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Specific Carbohydrate Diet – Breakfast

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Sufferers from inflammatory bowel diseases, such as IBD, IBS, Celiac disease, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, etc., have often been told they will “need to eat a bland diet from now on, with no fiber, etc”. Sufferers have also been told that what they eat makes no difference to the course of the disease.

Those who suffer from any of these diseases may try eating bland diets but what is a bland diet and does it really help to alleviate the problems that people with Crohns and Ulcerative Colitis, etc experience? One sufferer was told that he must eat pasta and mashed potato, no fiber of any kind, no fruit, etc. Others have been told to stay off spices. Some people are also allergic to, or suffer from food intolerances with milk or gluten (bread).

Desperate For Help

One mother was desperate to help her 4 year old child, suffering from chronic Ulcerative Colitis. Most doctors could not help, they learned nothing about nutrition in medical school and many still do not, even these days. Finally, she found Dr. Sydney Haas who had been successfully treating people with Celiac disease and he was able to help her child through changing her diet. The mother was Elaine Gottschall and she went on to fully research the whole area of inflammatory bowel disease, working closely with Dr. Haas and gaining a degree and a masters degree in subjects related to the area. Elaine wrote a book, “Breaking The Vicious Cycle” which has has been through 18 reprints and which has helped countless sufferers from inflammatory bowel disease to live much improved lives. If you want to know more about helping relieve the kinds of problems such as gas, inflammation, pain, bleeding and diarrhea, that people with IBD, etc., experience, then read the book.

NOT A Bland Diet

The recommended “bland” diet actually comprised the very foods that, according to Elaine Gottschall’s book, were CAUSING the bowel problems. Foods like bread, potatoes, pasta, sweet potatoes, cakes, cookies and anything with sugar or flour, etc are not allowed on this diet. Yet you can happily eat most fruit and many vegetables, along with meat, fish and eggs, to provide a balanced, healthy, nutritious diet. And if you want a bit of sweet stuff, honey is allowed!

For those suffering badly from any of these diseases, an initial food of carrot soup prepared in a particular way is very helpful, followed a short while later (a few days) with a special 24 hour yogurt made at home, usually in a yogurt maker.

Recipe And Meal Plan

Breakfast

So what can you eat for breakfast? No problem. How about scrambled eggs? (NO MILK). Melt a bit of butter in a saucepan, add your mixed eggs and cook to your preferred consistency. If you cannot take butter, you can scramble the eggs without, provided you take care and keep stirring. There’s also poached egg on spinach or a boiled egg. Remember, no toast, unless you make up some special almond flour bread from one of the recipes in the book “Breaking The Vicious Cycle“, by Elaine Gottschall.

Alternatively, what about a banana? Make sure there are brown spots on the skin. This means the carbohydrate in the banana has changed to the easily digestible form.

If your insides are very painful or you have a lot of symptoms, try mashing the banana before eating. Once the symptoms have subsided, you could also add dates and grapes to make a super-healthy, filling breakfast. You could even add a special almond and honey muffin.

The picture shows a honey, almond and coconut muffin but these should only be eaten after all diarrhea has stopped. Until then, eat the honey almond muffins made with the recipe in the book “Breaking The Vicious Cycle“.

Another possibility is a bowl of the 24 hour yogurt with stewed fruit. This can also be a delicious dessert. Pears, eating apples or plums are all delicious when stewed in a little water (no sugar). If you need more sweetness, drizzle some honey on top of the yogurt and stewed fruit – delightful.

SCD Diet – Dinner – Ground Beef in A Tomato And Vegetable Sauce

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What About Dinner?

Here’s an easy, tasty, nutritious dinner, that’s easy to make and budget-friendly. It’s based on ground beef, vegetables and sieved tomatoes (passata). To ensure that it is SCD friendly, check the jar of passata to ensure no sugar has been added. Alternatively, use a can or two of whole tomatoes instead of passata and whizz it in the blender for a few seconds.

For full information on using the SCD diet to help alleviate symptoms of IBS, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, etc, and to check up which foods are SCD legal, read the original book “Breaking The Vicious Cycle” by Elaine Gottschall.

