TwoStepsSCD

Interview at Gut Harmony

2017-05-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

I recently had the pleasure to give a great interview for Tali who runs the Gut Harmony site. Check out the interview here: Interview with Tucker Sweeney

10 years of SCD: Tucker Sweeney shares lessons on balanced life and health maintenance

The SCD for Autism and ADHD

2016-01-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

Today I would like to take the time to recommend a fascinating new book by long time SCD author's Pamela Ferro and Raman Prasad. The duo has taken on the challenge of explaining the in's and out's of adapting the SCD diet to deal with those on the Autism spectrum and ADHD. Their book is titled: The SCD for Autism and ADHD: A reference and dairy-free(DF) cookbook for the specific carbohydrate diet.

What is the main difference from other SCD books and cookbooks you may ask? Well, first this book moves away from traditional SCD by prohibiting dairy. Limiting dairy, even for those not following the SCD, has been found to help many with Autism and ADHD and this book helps to meld the two diets together.

The other way this book is different is that it integrates the backgrounds of mainstream medicine through Pam's background along with others in the field. There has been a huge increase in university studies into the SCD and gut bacteria over the last few years and along with this more and more doctors, hospitals, and nurses are realizing that the SCD is not fiction any longer. This book is a wonderful example of this collaborative and looks to the future of the diet and how to tweak it in order to meet the needs of different disorders.

The book gives the reader a huge wealth of knowledge on the subject of both disorders and the reasoning for going SCD-DF. It also has many delicious recipes that span multiple regional and ethnic cuisines and tackle going dairy free with ease.

The book is well written, organized, and easy to follow with carefully thought out recipes. The pictures are also excellent and compliment the food perfectly.

Please let all your friends who know someone who suffers with these disorders to look into this book. Together we have the knowledge and power to change the face of these disorders and make healing a reality.

Two steps forward, One step back~

Tucker

Are you conquering your disease or is it conquering you?

2015-04-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

Inflammatory bowel diseases are tough to control. Constantly in and out of remission and never knowing when the next flare up will hit you head on. The SCD diet was most definitely the strongest factor in gaining control over the ulcerative colitis that was ravaging my body. Yet, this process took more than two years of very slow progress. Slowly, month after month, making slight headway and feeling just a little bit better each day.

I was confused at this process and felt like it was out of the ordinary. I felt like others on the diet were making quicker recoveries and some do! This feeling though, that I was somehow not on the right road to recovery, really hindered my progress and weighed heavily on my mind. Have any of you felt the same?

The reason I decided to write our book was for this reason. I felt that a story of slow recovery was needed. An account of the trials and tribulations of the diet and disease. An explanation of the fact that everyone reacts differently to diet modification and the effects of disease. A story that lets you know that the place you are in RIGHT NOW is OK and that with perseverance and determination you will make it! Two Steps Forward, One Step Back...

Tucker

Interested in hearing our story? You can find our book below at Amazon.com or on the right side of the page under favorite tools.
Two step forward, One step back

Consulting for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and gut issues. Take the survey!

2015-03-17T10:50:00.001-07:00

Today I find myself in a unique situation within the dietary community. The simple blog here is surpassing 40,000 views, our book Two Steps Forward, One Step Back continues to sell copies worldwide, and the emails and questions from people around the globe continue to pour in. Yet, day after day I see and hear people who are desperately struggling with Crohns, Ulcerative Colitis or IBS and feel that medication and surgery are their only options. These options luckily work for some but sadly do not for many others, myself included. It took me years to search, discover, and learn about other options. Enter the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD).

The SCD diet was a pure miracle for me. By eating the correct foods I was able to curb the destructive forces of inflammation that Ulcerative Colitis was causing to my body. I was amazed how slowly but surely the diet was healing me from the inside out! For me, this healing process is a lifelong journey. The diet rarely "cures" anyone and is rarely a quick fix. The SCD is not a gimmicky diet that was formulated for weight loss or general health. It is a scientific diet that plays a role in balancing the immense population of bacteria that reside in your gut. Each of us have a different makeup of bacteria and therefore have different reactions to the diet.

Following a diet such as the SCD is anything but easy. It takes lots of education, time, and the drive to put in the effort to get results, and these results can be limited for quite some time. Progress is usually gauged in months and years compared to days and weeks but the daily results are usually so profound that it keeps us going through the hard times. The diet is continually evolving as new foods, labeling laws, and other discoveries are found. It helps to have a knowledgeable person to guide you through the maze of not only food related questions but also the tidal wave of emotions and thoughts that the diet and disease evoke.

I would be lying if I told you that it didn't weigh heavily on my mind about making an income from giving advice about the SCD and digestive diseases. The hard fact though is that I don't have enough time in the day to talk to all the people who want and need advice while still holding another full-time job.

What if I could give people the advice and knowledge that they are asking for? I have amassed a lot of information and experience while following the SCD for more than 11 years, writing a book about the subject and having the same type of disease that many have. Yes, I can truly say that I know what you are going through with an inflammatory bowel disease! Match the personal experience with an educational background in kinesiology, health education and counseling services. This adds up to a lot of knowledge to share with others.

So the question is:
Are you someone who is looking for a consultant to help overcome your digestive disease? I WANT YOUR OPINION!

Take survey HERE

Please take the brief survey (10 questions) I have compiled so that I can gain some insight into the needs and wants of the SCD/digestive disease community.

Thank you all for your time!

Best regards,
Tucker Sweeney

Baby food is not just for babies anymore!

2014-04-15T10:13:00.001-07:00

This last year has brought lots of energy and excitement with the arrival of our daughter. Food has been such a focal point in our home for the last 7-8 years that we wanted to make good, healthy choices for our new little one.

The baby food choices have really exploded in stores and we were excited to see all of the wholesome and organic choices that were available.

The more we shopped for baby food the more I got to thinking if this stuff could be something I could use for backpacking and climbing trips. Something quick, portable, nutritious, SCD legal, and non perishable.

Most of the new organic choices come in a convenient pouch container. This makes them perfect for stuffing into a backpack pocket or jacket. There are a variety of flavors and combinations. Some are SCD legal and some are not (look at the lables!). The only downside that I have found is that the calorie count is usually not very high on the pouches but that's OK. PowerBar and Clif bar have similar "goo" pouches on the market but none that I have found are SCD legal or have as pure and organic ingredients as these.

Here's to more SCD tools in your toolbox!

Tucker

Like what you see here on the blog?
Check out our book on Amazon.com

2013-05-15T18:19:00.001-07:00

We love this cookbook!

Cooking for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet is a wonderful addition to your SCD cookbook collection, a must have first cookbook if you are starting out on the SCD.

"I would have loved to have this information packed cookbook when I was learning to cook SCD for my son Tucker eight years ago" Says my mother Carol Sweeney.

The 'BASICS' section is invaluable and makes you feel like Erica is right there in your kitchen helping you learn new recipes and cheering you on.

