Although anecdotal evidence cannot always be relied on, if it’s extensive it has to be considered. Anecdotal stories of Crohn’s sufferers using the SCD diet to significantly reduce the level of gut inflammation and even induce remission, abound on the Web.

Unfortunately, significant results from following the SCD diet take time; in some cases many months or even a year or so. But, soon I’m I’ll be sharing a natural therapy on this blog that surpasses SCD and yields significant results remarkably quicky, so stay tuned.

Here’s the theory behind the SCD diet.

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet was developed and popularized by biochemist Elaine Gottschall in her 1994 book, Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet. Gottschall, who spent time exploring the changes that occur in the intestinal wall in IBD while at the University of Western Ontario, wrote her book after observing the effects of a low-carbohydrate, gluten-free diet on her eight-year-old daughter, who had been diagnosed with colitis at age five.

She and her husband took their daughter to see Drs. Sidney V. and Merrill P. Haas, physicians who had written a book called Management of Celiac Disease, which espoused a low-carbohydrate nutritional approach to celiac and other gastrointestinal diseases. Within two years of starting a radical version of the diet – the precursor of the SCD – Gottschall writes, her daughter was free of symptoms. The girl returned to a normal diet a few years later and has remained in good health for more than 20 years.

The SCD is a grain-free, lactose-free, and sucrose-free meal plan that is several degrees more restrictive than the gluten-free diet. It is built on the premise that carbohydrates are the primary energy source for the intestinal microbes that contribute to the development of IBD. Gottschall believes that undigested carbohydrates in particular spur the formation of acids and toxins that can injure the small intestine, destroying the very enzymes that allow for carbohydrate digestion and absorption in a kind of vicious cycle.

Some testimonials from the SCD site.

“I’ve had Crohn’s for 34yrs. 19 of those years I’ve been on the SCdiet. My specialist has told me many times if I hadn’t been on the diet, these past years, I would be dead. God, is my divine physician, He’s used the diet to keep me well these past 6 years. I’ve travelled to Thailand on a mission trip, spent a week in Mexico, and have been on 2 cruises, all the while faithfully sticking to my diet. With much prayer I’ve had long periods of good health & 6 years of remission. I had a flare up this past Dec. so I’m now on Remicade, thankfully I’ve had no side effects. I’ve had only 2 surgeries, 1st one in Hawaii, God is my lifeline and this diet has been a life saver as well! I’m extremely interested in helping others find better health thru this SCdiet. It’s truly life-giving!”

“My story begins at the age of 22 when I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s disease by the age of 31 the disease had progressed to the point that I had fistulas that would not close and my quality of life was very poor. I was newly married, interested in starting a family. My next step medically was to either have surgery or to begin an expensive and relatively new regime ofdrugs. We chose to try Elaine’s diet and I have never looked back since. The fistula’s have closed and if anything can be said it is that I am in remission. I cannot believe how well I feel. I want to tell everyone who looks like there is no hope and tell them that about this. If there is something that I can do please let me know.”

“My name is John Byrne and I am a pharmacist with a graduate degree in immunopharmacology. I also have had Crohn’s disease for the last 20 years. I am currently 54 and like most folks with IBD, believed diet was of little consequence to the real pathology of my disease. Afterall, this is the conventional wisdom and random attempts to limit various foods never proved effective.
Two months ago, a collegue with a gluten intolorance shared with me the SCD diet www.scdiet.org and suggested I try it. After some procrastination, I reviewed the information on the Web and figured I had little to lose. I was wrong!
In the last 2 months I have reduced my prednisone from 15 to 7.5mg and my gut has never felt better. I have been steroid dependent for 20 years and this is the lowest dose level I have yet to attain. This comes in light of also taking imuran and asacol and having tried remicade for 1 year with little improvement.
It is my sincere hope the CCF will promote this diet as a non-invasive, relatively safe plan to augment traditional medication therapy. I know this is not the cure and I am only a voice of one; yet, the diet makes a great deal of sense in giving the diseased gut a metabolic rest and promotes solid nutrition, two concepts that seem rational for those with IBD.”

I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Colitis 5 1/2 years ago. Six months after the diagnosis, I came to the realization that the medicine the doctor prescribed was not going to “fix” me or even control the symptoms, for that matter. It was taking increased dosages of medicine to maintain a not-so-normal state.
I started the SCD diet because it was the only option I found that offered any hope. At first, I thought it was the end of the world. My pre-SCD diet was almost totally based on flour, sugar, rice, pasta, potatoes – all the bad stuff! No wonder I got sick!
My recovery was not as quick as some in the other testimonials on this site. I saw only marginal results for the first year or so. However, my mother always said I was stubborn – so I stuck with it. I thought about giving up a few times, but each time I ate a complex carbohydrate I felt really bad.
Over the last 2 years, I can tell my digestive system gets stronger all the time. After five years, I am just now symptom-free and medication-free.
In that five years, my eating life has been transformed. I never thought I would say this, but cooking has become a hobby (as opposed to eating fast food). I have expanded my horizons to new foods, herb gardening and wine collecting.
My advice to anyone on the diet is: this disease did not develop overnight, so don’t expect to cure it overnight. Don’t give up, even if you don’t see notable results right away. Sometimes being stubborn is a good thing.

For more stories search the Web for “SCD diet” and similar keywords, and have a look here too: http://www.scdiet.org/3testimonials/