A Regimen for Remission
This log tracks my regimen of attitude, exercise, stress management, and SCD foods. Since I started this regimen in 1997, I've been able to keep my Crohn's in a drug-free remission.

Monkey-see,
monkey-don't
Even though I may have experimented beyond the SCD from time to time, one must remember that everyone is different. Follow the intro diet for 3-5 days, and stick with the SCD until you are completely symptom free for at least one year before experimenting.

Be sure to read:
Intro to Flog
Read Me
Archives
Laura's IBS log
SCD Web Library

Permalinks:
The linked timestamps are your permanent links to individual log entries.

Get the book:
Ready to get your shit together? Got the intestinal fortitude? Yearning for a nirvana of peristalsis? Buy Breaking The Vicious Cycle! Written by Elaine Gottschall B.A., M.Sc., the book includes guidelines for dietary relief and sustainable remission of Crohns, Ulcerative Colitis, and other IBDs.

Feel free to contact me if you still have questions.

Lunch: Salada Verde with chicken from Chocolate Iguana on 4th.
mhs@15:13

There's a debate of sorts on the CCFA's website about why there isn't more research on the SCD. One might argue that research is not necessary with so many success stories, but without the National Institute of Health's approval the SCD may be resigned to a grassroots solution to diseases like Crohn's, colitis, and IBS.
mhs@09:28

Breakfast: apples, yogurt.
mhs@09:24

Tuesday, January 30, 2001

Dinner: roasted veggies, chicken tandoori, yogurt, fruit, cheese, nuts... a little before yoga and a little after yoga.
mhs@20:54

Lunch: leftover steak (ribeye), tossed salad.

Lunchtime reading: the quick reference guide to my new Kodak DC3400. Thanks Laura, Mom, Dad, Betsy, Marvin, and Loretta!! (Stay tuned for really large email attachments in your inbox!) I got mine from Outpost.com (faster delivery than Amazon, for free).
mhs@14:16

Breakfast: apples, homemade SCD-legal yogurt. The stuff is delicious, and not very hard to make!

Dinner, yesterday: grilled rib eye steak, tossed salad, steamed artichokes.
Snacks: fruit, nuts, raisins.
mhs@06:40

Monday, January 29, 2001

Lunch: chicken tandoori, tossed salad, and some celery with organic peanut butter.
Breakfast: fruit, yogurt, nuts.
mhs@12:40

Sunday, January 28, 2001

Dinner: a wonderful birthday dinner of tossed salad, chicken tandoori (marinated in my SCD-legal yogurt), steamed asparagus in a Asian citrus sauce, and baked acorn squash with honey and butter. Awesome!
mhs@19:23

Lunch: Mexican chicken and lettuce salad, mahi mahi burrito (without the wrapper) from Rubio's.
mhs@13:59

Here's a little banner advertisement I made for Seth's Healing Crow site:

mhs@09:56

Breakfast: some of my new SCD-legal yogurt with fruit! Delicious! I'm keeping it to 1/2 Cup of this stuff per day for a week, just to be sure it doesn't cause a problem.

Dinner, yesterday @ Linen. Marvin and I were taken to celebrate our birthdays in grand style at one of Tucson's newest and best restaraunts. I had a salad of greens with prosciutto, and roasted lamb. Very nice. Dessert: a baked apple with cherries.
Lunch: the last of the grilled cornish hen, tossed salad, sauteed kale.
Breakfast: fruit, nuts.

Dinner, Friday: Hmmm... I can't recall right now. :-)
mhs@08:46

Friday, January 26, 2001

Lunch: lentil soup, spinach salad, grilled shrimp @ Pipian's on 4th Avenue. Great soup!
mhs@13:50

Breakfast: fruit, nuts.
mhs@06:42

Thursday, January 25, 2001

Tough love for SCD newbies!
The following is a post from the SCD list, in response to a new gal whining about the SCD being "too hard". Gosh, I have wanted to write something like this sooooo many times. But someone else wrote this for me, which I will share here. For those of you wondering about the SCD, take a good, hard look at the following. (Names intentionally removed from original post.)

