2023 Update

I wanted to post here and remind you all that your efforts and love doing this diet for your loved ones or yourself or SO worth it! Do not give up. It is not easy, but will pay off.

Please BE SURE to read the next two posts.

I wanted to share that Justin is still doing great. He had a check up colonoscopy last year and everything still looks good. Justin will be getting married next month! I cannot thank our doctor or God for the opportunity they gave us to do the SCD diet for my son!

Wishing you all good luck in your journey!

2021 UPDATE

Please be sure to read the last post before this one. I do not check this blog any longer, but am leaving it active as I recorded my journey with my son, Justin, while on the SCD Diet. I recorded here not only my learning curves during this process but also that of other mom’s who were on the SCD Diet with their children.

My son, Justin, will be 21 years old in December. If you read more in this blog you will see he had many colonoscopies at the age of 3 and we were told he would have Crohn’s Disease one day. This being 17 years ago, I was told at this time, he may not live past his teen years, because the teen years were the hardest with this disease.

Over the next 7 years we were told by other doctors that Justin’s problems were food allergy related, which I believe I have a post here in the blog how the intestines can make allergy testing alterations (I was told later). At age 10, Justin’s symptoms worsened and we headed back to the GI doctor. Dr. Cohen, at Atlanta Children’s Hospital had just started a test study with the SCD Diet. Justin was the second child to be put on the study. I dove into the diet and was grateful to be offered something besides medication to help my child. I was going to try this before putting him on medication.

Justin was on the diet for 3 years STRICTLY and the 4th year I added Paleo Diet foods and he started adding some foods back into his diet due to peer pressure at school at the age of 14. He was completely off the diet at the age of 15.

A few months ago I went with Justin to the ER concerned about his health and we were recommended to go have a colonoscopy for assurance to see if his Crohn’s Disease was causing his symptoms. We went to an adult GI doctor and Justin was a new patient here. The doctor was astounded how healthy Justin’s intestines looked during the colonoscopy. He didn’t not see any damage in the area where Crohn’s was once recorded being. We were so excited!!!

Please note that from my experience talking to other SCD Diet moms that the diet does not reverse damages. I have seen one child go from hospitalization and medications bent over from joint pain to high school senior standing tall and carrying the trumpet in the marching band. Sections of damaged intestines were removed, but the last time I spoke with this family, the gentlemen remains on the diet because he remembers how aweful he felt before the diet. I have spoken with moms who have been able to take their children off medications. And all of this is from being on the diet STRICTLY 100%.

I have encountered stories from moms with children with intestinal diseases who have been searching for pediatric doctors to help them with the SCD Diet. All doctors do not believe in this natural way of healing. I have heard horror stories from moms asking their doctors…. I won’t repeat some of the things they were told. I have had one mom from Germany fly her child over to Georgia one summer to visit our doctor after reaching out through this blog.

Dr. Stanley Cohen and Dr. Benjamin Gold with GI Care for Kids in Atlanta, GA, are the two doctors I know for sure will help you with the SCD Diet. Good luck on your journey. It will not be an easy one, but I can tell you it will be rewarding!!!

Thank you, Dr. Cohen, for offering this option to our family. We will forever be grateful!

SCD Diet 4 Kids Blog – PLEASE READ

Hello, everyone!  If you are visiting our website for the first time, PLEASE stop and read this post!  I want to tell you why I started this blog, how to use this blog if you are starting out, and why I have not posted on here in so long.

IF you were to contact me and you were just starting this diet for your child or yourself, I would tell you to go to our “getting started” section and read EVERYTHING!  I tried putting my experience as a mom with a young child on this diet almost 7 years ago and from talking to other moms (LOTS of other moms) into this blog so it would continue to help others for years!  (when my memory fails me with all of the details you will need)

I no longer post on this blog BECAUSE my son is almost 17 now and is no longer on the diet.  He was diagnosed “officially” with Crohn’s Disease at age 10 and we were offered this diet as a test study.  He was on the diet “strictly” for 3.5 years and has been off since then.  After his dying off stage he was symptom free and drug free and still is to this day.

