food
Initial phases
Within the first few months, I continued my regular diet while taking medication. However, my family quickly discerned that I was lactose intolerant, so I stopped consuming dairy foods. From this, I would suggest weaning off foods that bother you. Cold cuts work for some (not for me, haha), but I quickly go into withdrawal. I found that substituting ingredients can help a lot. Initially, I replaced milk with almond milk. Soon, I learned how to enjoy my favorite desserts by baking them instead of buying them.
Yet, my symptoms continued to worsen. I felt lost. I took numerous medications and was careful with my food, but nothing seemed to work. I found SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) nearly two years after my diagnosis. A brief overview: SCD eliminates select carbohydrates from your diet, so you only eat food that is easy for your body to digest, preventing harmful bacteria from growing and reducing inflammation. I felt healthiest and gained significant weight while following it, but please consult your provider first because the diet may lead to malnutrition and unhealthy weight loss.
SCD
If you decide to start SCD or are following it, I've included a few resources I used.
Resources:
Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall is a beautiful book that details the logic and reasoning behind SCD. Link to the book: https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Vicious-Cycle-Intestinal-Through/dp/0969276818
This is a list of "illegal" and "legal" foods of SCD that I frequently referenced: https://breakingtheviciouscycle.info/legal%2Fillegal-list-pdf
The website also contains useful general information about the diet and the crucial "intro diet."
https://www.scdrecipe.com/ - This is also a similar website but with more recipes
https://againstallgrain.com/category/recipes/scd-recipes/ - an extensive catalog of great recipes
Thoughts:
SCD greatly emphasizes home-cooked meals - meaning no preservatives and fast food. As someone who loves eating out, I found transitioning into this diet difficult. I still remember whining for Chick-fil-A on the first day. The introductory diet was most strenuous as you go on a primarily liquid diet to detox your digestive system (https://breakingtheviciouscycle.info/the-introductory-diet - this page provides a more detailed explanation about the introductory diet). I promise it gets better. After the initial diet, I was allowed to introduce the foods listed on the legal list slowly. It's important not to rush through this diet as you need to figure out what ingredients your body can tolerate, and sometimes, it takes a while for a reaction to occur (at least it did for me). I was eager to rush through and had to re-visit the introductory diet several times to determine primarily which ingredient(s) was/were bothering me.
Keeping a food journal along the way helps a lot. I kept a daily journal on the food I ate and how I felt afterward so my parents and I could pinpoint what worked for me.
Despite the introductory phase, SCD has been going swimmingly for me. A fair warning: it does require a lot of tolerance. At first, seeing others eat my favorite foods was difficult, but I reminded myself of the pain that followed, and my cravings subsided. Sorry if that was a bit extreme, but it's important to stay resilient. Completely suppressing your cravings isn't healthy either; finding and creating alternate food helps a lot. I've listed a few of my favorite foods in the recipe section of this website.
Please feel free to contact me for more information or clarification.
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