(name withheld),
Of course, I second everything that Katie, Josh, Michael and Seth have said. But at the risk of becoming the List's Unofficial Tough Love Guy, I just like to say...what the hell's the matter with you?

You had "mass amount of improvement" after just a couple of weeks on the diet? You've had five surgeries in two years and you "don't know what to do?" Really, what the hell is the matter with you?

You feel left out when your husband and son eat food you cannot, but you don't feel left out when you're staring at the parade of life passing by outside your hospital window?

The fact is that you do know what to do. Buck up, indeed! You can do whatever you want. The question is, do you want to do it? I'll never understand why people fail to realize just how much they are capable of. For crying out loud, (name withheld), you did the diet for two weeks. If you can do it for two weeks, you can do it for two weeks and one day. And if you can do it for two weeks and one day, you can do it for one day more than that. Remember, life isn't lived all at once. Life does not fold in on itself to produce one big omelet of time. Every moment is separate. And every second is an opportunity.

So your husband and son are sitting there chowing down a pizza. Time will erase the moment as it erases everything else. What human beings do wonderfully well is anticipate things which do not yet be. During the longing for a "normal meal" you can envision a day, not yet arrived, when you are free of surgery and you feel the full radiant power of a healed body, strong, and well.

For the love of God, quit whining about having more recipes and being scared. It's time to step up. And I know you can do it. Do the diet today. And then forget about today. When tomorrow is today, do the diet again...and then erase that day from your memory. Live in the moment. Don't add up the days or weeks or years. Just eat the right foods, for God's sake, and find the (name withheld) you never knew existed. She's in there.

I know you can find her.

with respect,
(name withheld)
mhs@20:56

Dinner: grilled cornish hens with garlic and rosemary, tossed salad, and sauteed kale with onions.

Oooooh, I am so excited. This "well seasoned" SCD veteran is making his first batch of SCD-legal yogurt. I'm using the Yogourmet Multi, from Lucy's Kitchen Shop, but you get get them at scdiet.com and intestinalhealth.com, too.

I boiled the milk. I cooled it down. I added the bacterial starter mix. I put it in the water bath/container, covered it, and plugged it in. Now I must wait 24 hours.

Can I wait? Can't I peek at it? What happens if I move the container? Oh, I'm a newbie again!! :-)
mhs@20:52

Geek Quotient: 42.5 (this puts me in the 28.43 percentile.) "Your GQ is far below average - you should be congratulated on your coolness!"
mhs@12:46

Lunch: leftover salmon with TJ's cilantro walnut pesto, tossed salad.
mhs@12:15

OK, so everyone is linking to this page, so why shouldn't I? So here goes: Keith Lynch's timeline of Internet-related terms, concepts, stories, and people!
mhs@08:16

Breakfast: fruit.
mhs@07:59

Wednesday, January 24, 2001

Dinner: grilled salmon with cilantro walnut pesto, steamed yellow squash, tossed salad, and a glass of merlot.
mhs@20:31

Lunch: curried turkey salad with raisins and apples; tossed salad.
mhs@14:24

Breakfast: fruit.

Dinner, yesterday: leftover stir-fried chicken.
Lunch: stir-fried chicken, roasted veggies, celery stalks with peanut butter.
mhs@06:36

Tuesday, January 23, 2001

Breakfast: fruit, dccc. Noticing a trend here? Well... if it works, why change it?

