All of the recipes on this blog are grain-free, sugar-free, gluten-free and yeast free (thanks Tracee).
Appetizers:
Beverages:
Breads:
Condiments and sauces:
- A Fresher Guacamole
- A Fresher Salsa
- Barbeque Sauce #2
- Basil Pesto
- Chili Sauce
- Ketchup
- Peanut Sauce
- Tomato and Garlic Relish
Meats:
- BBQ Ribs
- Beck Beck Chicken
- Bombay Beef
- Brined Roast Chicken
- Chicken Khorma
- Chicken of the Cece
- Italianate Pot Roast
- Kickin’ Pineapple Chicken
- Roast Beef
- Sausage
- Smoked Salmon
- Tacos
- Thai Basil Beef with Red Grapes
Salads and dressings:
Snacks:
- Beef Jerky
- Candied Pecans
- Herbed Cheese
- Savory Roast Almonds
- Snack #31
- Spearmint banana leather
- Spoon Snack
- Strawberry Smoothie
Soups:
Spices:
Vegetables:
- Baby Spinach with Sun Dried Tomato
- Green Beans with Garlic Butter Sauce
- Refried Beans
- Savory Broccoli
Yoghurt:
Eating SCD 
i love your website, recipes and photos. how refreshing!
I can’t seem to get the recipe for the Yoanna muffins to come up. Did you remove it from the site?
My husband and I ate SCD 13 years ago for 6 years, we did great and then we stopped! Who knows. We then became vegetarians and didn’t do very well, but we just kept at it. Now he is in crisis again and we have come back to SCD. I’m always looking for muffin recipes.
Thank you
Jackie,
I’m sorry you’re having a problem. I have not removed it from the site. Here is the direct link: https://eatingscd.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/yonana-muffins/
Good luck.
-Paul
It is also worth noting your recipes are bakers yeast-free. There’s less out there in the way of cookbooks for that crowd, so dicovering the SCD is nice for them too.
Tracee,
Thanks for that. I will add it to the note on that page.
-Paul
Hello! I was recently diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (and just spent the better part of a month in the hospital being filled with intraveneous steroids and antibiotics, woo hoo!) – I’m curious about the dairy in the SPD, because it is one of the things my body simply will not tolerate.
I really want to go on this diet, but quite a few of the ‘legal’ foods are ones that other sources (like Eating for Your Blood Type) tell me I shouldn’t eat (melons, vinegar, dairy, peanut butter, eggs) and some of the strictly ‘illegal’ foods are ones I’ve read can be healing for ulcerative colits (such as seaweed, Ezekiel Bread, etc).
I’m taking sulfasalizine, prednizone, AND promethazine right now, but I’m still going to the bathroom 5-6 times a day – I just want to get better, but I’m so confused! I have the book but it just doesn’t seem clear what I should be eating.
Hi Sunshine,
You don’t absolutely have to use dairy to do the SCD. It’s just that the SCD yoghurt is the best delivery method for the probiotics. When the probiotics are in the SCD yoghurt, they make it further through your digestive system and deliver more to where it’s needed. You have a couple of options you can try: 1) Try making SCD yoghurt with goat’s milk. Some people who cannot tolerate cow milk yoghurt can tolerate goat milk yoghurt. 2) Use a probiotic pill. See this page on Pecanbread.com for more info: http://www.pecanbread.com/p/probiotics1.html .
I haven’t tried any other diets so I can’t speak with any authority about them. (I took a very quick look at the Eating for Your Blood Type and it looks like a commercial venture – you have to buy their stuff which makes it suspect to me). What I can tell you is that I’ve done very well on the SCD. So have many other people. I know that if I have an illegal food, it will send me to the bathroom.
Have you read “Breaking the Vicious Cycle” yet? You may want to go back and reread the first five chapters. Do those other diets talk about a vicious cycle or are they based on a different concept? Your answer to this will tell you why the SCD is different from the others.
