Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet

I just ordered and read the book several times. As a registered nurse in oncology I see bowel problems galore! I also have IBD (as one Gastroenterologist labeled it). I decided just to try some concepts without implementing the actual diet. All I did was elimitate dairy, and layed really low on breads and complex sugars for one week. OK, did have some issues with complex sugars. BUT, I did notice a drastic decrease in diarrhea. This morning I ate buttermilk pancakes made with oats, rice and wheat, with real maple syrup. Wasn't 15 minutes and explosive diarrhea. This is my own little proof that there is DEFINITELY something to the science in this book. PLEASE NOTE - I am not advocating improving your diet. I am advocating you follow the diet as outlined! I'm looking forward to diving in myself in the next week. I actually appreciated the length of this short book. It's not overly medical or scientific. Anybody with a basic reading comprehension level SHOULD be able to follow the theories and diet. This book doesn't go into all the myriad of bowel disorders, but treats them all the same and tackles them with diet only (not meds or surgery). If I were given a choice to have my colon cut out or change my diet, I'd choose the latter thanks. I feel the author was qualified as a microbiologist to write this especially since her family was helped by it's effects. Also, I feel that it was well researched. The first several chapters are devoted to the research of others, which were breakthroughs in their time, which guided the author to what is this diet program. If this book doesn't answer all your questions there are several great websites out there that will. The recipies are easy to follow. I do wish there was a calorie count and breakdown nutritionally. I could see how someone could get out of balance without them. I was floored by the gut-brain connection and can think of several psych hospitals that should pilot this diet! BTW these concepts are NOT covered in nursing school, and doubtless mecial either. Which makes me ask, "WHY NOT?" I've seen a small number of pretty bad reviews of this book and it sounds to me they did not follow protocol, or they are just mock readers (haters). From my perspective, this is a well balanced diet and there is a section on supplementation to those who need it. Of course, if you limit yourself by cutting out major parts of this diet (like meat) then you should expect problems (like iron and vitamin b12 issues leading to possibly severe anemia). I thought I have is that it is sad when people get into the thought pattern that unless we eat grain products or junk food we'll lose all sorts of weight. In one sense, calories are calories. But this is not a carb-free diet, or a vegan diet for that matter. Finally, I've read testimony after testimony of its benefits and healing properties. Also, since reading this book, I've noticed there are more people with bowel disorders than I once suspected! In one week alone I met several families that were completely wrecked with celiac or autism. I thought it my duty to recommended the book to these families. One dear woman gave me the biggest hug and thanked me in advance for her son. Hope this helps someone in need!

What a book! Breaking the vicious cycle explains all of the different problems involving the gut, Stomach, intestines, colon, etc. etc. etc. This book actually gives you foods to eat, diets to follow, with excellent results. We were looking for a book with advice on Crohn's disease, and incurable disease. This book has so much advice and is full of phenomenal information that will help anybody with stomach disorder problems , Relating from your gut to your colon. Your foods in the diets are on the bland side, however within the first two days I felt 95% better. I know this sounds miraculous, but it is True that you are what you eat, And what goes in, comes out. This book was a tremendous value to our family members that we ended up ordering another one so we can pass it around. We highly recommend this book, breaking the vicious cycle, is it is far more positive and fixing your problem then a medical doctor can do. it's all about diet, and if you can stick to it, I believe if you follow this book you can be cured. I know firsthand that this diet does work. People should reach out beyond medical doctors, when they give them no hope, And see what the world can offer naturally. You will be eating very healthy, and you will feel so much better. No more bathroom runs, or very very minimal. Please please please try this book, read it, and give it a try. You will not be disappointed if you follow the diets, you can only feel better. Please help your loved ones also, so they will have a future to look to that is not on the toilet all day long.