I started this blog because we were the 2nd patient to be offered the test study diet at The Children’s Hospital in Atlanta with Dr. Stanley Cohen (Dr. Gold is the other doctor here that does the SCD Diet.).  They didn’t know much about the diet and when I do something I do it 100%.  They started giving my number out to everyone and I eventually was on the phone ALOT!  So I started this blog so I could share what everyone was wanting and NEEDING to hear to encourage them and break it down easily in a “mom’s version”.  Please note I have not had any medical schooling, this entire blog is what I learned and my opinion from talking to SO many moms and hearing results.

If you were to call me today and just starting out, I would tell you this, as I have told moms, as well as adults that have contacted me, to get started.  I never have recommended or had anyone start with the different stages in the book.  We didn’t read the book to get started, we jumped right in then I had time to read the book.  I have always told everyone to print off the legal/illegal list and highlight all of the foods that you already eat all of the time.  Week one concentrate on making your diet just those familiar foods.  Yes, you need to get started on the yogurt.  It will be nasty, FYI, as first, but you will learn to fix it to your liking.  (my son ALWAYS had it in an orange juice, frozen banana smoothie)  The next week look through the list and choose some other foods you don’t normally eat and start adding them.  I STRONGLY RECOMMEND keeping  STRICT food diary!!!!!   Everything you put in your mouth, meds, and going to the bathroom, and how you feel!  I eventually learned with my son that after he ate something that irritated him he wouldn’t feel it for 3-4 days after he ate it.  From doing this we learned he couldn’t eat fresh pineapple, but the dehydrated pineapple didn’t bother him.  One mom eventually figured out from the diary her daughter could not have bananas.  Be patient!  And you will eventually figure it out!  ANOTHER HUGE TIP:  Cook in BULK!  Eating out does not make it easy on this diet! Having handy foods quick is what is going to make this a success!  When you are grilling chicken or burgers – have a bulk package of meat ready to throw on there when you are finished with dinner and cook it and put it in the freezer to pull out quickly!  Cook bread once a month and make 3 batches and freeze.  AND I PROMISE – making the yogurt sounds AWFUL at first but one day it will be just like boiling water and will come easy!

I HIGHLY recommend going through the blog and especially reading all of the “getting started” posts!  I have tried to share lots of great recipes I found over the years!  Good luck!  And remember you aren’t in this alone!  There have been moms before you fight the struggle to get started and YES it is hard!  But seeing your child heal and knowing you put forth the HARD effort… priceless!  It’s not cheap!  But neither is meds!  And need I remind you my son has been symptom free and drug free for even years after being off the diet.  The SCD Diet is an option you CAN do to help your child/yourself with their disease.  “Option” – you have to make the decision to do it and DON’T CHEAT!

GOOD LUCK! YOU CAN DO IT!

Debra’s Daughter’s SCD Testimony

What a difference a year makes! In January 2015, after months of suffering from extreme abdominal pain and losing nearly 25% of her body weight, my sweet ten year old daughter was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. To say we were shocked and devastated is an understatement, but we were thankful to finally know what was causing her pain. After meeting with her doctor and discussing the three treatment paths available to her, we opted for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) and agreed to participate in a 12-week clinical trial through Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. My daughter was the one who made the decision, and she has been 100% committed and involved from the onset.

On February 1, 2016, we celebrated one year on SCD! And what a miraculous year it has been. We were a bit overwhelmed when we first got started, but took your advice and just began, not worrying about whether or not we had every single item necessary (e.g., the yogurt maker, all the legal ingredients for everything). My daughter has thrived in the past year. She has gained back all of the weight she had lost and more and has grown 3”! Gone are the signs of malnutrition and she is back to being her fun loving self, is always on the go with friends and activities, and most importantly is free of all signs and symptoms of Crohn’s. It has been miraculous as she has achieved this through the diet and was never on any medicines to treat her disease (except for Nexium for a short while at the beginning). Her blood work was fully normal within 3 months of starting the diet and has remained that way throughout.

Our entire family eats SCD and we have created lots of delicious recipes – many replacing our former family recipes as we prefer this version better. While I admit I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, it has been worth it to see my sweet daughter happy and healthy again. One of the things that I think has made it more manageable for us is that my husband went on the diet fully as well, to fully support his little girl (and experience the same feelings that she was going through). Together they have a lot of fun cooking and creating new things. My daughter loves to cook and has really enjoyed making some new recipes and mastering them. I think being able to make her own food, her way, has given her a sense of freedom and control in managing her Crohn’s.