You should eat only the SCD legal foods you tolerate. Keep in mind that you should be able to tolerate more legal foods as your gut heals. For example you might not tolerate peanut butter in the beginning, but tolerate it fine later on. You should go slow and introduce new legal foods slowly, maybe a week apart. Follow the stages outlined on Pecanbread.com: http://pecanbread.com/p/how/stages.html. Keep a detailed diary that includes what you eat, when and how it affects you. Include info about symptoms like going to the bathroom, gas, bleeding, mucus, etc. This diary will help you discover how you are reacting to foods and how you are progressing.
For a listing of legal/illegal SCD foods, visit the official BTVC website’s list at http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/legal/legal_illegal_a-c.htm.
I hope you feel better soon!
-Paul
Sunshine,
I don’t know if you ever check this since your post was about a year ago, but my husband has UC and was on prednizone and mesalamine (asacol) for several years and not getting better. He went off his meds in 2009 and last January we started following the “Breaking the Vicious Cycle” diet religiously – he is very very strict about it. We make yogurt using regular whole milk and he eats eggs and peanut butter – he is not well yet, but we have seen steady improvement. He uses the restroom usually once at night and once in the morning and his bleeding has stopped. Periodically he will have a flare with a little bleeding, but those seem to be getting farther apart. (His last rough month was October). We also got a water ionizing machine last November and he thinks that has helped as well. The main 2 symptoms we are facing right now are some diarrhea and gas in the evenings. I don’t know if that’s helpful or not, but we feel like it’s working and at least he is not having to take all the medications. “Breaking the Vicious Cycle” says that following this diet some UC patients have cleared their health in a year, but more typically it takes 2 years, and then you should follow the diet for another year to be sure and slowly try things added back into your diet.
My husband also saw Dr. Asa Andrews (his book started us on the trek to treat my husband’s illness naturally instead of with meds), and we were completely impressed with the cost and thoroughness of the drs. However, Dr. Andrews’ office is in Knoxville, TN so we have not been back.
Hope this is helpful. We don’t have a miracle story of a speedy recovery, but we are seeing progress.
A.McAllis
Dear A.McAllis,
Thank you for sharing your story. I’m glad to hear that the SCD is helping your husband. My recovery was similar in that the symptoms grew farther and farther apart until they disappeared. For me it took about four years, but if I remember correctly, the BTVC said that CD generally takes longer than UC.
-Paul
Dear Paul.
Than you so much for all your honestly, work and information.
You have helped me greatly and I have felt much comfort and have gotten much needed encouragement from your writings.
I was diagnosed with Crohn’s in 2008. In 2009 I had to go on Remicade after a long stay in hospital and TPN by way of Picc line for several weeks from severe malnutrition. I was a few days from starvation, apparently for some insane reason it was easier for me not to eat then deal with the illness. I have been getting infusions now for almost a year, however about six months into the treatments my symptoms started returning before my next infusion and I began looking for something else. I found out about SCD and have been on the diet for 3 months now. Although I am still taking Remicade my symptoms have greatly improved and hopefully I will be weaning myself off of it soon. I have discovered little things here and there with the diet that are somewhat different for me. I cannot tolerate or digest carrots. This took some time to figure out, nor almond flour, however I do fine with pecan flour (used in moderation). Also I saw where several of your readers were looking for a yogurt maker that would allow greater temperature control. I have purchased a digital egg incubator, it looks like a small wine refrigerator, and it can make up to a gallon of yogurt at one time. The temperature is constantly controlled to the 1th degree. I brought a reptipro from eBay and it is expensive but it is also one less worry about having my yogurt at the right temperature and a good amount. I hope that you continue your blog and please know how much hope and console you bring with your openness of life by your words.
a
April,
You’re welcome and thank you for writing. It does me a lot of good to hear from people and I appreciate the feedback.
Stopping eating because of the pain is far from insane. I remember doing the same thing. When everything you put in your mouth causes you a lot of pain, you learn that any feelings of hunger are preferable to the cramps.
I’m glad to hear you are finding relief in the SCD. That’s awesome.