Dinner, yesterday: stir-fried chicken with peppers, onions, garlic, and some Thai red curry paste, broiled organic leeks.
mhs@06:58

Monday, January 22, 2001

Lunch: roasted chicken, roasted veggies, celery with peanut butter.
mhs@13:41

OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating, but there are a TON of wonderful testimonials on this new page, which I created based upon replies to a message I posted earlier this month. I lost count because my eyes teared up from reading all of the wonderful stories. Grab a cup of tea, a tissue, and click here:
Eight billion testimonials, more or less
mhs@11:34

Breakfast: fruit, dccc.
mhs@09:05

Sunday, January 21, 2001

Dinner: grilled salmon fillet with TJ's cilantro and walnut pesto, oven-roasted veggies. Delicious!!!!!
mhs@19:56

I spent nearly the entire weekend trying to get this section working, and at long last, the scdiet.org General Store is up and running! We have links to many online resources for Breaking The Vicious Cycle, Lucy's SCD Cookbook, and t-shirts! Stay tuned for more goodies: mousepads, mugs, and more.
mhs@19:54

Lunch: tossed salad, and some roasted chicken from Basha's. While Basha's has just started to carry some "healthy, natural" products, upon closer examination of the ingredients, most of the soups are not SCD-legal because they include rice flour, starch, and/or potato flakes. Too bad.. I almost got excited. Anyway, not only is their new stuff not what I was hoping for, but they are now serving Butterball roasted chickens. Awful little buggers! Ack! Gag! I'll stick with making my own or picking them up at Safeway.
mhs@16:06

Those who follow the SCD (and especially those that eat organic SCD-legal foods) are better off than those who eat genetically engineered foods.
mhs@10:36

Breakfast: dccc, an apple, some figs, some cheese.

Dinner, yesterday: grilled turkey sausages, tossed salad, and steamed artichokes.
Lunch: leftover rib eye steak, tossed salad.
Breakfast: dccc, fruit.
mhs@07:35

Friday, January 19, 2001

Well, it is only a month later, but I've finally scanned the photo from our SCDfest with Sheila Shea, yours truly, and my wife, Laura. For some reason Blogger has lost the Flog archives for that entire week, but (as I recall) we feasted upon: tossed salad with flax seed oil and vinegar dressing, roasted beets with sauteed beet tops, SCD lasagna (with ground turkey), and an organic dry Merlot from a local vineyard here in Arizona.

Garçon, more SCD goodies, please!
mhs@21:14

Dinner: grilled rib eye steak, tossed salad, and roasted beets with sauteed beet tops.
mhs@20:31

Lunch: turkey sausages, sauteed veggies.
Breakfast: fruit, dccc.
mhs@12:40

Thursday, January 18, 2001

It's going to be a cold night in Tucson (they're threatening a "hard freeze"), and what better way to prepare than a delicious dinner off the grill? We feasted upon grilled salmon with butter and pepper, and sauteed carrots, brocolli, and scallions.
mhs@20:36

Lunch: homemade chicken soup.
mhs@12:19

Breakfast: dry curd cottage cheese (dccc), mezquite honey from TJ's, and an apple. As always, I'll be snacking on pecans, raisins, and more fruit throughout the morning.
mhs@06:11

Wednesday, January 17, 2001

Dinner @ Metropolitan Grill: roasted pork loin with apple chutney and steamed veggies. It was OK; we should have gone to Keaton's.
Lunch: chicken soup, a pear, and some cheese.
mhs@20:33

Breakfast: an apple, grapefruit, and some cheese.
It was an interesting drive to work this morning.. snow flying off all the cars heading South from Oracle.
mhs@08:14

Tuesday, January 16, 2001

Dinner: Ohhh, a little chicken soup and cheese before yoga, and then some leftover Thai trout, more cheese, and some apple crisp afterwards.
mhs@21:36

Lunch: sauteed zucchini, homemade chicken soup (perfect for a snowy Tucson morning!).
mhs@11:30

Breakfast: fruit.