I've had ulcerative colitis for over 30 years and had been in remission for many years until a really bad flare 2 years ago. The only way I was able to get it under control then was by taking high doses of prednisone which caused me to gain 50 pounds. I was finally able to taper off the steroids 9 months ago but this past December suffered a small relapse which was getting worse. Since I did not want to go back on steroids I started researching online and found this book. I read all the reviews, bought the book and joined the SCD yahoo list. I've been following the diet fanatically since mid January and it really works!! My symptoms have been reduced dramatically and I am no longer hungry all the time. This diet is fantastic and I heartily recommend it to anyone with digestive diseases/issues. The recipes in the book are easy to follow; you can eat as much as you want and it seems to stabilize ones weight. I feel nourished, my skin, hair and nails look better and best of all I am feeling more energy than I've felt in 2 years. My hope is that one day I will be able to be entirely med-free but that is a long way off yet. However, with this great improvement in symptoms, I can be patient. If you have UC or one of the other digestive diseases, this book and diet can really make a difference. It is not something to be approached half-heartedly, though. Because of the biology/chemistry one needs to follow it strictly or it won't work; but if you do follow it carefully, it will work in time. Update 2 months later: Am completely symptom free now and in remission from UC. SCD saved me without having to resort to more drastic meds and all their horrible side effects. I continue to follow the diet because it feels so good and it does get easier. There are some wonderful cookbooks dedicated to SCD which make it easy to follow without feeling deprived. It is so worth the effort.

This short book and simply presented diet is a great place for someone to start understanding the importance of their gut health and what they can do to remedy problems. I have been looking for a natural way to eat that would allow me to have a BM without having to take something. This book explained why it was necessary for me to eat a very strict diet and allow my gut to heal. I had over the years come to the conclusion that the Paleo Diet was the way to go. Well, I followed that quite loosely and didn't get the constipation relief I was looking for. So I had just accepted the loose Paleo as a basically good diet, continued to take Poop Doc capsules and went on with life. Then one day I came across the SCDiet in a search. Living in South Carolina, I thought, "a South Caroline diet?" Just out of curiosity I looked it up expecting it to be some state initiative to eat more local foods! Ha. Then I saw that it referred to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Well that concerned me because I thought, "uh oh, another vegetarian promotion. Let me check this out." Well much to my surprise, the actual diet is quite similar - not the same - but very similar to a strict Paleo. So I read the reviews, bought the book, read it. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas I decided to work on getting my cooking systems in order - making yogurt, more cooking from scratch, etc. I had about three weeks between the holidays to actually follow the diet and after about 10 days I was pooping without taking anything! Yeah! Please bear in mind that I've eaten very healthfully for years and for about 9 months I have avoided all grains. So my gut was probably not in as bad a shape as others may be. But again, the book explained why I had to be strict with the diet. I am giving this four stars because during my online meanderings concerning the SCDiet and looking for recipes, I ran across referenced to the GAPS diet. Well, if you REALLY want to understand how your gut functions, read Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Natasha Campbell-McBride. I'm still working my way through that text! But it's great stuff. So BTVC gets four stars because it's being measured in my mind against the GAPS book. But details aside, these diets are the way to go for everyone!

