salted and roasted peanuts in shell

[Gabes-Apg]

The limited diet and reaction to cross contamination is not necessarily for ever.

Good healing now will allow for socialisation later.

[dolson]

Thanks Gabes! Now I'm confused about this "Special Carbohydrate Diet!" This is what Dr. Fine wants me on but every SCD is different. Some say saccharine is okay and some say saccharine is not okay. Some say Aspartartane is okay and some say Aspartartane is not okay. I knew one friend who had extreme headaches from Aspartartane. Sorry about the misspelling. Who can I believe and what avenue do I go down? The SCD is an extremely rough diet! Some can not do it! I need answers. Can you help Gabes?

[dolson]

It's called Specific Carbohydrate Diet. I need more coffee!!!!!!!

[tex]

Almost every MC patient has adverse reactions to virtually any artificial sweetener. Aspartame is especially bad.

The SCD is not an ideal diet for treating/controlling MC (regardless of who told you to follow it). Why don't you ditch the SCD and do what most of the rest of us are doing to control our MC. Simply minimize fiber and sugar, don't eat any raw fruit or vegetables, and totally avoid all foods that cause our immune systems to produce antibodies.

Coffee is fine for most of us as long as we don't add anything to it that causes problems.

Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

Agree with Tex, no chemical sugars are good.

And if you have read through posts and discussions you will see that there is no strict/fixed eating plan that works for everybody, you have to fine tune what works for you.
Minimise sugar and fibre and focus on gut healing ingredients that suit your taste, cooking style.

A very important aspect of MC management plan is keeping it low stress, not over thinking everything.
While being proactive enough to minimise symptoms.

The eating plan encouraged here has worked for many.....

[carolm]

Dorothy- it’s 6:25am, I’m barely awake yet your description of the seafood fest is making me hungry! I hope you go and thoroughly enjoy yourself. I understand completely the anxiety that comes with eating away from home, but if you can catch a glimpse of how the seafood is cooked and handled You’ll know your best options. If in doubt, ask a server. You probably aren’t the only one who is gluten free.
You know what to avoid so your plan for the seafood fest sounds like a good one to me.

Carol

[dolson]

I am on the "Specific Carbohydrate Diet' as a guide. It's very hard to stay on this diet. I agree with you Tex! The author of my new book concerning "Specific Carbohydrate Diet" is called, BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE! She's the one that states Aspartame is okay, which is a NO NO in my book. Aspartame causes cancer in rats and people get severe headaches from this poison. The author's name is Elaine Gottschall, B.A., M.Sc., and she has the personality of a rattlesnake. I bought her book and she treated me like a leech when we spoke on the phone. I think the author had ulcerative colitis at the age of four and now she's an expert on many GI diseases with a nasty personality to boot! When I informed Elaine Gottschall that I had Microscopic Colitis...she was baffled. Spans of silence went by and she did not know anything about Microscopic Colitis Disease.
How do I get off this diet and get help? What should I do having MC and diabetes? I don't want to make Dr. Fine upset with me when I get off this crazy diet, but where do I go next? I think he's a caring physician. My husband says stay on the diet but the author of this crazy book has never heard of MC! Help Me Please! This is totally NUTS!

[dolson]

I want to attend the Seafood Festival! Just ask how they cook the boiled shrimp, steamed crabs and fish. Make sure no cross contamination. My life has become a nightmare because I can only eat a few things. The only good thing about this diet is the weight loss. Thanks again, Carol

[tex]

Hi Dorothy,

You should cut Elaine Gottschall some slack — she has a very good reason to be baffled by microscopic colitis — she probably never heard of it. She celebrated her 97th birthday a few days ago on the 18th of this month. We may all have the personality of a rattlesnake if we survive that long.

Breaking The Vicious Cycle was originally written over 30 years ago when microscopic colitis was still a young disease and few people were aware of it. Back then, doctors were barely familiar with treating celiac disease. Elaine was a pioneer in treatment methods for celiac disease. Her book was never intended to be a guide for treating microscopic colitis. I'm kind of surprised that Dr. Fine would so highly promote it. Maybe he feels that avoiding gluten will eventually heal the intestines and the other food sensitivities will disappear. At any rate, we know by experience that those food sensitivities do not disappear over time.

If you want to convert from the SCD to a more practical approach to treating the disease by diet, the needed changes are pretty simple. First off, any dairy products (including yogurt, cheese, butter, etc.) are off limits, and all artificial sweeteners should be avoided. But other non-gluten grains such as corn, rice, quinoa, amaranth, etc. are OK. Sugar and fiber should be minimized and all vegetables should be peeled (if they have a peel) and over-cooked. No raw fruit or vegetables, except that bananas are OK for most of us. If you are sensitive to soy then all soy-based products and most legumes should be avoided.

To be honest, I didn't even realize that Elaine was still alive. I wonder what sort of diet she eats.