Dinner: Thai-style chicken stir-fry with onions and red curry, sauteed kale with garlic.
mhs@07:46

Monday, January 15, 2001

Lunch: Laura's delicious chicken soup, some fruit.
mhs@11:49

Breakfast: an apple and a tangelo.
mhs@08:02

Sunday, January 14, 2001

Just found: kewl anime art @ fredart.com and megatokyo.com. Now, if we could only get Nimiko to model our SCD sweatshirts...!
mhs@22:21

Just complete, version 0.98: the scdiet.org store -- the only place for SCD logo wear! Stay tuned as we beautify the storefront in the coming week.
mhs@22:18

Dinner: grilled salmon fillet with Asian garlic and black bean sauce, tossed salad with freshly ground flax seeds and oil. Already had to go... was it those seeds and/or the oil?
mhs@20:03

Lunch: Laura's delicious and nutritious homemade chicken soup! Followed by a tangelo, an organic orange, and some sort of fruit paste Laura made by stewing a bunch of stuff together.
mhs@14:29

Saturday, January 13, 2001

Dinner: Thai-style Plah Pao Ubon, or trout with lemon grass, basil, and garlic, wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled like a burrito. Also, sauteed zucchini, and a little bit of salad.

Afternoon snacks: organic Thompson raisins and pecans.
mhs@20:57

Lunch: beet soup, roasted chicken, some dried figs, and some pecans.
mhs@12:52

Breakfast: my first raw apple in a few days. I feel pretty good and I think it will not bother me. We'll see..

Dinner, yesterday: roasted chicken, cauliflower mashed potatoes, and steamed (frozen) spinach. Peppermint tea with honey and a pecan-cranberry muffin for dessert.
mhs@09:55

Friday, January 12, 2001

Lunch: roasted chicken, cauliflower "mashed potatoes". I bought a microwave for our new office, so now I can bring food in an insulated lunch bag and keep it cool until it is ready to reheat. Next week: a refrigerator! :-)
mhs@14:41

Breakfast: a freshly baked apple. These jobbers are delicious, and oh-so-digestible. Great for tender tummies. They take 20 quick minutes to prepare (individually), or a bit longer if one makes a half-dozen at a time. Core an apple (I prefer Braeburn or Macintosh), put it in a Corningware/Pyrex dish, add about 1/4 inch of water, a dash of cinnamon, and bake it for 20 minutes at 350 or 375. I start mine before my shower, so after getting dressed my breakfast is ready to consume!

Much less pain yesterday, a bit more D, very liquidy. I figure that I'm out of the pain phase and into the "getting rid of bad bacteria" phase, so the D will go away in a day or two. Positive attitude helps tremendously, and that is my positive, forward-looking expectation.
mhs@07:02

Thursday, January 11, 2001

Dinner: glorious chicken soup!
Lunch: glorious chicken soup! What else is there during times like these? :-)
mhs@21:17

Back to basics.

I'm not sure for how long, but I'm going back to SCD basics. Probably for 2-3 days. By basics, we're talking about the introductory stage of the SCD, where it's basically chicken soup, cooked apples, and such. I'll need to review the book again to be certain (I started the SCD four years ago!).

The holidays, stress at work, and a few days of "pushing" the SCD a bit too far finally caught up with me and caused me to have one horrible day yesterday. No D, tons of pain. Anyway, I do feel much better today and aim to keep it that way, thank you very much.

Many on the SCD-list use the "flare-up" word (the "f" word, to IBD-ers!), but I'm not sure if one day of intense trouble constitutes a flare for others. Everyone is different, so while most would say "that was just a bad day", for me it was a smack-in-the-face reminder to stick to the rules and stay focused on self (as opposed to external distractions) as much as possible.

In addition to eating the right foods, I made sure to clear my head of any pressing matters, put on some nice music (Enya usually works wonderfully), and did some ujjayi breathing, a wonderful, deep, breathing where the mind is focused only on the breathing. Also, getting some extra sleep helps.
mhs@06:17

Wednesday, January 10, 2001

Lunch: a steak, lettuce, tomato and guacamole wrap, without the wrapper. Yes, I think that makes it SCD-legal! :-)
mhs@13:01

It snowed up in our the Santa Catalinas (while it rained here) yesterday.. the Arizona Daily Star has a few nice snow photos to share.
mhs@07:06

Breakfast: apples, dried figs, and a banana.
mhs@07:03

Tuesday, January 09, 2001

Linux to star in an upcoming movie!
mhs@21:01

Dinner: pretty darned awful take-out Chinese from a place nearby. It has been a lovely, dreary, rainy day here and it just seemed like a perfect way to kick back and enjoy the evening with some tasty take-out. But nooooooo, it was not too tasty at all. Oh well. We won't be going back there again.