My daughter was diagnosed with mild-to-moderate Crohn's disease nearly four months ago, via endoscopy/biopsy. No treatments worked. As of three weeks ago, she was a steroid - dependent (prednisone - dependent) Crohn's case. The sole option that our pediatrician was offering us was to start chemotherapy (6MP) to try to reduce the prednisone dosing. If you're a parent, and you've been here, you know exactly the despair we felt. The SCD was like flipping the off switch on her disease. The day after starting the SCD, her fever disappeared. After four days, essentially all symptoms were resolved (other than those that are plausibly side-effects of the steroids). Two weeks later, bloodwork showed zero markers for inflammation. Three weeks, still fine. I'm a scientist, I work in health services research, I understand the potential for mistaking spontaneous remission for the effect of a treatment. But this change was so abrupt and so clear, against an extended history of no definite effect of any treatment, that I'm convinced. This diet worked, for my daughter, full stop. That said, I'll offer some advice. We looked at and dismissed the SCD early on in my daughter's disease. And it's largely because parts of this book are confusing and unclear -- until you understand enough of the underlying science. And parts are unclear because the legal/illegal list in the book does not clearly distinguish foods that you can try, once the gut has healed (e.g., beans, which are in fact a starchy food). And these apparent inconsistencies are highlighted by critics in mainstream health care. A few things make this diet a lot easier. Gwaltney sugar-free bacon. And pure dextrose (glucose) provides an easy-to-use substitute for granulated cane sugar, available on Amazon, of course: http://www.amazon.com/Now-Foods-Dextrose-Powder-10-Pound/dp/B002JNM8YM If you want some understanding of the science behind this, you should Google up this article: "The Link between Ankylosing Spondylitis, Crohn's Disease, Klebsiella, and Starch Consumption". The gist is "molecular mimicry". That bacterium (Klebsiella) has antigens that are so close in structure to some human proteins that, in some people, when your body produces antibodies to kill Klebsiella, those antibodies cross-react with normal human tissue, resulting in autoimmune disease. A low-starch diet results in a 40-fold reduction in Klebsiella in the gut. Fewer bacteria --> fewer antibodies --> reduced autoimmune symptoms. Simple as that. Medicine is beginning to take this seriously. There are now a handful of small-scale studies of the SCD in the medical literature, and they all suggest that about 75% of people who try it go fully into remission. Exactly what this book says. There is now a clinical trial registered at NIH using this diet to maintain remission in pediatric patients. So at least some physicians must think this has some merit. Finally, the patent runs out on Remicade (the top-line drug for Crohn's) next year. Johnson and Johnson (the maker of Remicade) has bought one company, and partnered with another company, both of which are looking at ways to treat Crohn's by -- surprise -- manipulating the bacteria in the gut. Just what the SCD does. So if you still hesitate to try this, just consider that addressing Crohn's via the gut biome could very well be the wave of the future. If you find yourself in the situation we were in, I can only urge you to try the SCD sooner rather than later. In my opinion, mainstream health care critics of the diet simply misunderstand some of the more ambiguously written parts of the book. The science behind this is good, and while it won't help everybody, it helps some, and it definitely helped us. Edit: 7/17/2014. So far, so good. We are now three and a half months on the diet. My daughter is taking no medications, just vitamin D and zinc (to promote healing of the intestinal wall). She has no symptoms, and her bloodwork just came back completely normal. We all follow the SCD. No exceptions. And when I think of where we'd be, without this diet, all I can say, for us it is well worth it. I cannot express enough thanks to Elaine Gottschall and to the people who have kept this alive over the years. Update as of 9/23/2014: This will be my last update, because I really have nothing to add after this. We've now been on the diet for more than six months. My daughter feels fine and just got a clean bill of health from the gastroenterologist. We were instructed to check back in three months. If this continues, the gastroenterologist may or may not want an MRI or endoscopy at two years, just to be safe. The only change we are making is to add a couple of generally-recognized-as-safe supplements that have anti-fibrotic properties. Even in patients who appear healthy, Crohn's can lead to slowly developing fibrosis (scarring), resulting in a narrowing of the intestine that eventually requires surgery. The obvious solution would be for the doc to prescribe some anti-fibrotic as a preventative, but gastroenterologists just don't do that. So, we've added about a gram a day each of resveratrol and curcumin, based largely on Canadian research in reversing liver fibrosis in Hep C. That seems safe, and is about as much as we can do to slow down or stop any fibrosis that may (or may not) be occurring. When I think of my kid going from a frail, anemic steroid-refractory Crohn's case, to this, all I have to say is, thank you, Elaine Gottschall. And thank all the people who have kept the SCD going.

