 "breaking the vicisous cycle; intestinal health through diet" | 2009-10-28 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2WJAU0F8EWDGZ |
This book is very informative and helps us understand the control we have over the things that transpire in our lives and bodies. we can help our bodies become healthy and whole by educating ourselves with good quality information and this book does that for us. My experience in the delivery of this book was fast , getting that needed information to me quickly. I recommend this book to anyone who is experiencing intestinal or digestive problems. It has been a blessing to me.
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 "The SCD Diet can work, but there are a few things you need to know..." | 2009-10-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: AAIJHX6GHIBUX |
I have used SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) in the past. I know the "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" book by heart. Gottschall's book offers valuable insight on different types of carbohydrates and how they affect our digestion. I have seen numerous testimonials from colitis and Crohn's disease patients saying that the SCD helped relieve the symptoms of their illness and even cured them completely.
As a former ulcerative colitis patient I followed the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for six months. However, SCD did nothing to heal my colitis. After years of trial-and-error with different diets, foods and remedies, I finally understood why the Specific Carbohydrate Diet failed me. Colon inflammation can be caused by any of the following: viral, parasitic, bacterial infection, food sensitivity/allergy, gluten intolerance, etc. Unfortunately, SCD does not address all of these issues.
If your disease is the result of a parasitic infection, SCD cannot treat it.
My colitis was a result of an anaerobic parasitic infection (entamoeba histolytica, to be specific). Parasitic infection symptoms are similar to Colitis/Chron's disease (bloody diarrhea, weight loss, abdominal pain, fever).
Parasitic/bacterial infection must be treated first with antibiotics, then any possible food sensitivities must be eliminated. If your disease (IBS, Colitis, Chron's) is the result of a parasitic infection, SCD is useless.
SCD does not address all issues associated with gut disbalance.
The next step is to address possible candida/yeast infection, leaky gut syndrome and dysbiosis. Then dietary measures have to be adjusted on case by case basis.
POSITIVE aspects of The Specific Carbohydrate Diet
* Gluten-free.
* High in protein and fiber.
NEGATIVE aspects of The Specific Carbohydrate Diet
* Not suitable for someone with heart disease because it is high in saturated fat and cholesterol.
* Harmful for people with small intestine bacteria overgrowth, like in IBS and yeast/candida problems (too much honey, cheese and fruit juice).
* Allows the consumption of diet soft drinks sweetened with saccharin, a known carcinogenic substance that can trigger abdominal pain and diarrhea.
CONCLUSION
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet can be a great starting point for IBD/IBS patients, but for diet to be effective, it must address yeast/candida and intestinal bacteria overgrowth issues (which are very common in ulcerative colitis). To promote total colon healing takes more than just a diet. You need to add certain modalities such as acupuncture, hydrotherapy, nutraceuticals, etc.
-Galina Kotlyar, Digestive Health Expert- |
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| "Celiac disease" | 2009-10-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: AIRVHSR4LFEBT |
Many (most it seems) of the reviews for this book are from sufferers of Crohn's disease and Colitis, and that's fantastic that the SCD helps those conditions. I'd like to chime in on my experience with using it to treat (and hopefully ultimately reverse) Celiac disease. The diet was originally developed to treat Celiac disease, and unfortunately for Celiac sufferers it has fallen out of favor as a treatment for that disorder.
Celiac disease has ravaged my health and life. I have struggled with food allergies, chemical sensitivities, thyroid problems (multi-nodular goiter), been diagnosed with IBS, Aspergers, ADD, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. All of those things were symptoms of the underlying problem of Celiac disease. When I finally got a Celiac diagnosis and went on a gluten-free diet it seemed to change my life. No longer was I going to doctors' offices on an almost weekly basis (both conventional and alternative approaches). I had been spending thousands of dollars a month on every imaginable therapy and supplement. The gluten-free diet lessened that considerably for about a year. I knew I was on the right path. Then a lot of the symptoms started to slowly return and it was very confusing as I never deviated from the diet.
After a year of the gluten-free diet the SCD didn't seem quite so restrictive or impossible. And I was desperate. It was probably vanity that got me to make the leap, as my hair had been thinning for years and was only getting worse on the gluten-free diet, to the point that you could see my scalp and I had barely any hair left (I'm female in my 30s).
I've been on the SCD for 4 months now. It has COMPLETELY reversed all of these conditions. I am not taking any additional supplements or medications of any kind, or doing any other therapies of any kind, or visiting any doctor of any kind. My hair is growing in thicker than it ever has been in my life. The IBS, Aspergers, ADD, thyroid problems, chemical sensitivities, food allergies and chronic fatigue have all faded. My head is clear, my ability to focus has improved enormously, my nerves are calm, my energy level is at least three times or more what it used to be, my strength and physical endurance has gone way up, as have my moods. I feel stronger inside and out.
As a caution, I will add that the first two months of this diet were at times hellish. Not only the adjustment to the new food protocol, which is indeed very restrictive and can kill your social life, but also because as my body was apparently detoxing I went through various phases of anxiety and irritability and fatigue. But nothing as bad as when my illness peaked about 2 years ago. I recognized them as detox symptoms, and am now thankfully over the hump. All the work and effort has been well worth it. I feel like the SCD saved my life (not to mention my pocketbook).
