Introduction

Posted on April 10, 2011 by jzigbe

What are Colitis and Crohn’s?

Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s disease are forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). IBD is a chronic inflammatory condition of the digestive tract. Ulcerative colitis involves inflammation of the inner lining of the colon and rectum. Crohn’s disease may involve inflammation anywhere in the digestive tract from the mouth to the rectum.

Does Diet Help?

Even the most obtuse person suffering from IBD will have noticed that certain foods increase the symptoms of IBD.
Most people agree that Diet is one of the factors that affect the severity of IBD.
So, Which Diet? Which foods are helpful and which are harmful?
The diet that has the most adherents and which has the most success rates is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet [SCD].
However, you don’t have to follow any diet blindly. Everybody is different. What causes me problems might not cause you problems. That is why you see so many different views about diet. I follow a much stricter form of SCD, I do not eat anything which is also not sanctioned by the Paleo diet. In other words, the food item has to be allowed in both SCD and Paleo diets. [Doubly difficult, I know!] However, the recipes here mainly follow the SCD diet.

What is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet

SCD is a strict grain-free, lactose-free, and sucrose-free dietary regimen intended for those suffering from Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Celiac Disease, other IBD, and IBS.

Of all dietary components, carbohydrates have the greatest influence on intestinal microbes (yeast and bacteria) which are believed to be involved in intestinal disorders. Most intestinal microbes require carbohydrates for energy. The SCD works by severely limiting the availability of carbohydrates to intestinal microbes. When carbohydrates are not digested, they are not absorbed. They remain in the intestinal tract, thus encouraging microbes to multiply by providing food for them. This can lead to the formation of acids and toxins which can injure the small intestine. Once bacteria multiply within the small intestine, they can destroy the enzymes on the intestinal cell surface, preventing carbohydrate digestion and absorption. At this point, production of excessive mucus may be triggered as the intestinal tract attempts to “lubricate” itself against the irritation caused by the toxins, acids, and the presence of incompletely digested and unabsorbed carbohydrates.

The SCD is based on the principle that specifically selected carbohydrates requiring minimal digestion are well absorbed, leaving virtually nothing for intestinal microbes to feed on. As the microbes decrease due to lack of food, their harmful by-products also diminish. No longer needing protection, the mucus producing cells stop producing excessive mucus and carbohydrate digestion is improved. The SCD corrects malabsorption, allowing nutrients to enter the bloodstream and be made available to the cells of the body, thereby strengthening the immune system’s ability to fight. Further debilitation is prevented, weight can return to normal, and ultimately there is a return to health.

SCD is described in the book The Management of Celiac Disease, by Doctors Sydney Valentine Haas and Merrill P. Haas. Dr. Sydney Haas, a pediatrician, who took an interest in the diet of his patients who had celiac disease. He noted certain carbohydrates were better tolerated than others, and went on to develop the SCD as a treatment for celiac disease.

Elaine Gottschall, desperate for a treatment for her daughter who had treatment-unresponsive ulcerative colitis, was put in touch with Dr. Haas. Gottschall started her daughter on the SCD and the girl’s symptoms improved. Gottschall was then inspired to research the diet more, and went on to write Breaking The Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet, which details the specifics of the SCD.

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Coconut Oil

Posted on April 10, 2011 by jzigbe

Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, which is known for being anti-viral, antibacterial and anti-fungal. Coconut oil is also being used by thyroid sufferers to increase body metabolism, and to lose weight. Virgin coconut oil is also used for making natural soaps and other health products, as it is one of the healthiest things one can put on their skin.

At one time coconut oil received negative press in the US because of its high level of saturated fat. However, modern research has shown that not all saturated fats are alike and that the fatty acids in coconut oil, the medium chain triglycerides, do not raise serum cholesterol or contribute to heart disease, but are in fact very healthy. Also, some negative studies done on coconut oil in the past was done on hydrogenated coconut oil, which has been altered from its original form. Other studies have clearly shown that traditional Asian cultures that eat significant amounts of coconut in their diet do not suffer from modern diseases seen in western cultures that promote a low-fat diet.

Much research on the nutritional and medicinal benefits on coconut oil has surfaced in recent years. Much of that research has been done by Dr. Mary Enig. Dr. Enig has classified coconuts as a “functional food,” which provides health benefits over and beyond the basic nutrients. She has specifically identified lauric acid as a key ingredient in coconut products:

“Approximately 50% of the fatty acids in coconut fat are lauric acid. Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid, which has the additional beneficial function of being formed into monolaurin in the human or animal body. Monolaurin is the anti-viral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal monoglyceride used by the human or animal to destroy lipid coated viruses such as HIV, herpes, cytomegalovirus, influenza, various pathogenic bacteria including listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and protozoa such as giardia lamblia. Some studies have also shown some antimicrobial effects of the free lauric acid.”

Source: http://www.coconut-info.com/

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Elaine: Constipation

Posted on April 10, 2011 by jzigbe

Yes, the diet has reversed severe constipation. It is of no use to tell us what happened when you were not on SCD™. It is SCD™ that counts. I will send you an article I wrote on just this problem.

