Backtracking SCD

Tonight hubby said he thinks he’ll have to go back on “this diet”. Not sure exactly why, but all has not been entirely well in the tummy department this last couple of months.

Trouble is, we have moved into our new place, and a whole new budgetary reality – oops! I haven’t the slightest idea how we’re going to afford to be SCD legal again, short of me landing an umpteen-thousand dollar a year job. Damn, I was hoping not to have to do that. Go out to work I mean. Don’t mind going back to SCD in the slightest. I think we would all do well on it, but again, it would be one heck of a stretch on the purse-strings right now.

So there’s a wee bit of juggling to be done here, not the least of which is financial, but also, the mental “mindset” needs to be tidied up as to whether I want to/can/ought to, bit the bullet and go out to work again.

Will keep you posted …

Tags: Celiac Disease

Tags: Celiac Disease, Colitis, Coeliac Sprue, Crohn’s Disease, Diet and Budget, Specific Carbohydrate Diet Expense, Diarrhea, Digestive Disorders, SCD on a Budget

Post-SCD Decline

Sounds an awful headline doesn’t it? Its not really as bad as all that, but when I asked hubby the other day how his tummy was, he said “deteriorating”. That was the first time he has acknowledged that all is not as it was. Trouble is, even though the moving bit is finally over, he still has heaps of physical work to do, and we are still trying to put a bit of weight back on him. So he is still hammering the carb snacks, biscuits etc, and we are crossing our fingers that his tummy will forgive us, until we can get the dietary side of things back on track. Feels a bit like Russian Roulette, but I don’t have an oven set up for baking yet (my old benchtop blew an element) and the budget will be a tad stretched also. I can’t see me buying things like almond flour for quite some time yet.

So, there it is. We can hardly call it SCD progress, since it isn’t SCD anymore, but its where we are.

Oh, and the one bright spot lately, is that I’ve got yogurt and smoothies happening again. Not super-regular yet, but my third batch is in the fridge and for that I’m truly thankful.

Happy tummies all.

Post-SCD

Hubby showed me his skin today. He’s been eating basically anything and everything these last couple of weeks, mostly because we are half way between two properties, and he has lost so much weight (down to 70kg a week ago), and he has heaps of physically demanding stuff to do. We had thought we would make a gradual transition back to normal eating (well, not the normal that used to be, but not as demanding as SCD), but it hasn’t happened like that at all.

His skin has aged about 10 years, over the last 3 weeks I’d say. He isn’t eating much bread and still has his coffee black, and not much potatoes either. But we are eating illegal sausages (a great quick convenience lunch for hard working men), bacon, parsnips, potatoes, bread etc. His skin is dry and thinner (veins more prominent on the backs of his hands) and has lost its elasticity. I think even he is surprised at how quickly it has deteriorated. So chances are, his insides aren’t that flash either I suppose. Very disappointing, and almost grounds to stay on SCD forever, if only for the beauty treatment!

I can’t wait to finish moving. I want to get back into a reasonable rhythm of making the yogurt.

Dang – I was wrong about the sausages!

It turns out the Pure Beef and Pure Pork sausages also have breadcrumbs for filler, not to mention commercial flavouring mix.

The good news is that the Barbecue Grillers, are okay, so long as you can tolerate caraway seeds, which may be a bit advanced for newbies.

Feel free to comment if you happen to know about the SCD legality of caraway seeds.

SCD 18 months progress report

I’ve had heaps of things go through my mind that I’ve wanted to post about here lately, but they are all escaping while we are knee-deep in chaos, trying to move, and trying not to move all at the same time. Trying to move, because we want to be in our new home, and trying not to move because we have to organise some form of either mobile or satellite broadband. We will be too far away from an exchange to have ordinary broadband up there. So I’m clinging on to my existing office, like a limpet, and no doubt as soon as I let go (just like Nemo and Dory), all will turn out just fine.

Anyway, the move is part of the reason for this post. I am gradually introducing the odd “illegal” back into hubby’s diet. Sometimes through sheer convenience while everything is a bit upside down, and sometimes because I think it will be okay. I have started buying parsnips on a semi-regular basis, and he had takeaway hot chips when we were out and hungry the other day and sometimes he has had commercial tomato sauce on his sausages, when I have run out of the home made stuff.

Most of this is a few months ahead of what I had planned (I think I had July in mind originally), but I’m not about to beat myself up about it. It is just what I am doing as a practical measure while we are in this moving (read, upheaval) phase. Moving for us is not a weekend and a couple of trailers. More like a 6-wheeler or two, and a month backwards and forwards, loading and unloading, to move both home and business.