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| "Crohn's Disease: Terminated" | 2009-10-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2RH34NHIZJL8Z |
I have to ask, even with the best intentions of doctors, how well is conventional medicine handling the severe form of this disease?
For me, the absolute clincher in Elaine's book is the chapter in which she explains the link between the SCD and elemental diets. When I read that, I knew this therapy had a good chance of working where medicine had failed. Here's why:
My daughters, both previously healthy, caught a stomach bug two years ago. The elder was diagnosed with IBD - mainly distal - possibly Crohn's Disease. Mesalazine was prescribed and she's done well on it. My younger daughter, however, was diagnosed with a shocking, aggressive case of Crohn's - all over the place, even in her stomach, which is rare. A later MRI showed a stricture in the terminal ileum. She was started on steroids 50mg. She did well at first but when the dose was lowered, all hell was let loose. She was in severe pain but we were trapped in this vicious cycle (oddly enough) of raising and lowering the steroids. Each time the dose was lowered, the pains were unbearable. She told me she wished she'd never gone to the doctor and that she envied people who could stretch out in bed. Obviously, the pain came from the stricture but it couldn't be operated on at that stage because the inflammation was too great.
I had sent away for an elemental diet I'd seen advertised on a Crohn's website and good old Fedex had shipped it over a few days later. My daughter was too afraid to eat anything at all but I mixed up a shake and then another and 24 hours later she said, "The pain's gone." I took the jars to the doctor who was skeptical. My daughter, however, was delighted to be out of pain and insisted on continuing. To his credit, her doctor did end up supporting it. There is plenty of medical evidence to support the effectiveness of elemental diets, particularly in children and among those in the early stages of the disease. My daughter thrived on it and her ESR (SED rate) was consistently lower on the elemental diet than it had been on the steroids but her doctor rightly asked: "What about when she comes off it?"
I mentioned previously that Elaine explains the link between elemental diets and the SCD, the key phrase being "predigested carbohydrates". That is the point on which dietary therapy and conventional medicine agree: Crohn's patients handle protein well, fats moderately but carbohydrates cause the most problems. This tallied with my research and experience and as soon as I read this, I felt the SCD had a good chance of working. I also thought the addition of the probiotic yogurt was particularly clever; I have found evidence that probiotics can make a big difference but it does depend on the strain. My daughter did benefit from this yogurt - in fact she pretty much survived on it for the first few days after the op, as she wasn't used to taking solid food after the elemental diet.
I wasn't aware of Breaking the Vicious Cycle until a few weeks before my daughter's op but I know now that Elaine says the relapse rate for elemental diets is high. Unfortunately, soon after my daughter finished her six-week stint on the elemental diet, the disease came back with a vengeance, despite the barage of recommended probiotics. The doctor then gave us the choice of steroids again or the elemental diet. My daughter chose the diet again and this time we combined with Imuran. Maybe this was the killer combination or maybe the diet did it on its own - it's hard to say - but a few weeks later, the MRI showed the inflammation was well under control. She had surgery to remove the stricture and I started her on the introductory diet of the SCD in the hospital. This monstrous disease was back two weeks after resection (I've read it can be back in as little as a week) but not so severe - basically a head ache and vomiting. My daughter kept going very slowly on the diet and her last symptom - mild diarrhea - cleared up about two months into the diet.
And the rest was plain sailing. Yes, it's a challenge to adapt to the new way of cooking at first but the recipe books are sensational and I don't spend much time cooking now, almost a year into the diet. I use Sandra Ramacher's and Raman Prasad's cookbooks mainly. Other children admire my daughter's home-made lunches at school and she loves her food. To say she is healthy now would be an understatement. She has stunned her doctor with her weight and height gain. All bloodwork is not just normal but high-normal. Her strong physique is often commented on and she tells me she feels "awesome." She takes no medication and the only supplements are occasionally Freeda B complex and enteric coated pure fish oil capsules. If you, like I was, are concerned about removing "healthy" staples such as bread and pasta from your diet, then I recommend reading "Dangerous Grains." Follow up with your own research. The research done on the diet of our paleolithic ancestors is also interesting.
One last thing that supports Elaine's argument re. the link between SCD and elemental diets: My elder daughter with mainly distal IBD tried the SCD twice but it was not successful; the elemental diet hadn't been been successful with her either. Recently, though, I tried VSL#3 probiotics for my elder daughter and she appeared to go into remission instantly (Remember you can't combine this with the SCD as it contains Bifidus). Check out the studies on this and what people are saying but boy is it expensive!
My daughter owes her health not just to the work of Dr Haas and Elaine Gottschall but to the kindness and generosity of complete strangers who have taken the time to share their stories here and elsewhere on the Web. I read every one of them and trusted their sincerity, which is why I ordered the book, despite having previously read something dismissive about the SCD in the mainstream press. I'm so glad I got the book because now when I wake up and think of this disease, I can finally say, "You are terminated."
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| "Must have for anyone with intestinal health issues" | 2009-10-02 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2IBNXVM7ZN470 |
This is one of the best books I have bought.
If you suffer from IBD (Irritable Bowel Disease) you should strongly consider making this your first purchase.
There are lots of included recipes.
I have just started to follow the guidelines set out in this book and have noticed an improvement in my IBD within a couple of weeks!
Highly recommend. |
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