Before anyone buys this books do take note of the following. Of the 205 pages of this book: * 80 pages of it is just a cookbook - consisting of recipes that any anyone can write and for a diet that is highly difficult to maintain * there are also 14 pages of extended References (bibliography) at the end of it that the average user would not bother Only 111 pages of the books have something worthy to share. This is the theory part. At the heart of it is a SCD (specific carbohydrate diet). This however is basically a rehash of the findings of other people - namely physicians like Drs. Sidney V. and Merrill P. Hass which the author admitted - in treating Celiac disease. In fact the book on SCD by the latter authors is also available on Amazon. Nevertheless I do not think the author has recommended a breakthrough remedy for intestinal health. The strict unusual diet - Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) - that she recommends is only a way to starve out the main culprit - harmful intestinal bacteria. There is a theory that these are small intestinal bacteria hence the acronym SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth). I would rather name the problem as HIBO - Harmful Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth - because in many cases the harmful bacteria locate themselves in the large intestine, particularly the colon. For this reason I am changing SIBO to HIBO in this update on March 24 2014. The SCD just causes these bacteria to go into hibernation and the moment normal carbohydrate diet is restored they spring back into action. For this reason the author suggests cautiously returning to normal diet like eating a slice of bread only after say 1 year of practising the SCD. That only shows that the the SCD is far from being a true remedy but an uncertain way to keep things under control with difficulty. What really is needed is to kill off the harmful HIBO in a big way and for this historically people from various cultures have used herbs like raw garlic and other safe kitchen spices. Some cultures also make it a regular affair to eat yogurt of various types. Commercial yogurts however sometimes come with preservatives which can aggravate intestinal issues. Furthermore some yogurts are considered cold foods; they tend to loosen bowels, so be careful with the quality. Actually yogurt is recommended in the book, so are bananas and honey and quite liberally in the recipe section. This is a little alarming because these foods have laxative, loosening effects on the intestines. There is also something toxic in raw bananas that if you are having a flue the last thing you want to eat is bananas. Honey can also seriously aggravate bleeding symptoms. So if your IBS is diarrhea type they are not really suitable to eat on a regular basis. They would weaken the bowel even more. Anyway, once the HIBO is greatly rid off through the proven means known by various cultures then the next step of intestinal cleansing should begin. This can be done with powerful yet safe juices like Aloe inner fillet juice (with diarrhea-causing Aloin removed which is the case in commercial Aloe juices) and Apple juice. Both juices should preferably be without preservatives but pasteurized types. I also find these two juices to be strengthening rather than weakening stuff for the intestinal functions. In fact I read that PECTIN in apples is able to radically remove radioactive materials from the body and is now being recommended for Fukushima nuclear disaster victims. Now unless the harmful intestinal bacteria are rid off, even drinking Apple juice might invite a flare-up of intestinal illness because the harmful intestinal bacteria feeds on sucrose and fructose and these are found naturally in apple juice. (In fact the good intestinal flora also feed on these sugars which is why when you prepare yogurt for fermentation it is helpful to add sugar into the milk. So the idea that these sugars are evil is a true yet false theory. The harm comes when the bad bacteria are proliferating too much in the gut - HIBO that is. Nature would not create sugars so ubiquitously in fruits if it is so evil. Of course an excess intake of anything is never good.) This may explain the paradox that some people can drink all kinds of sugary drink - like fruit smoothies on daily basis - and not get into trouble while another having a sugary drink might experience serious bloating or worse. The reason is HIBO! Anyway once HIBO is rid off, the cleansing part using safe fruit juices becomes more trouble-free. As for the first part of killing off HIBO, the most powerful herb is raw garlic chopped into tiny pieces and mixed with food like rice and eaten on the same day so that the germ-killing Allicin produced will not be lost. This should be eaten at least 2 to 3 times daily during the first month. Unfortunately some sufferers have problems with raw garlic not just because of its pungent taste but also because of its odour especially when one has to interact with people in their work and social life. I read however there is an antibiotic called Rifaximin which is said to be effective for IBS. I am not sure at all about this because I do not have experience with this drug. I am mentioning it just in case some might be looking for an alternative. In conclusion, I think the subject book is over-hyped. I purchased it out of desperation years back and after trying out the diet I experience a some control over my IBS/IBD but never felt properly treated. I knew it was not the true answer. In the end I experimented with the aforesaid remedies and have recovered so completely including subsiding of chronic inflammation especially after implementing the second part - the cleansing with Aloe Vera inner fillet juice and Apple juice - that I am posting this in the hope that others will find it useful. I do not write this review lightly; I struggled with my IBS/IBD for more than 15 years and done thorough research for at least 10 years. At one time I even seriously considered having a colostomy, an unthinkable consideration I even think then but I was losing control over my gut. Today I feel so fit and well that I think I need to spread this message. I hope Amazon editor would allow this lengthy review with these alternative suggestions. Please read the comments to this posting for more information.

