Introduction

It's about time, right? I've talked about doing this for long enough, it was time to take action. That's the same thing that happened with my IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). I talked about taking action for so long, I talked about going to the doctor when the bleeding wouldn't stop, and I talked about trusting the Lord with this lifelong disease.

I have taken action! It started with trusting God, not just talking about it. I left Crohn's disease at the altar, and although I will always have it, I will never have it without my God. I am not in this alone. The next step was to pay attention to what my body was telling me. I learned many years ago that I have an intolerance to lactose, and I believe this was a precursor to my Crohn's disease. I also noticed that red meat, carbonation, and rich and spicy foods bothered me. It was time to start the research. I started asking people questions, and one person brought me a cookbook called "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" and I was intrigued. I went online and found the illegal/legal list, as well as hundreds of recipes. For the first time in a long time I felt hopeful. Since my diagnosis, I felt God was leading me to do this WITHOUT MEDS. I know this ticks off many with IBD, but I trust that if God is telling me to do it His way, I should trust that the outcome will be positive. I know He heals, and I know He won't give me more than I can handle.

I read this cookbook cover to cover a number of times, and perused the interweb regarding IBD and the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). Due to a number of things going on in my life (taking classes, moving, in a relationship), I figured it wasn't a good time and I'd wait til class was done, til I was moved, etc. The 5th of July, my then-boyfriend and I took a day trip to a city a couple of hours away. It was a disaster. When we were headed back, we were only about 20 minutes away from home when it hit me. I mean, it really hit me. I was driving and weeping in pain. It was horribly embarrassing, and I'll spare you the details. The next day I realized that this wasn't acceptable. I needed to change what I was eating, because even though I was trying to eat trigger free foods, apparently something else triggered as well. July 6th, I favorited the legal/illegal list on my phone, and made it my home page.
July 7th I started following the diet, and July 8th, I felt  a huge difference already. My joint pain was GONE, I used the bathroom only twice, and I actually had ENERGY! Fatigue had racked me for months, years even, and it was gone. Just gone. This great feeling lasted a few days, until I decided to eat some Annie's mac and cheese. I figured since it's made with aged cheddar and organic pasta, I would probably be okay. It wasn't... The very next morning I couldn't walk I was in so much pain. I figured out what had been making my ankles hurt so badly! It was the wheat! All this time I thought my joint pain was just a side effect of Crohn's, and I think to some extent it is. I believe that because I have Crohn's, my body is more likely to be affected by different foods, and the effect that wheat has is horrible ankle pain. So I cut it out completely. I tried continuing my rice milk and rice for awhile, but my back and shoulders were hurting, then when I got rid of them, that pain was gone. I had oats last Sunday, and my body couldn't even digest them. I was in great pain, and partially broken down oats were in my stool on Monday.

Sugars have been the hardest thing for me to give up. I have quite the sweet tooth, let me tell you. I have a really hard time avoiding desserts. Overall I've done pretty well, I think, and I eat a lot of bananas to get that sweet taste.

So this blog will be about what I am learning, and it will include pictures and recipes of things that are tasty and follow the SCD. My goal is to help at least one person through this blog.