September 29, 2012
Earlier this week, I told you about how I “How I Avoided Gut Rot, Ate Pure Corn Starch, And Won The Leadman Triathlon”
In that article, I mentioned that in some cases, simply avoiding fructose, limiting processed sugars, or not drinking sports drinks is simply not enough.
For example…
-Do you have frequent, embarrassing gas?
-Do you spend an inordinate amount of time on the toilet?
-Do you find your workouts being disrupted by constipation or diarrhea?
-Do you get bloating or stomach cramps while you're running or exercising?
-Do you feel like your digestion is just “not normal”?
Today, in today's audio interview with Steven Wright from the SCD Lifestyle website, you're going to learn why these kind of digestive issues can happen, and how something called the “Specific Carbohydrate Diet” can help you.
For much of his life, my interview guest today, Steven Wright, had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and undiagnosed digestive problems – very similar to what many people walk around with and simply try to struggle through on a daily basis.
Steven's sidekick at the SCD Lifestyle website, Jordan Reasoner, had even more serious digestive issues, including celiac disease and debilitating diarrhea that was ruining his life.
In this interview with Steven Wright, you're going to learn about the specific carbohydrate diet, which removes many foods that are toxic and harmful to the digestive system, and supplies your body with gut-healing compounds that are natural and extremely nourishing.
During our discussion, Steven mentions a free book with some sample eating and more information about the specific carbohydrate diet. You can get that free book by clicking here.
In addition, you can also click here for a comprehensive guide to healing your gut with the specific carbohydrate diet, along with meal plans and a frequently asked questions guide (SCD Lifestyle package shown below).
Questions, comments or feedback about the specific carbohydrate diet? Simply leave them below this post!
hey there and thank you for your information –
I’ve definitely picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise several technical issues using this web site, as I experienced to reload the website a lot of times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and can damage your high quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Well I’m adding this RSS to my email and can look out for much more
of your respective exciting content. Make sure
you update this again very soon.
@Stuart – We respond to every single email and try not to miss any comments on our site. Please send us an email at JordanandSteve AT scdlifestyle.com if you haven't found your answer yet.
Thanks Ben, have resubmitted email with no reply. Have contacted the site's support page
Hey, can't seem to get the download link for the book
Try this Stuart: http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=4837215
Thanks for your reply Steve – I was actually looking into GAPs and FODMAP diet and came across SCD just as Ben and yourself posted this podcast… I already eat Paleo/low-carb (no grains/legumes/moderate fruit intake) and avoid any additives as much as possible.
In reference to the fruit specifically, it was the di-saccharides that get most confusing – are there any fruits or veg that you guys recommend to avoid/limit? Interestingly, I have a teaspoon of raw honey each morning to help with hayfever, and I think overeating it would be quite hard, but I think I could chug a bottle of maple syrup pretty easily (super-troopers style!), I wonder if sugar type or other aspects of the chemical composition of it would affect palatibility or taste?
In particular for me, I have IBS, chronic hayfever/sinusitis and previously bad acne, which has in the past led to seeing doctors, coeliac test, medications etc, but all of it responds really well to this sort of diet. I would love to be able to tweak it to get the maximum benefit! Particularly fruit can a bit iffy so any advice or information/links you have would be much appreciated!
Also a quick one with regard to chocolate – I know Elaine said a flat out no to cocoa powder, and Dr Haas said it was related to the oxalates binding minerals. Do you guys subscribe to this when spinach is just as high in oxalates? I am a reformed chocoholic, but I make my own with pure cacao powder and butter, no sugar. I have sometimes wondered if this affects my gut at all?
@Neil – When your still battling digestive problems we encourage people to not stray from the SCD legal fruits and vegetables. We have found tho that some people need to limit their fruit intake to 2 servings or less a day. This blog post has more info -> http://scdlifestyle.com/2011/03/what-to-do-when-t…
I think honey is totally fine as long as your not chugging it super troopers style haha. Regarding chocolate I don't believe oxalates to be the problem at this point, I haven't gone down the super rabbit hole of chocolate yet. But from my own experience of being chocoholic, I found that when I supplemented hard with magnesium malate / glycinate and took regular Epsom salt baths my cravings decreased big time.
Chocolate is a very complex food, 100's of active chemicals, so I'm really indifferent at this point. If your homemade version doesn't cause problems then go for it.
