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.

Dinner: tossed salad, leftover salmon, Swiss chard.

Lunch: tossed salad, leftover salmon, lasagna.
mhs@20:00

I found this web log format and just had to laugh! What a hoot...little pills and supplements! Wouldn't it be funny to find a design with Prednisone and Azulfidine and Asacol pills for the non-SCD folks! ;-)
mhs@19:59

Breakfast: an apple, homemade yogurt, and dry curd cottage cheese with honey.

Dinner, yesterday: tossed salad, sauteed Swiss chard, a bit of kugel, and grilled salmon.

Lunch: tossed salad with grilled chicken.
mhs@05:28

Wednesday, January 30, 2002

Breakfast: an apple, homemade yogurt, and dry curd cottage cheese with honey.
mhs@05:51

Tuesday, January 29, 2002

Dinner: tossed salad, leftover chicken, vegetable and turkey lasagna.
mhs@19:52

Lunch: stir-fry of chicken and veggies @ Sakura. Hmmm...perhaps dinner is better?

Breakfast: fruit, homemade yogurt, nuts.
mhs@13:05

Monday, January 28, 2002

Dinner: lasagna, leftover chicken, and a glass of merlot.
mhs@20:27

Lunch: cauliflower kugel, turkey and vegetable lasagna.
mhs@14:50

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, fruit.
mhs@05:56

Sunday, January 27, 2002

Interesting book excerpt: Healthy Child, Whole Child, by Stuart H. Ditchek, M.D., and Russell H. Greenfield, M.D.: Pages 310-311 mention "Dr. Stu's" use of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet in his IBD patients. Oddly, this is just a half-page beneath their suggestion to eat BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast..which is only partially SCD-legal).

Anyway, the text regarding the SCD reads, "The foundation of Dr. Stu's IBD treatment is a dietary program designed by nutritionist Elaine Gottschall, which has allowed many of Dr. Stu's patients to avoid immuno-suppressive therapy after a period of close monitoring. Gottschall's program focuses on reducing the presence of the undigested or unabsorbed carbohydrates that she believes create carbohydrate overload and excessive fermentation in the intestines. Although her IBD diet is quite restrictive--eliminating all cereal grains and milk--highly motivated children and families have found it well worth the inconvenience to be free of their disabling symptoms. Dr. Stu allows some modifications to the Gottschall program, but, in his experience, it works best when followed strictly."

I especially like the word choice regarding the amount of motivation required by the patient and the family. That said, the road to health is only as difficult as one makes it out to be!
mhs@20:50

Dinner: grilled eggplant and zucchini, a kugel made of cauliflower, and a delicious lasagna!
mhs@20:46

After a nice morning workout at the gym, lunch: a banana, an orange, tossed salad, leftover chicken from Cafe Poca Cosa, nuts, raisins, and apple crisp.
mhs@13:52

Breakfast: fruit, nuts, homemade yogurt.
mhs@08:51

Saturday, January 26, 2002

Dinner: tossed salad, avocado, leftover chicken tandoori.
mhs@19:36

Breakfast: fruit, homemade yogurt.

Dinner, yesterday @ Cafe Poca Cosa: chicken and shrimp in a wine sauce with a huge salad.
mhs@07:26

Friday, January 25, 2002

Lunch: leftover salmon, stringbeans with almonds, tossed salad.
mhs@14:07

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, an apple.
mhs@06:03

Thursday, January 24, 2002

Here's a a wonderful testimonial to using diet to achieve intestinal health (and more). What a great testimonial to start 2002!
mhs@20:41

You just can't get food this good at a restaurant!

Dinner: curried fillet of sole with almonds in a citrus-merlot sauce; tossed salad. By now you've read my notes on salads so I won't repeat them here. As for the fish, what a dish! We bought 5 fillets of sole this evening, totalling about 3/4 pound (they were small and thin slices). I made a "breading" with 2 cups of ground almond flour mixed with 2 teaspoons of curry powder, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper. I rinsed the fish and then dipped them in a bowl containing some chicken broth, then put them into the plate with the almond-curry mix, making sure to coat both sides. I heated a large non-stick pan with 2 tablespoons of butter, and added the fish after the butter was very hot. I let the fish cook for 2 minutes and lowered the temperature to keep the butter from burning, and covered the fish. After 2 minutes covered I flipped the fish and let them go for another 2 minutes, covered. I removed the fish to a covered serving platter and turned up the heat on the pan. I poured 1/2 cup fresh orange juice and 1/4 cup merlot into the pan and used the acidic liquids to deglaxe the pan. Once the sauce reached a slightly thick consistency I poured the sauce into a serving bowl. Viola! Dessert: apple crisp.