The whole fiber story about helping severely constipated people is a story which just does not work and can cause other problems. I have had a good deal of experience with this problem. Not only have adults been helped by the following information but the SCD™ has saved a few babies from horrible surgery as these babies were given the diagnosis of Hirschprung’s disease which makes it impossible for them to move their bowels. The result of this operation is a horror story. One Mother brought her baby on a TV interview with me in Canada and I can remember her saying to all of Canada (cross-Canada program): “You do not know what it is like to change a baby’s daiper day after day which has only urine!” She was told to pry feces out with a rectal thermometer. In the meantime, the baby was doubled up with pain screaming night and day. One young child was getting prolapses of the rectum from straining. In both these cases, the children (including the baby) recovered in short time. The baby was put on the infant formula in the book and the child on a regular SCD™ diet.

The first step is to get up one hour earlier in the morning if you usually have to go to work. The morning is the normal time for people to have a bowel movement – right after breakfast and the regimen I am giving you is based on this principle. Start this regimen on the weekend when you do not have to go out as it may cause urgency.

Get on the introductory diet for two days. Then introduce the muffins, one per day, along with COOKED AND PEELED vegetables and fruits. Raw fruit and vegetables (with the exception of the ripe banana) can aggravate both diarrhea and constipation. When you are adjusted to the diet, we can then start the treatment for constipation altho the diet alone may do the trick. Introduce a few stewed prunes with your breakfast – about 3-4 for about one week. See if that helps along with the SCD™.

If the diet and stewed prune do not make you go to the bathroom after a week to ten days, do the following:

1) Go to the market and look for PRUNE NECTAR (legal, without sugar). If you cannot find prune nectar, buy prune juice (legal) in a jar. Simmer the contents of the jar to half the volume. In other words, if you start with one quart, simmer it down to one pint. Refrigerate.

2) At breakfast, mix three tablespoons of the prune nectar with 1/2 cup Tropicana or freshly squeeze orange juice.

3) Start your breakfast with this mixture. Then eat your regular specific carbohydrate breakfast but make sure you have a large cup of something hot. Either your coffee or tea. Then go to the washroom and see if anything happens. Read and relax. If this does not work the first day, repeat for two or three days. On the fourth day if this does not work, then insert a glycerin suppository (get in drugstore) while you are sitting on the toilet and hold it in for one minute. If it still doesn’t work, do the same thing the next day. It would not hurt on the first day you try the glycerin suppository after breakfast to use another one before going to bed. I am trying to establish a normal pattern of defecation for you and it may take almost a month. However, the children responded in a short time without the suppository.

So give it a try. Good luck.

From the LI listserve

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Carbohydrate – Ensuring Adequate Levels

Posted on April 10, 2011 by jzigbe

Carbohydrate – Ensuring Adequate Levels on SCD™Especially kids with Adrenal, Hyperactive or Stress sensitive problems

Andrew Cutler Ph.D. on the autism-mercury group writes:-
I generally think the SCD™is pretty useful and do recommend it often in file reviews. Many I know of had good experiences with it.

Others have had horrible experiences and I think I know what the issue is and how to avoid it.

Many of these kids have under performing adrenal glands. People with inadequate adrenal function can’t make their own blood sugar from other things and must have some carbohydrate in their diet. not a lot, but they do very poorly on an Atkins or keto diet.

Many parents who do the SCD™avoid fruit due to it’s supposed relation to yeast. Then their picky eaters won’t touch the squashes and other
vegetables that are the few remaining carbohydrate sources on the SCD. Honey is permissible but many won’t use it or their kids don’t like it.
(you may wish to try a variety of different honeys, they can taste quite a bit different depending on what flowers the bees visited).

The kids accidentally end up on the SCD™+ atkins diet, not just the SCD.

One sign that your kid is “on Atkins” is dark urine.

If you have a hyperactive, or stress sensitive, or suspense intolerant kid or one you know has adrenal problems and you want to use the SCD™
you must ensure they consume an adequate amount of permissible carbohydrate daily. It doesn’t have to be a lot, 1 or 2 grams per
pound is probalby enough, but they have an absolute metabolic requirement for glucose or equivalent – it is an essential nutrient for them just like vitamins and minerals and protein are.

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Elaine: Carbohydrates In Fruit

Posted on April 10, 2011 by jzigbe

The reason fruits are allowed on the diet was because after 60 years of practicing medicine Dr. Haas concluded that not only were they well tolerated but he stated in his textbook that the sugars they contain are monosaccharides and they contain no starch. When I took it upon myself to find out more, I came to further conclusions. But, yes, they are tolerated and they do not contain complex carbohydrates except for indigestible cellulose in the cell walls and peels of the fruit.

Cellulose is an in digestible carb which makes it sound as tho it should be illegal. When it is added to things, I don’t like it much. However, cellulose is in all fruits and veggies and my feeling is that in its natural source and when the veggies and fruits are cooked (at the beginning of the diet) all will be OK.

Throughout evolution, homo sapiens ate fruits and veggies and even though it feeds some bacteria, I do believe we are adapted to the natural fiber (cellulose) in these foods and that it maintains the normal good guy bacteria in our guts if we don’t overdo it with things like fiber in the bottle or in the cereal dish.