We are so thankful to have found SCD and thankful for the support and encouragement this website gave us during the early stages. For anyone considering SCD, all we can say is that it is worth it! And just like with anything new, it gets easier as you get more experience in what foods are safe and how to work with them. I will have to send some of our favorite recipes to post for others….you can definitely eat well, enjoy delicious food, and be on SCD. Thank you for setting up this website and for being available to us throughout to talk through things. Your support made a huge difference!

Mom Debra

We cannot thank you enough Debra for keeping us updated and sharing your daughters success with the SCD diet! We all know what hard work this is for you as a mom. Keep up the hard work! Sounds like you are doing an awesome job!

Don’t miss our own SCD Mom – Chef Wendy on October 10!

Our own SCD mom Chef Wendy will be at the ATLANTA PARENT MAGAZINE FAMILY FUN FESTIVAL!! Saturday, October 10th – Mercer University Atlanta Campus.  Chef Wendy will be a guest of their PREMIER non-profit organization “Page Turners Make Great Learners”.  She is scheduled to speak and read at 11:00am.  Please come out and enjoy the fun and activities!!  You can find details in any Atlanta Parent Magazine in your local grocery stores or go to Atlanta Parent or Page Turners Make Great Learners or Sparkles Cookies and Desserts

				Atlanta Parent Atlanta Parent Magazine’s Online Resource Guide is perfect for planning birthday parties, choosing the right school for your child, locating a fun summer camp or fi…
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		Page Turners Make Great Learners Giving the world to young students through reading.
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		Sparkles Cookies and Desserts Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Refined Sugar-Free Cookies Desserts and Treats SCD Specific Carbohydrate Diet Paleo
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SCD Meals Prepared Fresh – Lifesaver for Moms!!!

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long! Work has kept me BUSY!!! And as I am sure all of you moms are out there, BUSY, I have a GREAT tip to share!

We first learned about the SCD Diet from our GI doctor, who I believe was encouraged to try a study on the diet after her son had success on the diet. Kathy was ALOT of help to me when we first started the diet! I could never thank her enough!

Kathy now cooks SCD/Paleo meals fresh weekly. She has once again been a lifesaver to us!!! She texts me the menu for the next week and we let her know what or how many we want and we pick them up fresh at the beginning of the week. They are also GREAT to freeze! I use the meals for school lunches because they look SO much like normal foods for his social eating. They are great for my son to pull one and yes, sometimes, two out to eat when he is hungry. We keep up with his favorites and order double of his favorites when they are offered. I could NEVER cook this variety of foods for him with our busy schedule and cooking for others in our family at the same time!

Kathy offers a variety of great meals from jambalaya, spaghetti, enchiladas, chicken stir fry, and meatloaf with smashed cauliflower just to name a few. You can contact Kathy if you are interested at 404-694-9247! My son loves them all, but really likes the enchiladas!

SUPPORT CAMERON AND THE CHILDREN WITH CROHN’S & COLITIS

This is Cameron at Camp Oasis, a summer camp specifically for children with Crohn’s and colitis. Because of the support and research of the CCFA, Cameron was able to attend this life-changing camp. My youngest son Cameron was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2011 and he’s now well enough to be a Teen Team Challenge Honored Hero and participate in a half marathon with Team Challenge on July 11th in Portland, Maine. I can’t even begin to express how absolutely devastating it was as a parent to spend so many nights in the hospital, watch him undergo painful procedures, endure sickening side-effects from drugs and worst of all watch him go from a strong athletic happy-go-lucky kid to one sidelined with weakness and pain. However, with your generous donation, you can help make attending Camp Oasis a possibility for other children suffering with the same IBD. PLEASE help us by visiting online.ccfa.org/site/TR/TeamChallenge/Chapter-Georgia…… and donating generously to the Crohn’s Colitis Foundation of America. Please make your donation by May 17th, my personal fundraising deadline. Thank you and God Bless!!
Wendy

Kid’s SCD Blog – Ideas Moms?

Hope everyone has had a great Spring Break!  I am going to start working on the Kid’s blog!  Excited!  

