Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet

Not especially comprehensive or news-breaking (much of the advice is similar to the fashionable South Beach Diet, though this book's emphasis is not on losing weight). What it comes down to is the wear and tear on the gut due to the ingestion of complex, hard-to-digest sugars, grains and starches. The more you indulge in them, the more they harm the intestine (the vicious cycle), producing nasty mucous that leads to poor malabsorption of critical nutrients. So ban the sugars, breads, pasta and stick with selective meats and vegetables.

The testimonials certainly suggest that the book has helped many--not weight problems but numerous digestive and related, serious illnesses. And $20 is a lot less to spend than the exorbitant prices for herbal "cures" for malabsorption being advertised on the internet (face it, chronic pain is "physical work," and some of us are willing to shill out any amount for a pill that promises relief as opposed to adding to our labors and fatigue). And you can get gouged even more by subscribing to one of the internet "courses" that few consumers are able to adhere to. (All the same, several sites dedicated to the diet and this book will give you all of the info of the book and more.)

Gottschalk's prescriptions overlap with numerous other diets (with perhaps the exception of the low-glycemic diet, which stresses complex rather than simple carbs). Still, the disagreements force the reader to make certain choices--she recommends honey as a form of pure glucose requiring little work on the part of stomach to digest. But look in a book even more popular than this one--"The Master Cleanse" by Burroughs--and you'll find honey condemned as a "toxic" food. Certainly an overstatement, but the scientific evidence that I've seen would suggest that honey contains at least as much fructose as it does glucose (perhaps the 50/50 balance is what makes it "legal"), so I'd be hesitant, despite my grandparents' advice and practice, to substitute honey whenever sugar is called for. In fact, the author may be overly generous in the amount of sweetness she allows (sucrose is out but, with the exception of high fructose corn syrup, fructose and honey, and even saccharine, are permitted). Finally, if you intend to follow the book's regimen, be prepared to make your own yogurt--absolutely nothing of the store-bought variety meets the author's stringent requirements. (Another conundrum, because she says avoid bifida and casei. Not only is it hard to find such bacterial cultures, but the manufacturer of the machine and starter culture (Yogourmet) she recommends loudly proclaims the inclusion of both ingredients in their product!).

I've tried the regimen, but have yet to be able to contribute to the impressive number of positive testimonials. (Reading the reviews encourages you to check out the SCD site which, in turn, steers you back to Amazon's reviews and testimonials for "proof" of the diet's success. Now there's a troubling cycle for you.) No doubt for every person who experiences success on the diet and announces same to the world, there are many who fail and simply move on to the next diet. And as the old saw goes, each of us is different--the human species can be maddeningly disparate. My stomach isn't your stomach any more than yours is Gottschalk's. Why are the other mammals not subject to the same genetic aberrations that haunt the destinies (let alone guts) of each one of us?

If you're reading this it's probably because you have been diagnosed with some form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Crohn's or UC in my case the disease is indeterminate. After 5 years of trying all medications with the exception of Remicade my case was spiraling downhill. The only thing that would help my continuous intestinal bleeding was ever increasing steriods, Entocort and Prednisone. After getting pancreatitis for the second time from Immuran I decided to try the diet since I had nothing to lose. Within two days my bleeding stopped and hasn't returned. I had a colonoscopy two months ago and the doctor was very surprised with my quiescent disease, no active inflammation. I wouldn't go off the diet today if someone offered me $10,000 to do so.

The diet seems very overwhelming when you first read the book. I enlisted the help of my mother in baking me one SCD item a week. I've found if she makes a loaf of the SCD bread this really helps me get through with legal pizzas and toast. I've found a lot of convenience foods that work well for me too like raisins and dried apples. Good luck and give it a go!

In summary this diet had helped me more than any medication or doctor in the last 7 months.

Guided by the book, I started the SCD diet in June 2007 (9 months ago). At the time I was on Remicade and had had a bowel resection for my Crohn's disease. I have suffered for over 20 years with the disease and my doctor said I would be on Remicade for the rest of my life. After being on the diet for only 3 months, my insurance changed so drastically that I could not afford the Remicade. With great trepidation, I took myself off of it. I have now been off of Remicade for 6 months. While I am still healing, my life is so very different than it was a year ago. I never miss work, I have no pain, I no longer need to plan my life around trips to the restroom. I credit the book, God, and the diet for my miraculous healing. The diet is very difficult and I really did not think I had the will power to tackle it. I am so glad that God gave me the strength. Although the SCD diet is quite restrictive, it is not as restrictive as inflammatory bowel disease!

Everyone who suffers from any autoimmune disease must read this book. This diet has changed my life, and has changed the lives of many others.

The diet is said to mainly help intestinal disease and autism, but I believe anyone who is generally sluggish, low in energy, or has a host of unspecific annoying symptoms like joint pain, sinus pain, excess weight etc, should give it a try.

I became ill in 2004 with an unspecified intestinal disorder but symptoms were not dissimilar to crohns or ulcerative colitis. Within days I felt better generally, within two weeks my symptoms had subsided. After a year I was mostly pain free - and felt better than I had ever felt, even pre illness. I still follow the basic principals today - I now just believe that this is a healthy life style. Now that I am well I have adjusted this diet to be primarily whole foods, I do eat grains especially in the winter, but mostly spelt and rye.

Now I am just a healthy person who cares about the molecular structure of her food.

Many reviewers giving 5 stars sound almost evangelistic in their praise which might actually put some people off. I think one review on this list (a very old one) goes so far as to say that Elaine has a loyal band of followers who counteract any negative reviews. But the reason this happens is that people like me, many scattered all over the world and who have never met Elaine, have had their lives changed so dramatically that we simply cannot help but express it in this fashion.

If you are ill you owe it to yourself to spend the 20 bucks, read the book and every word on the web site and give this diet an honest try for a month. It is so tragic that such a simple solution is missed by people who are so very ill because the info does not come from the conventional medical community, or because diet folklore muddies the credibility of this books information.

I was diagnosed with Colitis about five years ago. It has remained relatively quiet but lately has really proven itself to be a force in my life. In trying to gain a better understanding of this disease I search several websites and came across http://breakingtheviciouscycle.info
It was there that I discover the author of this book and gave me the desire to read more. The book was written in layman's terms of the disease which was very helpful to me. It also discussed methods of treating the disease through a very specific diet of limited carbohydrates. I've used the suggestions and found them to be very beneficial. If I would recommend the book for any reason it would be to gain a better understanding of the disease and how to combat it. Granted, not every treatment works on every person, but the helps in this book certainly were helpful to me.