman using a modified SCD to control her Ulcerative Colitis, this blog is downright gourmet. The amazing photos and creative recipes make you want to go SCD even if you don't need to. She does a great job of adapting traditional recipes to fit the SCD lifestyle, and she isn't afraid to suggest recipes from around the world. I can't wait until I can try some of the Thai food she suggests! Just a note, she admits that not everything on her site is strictly SCD, so if you are planning on going strict, be careful.
