HI Diane – pleaes email us at support@scdlifestyle.com and we’d be happy to support you with that request!

Hi Renee, great questions:) Meat can be hard to digest if we don’t have adequate HCL (stomach acid) and if we don’t chew our food well. We also want to purchase high quality meats like local grass fed red meat and free range chicken. The grape juice is included to help fight sugar withdrawls and provides a tasty snack during the INTRO diet. IT is a very small amount and we don’t recommend eating a ton of it at once. IF you’d like, you can substitute lemon or lime juice as well or consume it plain.

Hey Candace – have you ever looked into the FODMAP diet??

This article explains it and can help you figure out if it might be helpful for you: https://healthygut.com/fodmap-diet-a-fad-diet-or-helpful-for-everyone/

If you need more one-on-one help, we’d recommend working with a practitioner https://healthygut.com/practitioners/

Hey Candace – for many people, losing weight is an inevitable part of starting SCD. You can help mitigate it by counting your calories and making sure you’re eating enough.

You can add in more fat to help raise your calorie count as well as double your portions of meat. As your gut heals, you’ll be able to both absorb more calories for the food you do eat and eat a wider variety of foods.

Digestive enzymes can also make a bi difference: https://healthygut.com/who-needs-digestive-enzymes-and-how-to-take-them/

Our meal plans make it easy because each day has a minimum of 2,000 calories. You can learn more here: https://healthygut.com/meal-plans/

I also have issues with sugar. I can’t even eat most fruits and a lot of vegetables. I was tested for fructose intolerance; however and the test came back negative. Any suggestions as to what else might be the issue?

I know you mentioned not to worry about your weight during this intro days. I only weigh 108 pounds and really can’t afford to lose anymore weight. Do you have any suggestions?

Hey Barney – thanks for reaching out and congrats on your commitment to your health!!

I recommend you check out our heartburn program here (you can sue it with the SCD diet): http://heartburnhelp.scdlifestyle.com

Thanks guys so good to have such a useful site to look at when times get rough

Hi Tayla – you might also be interested in this article too: https://healthygut.com/why-fructose-malabsorption-causes-gas-cramping-and-diarrhea-and-how-to-bea-it/

Hi Tayla – first, I’m so sorry you’re experiencing these kind of symptoms.

While we aren’t doctors and can’t make any promises, we’ve seen many people with similar symtpoms heal following the SCD protocol.

The diet does include foods like bananas and honey and grape juice in the itnro phase, but we encourage you to ksip these foods if you’re concerned about them. None of them are integral and we advocate a customized verison of the diet that will work for you.

The best place to start if with the free quick start guide: https://healthygut.com/scd-quick-start-guide/

From there, the eBook walks you step-by-step through everything (buying kitchen tools, prepping the food, portions, progressing through the phases and more).

Here’s a link to our book: http://scdlifestylebook.com/

If you ever have questions about making substitutions or need support along your journey, we’re always here for you at support@scdlifestyle.com

I apologize in advance if this is a bit long. I have been struggling with various health issues and I’m trying to figure out the best course of action to heal my body. Everything started when I started drinking a lot of kombucha, after a few months, I started feeling weak, tired, and shaky, and eventually I got insomnia, heart palpitations ,anxiety, and muscles ticks. Eventually I became very sensitive to sugar, carbs, alcohol, and now fermented foods like aged cheeses or coconut water kefir. I am so sensitive to starches that it makes me want to cry. The other night i ate a couple spoonfuls of hummus and later that night I felt like I had the worlds worst hangover (headache, nauseous, couldn’t move).

ive been seeing a chiropractor for nutrition and she suggested the SCD diet because of my issues with carbs. Would this diet be helpful for someone like me? Because I know honey, bananas and grape juice are in the beginning and i don’t know if I could tolerate any of those. Thank you in advance.

Hi April and Justin. Thanks for commenting!

SCD is a customizable plan. We recommend you substitute for foods you know you’re intolerant of. These are some common substitutions:

Carrots > Zucchini
Carrots > Squash
Carrots > Cucumbers
Chicken Broth > Beef Broth
Gelatin and Grape Juice > Skip it

Also, you can get by without the apples and pears and even squash. Essentially, you may take anything on the allowed list of phase 1 vegetables and substitute it if necessary.

Also, a DAO enzyme is great for histamine intolerance and we suggest a supplement called Daosin by the brand Swanson.

Many times, there is a root cause of this and we would also suggest some functional medicine testing as well if this does not improve for you. Check out this video for more info on that: https://healthygut.com/2012/11/episode-4-food-allergy-vs-food-intolerance-showdown/

If you are in need of a practitioner, you can go here: https://healthygut.com/practitioners/

I have the same problem. Would love to hear some input on this.

