After 6 months on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), I am both pleased with the improvements in my health and frustrated that I have plateaued. The symptoms that linger are not debilitating but too embarrassing to just deal with forever. I have fallen into the trap of eating way too many SCD-legal treats of dubious nutritional value and need some kind of framework to help me break free.
Moderation hasn't worked for me and I can't bear the thought of going back to SCD intro (nor do I think it is necessary). Even worse, I fear that my relationship with food is starting to verge on becoming disordered. I need to just step back and turn the decision making over to someone else. I have decided to follow the 30 day digestive health meal plan in Diane Sanfillipo's Practical Paleo.
I am surprising even myself with this decision. I never thought I would do a meal plan, because I love to cook. I love to plan meals, love to read cookbooks, love to shop for groceries, love to cook seasonally, love to tinker with dishes and come up with my own recipes... I never saw the appeal of having someone tell you exactly what to buy, how to prepare it, and when to eat it. Until this moment.
I have just been putting way to much mental and emotional energy into food and how it is affecting my symptoms. I am becoming obsessed and oh-so-close to either just chucking it all and eating whatever I feel like or becoming completely afraid to eat anything. It is time for an intervention.
So I printed out the shopping list from BalancedBites and loaded up my cart at Whole Foods. It was an impressive haul...
I am making a few modifications to omit most high FODMAP foods for now, since I have not yet fully tested that theory. As a perhaps irrational nod to SCD, I'm also skipping the "illegal" foods on the list like sweet potatoes (which are a FODMAP anyway, so I have a double reason to hold off on them).
The key elements of SCD remain with the paleo digestive health protocol of course. No grains, no refined sugars. I credit all of the healing I have had so far to the removal of grains, particularly wheat, from my diet. I was a gluten eating junky before I went on SCD and am so glad I broke that addiction.
But I have come to realize that I replaced that addiction with other potentially hazardous foods.
Like peanut butter. And nut flour treats. And copious amounts of fruits. And cheese.
Yum, cheese. I don't think I have ever gone a day in my life without cheese in some form. This is why I needed the meal plan! I just need someone else to tell me what to eat, rather than what NOT to eat.
But it is useful to think about what I am not going to eat and it feels good to say a little goodbye (for now) to each of them. After 30 days, perhaps I will become reacquainted with some of them. Or perhaps by then I won't even miss them, just don't like I miss my old frenemy Ms. Wheat.
Goodbye peanut butter.
Goodbye almond flour cookies and breads.
Goodbye coffee.
Goodbye cheese and yogurt.
And hello better health...
