Dear Diary . . . 5 Reasons To Keep A Food Diary

Hi Guys! You'll probably notice that I've been futzing with the blog design.  I'm moving things around, adding things, and playing with layout.  So the blog might look different than the last time you visited.  Bear with me.  I'm just trying to find something I like.  If you've got any suggestions leave me a comment.

I've been keeping a food diary for several years now as part of my adherence to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.  What is a food diary?  Well, it can vary based on your needs and what you want to track.  But basically, it's a journal where you record all of the data that's pertinent to your diet and health.  Sound like a lot of work?  It isn't really.  It only takes a few minutes a day and can really add a lot to your healing journey. 

I put together 5 reasons why you want start keeping a food diary:

1.  It's an accurate record of your diet, exercise, and medicine regimen.  It's super important to keep an accurate record of what food you're eating and what medicine you're taking.  Especially in the beginning of the SCD.  This allows you to pinpoint the cause of any symptoms you might have.  When you begin to experiment beyond the basic safe foods, tracking your reactions can be very valuable.  The same can be said for your exercise and medicine.  I've identified more bad reactions and side effects related to new meds that I might have otherwise have attributed to food.

2.  Tracking how you feel can give you motivation.  In addition to simply keeping a record of what you're doing, write down how you're feeling physically.  You can follow your journey over time from flare to feeling good.  And looking back on the printed proof of your improvement can keep you on the straight and narrow when you really want those french fries.

3.  Tell me how you really feel.  And don't leave out all of the emotional stuff either.  There are a lot of emotions that come along with such a dramatic change in lifestyle.  I myself experienced a lot of guilt and not a little bit of alienation from the "normal" eaters around me.  Writing down how I felt really helped me to deal with it and move past it.  Now my journal is filled with success stories.  You might also notice that certain foods can provoke a change in your emotional state.  By writing it down, you can spot it and change your diet to either embrace that change or avoid it.

4.  Goals and Milestones.  Your food diary is also a good place to track your goals and milestones.  If you need to gain weight.  Or lose weight.  If you need to improve your intake of certain foods.  I celebrate milestones with stickers in my food diary.  Mostly because I'm a big kid at heart!

5.  It's a visual representation of success.  As time passes you'll find that you have many, many pages.  And then, especially if you're using a physical book as opposed to a soft copy, you'll have many, many books.  It's amazing how just looking at my journal collection gives me pride in my accomplishment. 

At the end of the day it's a tool to help you track, not just your actions, but your success as well.  And if you find that you need the extra motivation and support I really encourage you to try it.  It's made all the difference for me.

New SCD Cookbooks!

I just got in two new-to-me cookbooks for the SCD: Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet by Raman Prasad and Healing Foods by Sandra Ramacher. I'm really excited by these additions to my cookbook library. One of the things that I struggle with in doing the SCD is the lack of variety that I fall victim to every time. I grew up in a household where a vegetable was corn or potatoes. As an adult that has made me into a naturally picky eater. And many of the lovely members of the vegetable family are completely foreign to me. The same for some of the more exotic spices and flavors that the food world has to offer me.

Both of these glorious cookbooks are filled with recipes that include ingredients that, while I have heard of them, I've never included in my cooking before. I really hope that the inspiration that I feel flipping through the books and looking at the incredible pictures will translate into many new food loves. The only real drawback to these is that they are a bit more gourmet than I'm used to in my everday cooking. That is not a bad thing because both books are filled with recipes that are of a quality that can be used to entertain. But many are a bit more complicated than I'm looking for for a midweek meal. That being said the desert and main course sections of both books are loaded with recipes I can't wait to try.

First up for me is the Foccacia recipe found in Raman Prasad's book. It couldn't look more yummy. And since it's made with almond flour I feel comfortable giving it a go. From Sandra's book the Light White Bread and the Pumpernickel bread recipes are calling my name. It's not a coincidence that these are bread recipes. I'm really craving bread today. But there are some awesome new takes on preparing chicken in both books that have me salivating.

Stay tuned for the results!

Welcome to the new blog!

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to my new SCD blog. Here's the history. I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in the summer of 2007. I was immediately put on all of the standard medications. Unlike a lot of the other sufferers of IBD my doctor immediately approached me with the idea that I needed to do my research and experiment with my diet so that I could find the right combination of medication and diet to alleviate most of my symptoms. It didn't take long to come across all of the reports about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and it's effectiveness on many types of gut related issues. I immediately ordered Elaine Gottschall's book Breaking the Viscious Cycle and plowed through it in a couple of hours. I was very impressed with how she outlined the evidence, her theory, and her personal experiences in treating her daughter. Though I read other books, websites, and personal experiences of other sufferers I decided to go forward with the SCD.

Boy, did I bite off more than I could chew! I was able to follow the diet very well for a few months. But as the diet is very restrictive - no wheat, no corn, no rice, no sugar, no lactose, I had a hard time staying faithful. All of my favorite foods and diet staples had been eliminated. I had great results while on the diet, my symptoms almost completely disappeared during the time I was very committed. The amount of medication I needed was drastically reduced. But as I began to cheat the symptoms crept back in. Slowly at first and then more aggressively. I have been off of the diet totally since March and during that time I have experienced some of my worst symptoms to date. I'm now back on all of the heavy meds including Prednisone.

What's the point? The point is that I'll be going back on the SCD as soon as the course of steroids are over. This relapse experience has taught me that the SCD did more for my condition than the meds. I want to feel that great again. So stay tuned, I'll be reporting all my of successes and failures. Cookbook and recipe reviews, too.

I'd love to hear about everyone else's experience. Feel free to drop a comment.

Happy Eating!
Christy