We love the Cinnamon Bun Muffins, seafood chowder, cauliflower "popcorn", no grain granola, curry dressing, blueberry cinnamon coffee cake, and many others have now become our favorites. The color pictures of food throughout the book make you want to cook and eat everything. If you are craving comfort foods try braised short ribs and carrots, chicken pot pie, sweet fries, chicken tenders, fish tacos or waffles. These are delicious

recipes and quite easy to make following Erica's directions. A bonus to this cookbook well worth mentioning are the sections devoted to information, tips and advice on adapting your lifestyle to the SCD, plus kitchen and pantry items to have on hand, product sources, and a list of handy SCD websites. I love the measurements and ingredient substitutions in the back so you can adapt recipes to your individual needs.

A great buy and a great addition to your SCD resources.

Check it out on amazon.com or at comfybelly.com

Take care and stay healthy,

Tucker Sweeney & Carol Sweeney

2013-03-12T08:58:00.002-07:00

Hi there everyone!
Wanted to share the interview that I did with Erika over at the food blog Comfy Belly. She did a great job putting together the interview and I think the questions and answers that are presented will benefit many as they go through the process of eating SCD.
Check out her site while you are there. She has some amazing recipes, mostly SCD but some GF.

Comfybelly Interview Here

Take care and good health to all of you,

Tucker

Crunchy Energy Bars

2013-01-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

These bars are super easy to make and in my opinion put other bars like Lara Bars to shame. Think salty, sweet, and crunchy compared to thick and pasty. I almost always make a batch of these before an outdoor trip because they provide plenty of quick energy and are tough enough you can just throw them in a bag with some other food and they wont get crushed. Sometimes I like to add a little kick to the bars by adding a dusting of cayenne.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)
1/2 cup shredded coconut (I like the large flake variety)
1/4 cup honey ( I like 1/4 cup but you could use 1/2 cup if you like it sweeter)
2T Butter or coconut oil/manna (The coconut oil tends to make them a bit greasy)
1tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (raises, dates, etc.)
Dusting of cayenne (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Rough chop the nuts using a knife or food processor. Do not over chop. Think about cutting a cashew into 1/3-1/4 no smaller. Add the chopped nuts, seeds, and coconut to a large bowl. In a bowl or measuring cup mix together the honey, vanilla, and butter/coconut product. Heat honey mixture in microwave if needed to get to a more liquid state. Add to nuts and mix. Add salt and mix again.

Spread nut and honey mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes, re-spreading the mixture once to cook evenly. After 10 minutes mix in the 1/2 cup dried fruit and bake for another 10 minutes stirring once.

Remove the mixture from oven and pour into a large bowl. Do not let it cool on the parchment paper as you will not be able to remove it without sticking. Let mixture cool until you can easily handle it with your hands, yet not cool enough that it is rock hard. This should take about 10-15 minutes.

When cool, form into bars with your hands by compressing the mixture between your two hands. You need to use pressure to initially hold the bars together until they cool. I like to form bars that resemble a Clif Bar. About 1/2" thick X 3" long and slightly oval shaped. You however, can make any shape you want just realize they will become hard when cool so ball shapes aren't easy to eat.

Let shaped bars cool in room temp for about an hour then toss into fridge.

Have a wonderful winter season!

If you like what you see on this blog check out our book on Amazon.com

Written conformation about hard cider and SCD

2012-11-18T08:33:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

I wanted to post the written conformation about a few hard ciders that are available. Some turn out to be legal and others don't or some companies only have certain varieties that are legal.

It is always a good idea to call or email the company about their ingredients because some of the ingredients are not listed!

A sample letter to a company:

Hi there, just wanted to see if your ciders contain any added sugars? (dextrose, alcohol sugar, cane, etc) or any starches or other ingredients besides cider, yeast, citric acid, etc. I have pretty serious food allergies and notice that some of your bottles do not have ingredients on them.

Thank you!
Tucker

Here are the cider companies I have contacted so far.

Blue Mountain Cider Company

Hi Tucker, thanks for your interest in Blue Mountain Cider. We currently add fructose(the same sugar that is naturally found in apples) to a couple of our ciders, the Raspberry, Eden Ridge, Cranberry, and sometimes the Cherry has it added. We did not add sugar to our Estate Winesap, Dry Creek, or the Peach we just released this spring. Sugar is the only extra additive we use in the cider. If you have any more questions, just let me know.
Cheers!

Crispin Hard Cider

Hi tucker, thanks so much for your question. Our ciders do contain a small amount of cane sugar to help develop the ciders into alcohol. That is just for the original, some of the others are mostly sweetened with honey or other natural sugars but would still include a little cane sugar for the yeast to eat. Does that answer your question fully?
Tucker Sweeney

Ok thank you. So the added cane sugar is added before the cider is fermented and not after as a sweetener?
Tucker
Crispin Hard Cider

That's correct yes. Cane sugars are added before, any sweetener after is just juice, honey, maple syrup, etc.

***As far as I know, as long as the small amount of sugar was added before the fermentation it would still be considered SCD legal. It would be the same process as taking illegal milk and fermenting it into legal yogurt. Crispin and Fox always list whether they add apple juice, honey, or other sweeteners like maple sugar , molasses, etc. so just look at the label. Another tip is to look at the grams of sugar in the bottle. It should be under 10-12 grams. Angry orchard for example (not legal) has more than 20 grams of sugar per bottle.

Tucker Sweeney

To: Ace Cider Company and Angry Orchard Cider company,
Love your cider but wanted to check with you about the ingredients because I follow a very strict diet for allergies and health issues.
Do your ciders contain any sweeteners or starch that are not listed on the label (corn, cane sugar, artificial sugars, etc.) This would include added sugars in the apple juice concentrate or in any natural flavors. Naturally occurring sugars in apple juice are fine. If they do which have added sugars and which do not?
Thank you very much for your time,
Tucker Sweeney

Ace Cider

All natural Tucker just fruit juices.

Angry Orchard

Tucker,
I am sorry about the delay. Your message unfortunately got lost in our que. We are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. Crisp Apple, Traditional Dry and Apple Ginger all have HFCS in them.
Cheers,

Wyder's Cider

Thanks for writing in and your interest in our ciders. Wyder’s Cider does contain added corn sugar, which is added in after the fermentation process.

I hope this helps and let me know if you have any further questions.

Cheers,

Wyder’s Cider.

Reverand Nat's Cider

First here is my email...

Hi Nat, I was at the tap room yesterday and your employee was super helpful in helping to educate me on what ciders would like be okay and not okay for me to drink.

I have some serious health issues which prevent me from drinking anything that contains added sugars (polysaccharides - dextrose, alcohol sugar, cane sugar, etc.) or any starches or other ingredients besides cider, yeast, citric acid, etc.

