A Month Without Bread

Daughter Amy and I continue to eat according to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet as outlined in the book, "Breaking the Vicious Cycle".   We are learning how to bake muffins, cookies and "bread' with almond flour instead of wheat.  The other night Amy made lasagna with zucchini strips in place of noodles and it was pronounced delicious by her husband Stephen.  A cheesecake I made last Friday was fairly good too.  I over-baked it a bit.

One challenge of the baking is to produce a product that is neither burned nor raw and there's a fine line between these extremes.  Since the prime ingredient is almond flour and the sweetener is honey, both of which have a tendency to burn, oven temps have to be kept lower.  The other main ingredients are dry curd cottage cheese and eggs so the baked goods are at their best moist and tender, at their worse charred on the outside and gluey on the inside.  The chemistry here is about producing varying types of a dry custard as a substitute for grain based bread, rolls, biscuits, muffins, pie crusts etc. If baked successfully the "breads" can be sliced, toasted, buttered and jammed or made into a nice little sandwich.

This has been a frustrating learning curve for us both.  We've been experimenting and rewriting the recipes in the book , creating some of our own, and exchanging e-mails and phone calls many times a day... maybe we'll publish our own cookbook someday.

The other challenge is time.  Things like ketchup, jam, sauces and dressings, all baked goods, and yogurt (which requires a 24 hr. culture to kill off the lactose) must be made from scratch.  Almost all commercial products contain banned substances like sugars, starches and gums.  ALL labels have to be read carefully and both of us have done major cupboard and refrigerator purges. It has been fun commiserating with Amy while doing all this cooking though.  Soon we will become experts and a natural rhythm will develop.

You might ask how our husbands are tolerating this insanity?  They have graciously supported us and mostly applauded our efforts.  Stephen is so happy that his Amy is feeling better.  He has never eaten more fruits and veggies in his life. Gary has never been one to complain or comment much about his grub.  When asked he says, "I like it." (Hey Mikey) The truth will be told when he gets his cholesterol test in a few months.

The super good news is that Amy is feeling MUCH BETTER.  She has been able to reduce and then quit her medication over the past month.  She is free of Crohn's symptoms most of the time.  She has been following the diet RELIGIOUSLY. Her energy level and appetite has increased dramatically, which is a good thing because her darling toddler is running her ragged, and guess what: she wants to have another one!

This diet ain't been easy and I'm so proud of her.

I'm experiencing a great deal of peace of gut too.

"There's no hurry."

Comments

[Stephen McKenna]

I am happy that it appears, so far, that Amy's new diet is making her feel better. She's a happier person and feeling good off meds is even better. However, I'm not as eager about participating as you seem to imply. We have found some meals that have been good, but there are many things that I want that are no longer allowed. Beans and grains have been the most difficult for me to remove. Although Amy does go to the effort of adding things into a meal, like rice and bread, meals centered on an ingrediant are out, like chili. I also feel like the higher percentage of fat and the reduction in complex carbs is not as healthy for me.

BTW, this diet isn't the cause of me eating more fruits/vegetables. I had committed to it back in December, prior to Amy's new diet.

[Beth Spencer]

Thanks for the clarification and for being a pretty good sport about the diet. Also, beans: black, kidney and navy should be on the menu soon along with lentils and split peas. I made dynamic chili last week and wonderful split pea and bean soup too. Hang in there.

[Jay]

Keep it up! I've been SCD for almost a year now, and it's probably the best thing that's ever happened to me since being diagnosed with CD.

[lose 10 pound]

It is nice to see mother and daughter work together to be healthier in life.

It encourages me to ask mum to do something together as well!

[best ways to lose belly fat]

With a mother and daughter team, you can't go wrong.

I didn't know about the sauces and yogurt containing 'bad' stuff.

[JT Jameson]

I'm a mom "eating SCD" for my teen daughter (Crohns) and son (Celiac). Did I write that? It still seems unreal after 4 years.
From health to illness...and eating our way back to health for them since 1/1/2007

Thank you for your stories.