Yesterday was the day. We started the intro part to the diet, which consists of eggs, homemade chicken soup, and very lean meats like broiled chicken, steak, hamburger, etc. You do this intro diet for 3-5 days to "detox" the body and kill off the yeast quickly. Breakfast has been the toughest meal for us as Gabe is not a fan of eating eggs. We made him some yesterday and he did try really hard to eat some, but not as much as he usually would have. He is use to eating his GFCF Van's waffles with syrup and butter. Eggs just don't quite compare I guess. : )
All-in-all, Gabe has been wonderful about it. He did climb the shelves in the pantry yesterday trying to get to some chips that I hadn't noticed yet. I grabbed those and threw them away with everything else. He did get in to a candy cane today from the Christmas Tree. I had no idea that he even knew those were edible. LoL Goes to show that even though he didn't try to eat them before, nothing is safe when you are detoxing from yeast! We gave him several extra enzymes to help flush it out before it messed up the new diet too much. He has had really rosy-red cheeks all day today and even broke out in a small red rash around his neck and ears. I'm sure this is all the yeast dying-off. It's weird how quickly the body can fight it off when there is nothing for it to feed on anymore. I'm hoping that his die-off symptoms aren't too severe. I feel bad for him and wish that I could make time go by faster for him. Wouldn't that be nice? I think he has been having some night terrors recently as well, he has been waking up randomly and crying or running in to our room for comfort, which he didn't use to ever do before.
So far, so good though. We are staying strong and trying to be extra supportive and patient with Gabe for the next few weeks. We want to give this diet an honest shot because we know that Gabe will benefit greatly from it. I will keep updating his progress. :)
Jade - I know you are very busy but just wanted to let you know I am really interested in hearing a real world family's experience with doing the SCD diet. Any chance you could give frequent updates on Gabe's progress would be so appreciated. As you know, SCD has been recommended to us and I just don't even know how we would begin to do it. For example, Reiss' class this week are doing gingerbread men. In order for him to participate, I am making a recipe of GFCF gingerbread dough just so he can have ONE cookie like the other kids in his class. If he was doing SCD, he wouldn't even be able to participate.
ReplyDeleteI think you are incredibly brave and dedicated to do this for Gabe, given all the challenges it presents. You never cease to amaze me how wise beyond your years you really are. Most young ladies your age are still out partying, much less worrying about studying and learning more about nutrition and intestinal problems than any traditional MD will ever know during their entire careers.
Good for you guys! I, too, would love to hear how it continues!
ReplyDeleteWe did the SCD diet for four weeks, almost two years ago now. It was hard!! Brian self-limits a ton anyways, and it really seemed like he was surviving on nothing. His behaviors were worse on the diet, which could of been the die-off, but I almost thought it was because he was hungry! Sometimes I do think I'd like to try it again though.
Wanted to share this recipe with you- it's a bit more on the complex side of the diet, definitely not an intro recipe. These were the onlyt hing I could really get Brian to eat for breakfast.
1 banana, 1/4 C peanut butter (though I think at the time that wasn't allowed either- can't really remember- i think we may have used almond butter), 2 eggs, and 1/2 tsp baking soda....mix it all up and cook like pancakes!
Oh please please update regularly on how this goes for your family, I will be following with interest. I am considering beginning this with my son after Christmas and would love to hear your experiences. Thank you and best wishes. Jen
ReplyDeleteThank you, Pam! I appreciate that. :) You are an awesome mommy too!! Our kids are lucky that we are fighters and won't ever give up on them! If you need any help at all with starting SCD please let me know. I'm not too much help just yet, but once I get going I would be more than happy to share recipes and tips with you anytime.
ReplyDeleteHeather,
Thanks for the encouraging words and the recipe. I will definitely try it out!! We are trying to stick to very bland things until his tummy heals a little more. I'm hoping this makes him feel much better soon. The die-off symptoms are pretty crazy any time you start a new diet. When we started GFCF Gabe didn't have die-off for about 3 months. It was really random....he was even vomiting it got so bad. Yeast is a crazy thing. You should definitely give the SCD another shot sometime!
Jen~
I will try my hardest to be better about updating my blog now. :) hehe I was a slacker there for a few months. I would definitely recommend buying Elaine Gottschall's book "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" before you think about starting. I really learned a lot from it. :) Good luck with starting and it does get easier once you get organized with it.