From the beginning of my time on the \u2018specific carb diet\u2019 (SCD), I did things my own way.\u00a0 The diet called for yogurt each morning but said to make your own.\u00a0 I chose to use store bought yogurt.\u00a0 This was before the Greek yogurt craze so I was buying a vanilla standard brand yogurt.\u00a0 I think it did help but I am glad that we now have better natural choices with lots of probiotics. Healing History Part 2. From the beginning of my time on the \u2018specific carb diet\u2019 (SCD), I did things my own way.\u00a0 The diet called for yogurt each morning but said to make your own.\u00a0 I chose to use store … Continue reading
\nThe diet called for giving up of white starches so eliminated from my diet were potatoes plus all grains including wheat and rice.\u00a0 I eliminated pasta and bread.\u00a0 I ate yogurt for breakfast, salad with chicken for lunch, and dinner was a meat with sides of different vegetables.\u00a0 I looked on bananas as the miracle healing food as in the book for the diet, \u201cBreaking the Vicious Cycle\u201d by Elaine Gloria Gottschall, the author spoke of healing malnourished ill babies by just feeding them bananas, a perfect food.\u00a0 I felt ill and malnourished myself so bananas were sacred medicine from the Earth.
\nIt really wasn\u2019t that difficult to make the change as I felt so much better in about three days on the diet.\u00a0 My strength began to return to me.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t complain about my diet changes.\u00a0 I would tell myself that no food tasted as good as feeling well felt.\u00a0 It also made me feel special to be on a special diet.\u00a0 I was not timid about asking restaurants to make substitutions to my meals to fit my diet. Again, my timing was probably good because Atkins diet was big so my requesting \u2018no carbs\u2019 was not unheard of.
\nI did take liberties with the diet.\u00a0 I read somewhere that oatmeal was a soluble fiber and was digested differently from other grains so I kept it in my diet and found I never had any reaction to it.\u00a0 Another grain I kept initially was corn \u2013 this is because I told myself it was a vegetable just because I liked it.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t like me.\u00a0 That first summer I had a bad flare up of UC from corn on the cob while I was on vacation \u2013 it ruined the fun.\u00a0 I knew I had been kidding myself and had strong proof that corn was not good for me.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t eaten it since.
\nI did well on SCD as the years went by.\u00a0 I continued to have diarrhea for a while but no bleeding and my strength returned.\u00a0 I did notice the soreness and inflammation in my abdomen diminish as time passed.\u00a0 In 2009 I made it to the point of having nearly regular bowl movements again, I just had some concern left as they were narrow in diameter.\u00a0 This concerned me as I thought it was a sign of inflammation still being in my colon.
\nAnother ailment of mine was that I suffered from severe spring allergies from tree pollen.\u00a0 My nose and eyes would tear uncontrollably.\u00a0 There really weren\u2019t any tablets I could take as they would upset my stomach which could lead to diarrhea again.
\nIn the spring of 2010 my allergies were very bad.\u00a0 I had a constant runny nose and post nasal drip.\u00a0 After weeks of these symptoms I had diarrhea and pain in my right hip.\u00a0 I went to my primary care doctor mostly due to the hip pain.\u00a0 She immediately noticed the swelling in my gut and sent me right over to my gastroenterologist.
\nI had changed gastro doctors after I changed my diet.\u00a0 My first doctor, upon telling him that I was doing better because of the change of diet, he said to me that diet has nothing to do with my illness.\u00a0 I never went back to him.\u00a0 The doctor I saw in 2010, when I told him of my diet, said that research was starting to show promise that diet could help.\u00a0 I accepted that \u2013 it wasn\u2019t the holistic approach I would have fully liked.
\nMy gastro doctor just gave me some suppositories and scheduled me for a colonoscopy, (colonoscopy #2, my first one was in 2003).\u00a0 The thing that I realized on my own was that my allergies were a trigger for this flare up of UC.\u00a0 I now sought ways to get my allergies under control.
\nI tried nasal spray for a while and this did help.\u00a0 It settled the reaction of my sinuses and I didn\u2019t have to ingest the spray.\u00a0 Before spring 2011 a better remedy came to me.\u00a0 I was watching Dr. Oz, as I have done since his first episode, and he was talking of acid reflux and how it could be brought on by sinus allergies.\u00a0 I had realized with the flare up the spring before that my UC came from having severe acid reflux.\u00a0 It was obvious as there were several acidic foods I could not eat when my allergies were bad.\u00a0 I had to give up wine, chocolate, and tomato sauce.\u00a0 The remedy Dr. Oz gave for the acid reflux was licorice root supplements (DGL is the recommended type).\u00a0 I took these through allergy season and my acid reflux was much more manageable.
\nIn 2011 a few supplements became part of my daily routine. Beside watching Dr. Oz everyday, my healthy living interest had me also reading Dr. Mercola\u2019s blog each day. \u00a0He is an advocate for supplementing with several vitamins that we do not get enough of in our routine diets.
\nI never supported a supplement routine before, I made the excuse that food should be enough but I also knew I was lazy to keep it up.\u00a0 My attitude was changing toward wanting to live more healthfully. Between my treating my gut condition and a noticeable loss of memory, I started taking a few supplements each day.\u00a0 My routine included a cheap probiotic, krill oil for omega 3s (thanks to Dr. Mercola\u2019s recommendation of this over fish oil), vitamins D3, and B12.
\nAnother episode of Dr. Oz furthered my insight into my allergy-digestion issues.\u00a0 He had an episode in late 2011 where he explained to viewers that many people may actually suffer from sinus allergies or asthma because of acid reflux.\u00a0 The acid burns the esophagus and nasal passages at night causing the inflammation and sensitivity.\u00a0 I began taking the licorice root every day after seeing that episode and have not had the severe allergy symptoms since.\u00a0 The following spring I still had some reflux but my nose and eyes were not running.
\nAnother big change that happened in the autumn of 2011 was that I began doing yoga.\u00a0 Interestingly, after about 3 months of yoga my stool finally returned to a normal diameter.
\nSo began in 2012, a few very healthful years.\u00a0 The supplements, probiotics, diet, and yoga all contributed to several years of no illness whatsoever.\u00a0 My immune system was strong through a bad flu season when family and friends got ill.\u00a0 No colds!
\nI will also mention that 2012<\/a> was the year of my spiritual re-birth so feeling good about ME also contributed to my body feeling good right back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"