Snacks: pecan and cranberry muffins.
mhs@20:31

Lunch: carrot and ginger soup, and a bit of spanikopita from Epic Cafe on 4th Ave.
mhs@14:10

Breakfast: fruit, pecan and cranberry muffins. And an article about taking alternatives seriously.
mhs@07:06

Monday, January 08, 2001

Dinner: grilled chicken stuffed with an Indian mango chilli "pickle", tossed salad. That pickle sure clears the sinuses!
mhs@20:01

The Mayo Clinic supposedly has a new weight pyramid (as opposed to the USDA's old food pyramid) which puts exercise in the center. And it supposedly calls for the use of less refined carbohydrates (especially an increase of whole grains over bleached or processed grains). Ooooh, exciting!
mhs@17:18

Lunch: homemade chicken soup.
Breakfast: an apple, and fresh grapefruit from the neighbor's yard.
mhs@12:28

Sunday, January 07, 2001

Dinner: (fighting a cold, so lots of garlic and spice..) chicken tandoori, sauteed spinach with garlic, TJ's eggplant bisque.
Lunch: tossed salad, chicken tandoori.
mhs@19:50

Breakfast: grapefruit, banana, some cheese. I'll be grazing all day...
mhs@09:03

Saturday, January 06, 2001

Dinner: grilled trout, tossed salad, and roasted beets with sauteed beet tops.
mhs@19:39

Blogger has been having major server problems that disabled my ability to post to Flog for the past few days. Pyra/Blogger is taking up donations for new servers. Some have already been purchased and must be installed-- a VA Linux server is first on deck for installation! Yippee!!!!

Nevertheless, a few SCD highlights since my last post: chicken ceasar salad lunch with Fred from UPnAbove.com, grilled eggplant, tossed salad with flax seeds, and Laura's fabulous sauteed tuna with Calamata olives and garlic for dinner, and more.
mhs@09:37

Wednesday, January 03, 2001

Breakfast: fruit, dccc.

Blogger has been so aggravatingly slow lately! So yes, we're going to donate to make Blogger faster!
mhs@06:39

So yesterday was the first new day of the work year. I went to work at our little new office here in Tucson, locked the car, and crated a whole bunch of tools and stuff up there. At noon I needed the car to go shopping... and where were the keys? Sitting in the ignition, locked in the car. At least it wasn't running....

Anyway, a call to Triple-A and about 48 seconds of "jimmying" later a smile was on my face and the keys were in my hands.

The guy said this was his second "locked keys" call of the day--but at least I had bothered to check all of the doors before calling (his first call had not bothered to notice one of the doors was not locked before calling). :-)
mhs@06:39

Tuesday, January 02, 2001

Dinner: grilled turkey sausages from Wild Oats, tossed salad with flax seeds, and baked acorn squash with honey and butter.
Lunch: a chicken dish at a Guatemalan place near our new offices in Tucson.
Breakfast: fruit, dccc.
mhs@20:53

Monday, January 01, 2001

Dinner: grilled turkey burgers, grilled zucchini, tossed salad. Afterwards: started working on our upcoming book about the SCD.. stay tuned for details.
Lunch: not really; just grazed all day on fruit, cheese, nuts, etc.
mhs@21:08

Breakfast: TANSTAFIA: there ain't no such thing as free internet anymore! So we'll enjoy an SCD-legal breakfast of fruit, dccc, and sonoran desert honey.
mhs@09:16

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