I am 52, 108 lbs, 5 foot 4". I am a dietician on the side with a professional IT day job. Seborrhea overtook my life 2 years ago. Doctors told me diet has nothing to do with this problem, nor intestinal issues. I was perscribed medications and soaps and sent home to figure it out myself. I read a blog post on someone's answer to seborrehea dermatitis (SD) by doing the SCD Diet, which I never heard of. Believing that psoriasis and SD are closely the same, I followed a diet by Dr.Pagano for psoriasis, which was moderately effective. But I still had a degree of skin battles I could not fully over-come. I am greatful to that SD blog post, since I have been a dedicated SCD'r for 8 months now. My consistant presentable skin is proof enough to me that the SCD Diet is my life long answer to this embarassing skin disorder. The book does not address psoriasis or Seborrhea, but it's objective is to clean and heal the intestinal track (the root of leaky gut issues that contribute to psoriasis and seborrhea). I am not medication free, since I still use Protopic and Derma-smooth on my face as needed (I only need it when I have snuck in a piece of candy or a slice of cake that day...causes itchy breakouts for me). I use Xolegel on arms or legs on those very rare breakouts. But the control on the skin problem is what SCD gives me. On the weekends I was a voluntary "shut-in", with crusty unsightly patches on my face and arms. My husband did shopping and went to church alone because I hated children pointing to me or staring at my leaky facial lessions. Though I worked in an office during the week, I hid away to keep people from staring at my condition. The SCD diet turned that around. It took 4 weeks to clear out the yeast, but Elaine's diet rules brings back fruits in my diet that Dr.Pagano's does not. His diet allows breads and grains, but I have found that a bad idea for me. He allows millet and oatmeal, which promoted yeast growth. Her diet does not allow grains of any kind (no rice, flour or cereals) for 2 years, in order to heal the intestinal track. She offers creative recipes with homemade almond flour for cakes or muffins. The diet is not vegetarian, so I liked that too, but it forced me to introduce vegetables in my diet, I would have otherwise neglected. Foods I eat now are: Breakfast - sauteed spinach/onions/bacon bits/ and organic sliced beef with a scoop of homemade SCD yogurt. Snack: a small premade snack of non-roasted almond butter, cooked apples topped with SCD yogurt mixed with Sweet n low. Lunch - premade - zuchini lasagna (recipe is in her book) Afternoon Snack - handful- raw almonds Dinner - scrambled eggs/bacon bits and sautied veggies with cheese (selected from the SCD allowable cheeses) Night snack - SCD gelatin dessert mixed with strawberries (can use defrosted frozen fruit). Once you know her rules and select from her recipes you are on your way to healing. I'm back in circulation again and greatful for this fantastic book, the dedcated community who follow this diet, and those around me who prayed and supported me through this challenging journey.

