Adding non-SCD foods back into your diet is one of the most asked about and confusing aspects of SCD. I’ve written about it before, but I it’s something that can’t be talked about too much.
Some people will stay on the diet forever, some will go back to what they were eating before, and some will seek a healthy expansion. This is what I do, but that wasn’t my first direction.
I hate to admit sometimes, but I went off the diet completely for a short time. I didn’t go completely insane with junk food, and I kept eating SCD meals a lot of the time, but I wasn’t as careful as I should have been.
I ended up with some mild inflammation as a result. Granted it took a couple of years, it wasn’t immediate and it luckily wasn’t severe, so I am grateful for that.
The hardest part about adding new foods is knowing what, how much, and how often. The other thing that is hard is that once you start eating non-SCD foods it’s easy to go further and further away without realizing it. That’s what happened to me.
One rule of thumb I now follow is to stick with single ingredients. Stay away from processed foods, and preservatives. Look at labels. If you see a long list of ingredients you don’t recognize you probably won’t want it.
For a while I tried eating bread. I didn’t have any problems. I stuck with whole grain breads with basic ingredients like Dave’s Killer Bread. I also tried some sprouted grain breads and basically sought out as healthy of bread as possible…for a while. Then I found myself ordering sandwiches and pizza at restaurants. This is a no-no. Pick up a prepared sandwich at your grocery deli department and take a look at the ingredients of just the bread (not to mention the meat and whatever else is on there). There are tons of ingredients in that kind of bread. Long story short, all bread is not created equal.
Now I have decided to go gluten-free for the time being so I probably won’t be having even healthier breads any time soon. One thing that is important to remember is the all things are not created equal rule.
Maybe you’ve added some chocolate back into your diet. Does that mean grabbing a Hershey bar at the check stand? No it doesn’t. What is means for mean is buying unsweetened chocolate and making something using SCD ingredients. That’s how I can stick to the one non-SCD food rule.
Some other single ingredient foods I’ve added, that I eat fairly regularly are potatoes – sweet and white (with sweet being a little more often than white), plantains, and quinoa. The other foods I’ve tried or added are listed here. It’s a list always in progress. Sometimes I change my mind about adding a new food, and sometimes I discover something new.
Plantains are my most regular non-SCD food. I eat about one a week. They make an excellent bread substitute for sandwiches and I even used one to make a pizza crust recently. Plantains have been shown to have some benefit in preventing Crohn’s recurrence.
I didn’t start adding new foods until about seven years in to the diet. That’s a decision everyone has to make for themselves.
Some Do’s for adding new foods:
Do it slowly – one new food at a time – try it out once and don’t have it again for a week.
Only have a small serving to try it out.
Consider how much you want the new food – is the food healthy? Will it be a benefit to your diet or life?
Read labels!!!
Stick with single foods
Make sure you have been symptom free for a long time before trying something new.
The Do not’s:
The biggest is Don’t Go Overboard!
Don’t throw caution to the wind and have whatever you want.
Basically don’t take unnecessary chances.
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| Sandwich made with Plantains as “bread” |
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Hello, Hello! So glad I found you – I found your blog through my friend Viciy (@ GF, SCD & Veggie). I’ve been searching for more SCD blogs!! Yeah.
Can’t wait to look through your recipes. 🙂
Have a great rest of your week.
Be Well,
–Amber
Hi Amber! Thanks! Glad you found the blog.