She informed me that the revival dry would be a good place to start since there's no concentrate added after the ferment. She also said she was pretty sure that the concentrate added to other ciders has absolutely no sugars in it besides the straight monosaccharides from the apple - no sucrose or other polysaccharides. Can you confirm this is true?

Also, I was really intrigued when she shared that one of the ciders is made with lactobacillus instead of yeast. Would you be able to share which strain of lactobacillus you use?

Thank you so much for the info Nat. Looking fwd to being a loyal customer :)

Nat's reply...

Revelation Newtown Pippin has apple juice, fermented to dry and backsweetened with apple juice concentrate. There are no other ingredients in the concentrate or the single strength juice. I only know of fructose, not the monosaccharides you speak of.

Revival Dry is bone dry and only ever had apple juice in it.

Deliverance Ginger Tonic has pure cane sugar, aka white sugar aka sucrose.

Hallelujah Hopricot has apple juice and apricot/peach juice concentrate. Like the Newtown it's just fructose but I can't speak to anything else naturally found in apricot and peach juice.

Sacrilege Sour Cherry is the lactobacillus one you're talking about. It contains apple juice and cherry juice concentrate both pre and post fermentation. We use Wyeast 5335 american lacto in it.

Hope you can make use of this info and thanks for the email.

Schilling Hard Cider

Hi Tucker,

Thanks for reaching out!

All of our ciders are fresh pressed juice based and we normally don't back-sweeten or blend. However there are a few exceptions to this. On some batches the juice ferments beyond our target and we will back-sweeten with cane sugar. (We have not needed to do this on any recent batches). We try to avoid this as much as possible, but given your dietary restrictions this is the case for a few batches. Also our summer seasonal is made with cane sugar as part of the recipe so you should certainly avoid that one.

Hope this helps!
Colin Schilling

If anyone else has contacted cider companies about SCD legality please comment so we can increase our knowledge base.

Till next time,

Tucker

Check out our book on Amazon.com

Misleading hard cider labels

2012-09-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

Wanted to quick post a note about the cider company Angry Orchard. I recently found the angry orchard hard cider brand at my local grocery store and decided to give it a try. A quick look at the ingredients reveals that all the ingredients should be SCD legal except for the "natural flavors". I drank a few with no negative effects but still wanted to check with the company about its ingredients.

After many failed attempts to have a response email about their products ingredients I finally heard back from them a few days ago. It turns out that they sweeten all of their ciders with HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP! This is crazy because it is not listed anywhere on the ingredients label. Not to well versed on the labeling laws here in the states but I would imagine that the "natural flavors" are natural flavors of high fructose corn syrup! Anyhow, watch out for this and let your scd friends know. It is really scary that we do not have the right to know what is in our food and drinks...

The other cider companies I listed on this blog have confirmed that they do not add sugar to their cider and if a variety does contain a sweetener, it will be listed on the ingredients. Some of these include: Fox, JK Scrumpy, and Blue Mountain.

Like what you read? Check out our book HERE on Amazon.com

Summer Travels

2012-09-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hi there and welcome to TwoStepsSCD!
Summer has been very busy for me and the writing bug has just not been around. Sorry ):

I thought I would talk a bit about my travels this summer and let you know how they went and how they were while following the SCD.

The first major travels that I did were to the Canadian Rockies were friends and I climbed Mount Sir Donald and Takakkaw falls. The trip was completed in about 4 days and included lots of exercise and beautiful mountain scenery. For the shorter travels I have been starting to precook meals that I can just keep cool instead of bringing ingredients that I have to spend lots of time cooking and heating. For this trip I made two medium sized pizza's (recipe below) some homemade granola and a few packets of the bagged tuna and salmon along with my standard biscuits.

For Sir Donald, we arrived late in the evening after a long drive then hiked into the base of the mountain. A brutal hike that gained over 3000 vertical feet, much of it viewed through the light of a headlamp. For this two day outing I brought a Tupperware filled with a few slices of pizza, some bars and tuna packets for the next day, along with some biscuits and cheese. Weight was at a premium so luxury items including some food were scrutinized.


Meadow on the descent

We awoke at first light and headed up towards the start of the ridge. The exposure was immense and caused your head to spin a bit. The route would entail about 3000 feet of exposed scrambling and mid 5th class climbing. We would also end up soloing the entire route due to time restrictions.

About halfway up Sir Donald

Summit!

Around mid-day we arrived at the summit where we preceded to have a bite to eat and take a long nap. Then came the long process of making it down... After 20 something rappels we arrived safe and sound at the base and from there made the steep, knee jarring descent to our car.

Our next adventure would involve one of the largest waterfalls in Canada, rock climbing, and tunnels...
Takakkaw falls is the second highest waterfall in western Canada at 1266 feet and just happens to have a rock climbing route that ascends right next to it. Near the top, the route also sports a 200' tunnel crawl in pure darkness. Wow what a route!


About half way up the route

The rock quality turned out to be pretty poor but the position of the route was like nothing else I had experience. Remember, this is no trickle of a waterfall it is a thundering, roaring falls that sprays you down from time to time.


The route ascends the left side of the falls

After this long day I dined on a huge salad with veggie greens from home. Kale, chard, lettuce, carrots, peppers, green beans, and a big avocado. Tossed with some olive oil and salt, sooo good!
I have to say fresh greens are so refreshing, easy, and light to bring on trips and taste so much better than packaged food, especially freeze dried.

So, now for the pizza recipe that sustained me for a few high energy days.
Pizza Dough (enough for about 2 medium pizza's):
-2 cups almond flour
-2 eggs
-2 teaspoons olive oil
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon Italian spices

Toppings (like always, add what you want and follow your taste-buds)
-Onion
-Bell pepper
-Pesto or tomato sauce
-Leafy greens
-Olives
-Mushrooms
-Cheddar cheese
-Tomato

Mix everything together. Separate dough between two baking sheets that are covered with parchment paper. Lay a large sheet of plastic wrap on top of the dough and roll out with a roller. Roll the dough to the thickness you desire (I like a shy 1/4 inch thickness). Place into a 350 degree oven and cook until it is lightly brown (10-15min). Pull the pizza dough out of the oven and lay down a layer of pesto or homemade tomato sauce (make sure its thick). Next, quick stir-fry the onions and peppers so they are lightly cooked then spread onto pizza. On top of that add a thick layer of greens (spinach, Swiss chard, kale, etc.) Next, add some mushrooms, olives and cheese. Lastly, add some thinly sliced tomato's on top of your piled high pizza. Place into the oven for 25-30 minutes.

For your trip add cut up slices to a large Tupperware and place in a cold cooler. It should be fine for at least a few days.
Enjoy!

*For more information, stories, and recipes check out our book HERE on Amazon.com

2012-06-05T20:36:00.001-07:00

Breaded Fish

Hi there everyone, hope this post finds you healthy or on the road to a better life while dealing with IBD. I wanted to post a quick recipe that we have been doing here in our household quite frequently. It is a fried fish, much like you would find with traditional "fish and chips". The recipe and method are so simple it works great for those late dinners when no one is interested in cooking.