Recipe – feeds 4 – 6

Ingredients

1/2 a carrot, cleaned and chopped finely
1/2 a red pepper chopped finely
1 onion skinned and chopped finely
3 – 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped finely – optional
1 root of turmeric, chopped finely – optional
6 mushrooms, sliced thinly
1/4 zucchini sliced
butter for frying
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried mixed herbs (optional)
1 large jar of passata (check there is no added sugar) or 2 tins of whole plum tomatoes, blended
1.5 pounds ground beef

Method

Put the ground beef into a frying pan or large saucepan and fry gently, until browned and cooked, turning it over and breaking up any large pieces, so it is evenly cooked and crumbly and any moisture has boiled off.
In another saucepan, melt some butter and add the carrot. Fry gently, turning well until it is softened. This releases the special flavor. Add the onion, garlic and turmeric and continue frying gently. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Add the mushrooms and zucchini and fry gently until they are cooked. Add the dried mixed herbs if using.
Add the browned ground beef to the vegetable mixture. Stir well.
Add the passata or blended whole canned tomatoes to the mixture and heat, stirring until the whole mixture is thoroughly heated through.
Serve immediately if wished, with side vegetables, such as broccoli and brussels sprouts, for instance.
I like to make it early in the day and allow it to sit until evening or even next day. This allows the flavors to blend and mellow.

Feeding The Family

If someone drops by unexpectedly and you haven’t enough to feed everyone, you can quickly fry up extra carrot, onion, mushrooms and zucchini in a pan and add to the mixture, to stretch it out. Usually, you do not need to add extra passata or blended tomatoes.

Losing Weight

Many people who stick to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet find that they lose weight, especially round the middle. The diet is very healthy and nutritious and as you cannot eat snacks such as candy, cakes, cookies, chips, etc., the weight stays off. It’s not a problem either, as this diet is one on which you seldom feel hungry, so there is no temptation to snack.

Specific Carbohydrate Diet SCD Diet

Sirloin steak, pan-fried in butter, with broccoli and carrots and a side-dish of onions, red peppers, mushrooms and zucchini.

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (often abbreviated to SCD) is a diet which eliminates processed foods, grains, complex sugars and starches. This means no bread, rice, pasta, cakes, cookies, candy, etc but the diet is very nourishing and healthy and probably very like what our distant ancestors ate. Would you feel you were missing anything by eating the meal above?

SCD has been described as a way to “re-boot” your digestion by starving out the “bad” bacteria that are causing digestive problems. It can also give your overall health a great boost. Trying the SCD diet will certainly not harm you. It could probably have you feeling better than ever, even if you don’t have an inflammatory bowel disorder or intestinal damage. But anyone who has a bowel problem, such as Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative Colitis, or other inflammatory bowel disorder (IBD) may find this diet extremely helpful, in fact, tailor-made.

Elaine Gottschall is the researcher who coined the name the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), following its success in treating her 4 year old daughter’s illness with Ulcerative Colitis. She researched it in her academic work and wrote about the principles in her book “Breaking the Vicious Cycle, Intestinal Health Through Diet”.

The main principle is following a diet that allows only specific carbohydrates needing minimal digestion. it can help reduce intestinal inflammation and make life a lot easier and enjoyable for people with inflammatory bowel disorders.

People with intestinal problems such as ulcerative colitis (UC), celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), may find difficulty dealing with food and food intolerances.

The diet was originally developed by Dr Sydney Haas, who found that certain carbohydrates were better tolerated by patients with celiac disease. Elaine Gottschall further developed Dr Haas’s work for patients with all types of inflammatory bowel disease. It has also been used effectively with children suffering with autism, who are often found to have bowel problems.

The theory behind SCD is that complex carbohydrates are not fully digested by certain people and the remains of these are fed on by harmful bacteria in the gut, producing gas and damage. These bacteria can also produce toxins which add to the sufferer’s problems.

If is thought that if complex carbohydrates (this includes sugar) are avoided, these “bad” bacteria are starved and die. Only simple carbohydrates are allowed. Honey is a simple carbohydrate and this is allowed on the SCD diet.

Symptoms of inflammatory bowel disorders are often painful and include ulcers, diarrhea, bleeding, and anemia.

Elimination diets, like SCD are being found to help many with IBD and other inflammatory or autoimmune disorders.