Tex

[dolson]

The mother, Elaine Gottschall has passed away. The mother wrote the book and now her daughter runs the site! The mother got involved with Celiac disease because of her daughter's illness with the malady. The daughter is the one I spoke with and it was not not a pleasant experience. I agree her mother was a pioneer for Celiac disease. She should be applauded. Gottschall says that SCD treats Crohns, UC, diverticulitis, cystic fibrosis and autism. Dr. Fine says any specific carbohydrate diet is okay. Gottschalk's diet says fruit is okay in any form or fashion and nothing was said about peeling the skin. Fruit does not bother me. I think I've tried cereal made with rice, corn all GF and experienced problems. I may be wrong. I'm getting confused. I'll try GF Chex rice cereal once again. Regards, Dorothy

[tex]

Thanks, that clears that up. I was thinking that Elaine was no longer alive, but since the stroke, it's sometimes easy for me to be confused.

It's certainly possible that you might be sensitive to corn, some of us are. I had to avoid it while I was recovering, but a couple of years later, I had healed enough that I can eat corn with no problems now.

The issue with peeling fruit is to minimize fiber. Most of the fiber in fruit and vegetables in in the skin/peel. Another reason for minimizing (not necessarily totally avoiding) fruit is the fact that fructose (the primary sugar in fruit) is more difficult to digest than common sugar (sucrose or glucose). It's not digested by the digestive system. Fructose is digested in the liver and the process requires the enzyme fructokinase. Insulin allows glucose to pass from the blood into the muscles where it can be immediately burned as fuel. But because fructose does not prompt the release of insulin, fructose will not have the opportunity to be transported to cells where it can be burned as fuel, and because of that important difference, fructose digestion tends to result in the formation of more fat deposits. At any rate, while a little fruit may be OK, the liver of MC patients already has plenty to do without trying to digest a large amount of fructose.

Tex

[dolson]

Hi Tex,
I've avoided all foods you've mentioned. My diet is unbelievable restrictive. I know you and Dr. Fine think differently. You deal with Microscopic Colitis patients daily and I like that, plus you have Microscopic Colitis. Dr. Fine has GI problems himself and is a researcher in the realm of all kinds of GI diseases. My problem is that my husband and I are arguing and I'm crying. I have diarrhea non-stop and I think it's because of raisins and uncured gluten and casein-free bacon for breakfast. I'm eating foods for Celiac disease and I think that's my problem. Plus every SCD is different. Who in the world would think Aspartane is okay? Pure Crazy! I drink Dr. Fine's blueberry fiber. He's big into Blueberries. I can only eat non-processed meat, well-cooked veggies and fruit which have not been a problem. I am trying to do the right thing, but I want to eat a Microscopic Diet, not a Celiac or Irritable Bowel Diet. Plus I'm diabetic and that put's a monkey wrench into the mixture. I am upset and tired of being sick. I don't know what to do being a diabetic with MC! It's become a nightmare and you informed me of that in the beginning. Regards, Dorothy

[dolson]

Hi Tex,
I've avoided all foods you've mentioned. My diet is unbelievable restrictive. I know you and Dr. Fine think differently. You deal with Microscopic Colitis patients daily and I like that, plus you have Microscopic Colitis. Dr. Fine has GI problems himself and is a researcher in the realm of all kinds of GI diseases. My problem is that my husband and I are arguing and I'm crying. I have diarrhea non-stop and I think it's because of raisins and uncured gluten and casein-free bacon for breakfast. I'm eating foods for Celiac disease and I think that's my problem. Plus every SCD is different. Who in the world would think Aspartane is okay? Pure Crazy! I drink Dr. Fine's blueberry fiber. He's big into Blueberries. I can only eat non-processed meat, well-cooked veggies and fruit which have not been a problem. I am trying to do the right thing, but I want to eat a Microscopic Diet, not a Celiac or Irritable Bowel Diet. Plus I'm diabetic and that put's a monkey wrench into the mixture. I am upset and tired of being sick. I don't know what to do being a diabetic with MC! It's become a nightmare and you informed me of that in the beginning. Regards, Dorothy

[Gabes-Apg]

Maybe get your husband to read some of the posts in the success stories area.....

Here he will see what others have done, how long it took.



I don't think blueberry fibre is best option in early stages of healing.
Later on maybe.

[tex]

I agree with Gabes. With all due respect to Dr. Fine, fiber is contraindicated for treating MC. We all have to minimize the fiber in our diets while we are recovering, or it will perpetuate the inflammation. After we're in remission for a while, we can tolerate more fiber. Dr. Fine is a vegan, I believe, and he eats a very unconventional diet. I have a nagging suspicion that the raisins and blueberry juice may be delaying your remission if you're eating any more than small amounts of them. Blueberries may be a superfood, but medium to large amounts of them are best left until your MC has been in remission for a while. I realize it's unusually tough on you. Treating diabetes is tough enough by itself, and so is treating MC. Together, they are bound to present a tremendous challenge.

I understand that family issues are bound to surface now and then, but MC is strongly affected by stress of all kinds, and family disagreements tend to be very stressful. I know it's tough, but try to avoid such confrontations whenever possible because they are really tough on an MC patient. Been there, done that, and it's always bad news.

Tex