Here we go!

Ingredients:

about a pound of Cod fish (or other white fish)
oil for frying
1 cup almond flour*
1t paprika*
1/2 t salt*
1/8 t cayenne*
1/8 t garlic salt*

Tartar sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise* (scd legal homemade or legal brands like trader joes or spectrum)
1 t lemon juice*
1/4 t paprika
few shakes salt and pepper

*Spice amounts are approximate. I usually just sprinkle the spices into the bag until I think it looks right. Use your judgement and follow your taste buds.

Method:

Find yourself a large Ziploc bag. Add fresh fish to the bag in manageable sizes. Fish should be moist but not wet. Do not add freshly defrosted fish because the breading will not stick properly to the fish, instead let frozen fish sit in refrigerator overnight.
With the fish in the bag add almond flour, paprika, salt, cayenne, and garlic salt. Close bag and give it a shake until the fish is evenly coated with the breading mixture.
Add a high heat oil (I like to use grapeseed oil) to a heavy pan (enough oil to cover bottom but no more) and heat until wooden spoon bubbles when dipped into oil. Add breaded fish to pan and cook each side for 2-3 minutes before turning. Take care to not lose the breading while flipping. A spatula helps with this. Cook until fish flakes.
For the tartar sauce mix all of the ingredients together and keep cold until ready to use.

For traditional "fish and chips" make up a batch of butternut squash fries as a side.

Take care and enjoy!

Tucker

*For more recipes and tips find our book Here

Spaghetti and pork meatballs

2012-04-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

Hello, and welcome back to TwoSteps SCD!
Today I wanted to share a recipe that defies SCD logic and seems to trick my senses and taste buds every time. What is it? Well, its spaghetti using zucchini noodles with pork meatballs and a tomato marinara sauce.

What has inspired this dish and many others like it (curry's, pesto noodles, etc.) is the spiral slicer that my mom, and co-author of our book, bought me as a birthday gift last year. I had heard of people making noodles out of zucchini for SCD adaptations but just didn't want to bother with it, and like so many other things, thought the taste and texture just wouldn't be right. Just easier to go without right? Wrong!

The noodle maker (featured to the right on the Favorite SCD tools carousel) makes beautiful, long zucchini noodles in a matter of seconds and is very easy to clean. The most important part though is that the noodles actually come out tasting and looking like real spaghetti noodles. You can twirl them around a fork, toss them with sauce, etc. basically do anything you would with regular spaghetti or pasta.

Ready to give it a shot? Here we go:

Meatballs-
In a separate bowl mix together:
1 lb ground pork
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
a dash oregano
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1 egg
1/4 cup almond flour
Mix everything together with your hands then form into small meatballs. Add some oil to a large pan, wait till oil is hot, then add meatballs and brown on at least two sides. Cook until the meatballs are nicely brown then remove from heat (the meatballs will not be cooked fully at this point). Drain most of the fat out of the pan reserving enough to coat.
Sauce-
Add 1 cup chopped onions to pan with reserved oil/fat. Cook until tender then add 2 cups sliced mushrooms and cook until soft. Poor marinara sauce into pan over the onions and mushrooms.
For the sauce you can do a couple things: You can make your own sauce like here or you could buy a pre-made sauce from a reputable source. *Remember no natural flavors, tomato paste, starches or other illegal scd ingredients and fillers. I recently had a great marinara sauce from Eden foods, which I trust to be scd compliant, at least for my length on the diet. This is the sauce I used here.
After you add the sauce to the pan let it heat up then nestle the meatballs back into the sauce and cook until the meat is cooked through, about 8-10 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
Noodles-
At this point get out your spiral slicer, wash a zucchini ( I figure one medium zucchini equals one large serving) then process the zucchini into noodles.
From here you can cook your "noodles" by adding them to the sauce for a few minutes prior to eating (only do this if you plan on eating all of the noodles in one day) or you can add the noodles to boiling water for about 1 minute or until you are happy with the texture then drain.

Once everything is fully cooked add the sauce and meatballs on top of you spaghetti, add some Parmesan or cheddar cheese and call it a meal.

For more recipes and SCD help find our book here: Amazon.com
Thank you!

Tucker and Carol

Lemon Cream Pie

2012-03-11T10:31:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone and hope you are feeling as good as possible!
I wanted to post a recipe that I adapted a few months back from a cream pie article in one of the Cooking Light magazines. The magazine had a whole section on different cream pies and most of them looked to die for. After first dismissing the section because I figured nothing could be realistically made SCD, it was only later, a few weeks later that I looked again at the recipes and at their ingredients and realized I could most likely get pretty close using and replacing a few key ingredients with SCD ingredients. After a little tweaking and testing I came out with a pie that tastes (in my opinion) pretty dang good. Here we go.

Lemon Cream Pie-

Pie Crust:
1 1/2 cups almond flour
3 T butter (soft)
1 T honey (using local honey from your area can lessen seasonal allergies)
1/8 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
Mix everything together. Press into a 9 inch pie pan and bake @ 350 degrees until golden brown.

Lemon Filling:
1/2 cup honey (I use slightly less)
1 T Lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 T coconut flour (to thicken)
1/4 t salt
2 large eggs (be nice to the hens and use free-range)
1 cup scd yogurt
1/4 cup dripped scd yogurt (use cheese cloth or other method)
Combine the above ingredients over a double boiler and whisk until hot and slightly bubbly. It takes a while...
Once you have seen a few bubbles and the mixture is hot, remove from heat and stir in 2 T of butter. Add one packet of gelatin to a bit of water (just enough to cover) and let sit 1 minute. Then add gelatin to lemon filling and stir. Let mixture cool a bit then pour filling into pie crust and place in refrigerator.

Whipped Cream Topping:
1 1/2 cups yogurt made with half n half or whipping cream (whipping cream holds up better but I thought it was just to rich).
Honey to taste
1 egg white (optional)
Using an electric hand mixer beat the topping until soft/medium peaks form. Add on top of chilled pie filling and return to refrigerator. Eat once the pie has totally chilled. 1-2 hours.

Enjoy!

Other than cooking the weather here in Idaho is turning to spring (slowly) but the skiing up in the mountains has been great. The weather down in the valleys has even allowed for some rock climbing and bouldering during the sunny days.
Here is a video I recently put together showing some of the fun we have been having:

What I am eating this week: Broccoli-Cheese Soup

2012-01-22T21:52:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, and hope your winter is shaping up to be a great one. Our winter here is turning out to be a strange one with short heavy spells of snow, then dry with spring like conditions. Oh well, this means rock climbing and mountain biking one week and skiing and ice climbing another. Sure, why not...