Lunch: chicken soup, apple crisp.
mhs@19:59

Breakfast: an apple, homemade yogurt.

Dinner, yesterday: grilled salmon with walnut-cilantro pesto, steamed organic spinach, sauteed organic stringbeans with almonds and lemon.

Lunch: eggplant parmenana (no breading), tossed salad.
mhs@05:37

Tuesday, January 22, 2002

Dinner: leftover homemade tandoori chicken, tossed salad, leftover stuffed eggplant.

Lunch: leftover homemade tandoori chicken, cauliflower "mashed potatoes".

Big adventure in plumbing these last 2 days... more on this later.
mhs@20:18

Sunday, January 20, 2002

Dinner: grilled salmon with a walnut-cilantro pesto, steamed artichokes with butter, oven-roasted stuffed eggplant.

Lunch: a delicious salad from Native Cafe.
mhs@19:46

Breakfast: fruit, nuts, homemade yogurt. Off to Wilcox to see the sand cranes...

Dinner, yesterday: roasted beets and sauteed beet tops, cauliflower "mashed potatoes", grilled turkey sausages.

Lunch: tossed salad, avocado.
mhs@07:47

Saturday, January 19, 2002

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, an apple, some nuts, dried figs.
mhs@10:55

Dinner, yesterday (prepared in under 30 minutes): cauliflower "mashed potatoes", tossed salad, sole meunière. I used ground almond flour from Lucy's Kitchen Shop, plus a dash of ground chili pepper and ground coriander; the pan was deglazed with the juice of one lemon, 1/8 cup of merlot, and some chopped parsley. Delicious!
mhs@08:27

Friday, January 18, 2002

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, fruit, nuts.
mhs@05:38

Thursday, January 17, 2002

Dinner: grilled steelhead with butter and pepper, leftover curried eggplant, sugar peas with ginger, and braised veggies.

Lunch: tossed salad with chicken.
mhs@19:53

I attended a management seminar with Jim Temme yesterday. It was really great! I really enjoyed Jim's professional, caring style, his delivery, and his ability to get through the agenda while taking time to address so many of our own questions. I had not heard of him before but I am very glad to have met Jim!

There were so many things that I learned (and re-learned) at that workshop. I'd like to share a few, brief notes here that relate to achieving intestinal health. They are not fully-developed here, so feel free to contact me if you need clarification.

First, self-confidence is a very important factor in one's own healing. So many of us are conditioned that we can't do anything on our own, we must go see a specialist. While this is tremendously useful, we need to remember that famous quote from Hypocrates: "Patient, heal thyself". We must continue to seek professional guidance, from as many different backgrounds as possible (specialists often miss the big picture). We can't think that a bunch of pills, or diet alone will solve all of the problem. These may mask the symptoms or address the root cause, but there are more factors in helping one succeed!

A positive attitude and self-motivation is very important in everything we do. If we start the day thinking, "My stomach is really going to hurt today" then it'll be a rare day that it doesn't actually hurt. Another quote: "We become what we think most of the time." What are you thinking most of the time?

I enjoyed learning about the concept of differnent kinds of stress. I feel that my ability to manage stress has been one of my success factors in keeping Crohn's in remission for the last 5 years. This workshop pointed out that there are two kinds of stress: eustress and distress. Eustress is the kind that causes us to do work, motivates us, and is not necessarily bad. Distress is the type we need to manage, control, or avoid; distress can be caused at home, work, our daily commute, etc.

We also discussed how one can't motivate someone else...but one can create a motivating atmosphere for that person. Thinking of ourselves, one might have difficulty getting another person to heal, as that person needs to want to heal. The not-so-obvious question to ask oneself is: What would life be like without ________?" (fill in the blank with your disease or illness).
mhs@06:07

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, fruit.
mhs@06:02

Wednesday, January 16, 2002

Dinner: leftover chicken and veggies, curried eggplant and tomato with garlic and ginger.

