Is anyone interested in trying the specific carbohydrate diet?
it is a diet recommended for a whole variety of health disorders. Most GI and bowel disorders, Autism, food allergy and sensitivities, Graves disease, and candidiasis.
I tried it once and felt alot better. I'd like to give it another shot, but it's quite a challenge, mainly because of the food preparation--i've fallen out of the habit of cooking.
I didn't see any threads on it and was just wondering if anyone knew of it, or had any of the health issues that the diet can help with.
I would like to try it for a few reasons: I have food addictions to processed foods, junk food and sugars, I think i may have food allergies or sensitivities, I have suspected that i may have a mild form of autism, I also think it's likely that i have candidiasis.
I'd like to see how much better i could feel, and i'm sure i'd loose wieght if i followed the diet.
I would be very hesitant to try any diet which says it can treat ANY medical condition without any studies or information to back it up. The front page of the Beginners Guide on the site says that the diet was "studied for 50 years" - yet no studies were published, or even referenced. All the evidence that this diet does anything for any medical condition is anecdotal - and anecdotes don't prove anything.
I'm sure you'd lose weight because the diet has so many "illegal" foods, and by cutting those out, you'd cut calories. But I'm suspicious of any other health claims made.
Hi Kaebea! I would like to say that the SCD is a great diet to try. My son is on the Autism Spectrum (Asperger's) and we are implementing a gluten free, casein free diet with him at this time. He has shown much improvement. He also has a huge problem with yeast and with the help of antifungal medications and vitamins, he has shown DRASTIC improvements. Our school is in shock at how far he has come. When we first told them what we were doing, they thought we were from another planet. We're still not done with his treatments, but we are very encouraged. If you'd like to know more about the Specific Carboyhdrate diet or how you can help yourself with yeast and other issues common to people with Autism Spectrum Disorders, I suggest you check out the TACA website: www.talkaboutcuringautism.org. There are thousands of parents across this country who have seen improvements in their children due to diet, vitamins and some medicine that treats their kids' issues, rather than putting a bandaid over them. Feel free to email me privately if you'd like more information. I still haven't done the SCD with my son just because it is so restricitive in terms of sugar and it's hard to have a sugar free life when you're a child. Maybe one day we will do it, but right now, it's not at the top of the list of treatments.
Not ~ANY~ medical condition, just the ones listed.
It is not much different from the line of thinking that excess sugar and the modern american diets are what are causing most of the health problems in the developed world.
All the foods on the diet are whole foods, mainly fruits and veggies, and meat and dairy without the additives. It is based on foods that are easy to digest due to thier molecular structures.
there are publications of the research, done by Dr Haas and continued by Elaine Gotchall after his death.
I have the book, and it lists many sources and references in the back.
Plus here is a list of web based sources:
Sorry if my statement was unclear. What I was trying to say was that, if a diet is going to purport to treat any single medical condition (autism, for example - this SCD is purporting to treat that medical condition), it needs to be tested in a standard, double-blind, well-designed study against other alternatives, and that study needs to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. That is to say, it should be evaluated like any other treatment. I wasn't trying to say this diet would treat any condition - I was just saying that if something is going to be promoted as curing any single thing or list of things, the person advertising it should have adequate research to back that assertion up.
ResearchAutism, a non-profit organization in the UK that is devoted to evaluating research on various autism interventions, has found no articles about the SCD in peer-reviewed journals, as yet. If such articles do not exist, I believe that making claims of curing or treating a medical condition to be at best irresponsible. If they have 50 years of experience, why haven't they done any scientifically valid research and published it? Surely such a breakthrough would be helpful and amazing to so many families.
Probably because it is a diet, not a medication.
there is more money in developing a pill. Research is run more as a business. Funding is hard to come by.
I work in biomedical research and most of our clients are drug companies, that's where the money is, that's where the work comes from, that's what research gets published.
There is other research out there, you just have to look for it.
As more and more people turn to alternative and holistic therapies, i'm sure the research will follow, because that is where people are going to be spending thier money. I just know that in research too, things move extremely S-L-O-W.
There are many conditions that modern medicine just can't help, and the people with these afflictions get frustrated and are more likely to turn to less mainstream treatments. there might not be peer reviewed reports, but we know we feel better.
Plus, i'm pretty sure you could find reports saying that a diet low in refined sugar and high in whole foods is better for your health
I dont' know anyone personally with a child with autism, but i have heard before that a diet restrictive in gluten benefits autistic children. The scd just takes it one step further.
Anyway....i wasn't wanting to defend the diet. just wondering if there was anyone else reading the 3FC boards that was doing this diet, or interested in trying it????
Last edited by kaebea; 10-06-2008 at 09:32 PM.
Reason: additional information added
I just got done looking at a web site about the 'insulin resistance diet"
low in grains and other carbs and starches, high in veggies and fruits, meats and moderate dairy. Both diets are 'anti' milk. I just find that interesting.
its a very similar diet. I guess people are more and more discovering that a diet low in carbs is good for many different reasons.
Although there may not be any published reports yet, it's becoming evident to me through various different sources that our modern diet is indeed the cause of alot of our modern day illnesses....
Specific Carbohydrate Diet