Well, what am I eating this week? My mother Carol, and co-author of our book, Two Steps Forward, One Step Back came up with a great recipe for broccoli-cheese soup. A soup that I long forgot about and one that is usually filled with cream; a SCD illegal ingredient.

Hear we go:
2 T butter
2 pounds broccoli, florets roughly chopped into pieces
1 medium onion roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
1 1/2 t scd legal dry mustard powder or regular wet mustard
Pinch cayenne pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 cup frozen spinach or 2 cups fresh
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Black pepper and salt to taste

Method:
Heat butter in large pan. Add broccoli, onion, garlic, dry mustard, and cayenne. Cook on medium heat while stirring about 6-8 minutes. Add the water and baking soda to pan and bring to simmer. Cover, and cook until all vegetables are soft (about 20 minutes). Once soft, add the chicken broth and increase heat to medium high. Add spinach and cook 3-4 minutes. Transfer soup to blender and process until smooth. Return to pan and add both cheeses over low heat stirring to incorporate well. Add salt and pepper to suit your taste. Enjoy!

PS
Thank you everyone who has bought our book and for the wonderful and inspiring comments via Amazon, email or on this blog from readers around the world. Keep doing what you are doing and showing those around you that IBD disorders can be managed effectively with good nutrition and lifestyle changes. Keep up the good work!

Freeze-dried SCD meal options for backpacking

2012-01-02T16:46:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post a great resource for freeze dried meals that I found on the web. Melanie Blackmer of Louisiana came up with these great recipes and food plans to help her son go on a multi-day backpacking trip. Another great story of people finding ways to continue doing the things they love to do!
Melanie also maintains a great blog at: http://myhoneypie66.blogspot.com/

Tools needed for Dehydration
Dehydrator – preferably one with a temperature select. I use one from Nesco.
Seal a Meal
Steamable seal a meal bags (pleated bottoms)
Food grade desiccant packs from Packit Gourmet www.packitgourmet.com
Freezer paper one side waxy
Muffin top pan
Tips to get you started
When preparing to dehydrate meat, make sure to get lean cuts of meat. If the meat you purchase for jerky, for instance, has fat, cut it all off. When you cook the meat towel blot as much of the grease off as you can.
When making muffins, you will want to dehydrate any fruit that goes in to them. Also, you do not want to send on a long trip anything that is too moist. I also find it better to cook muffins in a muffin top pan, which yields more of a little cake. This cake travels much better and allows a good seal when you seal in a seal a meal bag. I have never had a regular shaped muffin last even sealed. Remember to add a desiccant package.
The best meals to dehydrate are ones with some sort of sauce. Dehydrating just meat will end up in jerky, which could be tasty but doesn’t reconstitute well with water.
Dehydrating meals
To prepare your dehydrator before you begin to dehydrate meals, you need to cover each rack you use with freezer paper unless you have solid tray covers. Cut the paper to fit the tray and line with shiny side up. Always measure the amount of food you are dehydrating so you will know how much water to add when you are ready to eat. When dehydrating any meal you want to cook out as much water as you can making any sauce pretty thick. Then spread the food on the lined tray as thin as you can get it. If you are dehydrating Lasagna or Cannelloni make sure to chop it up as much as you can making the pieces as small as possible. You will dry food on
the Meat Setting for about 4 hours. Stay on top of it though as the time might be different depending on dehydrator or altitude. You will want to blot the food every couple of hours. When the top seems very dry flip it and dry longer to get the bottom dry. I usually dry till the food is the consistency of a potato chip. As you flip it you will want to dry the freezer paper underneath. I usually can fit two meals on one tray and can dry several trays with different meals on them at the same time. However, I don’t recommend drying say lasagna or chili with a tray of fruit. The fruit will come out tasting like chili. Once your food is dry, let it cool completely before placing it in the seal a meal bag. It is best to use the pleated bag for meals. You will want to label the food and note a reminder to remove the desiccant pack that you will add before you seal the bag. I have also found it is good to check a few minutes after you have sealed the bag to make sure the seal stays.
Dehydrating Soup Base
Once you have cooked your tomato sauce down (instructions on recipe page), again prepare your tray with freezer paper and make sure the shiny side is up. Spread a layer of sauce and fill the tray making sure not to get too close to sides. I dehydrate this on the vegetable setting. I believe it took 2-3 hours. Again, make sure to check often and you may find you need to blot the top. Once the sauce seems pretty set, try to peel it away from the paper. It should peel off easily if done carefully. It will resemble fruit leather. You will again need to dry off the paper and flip the dehydrated sauce and dry for a few minutes longer to make sure all moisture is out. Again you will want to let the sauce cool completely before putting it in the bag to seal. I tear up the sauce “leather” as small as I can before putting it in the bag just to make reconstitution easier. The recipe for the rest of the soup ingredients is on the recipe page.
Dehydrating Fruits and Veggies
To dehydrate fruits and veggies you can use fresh or frozen. I did both. Not sure if I found a difference. You will again want to line your trays for carrots, peas, green beans pretty much anything that isn’t a slice as sometimes they get small and fall through the tray. When packing meals to last in seal a meal
bags, I have found that you must dehydrate any fruit or veggie added to a muffin or bread item. This will keep the muffin from spoiling too soon. Veggies need to be clean and dry before dehydrating. I do not cook my blueberries or cherries before dehydrating I find they do better if I don’t. How ever it does take them quite a while to dry. I prefer dehydrating fresh blueberries and strawberries. When dehydrating apples or bananas you want to soak them in pineapple juice for a few minutes before setting them on the tray. But do blot them when you take them out of the juice to put in the dehydrator. You will dehydrate them on the fruit setting for 6-12 hours. Checking frequently so the fruit isn’t too dry. You will find that the blueberries will be more like a raisin. Vegetables will dehydrate on the vegetable setting for again about 6 – 12 hours.
Reconstituting Meals
Once you have reached your destination and you are ready to enjoy the dehydrated fruits of your labor, you must first boil some water. I suggest boiling at least a cup of water. It is also good to bring a clip of some kind to close the bag after you add the water to help it steam. Open your meal and remove the desiccant package. Open the pleats and carefully add ½ cup of water and stir. At this point, you should be able to determine if you need to add more water to make your meal the consistency you desire. Clip the top and let set a few minutes and your meal is ready to enjoy!!

Entree Recipes (all recipes courtesy of Melanie Blackmer)

Italian Sauce
1 ½ Qts Campbell’s tomato Juice in Bottle
2tsp Legal Garlic Powder
2TBS Legal Onion Flakes
1Tsp Legal Chili Powder
½ tsp Pepper
1Tbs Basil
You could probably half the Basil with oregano.
Add everything to medium sauce pan and cook on medium until it reaches the thickness you desire. Stir often it has a tendency to bubble up. It really doesn’t take long.