I have been making my own curry powder from mostly legal spices e.g. the seeds which I grind myself. Hunted for ages for a guide for quantities online and couldn’t find anything, so adapted a curry paste recipe by using just the dry ingredients. So I can pat myself on the back about that anyway.

Overall, he is about 98% SCD still, and I basically would like for him never to consume grains again, but at least not wheat. Maybe rice on the odd occasion, but he was never that fussed on rice anyway, so that probably won’t happen.

He has been working so hard though, that he is losing weight again, and I am focussed back on bumping up the calories. Might even chuck the odd egg back into his smoothie occasionally. I am thinking of putting a dose of cream into the yogurt also. Half’n'half would be a bit expensive, but I might put a 500 ml into my normal 4 litre batch.

Pure Meat Sausages – off the shelf in NZ!

Yum! I’m a bit naughty posting about this just yet, since I haven’t double-checked the content of these sausages, but the local Pak’n'Save supermarket (I’ve never been a P&S customer until now), has a line of Pure Beef and Pure Pork sausages, made by McLeans Smallgoods, who are a local manufacturer, here in Tauranga. I need to make contact with them, just to check whether there are preservatives or flavours added, but I hope not, ‘cos we’ve been scoffing them with great relish. If they’re true to label, I’m gonna be so stoked!

Celiac symptoms

So I no sooner post here about “post”-SCD, and a couple of days ago, hubby gets a dose of urgent D. First time in a very long time, but we’re completely at a loss as to what caused it.

Although, I haven’t been 100% happy with my last couple of batches of yogurt. They smell funny, even though they look okay, and they are tasting slightly different also. I have this vague awareness that you should store yogurt in glass, but this is before I even get to the storage stage, so that can’t be it. And he is having the yogurt every day in the smoothies, but the D was a one-off event. hmmm … puzzle for the mind, and too early in the morning for me.

Post SCD – Long-term Dietary Maintenance

I’ve been thinking of late, about what our diet will look like “after” SCD. Thing is, I don’t think there is such a thing as “after” SCD.

By way of example, son and I eat a great deal less grains/wheat/bread than what we used to. Dont get me wrong (lots of chocolate and lollies still) but less grains, less milk, more fresh fruit, cooked meats etc. So in effect, not only do I think we eat way healthier than before, but I dont want to go back. Not for hubby or us. Also I think I am noticing the same mood differences in 7yo son, that my “wheat-free” friend has noticed in her little girl. He seems much happier, and generally more cooperative than what he has been in the past. In fact noticeably more even-tempered. Less over-reactions to things.

So for us as a family, I don’t ever want to go back to the way we used to eat. I plan to continue making the yoghurt on a reasonably regular basis, if not as frequently as now. I plan to minimize or completely eliminate bread and most grains. I will make a special effort to step up the vegetable side of things (both cooked and raw in salads), since hubby was told he has pre-diabetes blood sugar levels the other day, and I don’t want to continue what has been an over-emphasis on fruit.

The reason all this is on my mind I think, is that I have July in mind as when he could officially go off the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Why July? In truth, I don’t know. I haven’t been counting for the “12 months after the last symptoms” that Elaine recommended, but something tells me that July is about right, and I’m a big fan for going with my gut. Again, I don’t want to stray too far off this SCD track we have discovered, but I do want to enjoy things like a potato salad with commercial mayonnaise, say once a month. Just little treats like that, but not too often.

Anyway, hubby is nagging me to go to bed now, and its late so I’ll be a good girl and do as I’m told.

Nitey nite.

Food

Today, on a more or less empty stomach, I ate 3 small squares of my favourite chocolate (you can tell its not me doing SCD can’t you?), and within minutes I had a headache. Time we all woke up I think.

SCD Hunger Buster update

Hubby has been putting orange juice in his smoothie lately, and he says it “sits nicer in his guts”. Don’t know what it does, but it does add a nice taste variation too.

I’ve been reading Going Against the Grain in fits and starts over several months, and it echoes SCD quite a bit. The funny thing is though, that I over-filled son’s plate with cornflakes this morning, so grabbed a handful and ate them dry. Gave me the most instant tummyache I can ever recall having in a whole lifetime. Son and I are not SCD of course, but I can see lots of reasons to knock the grains on the head anyway. Unfortunately he just loves making a hot dog out of his sausages, by wrapping them in a slice of bread.

Friends of ours have a little girl the same age as Sean, and they are doing “wheat free”. Her Mum said the biggest difference they noticed with her was that her moods were much nicer. Less tantrums and much happier more even-tempered little girl.

We could do with a bit less moodiness around here, too.

Good Health Readers.