Thanks for the yoghurt maker info. I’ll add it to my yoghurt dimming post.
-Paul
april, can you give info about what brand/model? thanks
My wife & I started SCD a couple weeks ago (April 12th). I’ve been using a private/locked twitter account as an easy way to keep a little diary about what I eat.
I’ve also been reading more recipe websites than ever before.
I’m wondering what you think about Goat Cheese, in general. I didn’t see it on the legal/illegal list and didn’t notice it in ‘Breaking the Vicious Cycle’.
Any thoughts?
Greg,
That Twitter thing is a great idea. Is it difficult to fit your diary into those 140 characters?
I miss goat cheese, but fortunately there are many other interesting cheeses to enjoy. Lately I’ve had a thing for aged Gouda with a little honey. It’s a great treat.
The trick here is that goat’s cheese is also known as chevre and is illegal. My copy of BTVC doesn’t list chevre, but the breakingtheviciouscycle.info legal/illegal list does.
See that page: http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/legal/legal_illegal_a-c.htm
For more info on chevre, see this wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevre
-Paul
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the info in your reply! I will miss the goat cheese, but my wife doesn’t too much, and there are so many other cheeses. Sometimes I think I go a little overboard on the cheeses.
I see you have a twitter account set up now. Yay! I find the 140 characters a good limitation, actually. But when i need more I just send another “tweet”!
all best,
Greg
Hi Paul
Your website is wonderful, it’s great to be able to read your story and to know the diet has worked for you. I was dz with Celiac 4 years ago, combined with IBD, IBS and numerous food allergies. I did get slightly better (took a while) after taking gluten out of my diet (never 100%), but have been deteriorating steadily again over the past year. I just started the scd 1 week ago, and am having a few issues, probably common, but wanted to reach out. I’m finding that I am absolutely exhausted, I just can’t seem to get enough calories (I know it’s only 1 week) but, as an athlete(who has not been working out while on the intro diet), I am concerned with the lack of complex carbs on the diet, which are needed in order to avoid diabetes, as well as helping with energy and the breaking down of food. I’ve been measuring carbs within a general daily diet on the scd and there never seem enough. In essence, I’m wondering if people (yourself) on the scd suffer from lack of energy due to low calories and carbs (simple sugars) and also the large amount of nuts (specifically almonds) used in the diet can cause increases in folic acid, which decreased B12 again robbing the body of energy. Being symptom free would be a godsend, and one has to weigh the pros and cons, just wondering if you have had issues with energy because of the diet.
(long message. Sorry, and thanks)
Christy
Hi Christy,
Thank you for the compliment.
It’s not uncommon for people in the early stage of the SCD to be tired. You should eat as much as you want as often as you want to help with this. Even so, it’s thought that your body spends a lot of energy recovering, thus making you more tired. This tiredness should fade. You are very early in the diet.
You don’t have to eat nuts to be on the diet. There are those who are allergic to nuts who do the SCD.
My energy is very good. I take a B12 supplement because of my Crohn’s and monitor it with a yearly blood work. For more on B12 see my post: https://eatingscd.com/2010/01/08/b12-and-crohns/.
-Paul
Paul,
I enjoy your site very much. I’ve been on the SCD for 7 months and I love finding new recipes for my limited palate.
My question is – I’ve lost 20 pounds since starting this diet, about 5 pounds too many, and it’s not stopping. People say this isn’t a weight loss diet, but I keep losing weight. Weight I can’t afford to lose. I’d like to gain those 5 pounds back, but I’m not sure how to do it.
I’m eating well-balanced meals with snacks in between. I drink smoothies, eat cheese, meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, honey, raisins and juice every day. I regularly eat desserts like peanut butter brownies and almond crisps.
Do you have a suggestion for gaining weight, or at least to stop losing it? I can’t fit into my pants anymore. They fall right off when I zip them up. 🙂
–Jenn
Jenn,
I’m glad you like my site. Thanks for letting me know.
