Specific Carbohydrate Diet: A Personal Story

March 9, 2009 on 6:02 am | In Chronic Disease, Gut & Psychology Syndrome, Healing Diets, Low-Carbohydrate Diets, Personal Stories, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Weston A. Price Foundation |

I became very sick after the birth of my first child. My childhood asthma and allergies came back with a vengeance. I developed chronic sinus infections. I did course after course of antibiotics only to become sick again with new infections. I was taking very high doses of corticosteriods daily without much improvement in my condition. All these new medications I added to my anti-convulsion medication for epilepsy. I started having problems with yeast infections. The doctors said this sometimes happens taking corticosteriods. So, I had to decide which was more important, breathing or itching. More drugs were needed.

My doctor told me that if I lost some weight my asthma would likely get better. I joined Weight Watchers and lost over 40 pounds. I did so well on the program, I became a leader, and worked for Weight Watchers for a year. Everyone thought I looked great. My doctor even gave me a big hug after losing all that weight. But I was still on all the medications, coughing all night long, tired all day long, and starting to wonder if I would be alive to see my children become adults.

We made the painful decision to leave Victoria, BC for a dryer climate. We sold our house and started looking for another place to live. During this time of desperation, I paid to see a doctor who specialized in peak performance. He talked to me for about three hours, ordered a ton of blood tests, and offered me a book to read. The book was Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall. I read the book that night. Something written in the book resonated with me on a very deep level. I started the diet, and within three days was feeling better. It was like a fog lifting from my mind. I didn’t even know my thinking was foggy before changing my diet.

In the first 18 months on the diet I had stopped all allergy and asthma medication. I do not have asthma or allergies any more. I stopped the yeast infections by using probiotics and doing a low-carbohydrate version of the SCD. I blended the WAPF nutrient dense foods with the SCD for a great result. I found going high fat was the final piece of the puzzle, something I would have never done in my Weight Watchers days. (I found my personal carbohydrate tolerance is about 40-60gm per day.) My dragging fatigue and hormone imbalances became a thing of the past.

About a year ago, even though I was really scared, I stopped my anti-convulsion medication for epilepsy. After nearly twenty years on anti-convulsion medication, I am now free of this drug. I was told I would likely have to take the drug for the rest of my life. I have now been drug and seizure free for a year.

The sinus infections were the hardest problem to solve. I found that taking high doses of serrapeptase if I got sick finally stopped the cycle of antibiotics and recurring infections. I had one cold this winter and I did not get an infection.

I started on the SCD about three years ago. I am now completely drug free. I have energy to work a normal job and care for my family. The diet saved my life or at least my quality of life.

Update October 2, 2009: I have been thinking about why I lost 40 pounds on the Weight Watchers program, when so many other motivated people could not. I was different from most women on the program because I was breastfeeding at the time. I am starting to learn a lot about human metabolism from watching livestock. It is a well known fact that “a cow will milk herself skinny” in about three months feeding a calf. This may have been the reason why I had such good results on the Weight Watchers program.

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  1. Sounds like you found the perfect ketogenic zone via experimentation. The ketogenic diet has been used for decades for epilepsy. Even clinical nutritionists recognize that. It’s well known as an anecdote for asthma as well. It’s not entirely known exactly why the production of ketones can magically cure epilepsy, but it can, and the diet often does not need to be continued forever to maintain success.

    Comment by Matt Stone — September 11, 2009 #

  2. Hi Matt,

    Thank you for your reply. By the way, I love your blog. I spend about eight hours reading it last week. I think it will help many people. It has given me a few things to think about. I am going to try eating four to six meals a day for the next month and watch my waking temperature to see if it will increase.
    http://180degreehealth.blogspot.com/2009/08/carb-wars-episode-i.html.

    As for what I did right. It is a mystery to me. These are some of my ideas about the mechanism:
    1. Going high fat made a great difference in my health especially in my endocrine system, which was in the process of crashing. Getting control of my main hormone insulin might have helped stopped the seizures. Eating tons of healthy fats and cholesterol helped my adrenals come back from the brink of exhaustion. I moved from vegetable oils to natural fats, primarily from animal sources. Finding the “ketogenic zone” may be right. Getting away from all “new fangled” fats may have helped too.
    2. There are many food additives that can cause seizure disorders in sensitive individuals. The most likely ones are aspartame and MSG, but there are now thousands of additives routinely added to the food supply. Any one of these could be my problem. The SCD restricts all processed foods so I am not exposed to this common risk factor. Eliminating all food additives might has stopped the seizures.
    3. Then there is the “gut brain” connection. Did I heal myself of Leaky Gut Syndrome? Did the healing stopped the gut from reabsorbing some nasty by-product of the gut flora? Did the SCD kill-off the gut flora which were producing nasty by-product of their metabolism that was poisoning me from the inside?
    4. Maybe it is something in those grains, legumes and beans? Maybe it’s avoiding all those casomorphins and gliadorphins. What I cannot digest does me harm.

    I feel like Alice going down the rabbit hole. I wish I had a clue which mechanism is at work in my situation. I am starting to get very interest in “home testing” methods. It’s cheap and in the control of the individual motivated to finding the answers for themselves.

    One thing I like about the Weston A. Price Foundation recommending eating properly prepared nourishing traditional foods from a high quality source is good advice for just about everyone. Eating outside the Industry Food System to avoid the unintended food additives is a good second step. After doing these things, regaining health becomes so… individual.

    Comment by Caroline — September 13, 2009 #

  3. I have been suffering from Asthma ever since I was little kid. I can only manage it by taking medicines and some food supplements.

    Comment by Nicholle Aske — April 28, 2010 #

  4. Hi Nicholle,

    I used to be on very high doses of corticosteroids. I was on twice the daily safe long term dose for adults and my asthma was still a problem. I do not take any medication now. The SCD “cured” my asthma and allergies.

    Comment by publisher — April 29, 2010 #

  5. I have been on the diet for 3 months and feel exhausted and my muscles are weak. Many days I can hardly do anything. I am thinking clearer but my chest feels a constant ache. My sister is having the same symptoms. We are not having gut pain anymore but are miserable with constant anemic like symptoms. If anyone has had these symptoms, did you get past them?

    Comment by Dana — May 31, 2010 #

  6. Hi Dana,

    I am sorry to hear you are feeling so poorly. Most problems with the SCD resolve within a few weeks of complete compliance with the diet, but not everyone is helped by the diet. Have you found an improvement in the health condition that motivated you to start the diet in the first place? If you have seen a great improvement in the original condition, but you have these new problems, it might be gut flora die off. I have seen people get really sick for a few weeks, but not as long as three months, unless the person goes on and off the diet. If you have not tried probiotics or fermented foods before, you might give it a shot.

    I find it interesting that both your sister and yourself are having the same problem. Do you both suffer from the same original problem or did you start the SCD for different reasons? I could not make any helpful suggestions without you calling me in person. I would need to hear your full story. If you would like to do that please call 250.374.4646. (Pacific Time) You could also post you question on the GAPShelp Yahoo Group: http://www.gapsdiet.com/Support.html.

    Comment by publisher — May 31, 2010 #

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