I bought this book in 2009, after finding a short description of the SCD diet in a sidebar of a newspaper article. I don't have Crohn's or ulcerative colitis, but I always had a tricky digestion, and allergies. I thought I had tried everything under the sun for hay fever, but I knew it was related to a leaky gut, and here was a brand new diet good for digestive problems, which I had never heard of. I was extremely impressed by Elaine's theories about why table sugar and disaccharides and most dairy foods were such a disaster for some people, because they explained observed phenomena about my long (50 year) fight against hay fever. I knew from experience that completely avoiding dairy and sugar reduced the problems by about half. I just didn't know why. So, in January, 2009 I set off on the SCD diet, with reasonable compliance. Well, of course one cannot eat any restaurant or fast food. After six weeks during which I was "good", I hit a bad day. I had had a fairy small breakfast, skipped lunch, and a job I was doing lasted into the late afternoon. I was exhausted and famished and my will power went right down the drain. I fell from grace, so to speak, went to a supermarket and bought a frozen cheesecake and a small bag of tortilla chips. My internal dialog started immediately. "You've invested six weeks in this -- do you really want to blow it out of the water?" "Well, maybe if I just had a tiny slice of the cheesecake once a week, putting it back into the freezer?" Of course I sat down and ate the whole thing, including the corn chips. This was mid-February, way before hay fever season, but about an hour later I had a full-blown hay fever attack, just like the worst day in June. And 45 minutes later it all passed off. In retrospect, this will power meltdown was invaluable. For the rest of spring into summer, I was totally faithful to the SCD diet. Whenever I was tempted to bend a corner of the diet, I remembered that allergy attack, and resisted. I made my long-cultured yogurt in the oven (very clever idea), I cooked exactly the right things. I didn't lose a pound because I had quite a love affair with honey, but I felt quite well. At the end of May hay fever season started, but not for me. I coasted right through. It was quite rainy that year, I figured that maybe the rain had washed out the pollen. At the very end of the season, which usually stops around July 4 here, I had just a little itching around my eyes. I hadn't sneezed at all! A month later I was talking with an MD, and told him that I seemed to have fixed my hay fever, which had been horrible since I was 12 years old. "Only maybe it wasn't all that bad a year because of the rain," I said. "No," he said, "it was a particularly bad year." In the years since, I have not been as strict, but as allergy season approaches, I give SCD ideas a nod. I have been delighted to realize that once the flora have had a good long time to improve, the improvement continues, assuming one doesn't go hog-wild eating the wrong foods. Even not being extremely strict, my hay fever has not been more than about 5% of what it was before, and now I know what to do about it. I haven't seen anyone else talking about hay fever here, so I thought I'd write my experiences. I know that a lot of people are suffering every spring, and I think many of them wouldn't need to if they tried this approach.

If you have any of the diseases listed on the book, this is the book to read. It will remove all confusion and explain whats going on inside your body. You can relate to the symptoms and understand what needs to be done

Estuve buscando este libro en mexico y por fin lo encontré aquí. Mi vida es un antes y después de esta forma de alimentarse. Lo recomiendo ampliamente

The book was good. I brought preused one. The pages were good and legible

Easy to read and understand. It was the best thing ever done (the SCD diet thanks to the book) after having dealt with ulcerative colitis for 15+ years. I only wish I had read it sooner.

Si vous savez lire l'anglais et, avant tout, êtes concernés par des problèmes de santé qui vous ont amené à explorer la piste des intestins et la gestion des sucres ( saccharides ), ce livre est une perle. Grâce à ce livre, je retrouve petit à petit, avec l'éviction des di- et polysaccharides, ma santé physique et mentale. Cela peut être contraignant à suivre car cela demande bcp de travail sur soi mais le jeu en vaut la chandelle. Comme le dit l'auteur, essayez de suivre le RGS pendant un mois, si vous sentez que cela fonctionne, persévérez, sinon le RGS n'est pas fait pour vous, passez à autre chose !