Chili
6 cups Campbell's 100% Tomato Soup
1 Tbs onion Flake
1 Tbs garlic powder
4 Fresh Basil leaves chopped
1tsp Tabasco
1 tsp cumin
1Tbs Chili powder
1 lb lean ground meat
Salt/ pepper to taste
In a sauce pan salt a pepper meat lightly and brown. Make sure to break in to small pieces and drain off any grease. You may even want to use a paper towel to squeeze any grease out. Add remaining ingredients and simmer till sauce is your desired consistency. You want a rich thick sauce but not too thick. Maybe 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Vegetable Soup
One recipe Italian sauce cooked thicker than regular sauce
1/4 to 1/2 cup dried peas
1/4 to 1/2 cup dried green beans
1/4 to 1/2 cup dried butternut squash
1-2 cans valley fresh chicken including broth
In dehydrating the ingredients for the soup, again I lined the trays with parchment paper. Then I covered the paper with the tomato paste I had made earlier. (see soup recipe) I dried this also on the meat setting. After a while check and see if the sauce will lift off the paper. Similar to a fruit roll up. When the sauce is set enough to remove pull it away from paper. Wipe
the paper and flip the sauce and dry it on other side. This side maybe only 30 minutes. I tore this in smaller pieces and added to the vegetables and vacuum seal with a desiccant package. Jacob recommends that it might to better to powder it first. The vegetables I used were frozen peas, frozen green beans and frozen butternut squash. Again lined trays with parchment paper and this time dried on the vegetable setting. I found they took a little while to dry well. I dried mine till they were pretty hard because I wanted to make sure they would last 17 days.

Cannelloni
Make the sauce the same as you did for the lasagna. However I let it get thicker for this recipe.
You will need
about 1 egg per crape
butter
8 oz Farmers Cheese (soft like Ricotta)
1lb lean ground turkey cooked and drained
1/4 c Grated Parmesan (you can use as much as you like)
Basil ½ tsp
garlic powder ¼ tsp
salt pepper to taste
Colby Jack cheese grated
First mix into the cheese mixture the cooked turkey meat, the parmesan and the seasonings. Set aside. In a frying pan on low heat melt about a table spoon of butter. When melted pour 1/4 cup egg in a circle on the pan. You don't want these to cook too fast. And you want them to set not turn brown. I use a thin pastry spatula to flip these they are usually too delicate for a thicker spatula. When set flip and fill the center with the cheese mixture. You don't want them too full. Maybe start with 1/4 cup and see if that is enough. Fold sides of egg over the cheese and transfer into a baking dish. Repeat till you use all the cheese mixture. I think I usually get about 5 or 6 depending on how generous I get with the cheese! Pour sauce on top and sprinkle either Colby Jack or parmesan. Put in an oven on 350 just until cheese melts!

Lasagna
1 lb ground beef lean
1 recipe of Italian sauce
¼ cup DCCC
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese
1tsp basil
Shredded Munster
Shredded Colby Jack
Season the beef as you like and cook completely making sure to break the meat into the smallest consistency you can. Add sauce to meat. In an 8x8 inch pan barely cover bottom with a little of the sauce mixture, then layer with seasoned DCCC and cheeses. Continue to layer till meat mixture is used up. Usually makes two layers. You can add zucchini to each layer for noodles. We didn’t for the hike because they are too wet and we thought it would make it harder to dehydrate.

Beef Stew
2-3 lbs lean beef tips (trim off any fat)
4 Roma tomatoes chopped
1 onion chopped
1-2 tbs minced garlic
1 bag baby carrots
1 bag fresh broccoli
1/2 cup of Campbell's Tomato juice
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Chili powder to taste
In Dutch oven season and brown meat. Once browned add chopped onions, tomatoes, minced garlic and carrots. Also add in Tomato juice. Cover and put in the oven at 350 for 2-3 hours. Till meat is tender. Add broccoli stir and put back in the oven till broccoli is tender.

Red Beans and Cauliflower Rice
1 ½ cup red beans (boil for one hour then rinse)
1 onion diced
season with salt and pepper to taste
2 cups sliced SCD legal smoked sausage (or seasoned meat)
1 head Cauliflower
Once you have boiled your beans for one hour and rinsed them thoroughly also rinsing the pot, place beans back into pot and cover with water about 1 ½ to 2 inches above beans. Add all ingredients and cover cooking slowly on a med to low heat till beans are tender. Uncover and stir often. As water cooks down you will want to add water in until you achieve a rich thick sauce. Next, rinse cauliflower well and run heads through a Salad Shooter with the cheese grater attachment. Put in a frying pan with about 1 Tbs butter. Salt and pepper to taste and sauté on a low heat. Once
cauliflower is just tender your rice is ready. Place a serving of rice and cover with red beans.

Coconutty Granola
¾ lb Pecan Pieces
1½ Macadamia Nut pieces
1- 1 ½ Almond slivers
5 oz bag Kroger Unsweetened Coconut flakes
Honey
Set oven at 350*. Pour coconut flakes into baking pan. I use my stone casserole. Place in the oven to toast. Toast coconut for about 12 min stirring often to prevent burning. You want the coconut a beautiful golden color when finished. Take coconut out of oven and drizzle with honey. Drizzle lightly at first and stir. You are trying to just sweeten the coconut. You may want to add a little at a time stirring in between. I just drizzle over the top and then stir. Taste and see if it needs more. This is where the sweet is coming from in this granola. Next, roast as you did in first recipe. When nuts have finished roasting and are completely cool add sweetened coconut.

Candied Fruit and Nut Granola
Dehydrated Banana Slices (about 2 bananas sliced thin)
Dehydrated Apple Slices (about 1 apple sliced thin)
½ lb Pecan Pieces
1-1 ½ cup Hazelnut pieces
½ cup Macadamia Pieces
2 ½ oz toasted coconut
Dried Cherries (cut up)
Honey
Course salt in grinder
Set oven on 350*. Mix nuts into a baking pan and roast again as in first recipe. While roasting tear banana slices and apple slices into smaller pieces. When nuts are roasted and still warm lightly drizzle with honey and mix. Then add coconut and fruit and lightly grind coarse salt over the mixture and stir. Be very careful you just want the slightest bit of salty. Too much will ruin it. This one is my favorite!!!!!

Happy backpacking everyone!

Tucker

Living the good life

2011-12-17T09:46:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone and hope the holidays are treating you well. The transition from fall to winter here in Idaho has been a good one and the skiing and ice climbing have been fantastic. We have been heading across the Canadian border to a nearby backcountry skiing area, which has had excellent early season snow. As far as the ice climbing goes, we have mainly been climbing on some of the local ice flows like copper falls, and up the Yaak river.

BC Skiing

Instead of posting a new blog about a recipe, supplement or new found disease research I decided to post something about the hear and now. A reminder to get outside and see the sites. Laugh with friends and family. Do something other than think and dwell on the disease you have!

