Overcoming Crohns Disease page 2

[MikeEnRegalia]

Obviously I'm not a doctor or anything, but from what I've read, I'd say you should definitely eliminate all grains from your diet. Yogurt won't be that much of a problem as far as carbs are concerned - assuming that you verified that you don't have any problems with lactose. Can you eat high fiber, low starch vegetables? Maybe a large salad with yogurt dressing and slices of chicken breast - it's perfectly in line with the primal blueprint and should hopefully work with your intestines, too.

[strom]

I've been gradually reducing grains. However I have these light-headness at several points in the day. Is this the "low- carb flu"?

[FabMandy]

If you wanted to "play safe" you could up the content of fruit in your diet, though in Breaking the Vicious Cycle the advice is to cook everything at the start, so that may add some food preparation time to your day! It could very well be adjusting to the diet though. I did not experience any light-headedness when I started but I did get VERY tired! Everybody has a different reaction.

[strom]

I have been doing that. It seems to work a bit better. IS there certain fruits to avoid besides bananas? ALthough I do like half a banana in my smoothies. Sweetens it nicely.

[FabMandy]

Bananas are ok on the SCD as long as they are VERY RIPE - ie. covered in brown spots, no green on the peel... They don't need to be black (in fact I think they are yuck like that lol), but they do have to be ripe. They should taste sweet. This means that that starches in the banana have converted to sugars and are more easily digested. Doing primal, bananas might add a lot of carbs to your day, but if you wanted to keep half of one in your smoothie, I don't think it's that bad.

[StoneAgeQueen]

I don't really know much about Crohn's, but isn't lactose to be avoided completely by all Crohn's sufferers?

[norcalgal]

i know its not chrons disease and perhaps too much tmi but...

i had very bad IBS, almost to the point that i was afraid to eat out. when i did i was very sick. i had to eat a nibble of food. wait for at least 5 minutes before i could continue eating. much worse in the mornings after the sleep-fast, or if i skipped lunch due to being too busy....or even just not eating for longer than 4 hrs. i had to potty immediantly afterwards....and going to buy groceries...well just forget it! i couldnt be away from the house for longer than an hour at a time. it was truly awful. my husband was calling me "my lil sicky-sick". my poor mother when she came over to the USA to visit me was very very worried about me, and thought i might need a doctor to have a look thru my GI tracts.(this is january 09).

i started going to a chiropractor around february 09 because my husband had severe neck pain. i thought there was nothing wrong with my spine, id never had an xray on it before though. turns out i had scoliosis and 3 areas of congential fusing where my spine's vertebra never separated after birth. one at the top by my neck, one in the middle between my shoulderblades nearly all the way down to my stomach area, and one down the very bottom by my tailbone. the one in the middle, according to my chiropractor, is the controlling area of digestion and i had major subluxations also there. after my first adjustment and a heavy course of probiotics (recommended 3 a day one with every meal) and going paleo as per his recommendations....well it was like a miracle! i could actually eat without feeling sick. i was regular.
ive been doing chiropractic and eating paleo since feb 09... i can honestly say its been amazing not getting sick. i notice right away when i do a lil tumble "off the wagon" and have a slice of lasagna or pizza at a party. i cant pass food for 2-3 days afterwards...as well as depression type symptoms and my energy is completely sapped and all i can do is sleep it off.

anyways im sorry for kind of derailing your thread with my experiences...but i have nothing but wonderful things to say about chiropractic care (if you get the right doctor! mine is 3rd generation) and primal/paleo lifestyle and i highly highly recommend them.

[strom]

I have scoliosis too. That's why I'm 2 inches shorter than I could be. I always thought it was due to carrying really heavy books in junior high and high school. Maybe it was due to the Chrohns. I've tried chiropractors (not wild about having my neck snapped) and accupunture (couldn't lie still for an hour, made worse when you have dozens of 5 inch needles sticking out of you. Building up my back muscles has helped quite a bit more than the other two. Balance workouts might work great for me too.

[norcalgal]

im probably 2-3" shorter than i should be too due to the fusing. which would probably make me 5'11 or 6' high!
vibrams and back exercises help me too.
hearing your neck snap is quite scary but you get used to it. theres alternatives to the intense physical snapping that some do. they have small gun type machines that cause your muscles to contract and they apply them to the right area. he uses this treatment on elderly, children and the squeemish that come in, ive noticed.

[scdkat]

Hi Nathan,
I've been on the SCD diet for over 2 years now. I don't have Crohn's but it has certainly helped many with the disease. There are quite a few websites that can get you started on the diet before you get a chance to read the book.

On my blog I have a quick introduction to what SCD is and a bunch of links to websites and other blogs. http://scdkatfood.blogspot.com/p/scd.html

Going on a primal diet would help tremendously, but I find SCD is a bit more tailored to rebuilding gut flora and healing the digestive tract. You mention stopping yogurt, but on SCD we make homemade yogurt that is very easily tolerated and beneficial (and happens to be yummy. Check out the diet and if you ever have any questions feel free to ask me. Also the Yahoo Group BTVC-SCD is probably the best place to get help.