I was hoping you moms could give me some ideas for it. I’m not perfect and knowledgeable on the whole blog thing but hopefully I can get it set up in the next couple of weeks. 

Any ideas would be helpful. Please don’t be upset if I don’t get your idea on the blog. Lol. I might not know how to do it. I was HOPING to see if I can figure out how to fix the blog to where all of the kids can post on the blog. For example, my blog now only I can post. If someone else wants to share something they have to email me and I copy it and post it. I think this would help the children all feel like it is their blog also and they will share more. I do plan on watching the blog closely and would appreciate help from other moms as well. I will make a note on the blog that an adult will be monitoring it. But, I think it would be a very good idea NOT to tel your children you look at it , as I think they would be cautious and reserved at being open and making friends here. 

What are your thoughts and ideas? 🙂

Question for Moms of Teens

I had an idea pop up today. Just curious what other moms of teenagers thought. My son always seems like none of his friends understand his diet and right now after having to start the diet again he seems very down and making comments that he doesn’t have any friends. I have heard some moms out there say some of the same things about their teens. I was curious if I started a blog for Justin to post and share his thoughts and favorite foods/recipes if you think your children would like it and participate? It would give them a place to go like we do to not feel like we are alone. I will set him up an email address where they can share things and we can post their comments. I was just wondering if any of you moms thought this would be good for your children. We are always saying how great it is here to hear that we are not alone, and that we wish we could get our kids together. I was hoping this might be something great for our children! I can only imagine how they feel if us moms are feeling alone!
Comments please! Thanks!

My Son’s 4 Year SCD Update

Hello, everyone. I am finally sitting down and sharing our report for my son, Justin’s, four year pill cam results since being on the SCD Diet. If you have been following my blog for a while you know my son is now 14 years old. He was diagnosed at age 10 with Crohn’s Disease. He started the SCD Diet test study with our doctor, Stanley Cohen, at GI Care For Kids at Children’s Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. We were thankful our doctor gave us a choice rather than put our son onto medication. My son took some vitamins and probiotics when he was on an antibiotic but was never put on any medications after he was diagnosed with a mild case of Crohn’s. He has been symptom free and medication free since the “dying off stage” of the SCD Diet (as long as he didn’t cheat on the diet). After 3 years on the diet, and being a teenager, Justin started cheating. Justin’s father and I, as well as his doctor, to let him choose his foods and try to eat healthy but off the diet somewhat. But you know how you give a teen-ager an inch and they take the mile! Lol. Just had gotten to where he was drinking cokes, sugar candies, etc.
We had a pill cam a couple of weeks ago. Justin’s blood work and stool samples actually came back perfect. But his pill cam results showed that his intestines were showing signs of small ulcers again. They said it was about halfway from when his pill cams were perfect to when he was diagnosed 4 years ago.
Justin has chosen to go back on the diet instead of choosing medications. We are not planning on going onto the diet 100% at this time. We are anxious to see how he does being on the diet majority of the time with some splurges, kind of like he was eating before he went off completely. I was starting to follow the Paleo diet some because it added a few extra items that helped him alot having been restricted for so long (maple syrup, sweet potatoes, natural chocolate chips). Justin is not showing any signs of symptoms. He is still feeling good. So honestly at this time I think he would continue to cheat behind our back if we didn’t give him some room to play around.
Justin has been very upset and mad about this diagnosis and not looking forward to it. We are VERY grateful his he healthy with this disease and it has helped him, but it is hard for him to understand and cooperate when he is so young and hasn’t felt any symptoms or suffered recently to where he remembers. I have talked to some moms whose children have suffered so badly they do not forget and will not cheat on the diet.
We have hopes and are anxious to see how this works for Justin. If being on the diet like this doesn’t help, then we will go back on it strictly.
Thank you for everyone’s concerns. I had hoped to have better news. I will say that after Justin was on the diet for a few years and was eating Paleo and splurging on glutten free pizza and make “wise” cheat choices his insides still looked perfect. There is hope for the future! I hear GREAT results from moms with children on the diet!
Please let me know if you have any questions you would like for me to ask other moms here on the blog or if you have something you would like to share!!! And KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! We ALL know it is NOT easy!