Has anyone ever read this book or tried this diet?

I looked on amazon and it has bunch of positive reviews. Some people swear by the book. I wonder it would work for pouchitis?

Do a search here. I think some people have tried it. And I'm thinking that at least the people who frequent this site haven't had success with it. Or they wouldn't be here. When you do the search you might find other information.

kathy

As with anything, it's probably individual and certainly won't hurt to try. Some people apparently have had sucess with it for IBD.
The book's "scientific" information is not proven or possibly even accurate, and it's a difficult diet to follow, however. I filed it under "complete waste of time and money" back when I tried it for my son's UC.

Have to agree with Connie, VERY difficult to follow and I found no benefit, sorry.
LoriP

Hi, I tried it after my first hospitalization in 1996 with an accute flare of UC. At that point I would have done almost anything.I stuck with it for about 3 months and finally drifted back to a regular diet. I really didn't see any difference. But as they say, it's always worth a try! You have nothing to lose!
Craig

I don't know about the SCD specifically, but there have been a number of people here who find that restricting certain carbs (simple carbs in particular) have had positive effects on their pouch. I know we tend to be very carb heavy on our diets, because it seems to make sense, at least early on. But, in the long run, what is healthy for your body is also healthy for your pouch. In general, we shouldn't focus too heavily on carbs, unless you are in the midst of trying to control diarrhea related to a virus, etc.

And, as said before, anyone who tried it for their UC and wound up with a colectomy, cannot consider the diet successful for that.

Jan

I tried it for 10 days about 7 years ago before I had the pouch. My diarrhea got worse, I was dropping weight like crazy, and I was starving. (I didn't realize how much of what I ate was full of carbs...) I was also crying and depressed on day 9 so on day 10 I went out, bought myself a sub sandwich, a bag of chips, and a cherry coke, and I felt SO MUCH BETTER!! That was the end of that.

I follow the specific carbohydrate diet now.. and also take two VSL 3 pills daily.. I have put my chronic pouchitis in remission and have been able to go off of cipro... it did take a while for the diet to work though... for me it took nearly 6 months... I think everyone is different depending on how long you were sick, etc... I HIGHLY recommend trying.. you must be patient though... nothing is a quick fix...and i would agree that it is probably an individual thing

My advice would be that if you start the diet to take it slow. In other words, don't jump in with both feet first. The diet is rigorous compared to the diet most of us are used to.
I believe fully that we can control our symptoms to an extent through diet modifications, such as the SCD.
I personally have not followed the SCD "by the book" but use it in conjunction with a fungal-eliminating diet, as well as the Maker's Diet. It has proved very useful for me. I no longer take antibiotics. On a very rare occasion I will take a flagyl if I've noticed an increase in bathroom trips that day. And, my abscess is gone. I can't contribute the diet to that 100%, but I'm sure it has to be a factor.

I have a good friend with Crohn's who has followed the Maker's Diet for almost 2 years, and she is healthier than at any time in the last decade. (for the last few months, it has been a "modified" diet ) She gets Remicade treatments every 3 months, instead of every other month and is pregnant (for the second time).

There is no harm in trying. Just use common sense, as well as will-power and patience. Tracy is correct; it isn't the "quick fix" most of us are looking for.

I tried the SCD for a few days before I had step 1. I was hospitalized at the time and had tried every drug offered for UC. I had surgery a few days later and my surgeon said that my colon was in such bad shape that there was nothing I could do/eat to avoid surgery.

I tried the SCD for four months when my UC was actively flaring. It had no beneficial impact at all on my UC. The only benefit I had was less gas.

Mark did try the SCDiet, it didn't work for him, but the logic behind the diet is good. Mark lost TONS of weight to a dangerous level on it, and it was really insanely difficult to try to keep up with the diet. Below is a link to all the Alternative Methods Mark tried including his multiple tries with SCD.

http://ucstory.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/alternative-medicine-for-uc/

We would recommend that if you try the diet, be sure to do it under the guidance of a trained nutrionists if weight loss is concern for you.

Megan

I took the basic concepts out of the book and cut out most of the carbs from my diet. When I read the book, I thought it might be a little drastic, so I started out slow. I quit eating pasta and bread. I also cut way back on anything with a lot of sugar in it. I mainly eat chicken and steak salads and will mix in a maybe a meal a week with heavy carbs. I usually use a yogurt Blue Cheese light dressing on the salads that is low on the sugar and carbs. Salmon, shrimp, and steaks are also pretty good.

I guess what prompted the change was that I had a pretty big yeast problem in my digestive tract caused mainly from my antibiotic use(flagyl about every three months) and heavy carb intake. I started taking Candidol in February and dropped 10 pounds in one week clearing out everything and have felt fantastic ever since. I have not gained any weight back either. The best thing about it is that I haven't had pouchitis since January.

Hope this helps.

hi i used the scd diet exclusively and followed it 100 percent for two years while i was fighting chronic u.c.i did not find it so,so hard and ironically my diet seems more restricted since my pjpouch operation..

anyway the fact i have the jpouch pretty much says it did not work for me over a very long time on it..but i believe i probably should have given up on it sooner because one probably would see some improvement within a month or so according to the author of scd...but hope burned eternal in the human heart and i kept on it throughout my two year battle with u.c..

i would consider trying it for my not so cooperative jpouch..i have chronic pouchitis..but i seem to be so restricted right now and if i cut out the breads,pastas i might not have enough to sustain me..i do not do great on veggies have not ever got to try a salad and definitely cannot eat the nuts as per scd..i cannot even get by with smooth peanut butter!!so i never thought of going for it again with jpouch but i will tell you if you can eat the scd diet it is very healthy and has a very well rounded diet..if i recall it is absolutely no sugar including any fruit,no grains or rice of any kind or potatoes,no additives,perservatives of any kind,no mixed spices,homemade yoghurt,olive oil as your fats,
i actually looked better with my u.c thean i do today because i could eat more and more regularly..but u.c flares were problem.

the author never expressed the usage of it for jpouch people but its theory is that certain foods feed bad bacteria..thus avoid sugars,starches,dairy which feed the bad bacteria..

rebecca b.

I followed the SCD diet 100% also for over a year. It was a lot of work, but I was determined that it was going to be the cure. I did not cheat once. Made my own yogurt, breads and desserts with almond flour, did not eat one granule of sugar or flour or pasta, made my own mayonnaise, everything according to the book. It did not help my UC and I had my colectomy. I should have had the colectomy sooner, but I think the diet gave me a lot of false hopes and I kept thinking it was going to work. The book says it can take months or a year to work. I do think it is a healthy diet, however, and still make almond flour cupcakes with banana and make my own yogurt when I have the time. I still use a lot of honey rather than white sugar also. It's a good theory, and there are some people who swear by it according to the online support group which I spent a lot of time on during that time. It did not work for me though.

Barbara