I remember the days when I was sick and felt like hiding inside, away from others. To a point I think we all need time to ourselves to process what is going on inside our bodies and mind, yet be cautious about letting who you are slip away during this time.
Getting out and doing the things you love, even when you feel like crap is important. It reminds us that the disease is only part of the picture and not the artist drawing it. That playing, working, or being around other people is a time to forget, even for just a minute or two, that you are sick.

Ice Climbing

Diseases like UC and Crohns can follow a roller-coaster cycle that at times can weigh heavily on your mind. We can get bogged down in looking for that quick fix that never seems to help or become obsessed with worry while waiting for that next flare up. I feel that all of these responses are normal but many of them are not good for our disease or our overall health. As time goes on I have taken an increased approach to living with what life throws at me and trying to not worry about the future, and therefore things I cannot change. Accept that your disease may always play a small part in who your are ,what you eat, and how you feel. Accept it but don't let it dictate your goals and dreams. Be the change you want to happen.


Climbing in the Sierra's, CA

I decided against my own emotions as well as others to participate in many adventures when I was sick with UC. I went rock climbing, ice climbing, and hiking while feeling like crap, and taking lots of um??, craps. These forays outside my comfort zone were not easy and took a lot of commitment and will, along with an ability to show I was vulnerable to those around me. Taking these "time outs" from UC gave me freedom from my daily reality and showed me that yes, I am who I am, and no disease can take that from me. This strong will is only built stronger when you start to see improvements from lifestyle changes like the SCD. My mind was strong and ready for a change, and along with the SCD my body was too.
Take care of yourself. Be yourself. Follow your heart and sometimes not your gut.

Till next time,

Tucker

Hard Cider

2011-11-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

A cold SCD legal beverage that's not wine and fills the void of beer? Yes, please!

For over 4 years I never really thought about trying hard cider and instead drank wine and dreamed about one day drinking beer again. Then, one day I saw an article about artisan hard cider breweries in a magazine and was inspired to look further into seeing if the stuff was SCD legal. I looked up the info Here: breakingtheviciouscycle.info
Next, after seeing that legal cider could be found, I went on the task of finding it. I first went to the local big grocery store and came home empty handed. The store only had one variety of hard cider and it was StrongBow, which had dextrose and other illegal ingredients. What now, give up? No way! I then went to a small natural foods/health food store and was happy to find these varieties of SCD legal hard ciders. The varieties I found are located here with links for pictures, contact info, etc: J.K.'s Scrupy, Tieton Cider Works, Wyder's, Crispin Cider, and Fox Barrel Cider. Now, I cannot fully verify all of the cider company's ingredients beyond their labels but I did email Tieton because they had no ingredients labeled and they confirmed that there was no added sugars, sorbates, etc. just apple cider and yeast. Also, you need to always read the labels as some varieties contain added sugar, while another variety under the same brand does not. Always check!
I have found that my gut has reacted very favorably to all of the ciders, and I find that I have less negative feelings with cider, as compared with dry wine.

Now on the negative side, the above ciders are costly, with the average twelve ounce bottle costing over two dollars. This is why I ended up trying to brew my own hard cider with varying degrees of success. To this date I have brewed four ciders of different composition and ingredients. The first was a straight cider with nothing added. This turned out pretty bad and was given away. The next one was with the same juice but with 16oz of honey added to the fermentation (recipe below). The other two were experiments using apple juice concentrate and another using less honey (12oz). I will report back on these varieties once they are ready to try.
The second cider I made using 16oz of honey turned out very good, almost an apple wine due to the high alcohol content. The below recipe for this honey cider is below.

The basics of homemade hard cider: *Great hard cider resources at: http://makinghardcider.com
Equipment
-at least 2 one gallon glass jugs (Carlo Rossi wine jugs work well as does glass gallon jugs of apple juice)
-1 package champagne yeast or ale yeast
-1 gallon apple cider with no additives or preservatives (local source, whole foods brand, Knudsen, etc.)
-honey to increase fermentation and for carbonation at bottling time
-about 4 feet of clear plastic tubing for siphoning the cider
-1 airlock and plastic cork with hole for airlock
-1 bottle filling wand

Method
-Sterilize all of your equipment with a sterilizing solution from a brew store or bleach if needed last resort. This includes: Gallon jug to ferment, airlock, plastic stopper, plastic tubing, and any mixing tools like spoons.
-Bring one gallon of the preservative free and pasteurized cider to room temp about 70 degrees. (if not pasteurized, most recommend lightly heating for 40 minutes or so to kill wild bacteria. Do not boil!)
-Lightly heat a cup or two of the cider with 16 oz honey then add into the gallon fermenting jug along with rest of cider.
-Add half of your yeast packet to a cup filled with a 1/4 cup luke warm water. Let stand 15 minutes then stir yeast to fully incorporate. Next, add the yeast slurry to your cider that is in the fermenting jug and give a light shake to dissolve and add some oxygen to the mix.
-Attach the cork and airlock, then fill the airlock with water to the appropriate manufactures line.
-Now place your gallon jug of goodness in a dark, warm (60-70 F) place that has fairly consistent temperature with little fluctuations (I place mine in a laundry room that has its own door).
-Within 24 hours your airlock should start bubbling and there should be visible bubbles within the jug. This is the yeast eating the available sugar and converting it to alcohol.
-I then usually wait about 2 weeks for the fermentation to die down then I transfer via the plastic hose the cider from one jug to another sanitized jug, leaving behind all of the dead yeast and sediment that settles on the bottom. From here ferment the cider for another 3 weeks until you see very few, to no bubbles rising within the jug.

Bottling time!
-Add 1/8 cup of honey, mixed with a cup or two of warm cider, to a new, clean, sanitized gallon jug, then siphon the juice into this container to get the cider of of the sediment again, and mix in the priming honey.
-After the cider is mixed with the priming honey in the new jug, use your bottling wand and plastic hose to transfer the cider to bottles then cap the bottles.
-Move the bottles to a cool, dark place and let them sit for at least two weeks before trying. Try the ciders again after about a month to make sure there is not to much carbonation happening, and if there is put all the cider in the fridge and leave it there until you drink it.

-Cheers!

New Amazon Kindle Edition and Fall Clam Chowder Recipe.

2011-11-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

I am very excited to announce that our book Two Steps Forward, One Step Back is now available as a Kindle e-book and the print version is now also available at Lucy's Kitchen Shop. Other book news is the great review that Raman Prasad, author of Colitis and Me, gave on his website scdrecipe

Check it out!

The e-book is amazing in that you can download the book in under a minute and the book can be translated to many European languages for all of my worldwide visitors. Hope you enjoy!

On another note, while back east visiting family last month my step mom Jodi and I ended up putting together a SCD version of New England clam chowder that was a real hit with the dinner crowd. Since we used squash as the base we decided to call it a fall chowder. Here we go.........