Lunch: chicken caesar salad.
mhs@18:46

Breakfast: fruit, homemade yogurt.
mhs@06:25

Tuesday, January 15, 2002

The NY Times writes of rebuilding the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center, one of my favorite places in New York City. I traversed through it for almost 5 years, enjoyed the annual orchid shows, and was awestruck by the annual holiday lights.

"..On that once glossy floor, where commuters dashed to catch their New York Waterways ferries to Hoboken and Jersey City, a rainbow of 5,000 orchids once reigned every April during the New York International Orchid Show. Now construction workers crunch through a crystalline litter of rogue glass and unfathomable detritus, under a bedlam of welding sparks showering from the scissor lifts above..."
mhs@20:36

Following an hour of wonderful yoga, dinner: stir-fry of bright, delicious organic snap peas, basil, and ginger, leftover chicken and veggies.
mhs@20:23

Lunch: leftover braised chicken and veggies.
mhs@13:31

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, an apple.
mhs@05:51

Monday, January 14, 2002

Dinner: leftover salmon from Vivace, sauteed broccoli and spinach, kambucha squash, string beans with almonds and garlic.

Lunch: leftover braised chicken and veggies.

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, an apple.
mhs@20:45

Sunday, January 13, 2002

Dinner: what a wonderful feast! Laura and I picked up 3 breasts of free-range chicken and created some sort of braised chicken with vegetables. Basically, it was an all-organic mass of garlic, mushrooms, carrots, red and green peppers sauteed in a soup pot with some water. When the veggies were mostly soft I browned the chicken in a frying pan, then added as much of the broth and veggies as I could, and simmered it together for 30 minutes or more, adding basil and oregano. We also made a roasted kambucha squash with honey and orange, sauteed Swiss chard (from our garden!), and sauteed green beans with almonds.

Lunch: tossed salad, leftover salmon.

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, an apple, some nuts...and off to the gym for some exercise.
mhs@20:58

Dinner, yesterday: grilled salmon with walnut-cilantro pesto, sautee of broccoli, spinach, and garlic.
mhs@08:04

Saturday, January 12, 2002

Lunch: leftovers from last night, tossed salad.
mhs@12:44

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, an apple, some nuts, a banana.

Dinner, yesterday @ Vivace: an antipasti appetizer, osso buco, a glass of dry red wine.

Lunch: tossed salad, leftover turkey burgers.
mhs@10:20

Friday, January 11, 2002

Breakfast: SCD yogurt, an apple. It's finally Friday! I am a bit tired and would love to take the day off, but duty calls so I must go to work. :-)
mhs@05:47

Thursday, January 10, 2002

Dinner: pan-fried turkey burgers, tossed salad.

Lunch: chicken caesar salad.
mhs@20:15

Wednesday, January 09, 2002

Dinner: tossed salad, chicken masala.
mhs@19:24

Breakfast: an apple, some SCD yogurt.

Dinner, yesterday: some apple crisp before yoga. Afterwards, scrambled eggs with sauteed red peppers, stringbeans, and Havarti. I have found that I prefer the "Light Havarti" to the regular, heavier/creamier Havarti. The consistency is a bit more interesting, and it is certainly easier to digest. How about you?
mhs@05:39

Tuesday, January 08, 2002

Lunch: tossed salad, tuna.

Breakfast: fruit, nuts.
mhs@13:02

Monday, January 07, 2002

Dinner: leftover salmon, sauteed Swiss chard and garlic, puree of butternut squash with ginger and orange.

Lunch: tossed salad with grilled chicken.
mhs@20:22

PRESS RELEASE:

Tucson, AZ: January 7, 2002 –
Thirty People Start A Healthful 2002 At Tucson Conference On Intestinal Health Through Diet!
Read more...>>
mhs@17:57

Breakfast: a Braeburn apple, an organic banana, and some pecans.
mhs@08:37

Sunday, January 06, 2002

Here's a photo of Laura and me from Saturday evening's SCD dinner party (taken by Gay Bauer):

mhs@20:57

What a wonderful weekend!!!!! I must say I will never forget meeting such an open minded, positive, caring, sharing, and interesting group as the attendees of the conference. I learned something from each and every attendee, and look forward to staying in touch with those who traveled from far away, as well as forming a local IBD/IBS support group here in Tucson. Stay tuned...