To answer your question, see this post on pecanbread.com: http://www.pecanbread.com/p/how/gainweight.html
To further that a bit, I would have you consider a couple of points. Firstly, are you getting enough calories? Check the web to find the recommended daily intake and then add more. The reason for this is that your body is spending a lot of energy on the healing process. That is above and beyond the energy required to support your regular activities. You’ll need to track your food intake to calculate calories and there are tools on the web for this. I hear fitday.com mentioned often. They have a free online account.
Secondly, I’d ask you to consider whether your weight loss is dangerous or simply unwanted at this point. Is your general health improving or is is declining with your weight loss? I think most people with extra weight will lose it on the SCD. I lost 20 extra pounds in my first eight months. It leveled after that and stayed in a five pound range.
Of course, eat whenever you are hungry. Don’t worry about the clock or if it’s your fourth snack of the day. Many people have more than three meals a day.
-Paul
Hi Paul – I could not find your email address on your web page here – I could really use some feedback from you regarding food logs. Would mind contacting me offline from your blog?
Kind Regards,
Lisa
Thanks for this blog, I have added it to my list of favorites. I have been gluten free, but still have lots of gas. So I am starting SCD.
Do you know of a Rib Rub that is SCD?
Sammy,
Short answer is no. Longer answer is that when I google “rib rub” they are plentiful. Of course many use sugar. Maybe you could substitute honey and still make it work or perhaps you could grind some dates and use that in place of the sugar.
Also you have to be wary of the onion and garlic powders. Most contain illegals. Penzeys.com sells granulated garlic and onion that they claim has absolutely no additives. I’ve got a copy of a letter from them somewhere. Also note that commercial chili powders are a spice mix and therefore illegal. I’ve got a recipe for chili powder though.
-Paul
Hey Paul,
My husband is trying to start the SCD for his colitis. It’s been difficult for us so far due to the strict diet and we love our carbs. My question is, what do you do when you go out of town? He’s out of town almost every weekend. What are the best meal choices at restaurants, fast food chains and convenience stores?
Thanks!
Marivelle,
I find that restaurants, especially chain restaurants are the riskiest. See this post for more.
Fortunately, I don’t have to travel much, but when I do, I bring my own food as much as possible. This includes things like roast beef and chicken breast which are good cold as well as warm. I also will bring cheese, dried fruits, nuts, and seeds. On top of that I’ll bring some home made yonana bread. Sometimes I’ll slice it thin and dry it in my dehydrator so I don’t have to worry about keeping it cold. When possible, we stay in hotels that have a kitchenette. If nothing else, it helps to have a frige and a microwave.
Restaurants are like walking through a minefield. If he’s forced to eat at a restaurant, he’ll want to order foods that are as close to unprocessed as possible. These would include undressed salads that he’d still probably have to pick around illegals, steak that hasn’t been marinated in any way and steamed vegetables with no sauces. He should avoid chicken in any form as that almost certainly has illegals added. He’ll have to either avoid anything that is cooked in oil or specify that only olive oil be used. He’ll also have to specify that no spices except for salt or pepper be used. Perhaps seafood is okay if you account for things like how it’s cooked and what seasoning it has.
You see the problem with restaurants is that they are but the end of a long factory. The ingredients of your meal has passed through many corporate hands and the people at the restaurant most likely don’t realize what they don’t know about what’s actually in the foods they serve. To them “nothing added” is not what an SCD would consider as nothing added.
As far as convenience stores go, I can only imagine a couple of things that would be okay; fresh fruit, aged cheese and plain pork rinds.
-Paul
I have crohn’s disease, and every time I tell my doctor about these recipe, he tells me that most of this stuff will srape my intestinal wall. I wanted know if that what he was telling me is true. Can you please help.
‘
Thank you
Ron
Ron,
I’m not a doctor or health professional of any kind. That being said, I can only guess at what your doctor means. Obviously, anything going through your gut rubs against the walls. It has to in order to move and to be absorbed. If you are concerned about this, avoid more advanced foods like seeds and nuts and thoroughly cook your vegetables until your healing is well under way. Even then use them with caution and record how your body reacts to them. My GI advised me to avoid all the bulky, high-fiber foods I had been eating in the prior four years because he was concerned that I’d get blockages in the narrowed section of my gut. I haven’t had any evidence of blockage from my eating habits so I chose not to heed his advice. Your experience will probably differ somewhat.