Ingredients:
1 medium onion
1-2 carrots chopped small into small bite sized rectangles (think mock potatoes pieces)
1 tablespoon butter
1 can scd legal coconut milk
1 small butternut squash or half a medium/large one
1 can scd legal clams 6 oz (large size)
1 jar clam juice 8oz
water

Method
Saute onions until almost soft with butter. Add carrots and cook till almost soft. Transfer half of onions and carrots to blender, add softened squash without peel/skin (cook halved squash in oven at 400 degrees till soft). Add all of the clam juice and blend; add water to desired thickness (Should be a bit watery). Add back to pan with remaining vegetables, then add coconut milk and clams and slowly re-heat.
*For a slightly different texture you can also throw in a handful of cashews into the blender to give the soup a uniquely nutty texture and taste. They work best if you first add the cashews to the cooking vegetables for 2-3 minutes to soften then transfer to blender.
Serves about 8 people

Health is not valued till sickness comes.
Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734)

Take care,
Tucker

Book Preview!

2011-10-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I wanted to provide the first couple of pages of the introduction to our book: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back. A journey through life, ulcerative colitis, and the specific carbohydrate diet. Hope you enjoy. Available at: Amazon.com

Take care,
Tucker

Introduction
~Me, Myself, and UC~
Looking back upon my life before ulcerative colitis (UC), it seems
like such a simple time. Most day’s, thoughts of medications, food
ingredients, and restroom locations were simply absent from my mind. I
took these things for granted back then, and used them when I wanted and
how I best saw fit. My body was working like it should and I was enjoying all
it could give me with little thought of things going wrong. Like most people,
I had the beautiful luxury of feeling like major illness would not intrude on
my life; like somehow I would be exempt from its cold and firm grasp. I was
healthy, young, and able-bodied. What could possibly happen to me?
Most of the time, people who are not sick cannot fully grasp the
realities that disease throws at the sufferer. You end up eating, breathing, and
thinking about the disease 24/7. Worse yet, as an inflammatory bowel
disease (IBD) sufferer you are reminded of your condition multiple times a
day as it stares back at you from the toilet. There is no need to seek the
confirmation from a doctor that you are sick—you already know it. It
whispers to you during the night while you are bleeding, sweating, and
cramping on the toilet. It shouts at you when you catch a glimpse of the
gaunt figure standing in front of the mirror. And finally, it laughs at you
when you are in public, and have to run and hide, seeking refuge within the
confines of restroom walls.
Along with many others, I have decided to try and end this
nightmare by way of diet and lifestyle modifications, in particular by
following the Specific Carbohydrate DietTM or SCDTM. This is a form of
healing from the inside out, if you will. Is it hard? Yes. Did the SCD work
for me and countless others? Yes. What is holding you back from giving it a
shot? Only yourself.

~Choices and Actions~
When you or someone you love is diagnosed with an IBD, two
questions arise: What is the disease and what can I do about it? Some
theories suggest the cause could be pathogenic organisms, an abnormal
immune response, or an antigen/bacterial overgrowth. The basic fact is no
one really knows the root cause of IBD or how to fully cure it. This leaves
the patient and the medical profession with the task of not curing the disease,
but managing it.
Since there is no cure for IBD, management choices may include one
or more of the following options. The first option usually involves
medications like steroids, anti-inflammatory meds, or immune suppressors.
This is usually the first thing your doctor will insist you do, and what I chose
to do initially. During my experience and meetings with fellow people who
suffer from IBD disorders like Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis, there
seem to be those who find good results with medication, and others, like
myself, who do not. For me, the medications would work for a while and
then gradually lose effectiveness, forcing me to seek other options and
treatments. Even if you do start the SCD diet, many people find that they
need to have the aid of medications to begin the healing process.
The second option people tend to follow is to take the disease and
treatment into their own hands, and try to manage, cure or control their
condition through diet, supplements or other lifestyle changes. I chose to
follow this route and to pursue a better quality of life by following the
Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Created by the work of Dr. Sydney Hass and
Elaine Gottshall, and later publicized in the book, Breaking the Vicious Cycle,
Gottshall brings to light the relief that diet modifications can have on
disorders such as: Crohns disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, autism,
and IBS along with many others. In a nutshell, the theory behind the diet is
that by eliminating lactose, grains, sugar, and starchy vegetables (along with
other specific foods) you are able to control and manage the bad bacteria that
is wreaking havoc on your digestive system; essentially starving that bacteria.
Her book details the science behind the diet, as well as how to get
started, and is a must read for anyone considering it. There are also many
resources on the Web for “legal/illegal” foods while following the SCD, as
well as advice from others who have made the diet a way of life. Yes, the diet
is hard to follow, but in my opinion it is nothing compared to living a life
with a disease like UC or Crohns. I have talked to many people who have an
IBD or know someone who does about my experience. Some give the SCD
a try and achieve renewed health. Some give it a try and give up. Others
simply can’t commit to the lifestyle change that is needed to succeed. In the
end it’s all up to you.

Ancho Chile Hamburgers with Lime Aioli

2011-10-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hi there everyone and happy fall!
So today I have a recipe that ups the wow factor a little bit for the humble hamburger. If you are anything like me you end up eating a lot of hamburgers on the SCD, especially when you go out to eat in restaurants. Some being good, some being not so good.
I love to add dried chilies to recipes and this one melts perfectly with the lime aioli sauce. Adapted from Pati's Mexican Table.

INGREDIENTS
Meat
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 cup white onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
2 ancho chiles, rinsed, seeded and soaked (explanation follows)
3/4 tsp kosher or sea salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste
1 eggs, lightly beaten
olive oil

Lime Aioli
1/2 cup mayonnaise (make your own or use a legal brand such as spectrum naturals)
Juice of 1/2 lime, about 1 tbsp
1/2 tsp grate lime rind

1 large garlic clove, pressed
1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
Garnishes
4 hamburger buns (Lois Lang biscuits)
Yellow mustard
Tomatoes, sliced
Iceberg or romaine lettuce leaves
Onion, sliced
TO PREPARE
Rinse the ancho chiles. On a chopping board, make a slit down their side and take out all of their seeds, veins and stems. Place the cleaned chiles in a small bowl and cover with 1/4 cup boiling hot water. Let it soak for 10 to 15 minutes. Places chiles in the blender along with the soaking liquid, onion and garlic, and puree until smooth.
In a mixing bowl, combine the ground beef. Add the chile mixture, one lightly beaten eggs, salt and pepper. Mix until it is all well incorporated.
Heat the pan over medium heat until very hot, about 4 to 5 minutes. Brush some oil on the girddle or pan.
Mold the patties and place them on the hot pan. Cook for about 4 to 6 minutes per side, depending on how well cooked you like your burgers. For medium-well, it is about 5 minutes per side.

To make the lime aioli, place everything in a mixing bowl, and mix it up! Add to top of burgers once they are placed on a serving plate.

To your health!

Tucker