Hi Cab, The SCD diet has helped many people in your same shoes regain their health.

The best place to start is with our Free quick start guide here: https://healthygut.com/scd-quick-start-guide/

From here, we highly recommend following the directions in the eBook for best results: http://scdlifestylebook.com/

Hi Sterling- We’ve had some experience fielding questions from vegetarians, but our products are not geared towards that lifestyle choice.
You can most certainly try our products and substitute out many of the meats for other items, and we talk about that more on our blog.
Here’s three things you can review today that will help you:
1) Read about Cheryl Cravino’s SCD Success story, where she was starting out as a vegetarian:

https://healthygut.com/specific-carbohydrate-friends-cheryl-cravino/

2) Listen to a specific question we answer about SCD and vegetarian in podcast 21 (9:34 The myth that a vegetarian can’t follow SCD and what to try instead of meat – especially in the beginning)
https://healthygut.com/optimize-healing-and-feel-better-faster-podcast-21/
3) Read the comments from SCD’er vegetarians Elizabeth and most especially Jenny in this podcast comments section:
https://healthygut.com/optimize-healing-and-feel-better-faster-podcast-21/comment-page-1/#comments

Hi Tiffany, thanks for reaching out! You do not have to consume the eggs if you know they are intolerable at this point. Go ahead and consume more of the other foods that sit well with you. Secondly, the only juice we recommend is a very small amount in the intro diet to make the grape gelatin. Lastly, many can not tolerate fats with an impaired digestive tract and thus we take this into consideration in the SCD diet, especially in the beginning.

Hi, thank you for reaching out today! We are happy to hear from you and appreciate the feedback.

HI Savatri, thank you for reaching out today! We suggest getting on a gut healing program such as the SCD diet, GAPS. or our Solving Leaky gut program, as it sounds like you are suffering form many food intolerance and hence, poor gut function. The supplements are great, but you will need to attack the root of the problem first so the supplements can be utilized to their full potential.

Hi Laura, way to go! Glad to hear that you’re doing so well. We would recommend staying away from the yeast, though.

Hi Carole,

Thank you for reaching out to us! We highly suggest you read this article on acid reflux (GERD): https://healthygut.com/the-specific-carbohydrate-diet-cures-gerd/ Please let us know if you need any further assistance, we are here to help!

Hi Tracey,

Thanks for sharing your struggles with us! We definitely feel for you. We suggest giving SCD a try for at least 30 days to see how you feel. Here’s a good post for those concerned about weight loss: https://healthygut.com/losing-weight-after-starting-scd-gaps/

If you’re still having a difficult time, we suggest finding a functional medicine practitioner to work with as diet, while extremely important, is oftentimes just a part of the healing picture.

Let us know how it goes and keep up the great work!

Hi CJ,

Sorry to hear that you’re having such a difficult time and have had to go through so much with your health. We suggest that people treat everything (to a certain extent of course) as a test. In most cases, people are able to tolerate all regular coffees right away, but we suggest making sure that you’re not experiencing symptoms when you try it.

Hi Renee,

We are happy to hear you have discovered the SCD diet! Keep us updated on how you are doing and let us know how we can help.

When I was first diagnosed with celiac and went GF my iron dropped dramatically as well. I spent a year fighting extreme fatigue due to anemia with iron supplements and then Rx strength iron as well. What finally worked was folic acid and red meat. Most GF foods are not enriched with folic acid like wheat flour is, and it is necessary for absorption of iron. It’s worth a try anyway. I know every body is different, but beef and folic acid were my missing links.

Hope you’ll answer my question, because I’m at a loss! I’ve followed the Paleo Auto Immune Protocol for 45 days now and my belly has never been this calm, yay! But my candida is still there and itching. Do you think it would be a good idea to integrate SCD in the PAIP? And if so, should I do the 2-5 days intro or can I skip that? Also, I’m using a lot of healing foods the intro doesn’t mention, like cod liver oil/butter oil, probiotics, water kefir, L-glutamine, bone broth, liver, coconut, ginger, garlic and other spices. If I should do the intro, can I keep using those? I’d love to hear from you!

Lisette
The Netherlands

Hi,
suffering from iron-deficiency myself. One of the tricks that may help: stop drinking black tea (I was told the tea associates with iron and makes it unavailable) and reduce dairy (calcium does the same). x

Hey Beth I’d start with the SCD intro diet that you can start from our free download at the top of the page. Do the non dairy version.