@Neil – You bring up a great topic and you've obviously put a ton of time into researching this stuff. So with that you know the current version of SCD as described in BTVC was created by Elaine Gottschall and she has since passed on. That creates a problem for all of now as we try to understand why she contradicted herself in some instances. The fruits containing polysaccharides is one of those. The maple syrup one is actually consistent with her theory and now with SIBO research and inflammation of the gut villi. Fructose and Glucose are monosaccharides needing no further splitting in the digestive tract before absorption. However Sucrose is a Di-saccharide that needs to be split by brush border enzymes that are produced from the villi. If SIBO or any other problem inflames the gut the villi are the first to get damaged which lessons or stops the ability to cleave the sugar bonds. This causes the di and poly saccharides to last longer in the intestines and can lead to feeding other bugs causing more digestive harm. In the future we are hoping to incorporate much of the new science and understanding that has been developed since Elaine passed on. That's why we currently advise and teach that it's best to focus on using SCD as template (Because it is successful) but to create a custom version for your lifestyle.
Hi Ben,
Great interview! Something that has been bugging me about the SCD, especially when you read up on it, is that the premise is on avoiding all but simple sugars. The problem I see with this advice is that they allow honey, for instance, because it is made of fructose and sucrose, but not maple syrup, because it is made of sucrose. But actually Apricots can contain up to 70% sucrose, but are legal. Honey actually can contain palatinose, a more strongly bonded version of sucrose, that doesnt digest until it reaches the intestines…. This idea doesn’t seem to make sense to me?
I’m not doubting that this diet works – eliminating all processed crap is going to help anyone’s bowels – but I think that saying its because simple sugars don’t reach the intestines and therefore aren’t fermented isn’t the reason. Fruits can contain both mono and poly saccharides and therefore the whole ‘legal’ idea is based on something incorrect. My thoughts are that it would be more related to the fiber/nutrient density of fruits and honey vs plain sugar and starches (maybe sugar digests better when certain nutrients/enzymes are present….?
What are your thoughts on this?
Sorry, meant honey was fructose and glucose!!! It’s late here in Oz!
After finding out about higher cholesterol I decided to start doing more regalar exercise. I was in decent shape, but started much more vigorous exercise with doing weight more regularly and aiming get at 30 minutes a day of heart rate in zone 3 . Two weeks or so weeks ago I started getting smelly gas which I usually only get when sick. I wasn't sure if it was due to diet change or exercise. I don't want to commit to SCD as this wasn't a consistent problem. I take probiotics regularly. Do you think one in this situation should reduce cardio, weights or both. I don't do endurance training. So that is not the issue.
Regular exercise can aggravate preexisting gut issues, alot of times due to simply jarring of the GI tract, and sometimes due to extra inflammation aggravating preexisting issues. I would consider doing a gut healing protocol for sure…
I am very interersted in trying the SCD diet and know it would help my gut issues. Steven was very knowledgable but failed to address how endurance athletes could impliment this plan and still stay at a high level of activity. What can I use for nutrition on this plan and are electrolytes okay still? (I’ve been using gels and S-caps.)
Could the SCD diet segwey into a fat adapted diet? I would like to use U-Can and lower my dependence on gels. Thanks!
It's tough to have your cake and eat it too in this case Josh. I'm not convinced SCD (or GAPS) necessarily lends itself well to the unnaturally high levels of activity you'd do during endurance activity, so you'd need to modify by including sweet potato, yam, parsnip, carrot, etc and other "safe starches". What I'd recommend if you have GI issues is to use this diet in the off-season, combined with lower levels of physical activity, to "heal your gut"…
what are your thoughts on SCD vs GAPS diet for someone with gut issues, but not issues as severe as what was discussed in the podcast? i know you had been recommending (or mentioning) the GAPS diet previously. there does not seem to be a huge difference.
The GAPS diet is based on the SCD. However, GAPS diet includes stronger emphasis on broths and fermented vegetables; removal of casein for at least 4-6 weeks (then very slow and careful reintroduction); fewer types of beans and legumes; and only homepressed (as opposed to storebought) fruit juices.
What I like about the SCD package above is it is "modernified" and easy to follow…
Also, you may just need to do the SCD diet for a few weeks or months to heal the gut, before transitioning into something like http://www.LowCarbTriathlete.com or a program like that, that is "clean" but not quite so strict as SCD…