-Paul
Hi Paul,
Just wanted to say thanks for keeping up your website. It has kept me sane at my sickest.
How does it go with 90% scd?
I started recovering when I started making the fermented sauerkraut juice from the vicious cycle website. I couldn’t do the sauerkraut yet, just the juice. The pecan website has lots of stuff on no dairy recipes. That helped me alot. Thanks again
NJ
Hi NJ,
You’re welcome. I’m humbled/gratified to know that I could help you. Thank you for letting me know as it’s important to me.
The 90% SCD lifestyle is going pretty good. The hardest part is not letting the 90% slip to 89%, 88%, etc. I definitely pay for that 10%, but for the occasional social event or what have you, I find it worth it. What I don’t know is if this is a bad idea long term. At 90%, I’m still relieved of the pain, but have to visit the bathroom more often than if I were full-bore SCD.
I just spoke with an UC sufferer who got relief from urgency in three days when he started juicing with cabbage. Apparently the glutamine in the cabbage is the key.
I’m glad to hear you’re recovering and hope it picks up pace for you.
-Paul
Paul Stocker,
I have somewhat been diagnosis with Ulcerative Colitis, given the medication for and suffer from all the symptoms. However, I refuse to place the chemicals in my body and risk dealing and suffering with more discomfort.
My question to you, since my husband just got me the book ” Breaking the Vicious Cycle”,what can I start of with eating? I’m scared to eat at this point. It hurts but I’m smart enough to know that I must eat. Money is tight right now, so the groceries I have will have to work. Are Salmon Corquettes okay? If so what could I used to crumb them? Please give me some insight, I’m so uncomfortable and stressing about managing this type of diet on such a tight income, for I can only work less than part-time now, until I get healed.
Thanks Paul
Eb,
I’m sorry to hear you are dealing with UC and I can certainly sympathize with your desire to avoid the meds. To start out eating on the SCD you should concentrate on chapter nine from the book, Introducing the Diet. You will find that the foods recommended there are not expensive and most are easy to find. I could not find DCCC locally so did without it for years.
I remember being scared to eat. I can totally understand where you are coming from. It will take time to adjust and you will still have good days and bad on the SCD, so the key is to be patient and not see bad days as failure.
As far as the salmon croquettes go, I have not found a really satisfying replacement for bread crumbs so my advice would be to forget about croquettes and eat the salmon plain. You don’t need to waste the salmon, but you do need to adjust your expectations for a while. When you are healing more your options will expand.
-Paul
Are you still available for advice? I need to know if lactid acid is safe. I notice that olives are good for scd but all have sugar but I found one no sugar but has lactic acid.
Bob,
On pages 17-18 of the BTVC book lactic acid sounds like something to avoid. At the same time, the process of making yoghurt produces lactic acid. That is the “tang” in the taste. I can only assume that lactic acid is allowed on the SCD. However, it appears some people don’t tolerate it well.
-Paul
Thank you very much for your thoughts. I have been on SCD for three months. I have been very strict because it has helped greatly. If I should have any other questions, how should I write to you?
Bob,
You can reach me directly at eatingSCD@gmail.com. It’s in the sidebar on on the right side.
-Paul
Can I eat crumbled goat cheese on the SCD diet? I make egg whites every morning and normally put a low-fat cheese in them because I don’t really care for the the texture. I used to use feta, until I learned it’s not allowed on this diet. Is goat cheese ok.. or this there another crumbled cheese that you’d recommend instead?
Gabrielle,
Goat cheese, also known as Chèvre is illegal. Here’s the link on BTVC. Feta, however I just learned, “may be used after about 6 months of improvement. But used only in small amounts”. Here’s the link for that.
-Paul