From the LI listserve

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Elaine: Alcohol

Posted on April 10, 2011 by jzigbe

Alcohol in dry wine and other products is made from grain, but none of the starch is left. The yeast used in making wine, as well as enzymes in the grains, when mashed and left to heat and time, change the starch and sugars into alcohol. Since alcohol is only a short two-carbon structure (as compared to starch and disaccharides-see diagrams of many sugars each with 6 carbons X the number of sugars in the chain)(Page 3 in BTVC) alcohol can be absorbed very quickly through the stomach or upper small intestine, and we need not worry about any of these calories getting down to where bacteria waiting for something to eat and make babies. However, if starch and sugars DO get down to the lower gut and are fermented by bacteria and yeast into alcohol or short chain fatty acids, then we have problems.

But as long as it is absorbed up high AND NOT TOO MUCH we are OK on SCD.

From the LI listserve

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BTVC Chapter One – Past and Present

Posted on April 10, 2011 by jzigbe

In 1951, after many years of clinical experience, Drs. Sidney V. and Merrill P. Haas published a book entitled Management of Celiac Disease. Directed to the medical community, the book documented the doctors’ experiences in treating and curing hundreds of cases of celiac disease as well as cases of cystic fibrosis of the pancreas. Their approach was dietary, and they used a well-balanced, normal diet that was highly specific as to the types of sugars and starches allowed. When patients followed this Specific Carbohydrate Diet for a minimum of one year, they were then able to return to normal diet with complete and permanent disappearance of symptoms.

In 1958, we took our eight year old daughter to the Drs. Haas. Three years before she had been diagnosed by specialists as having incurable ulcerative colitis and her condition was deteriorating. The years of treatment with cortisone and sulfonamides, plus innumerable other medical approaches, had been unsuccessful and surgery seemed imminent. The Drs. Haas placed her on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and within two years she was free of symptoms. She returned to eating normally after another few years, and has remained in excellent health for over twenty years.

Many students, friends, and others whom I have seen in my practice who were suffering from ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease (not cured by a gluten-free diet), diverticulitis, and various types of chronic diarrhea have tried the Haas Diet and most of them are now free of their respective diseases. Some of the most dramatic and fastest recoveries have occurred in babies and young children with severe constipation and among children who, along with intestinal problems, had serious behavior problems. These included autistic-type hyperactivity as well as hyperactivity, often accompanied by severe and prolonged night terrors. Very often the behavior problems and night terrors cleared up within ten days after initiation of the Haas Specific Carbohydrate Diet. It is interesting to note that in June, 1985, the Schizophrenia Association of Great Britain launched a research project to investigate Dr. F. C. Dohan’s research concerning a relationship between celiac disease and schizophrenia. The basis for this project is a strict grain-free, milk-free, low sugar diet, closely related to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

Meanwhile in research laboratories throughout the world, investigators have been studying intestinal problems. Physicians and researchers have found that a special type of synthetic diet (chemical nutrients assembled in the laboratory) called an Elemental Diet shows great promise in the treatment of digestive and intestinal problems of all types. The malabsorption problem seen in cystic fibrosis of the pancreas as well as diarrhea which occurs after cancer chemotherapy have been overcome by the use of the synthetic Elemental Diet. When used for patients with Crohn’s disease, not only did symptoms disappear but children who had not grown properly for years showed dramatic weight and height gains while on the diet. The level of sodium chloride in the perspiration (the sweat test which measures the severity of the condition) of children with cystic fibrosis of the pancreas decreased dramatically when these children were given the Elemental Diet. Over six hundred scientific publications have appeared in medical journals in the 1970′s and early 1980′s testifying to the fact that this Elemental Diet is effective in correcting malabsorption and reversing the course of many intestinal disorders. However, since the Elemental Diet is an artificial diet, usually administered via a stomach tube, it cannot be continued indefinitely. When it is discontinued, usually after six to eight weeks, improvement gradually decreases and symptoms usually return.

The common denominator underlying the effectiveness of both the natural Specific Carbohydrate Diet and the synthetic Elemental Diet is the type of carbohydrate which predominates. In the synthetic Elemental Diet, the principal carbohydrate is the single sugar, glucose, which in biochemical circles, is called a monosaccharide (mono=one; saccharide=sugar) as contrasted with a two-sugar disaccharide such as sucrose (table sugar) or a many-sugar polysaccharide such as starch.

In the natural Specific Carbohydrate Diet, the carbohydrates are also predominantly single sugars – those found in fruit, honey, properly-made yoghurt, and certain vegetables. The many research reports indicating that the synthetic Elemental Diet is beneficial in intestinal diseases provide support for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet which can be used in the home.

Those who choose to follow the Specific Carbohydrate Diet need not feel deprived. Many of the delicious recipes in this book could easily be part of any gourmet cookbook. The fact that they are so appealing, however, in no way compromises the underlying scientific reasoning: the carbohydrates specified in the recipes are biochemically correct.

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet presented in this book is highly nutritious and well-balanced. It is safe and very likely to be effective in overcoming many lingering and vexing intestinal and digestive problems.

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