A few years ago, I was visiting someone in the hospital. A young woman was in the opposite bed. It transpired that the young woman, who was barely thirty, was suffering from a severe Crohn’s attack and was going to have a bowel resection. She could barely eat anything and was in great discomfort when she did.
To compound the problem, the young woman had been on prednisone for many years as a treatment for her condition. Prednisone is an anti-inflammatory corticosteroid often used to combat the inflammation symptoms of IBD. It is usually given for short periods of time because it has other, potentially serious, side effects one of which is osteoporosis. And unfortunately, this young woman’s bones were very brittle because she had been taking prednisone to deal with her pain.
When she was a teenager, my daughter was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and we successfully overcame it with diet (See: Crohn’s, Celiac, Ulcerative Colitis: 15 Years Symptom Free). She has been free now of major symptoms for fifteen years, but she still has to watch her diet.
How Long Do I have to Stick to This Diet?
That was the first question my daughter asked. As far as she was concerned, life without French fries, hamburgers, ice cream, pizza and chocolate was not worth living.
There is an old joke that if you want to give up smoking the first fifteen years are the hardest. It’s not so bad with a diet geared towards intestinal health – the main difficulty is starting the diet and sticking to it for approximately the first six months. After that it gets easier until it becomes second nature.
This is a diet that worked for my daughter, and, according to the literature and the book where the diet came from (see below), it leads to successful recovery in many cases except those where the person has been on prenidsone.
My daughter was under the care of a doctor who was sympathetic towards trying a dietary approach, but we were always mindful that if she experienced serious pain our doctor was our first line of defence.
Luckily for us, except for a few episodes where she unknowingly went off the diet (important note: restaurant food can contain ingredients which neither the wait staff nor the chef are necessarily aware of) my daughter got better and stayed better.
First Steps to a Gluten, Wheat, Sugar and Dairy Free Living
I went through my cupboards and gave everything away that was in a box (wheat, gluten, sugar, untold chemical compounds, preservatives and chemicals).
I carefully examined the labels on all the cans and set aside the ones free of sugar, wheat and additives. I find though, that I prefer food in glass jars rather than cans, so that is what I look for.
I examined the labels on foods I kept in the freezer, including hot dogs. I was surprised to learn that some brands of hot dogs have starch, gluten, wheat and/or sugar in them. Who knew?
Frozen breaded products were out, but I was also surprised to see that some brands of marinated meats or fish have wheat-based soy in them or wheat starch in the sauce. Out.
I bought a small chest freezer because I knew the only way we were going to survive this was for me to cook in batches and freeze.
Those were the preparations I made in advance. The start of the diet was far simpler and yet far more life changing in terms of eating habits.
First Days of the Diet – "What, No Noodles in the Chicken Soup?"
Until my daughter’s intestines were doing better – that meant no gas, bloating, diarrhoea and intestinal pain – she was going to live on boiled chicken, carrots and chicken soup.
Anyone not in crisis can eat more widely, but for those in pain it is better to start with very few choices and to persevere.
Simple Aromatic Chicken soup
I use free range chicken raised without the use of antibiotics, covering it with water and adding a cut-up onion (for flavour, can be discarded afterwards), 6 – 9 carrots, one parsley root, a bay leaf and letting it come to a boil. You can also add a few stalks of celery, if you like, for added flavour.
Generally I like to skim the foam after it starts to form. After the chicken has simmered for about an hour I like to add a small stalk of dill weed just for the lovely smell it imparts and a teaspoon of salt or to taste. The dill weed is not necessary, parsley can do just as well. But if you add too much it will give the soup a somewhat greenish tinge. Continue simmering maybe another half hour or until the chicken is tender and the soup smells great.
If the chicken has a lot of fatty skin you may want to cool the broth in the fridge to skim off the fat before reheating and serving. But the boiled chicken is always much better just after it is cooked, served with mashed carrots from the soup.
And that was the start of the new eating regimen. My daughter was not happy to be eating this diet for a few days but she survived and we gradually expanded the repertoire by adding a beaten egg to the soup to make egg drop soup which was a nice change. And then we gradually added more and more foods on the allowed foods list as set out in the specific carbohydrate diet.
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet
Elaine Gottschall, B.A., M.Sc., started on the road to learning about this particular type of diet after her eight year old daughter was diagnosed with incurable and severe ulcerative colitis. In 1958 she took her daughter to see Drs. Sydney and Merrill Haas who had published a book entitled, Management Of Celiac Disease, in 1951. (now out of print but available through open library).
Although Dr. Haas originally developed the diet for Celiac Disease, it was found to be beneficial for many other types of digestive disorders including Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.
As a result of the success of the diet for her daughter, Elaine Gottschall wrote a book of her own, Breaking the Vicious Cycle, expanding on the ideas of Dr. Haas and adding recipes.
Some Further Explanation Of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet
Elaine Gottschall says in her book, Breaking The Vicious Cycle:
There is much recent evidence to support the hypothesis that the course of several forms of intestinal problems can be favourably changed by manipulating the types of carbohydrates ingested (page 6).
And also
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet presents a method for breaking the cycle by maximally nourishing the individual and minimally nourishing the intestinal microbes. By this method, undesirable stresses on the intestine decrease. The diet is based on the principle that specifically selected carbohydrates, requiring minimal digestive processes are absorbed and leave virtually none to be used for furthering microbial growth in the intestine. As the microbial population decreases due to lack of food, its harmful by products also decrease, freeing the intestinal surface of injurious substances (page 19).
As an experimental psychologist and daughter of a medical doctor, that was enough for me. There was enough medical knowledge, research data and citations in Elaine Gottschall’s book to convince me that the diet was well worth trying. And my daughter has not regretted it.
Ariane Blackman - As an Experimental Psychologist, Reiki Master and Energy medicine practitioner, I am always curious about both the seen and unseen worlds; ...
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