Dinner: soup of free range chicken, organic carrots, parsley, onion, and celery.

Lunch: leftover salmon, butternut squash puree with ginger and orange juice, tossed salad.

Snacks: nut and raisin mix, fruit.
mhs@18:26

Breakfast: fruit, nuts. I'm completely out of SCD yogurt, but plan to make more after the conference.

Yes, we're on Day 3 of the Conference On Intestinal Health Through Diet! There are 30 attendees. Apart from the panelists and local volunteers, we have SCD newbies from New York City, Dallas, and Minnesota. We also have people from California and Scottsdale here to learn about the SCD--and based upon their smiles and reactions during last evening's SCD Dinner, they'll soon be on their way to a nirvana of peristalsis through the SCD.

Our menu last night consisted of: crudite and guacamole appetizer; tossed salad of red-leaf lettuce, tomato, onion, with an olive oil and organic red wine vinegar dressing; a puree of butternut squash with ginger and citrus; a sautee of Swiss chard with garlic; three types of grilled salmon (with butter, butter and pepper, and a cilantro-walnut pesto). Dessert: Laura's own SCD cheesecake and her apple crisp (which we deeply regret was not up to par!). What a feast! In reality, it was too much food to eat, eaten a bit too late in the evening, and I didn't get my after-dinner walk in...so I'm a bit sluggish this morning! Note: wine was not served, as the guests brought their own positive karma, natural joy, and good cheer!

Here's a photo of Laura's SCD cheesecake (more photos will be posted soon):

mhs@08:08

Thursday, January 03, 2002

Dinner: grilled salmon and shrimp, tossed spinach salad with mushrooms and bacon.

Lunch: tossed salad with tuna.
mhs@20:48

Breakfast: SCD yogurt, fruit.

Annotations regarding the post on the cost of SCD cheesecake (below): it really isn't entirely fair to calculate the cost at 32 hours' time, since "manual intervention" wasn't required during the entire process. Perhaps 2-3 hours is more appropriate. If one used the total number of hours to calculate the cost, then things like aged cheese or wine would cost far more than they currently do!
mhs@06:07

Wednesday, January 02, 2002

Dinner: lomo adobado at Teresa's.

Lunch: tossed salad, leftover steak. Snacks: fruit and nut mix.
mhs@20:36

Breakfast: SCD yogurt, fruit.
mhs@05:49

Tuesday, January 01, 2002

I've got a bag-full of SCD yogurt dripping so Laura can make some of her delicious cheesecake for the upcoming SCD conference. Here's the high-level process for making SCD cheesecake: make SCD yogurt (24+ hours "cooking", plus 8 hours to cool down), drip the yogurt to make cream cheese (2-6 hours, depending on its mood), make the cheesecake (1-2 hours). At a wage of $5.50 per hour (using 32 hours' time, not counting organic milk, starter powder, etc.) this cheesecake is worth $176.00!!
mhs@18:58

Dinner: grilled New York strip steak, tossed salad, sauteed broccoli and spinach.
mhs@18:52

Here's a shot from our hike this afternoon in Catalina State Park.

mhs@17:20

Lunch: leftover red snapper with almonds, tossed salad. Laura and I are off for a hike in the Catalina State Park.
mhs@12:06

Today marks the fifth anniversary of my having started the SCD! Yup, five healthful years along this road towards a nirvana of peristalsis. It is pretty amazing what a change in diet, exercise, stress management, and a supportive environment can do! In my case, this combination of critical success factors has enabled me to keep my Crohn's in a drug-free remission since 1997! I've had very few symptoms along the way, and fewer "flares" than I ever had during my previous 15 years using drugs as the only means to intestinal health. I've even experimented with a few "non-SCD" foods from time to time, but for the most part it wasn't worth it. My regimen of positive attitude, a supportive environment, stress reduction, exercise, and diet work just fine for me! Here's to a healthful 2002!

Breakfast: SCD yogurt, fruit, nuts, cheese.

Dinner, yesterday: grilled salmon with cilantro-walnut pesto, tossed salad.
mhs@10:47

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