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.

A little more dessert: banana cream iced yogurt.
mhs@20:24

Dinner: grilled salmon with walnut-cilantro pesto, sauteed carrots with cumin, cauliflower "mashed potatoes", and a few leftover steamed baby artichokes.

Dessert: orange-nut cake.

Lunch: tossed salad, goat gouda, Jack cheese.

Breakfast: homemade yogurt & applesauce, Lois Lang's nut bread. Snacks: nuts, fruit smoothie.
mhs@19:21

Thursday, September 25, 2003

Aha! According to this article on food combining, nothing digests well when consumed with grains!

Lunch: homemade chicken soup, baked butternut squash.
mhs@14:12

Snack: pinapple juice-orange-plum-ginger fruit smoothie.

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, baked apple, crumbled up Lois Lang nut bread.

Dinner, yesterday: same as breakfast today. My mind wants steak but my jaw wants soft food!
mhs@09:57

Wednesday, September 24, 2003

This morning I had my two upper wisdom teeth removed. I will not use the antiboitics unless absolutely necessary. The challenge will be making SCD legal foods for a few days that don't require chewing. My sense right now is: applesauce & yogurt today, some fruit smoothies (perhaps with an egg thrown in) for the first 24 hours, then I can graduate to some warm homemade chicken soup tomorrow.

Lunch: homemade yogurt, chilled baked apples (baked until they collapsed), and a crumbled up muffin mixed into the apples.
mhs@13:49

Sunday, September 21, 2003

Dinner: mushroom pizza, leftover Mexican style chicken, and "breaded" eggplant with tomato, basil, and garlic.
mhs@20:11

Saturday was chock-full of intestinal health learning and interaction! Summer is over, and once again the local intestinal health support group is meeting each month to discuss diet, drugs, doctors, doodies, and dealing with IBD and IBS. There are two new members (who happened to bring their spouses this month).

What an interesting set of perspectives and life experiences gathered for yesterday’s meeting! We had a predominance of Crohn’s disease, but there were also people with ulcerative colitis, Celiac disease, and IBS. Everyone at yesterday’s meeting was following the SCD – even the spouses!

One of the perspectives that everyone shared was the need for support in achieving success with the changes required by the SCD. One gal had surgery in 1996 (removal of part of the small intestine, ileo-cecal valve, and a bit of the large intestine). Her parents then learned that Elaine Gottschall was coming to Tucson and took the woman to hear the presentation. They decided that the diet was a means to avoiding the subsequent surgeries the doctors indicated are typical with most Crohn’s patients. She moved back in with her parents, her mother taught her how to cook, and her father even went on the diet as a loving means of support and solidarity.

Another perspective that everyone shared is that of a positive attitude towards taking a role in one’s own healing. The doctors and the drugs were recognized as often necessary when a diagnosis is needed and when symptoms are acute but “because they don’t live in our bodies 24 hours a day—we do”, these successful people have taken their therapy beyond pills and vague statements such as “eat anything that doesn’t bother you”. Rather, we are taking it upon ourselves to eat food that is *good* for us. We share a can-do attitude towards our abilities to make positive improvements in our health through diet and lifestyle changes.

Beyond diet, support, and positive attitude, everyone shared their perspective on stress. We all perceive stress differently but it typically causes the same net result – an increase in symptoms. We decided October’s meeting will be to further discuss stress; November’s meting will be to discuss nutritional challenges with IBD; December’s meeting will be a cooking lesson. Contact me for dates and times.

Laura and I handed out some recipes from our forthcoming cookbook for everyone to critique and provide constructive feedback on the instructions and whether our recipes can be replicated with success “in one’s own kitchen”.

Dinner last evening was at the home of some friends on the East side of town. “M.” had told us that he had a colostomy years ago when “there was no other option”. He now wears a bag and lives a good life, eating just about everything. We learned that M. recently went to the emergency room because of an obstruction. I inquired how one could have obstruction if they removed the problem and learned that scar tissue remains to this day and the small intestine sometimes wraps itself around the hard tissue. We discussed how self-administered Chi Nei Tsang would help break down the scar tissue. We all agreed that a sedentary lifestyle hinders digestion and came up with the slogan, “Mobility for proper motility”.
mhs@07:02

Saturday, September 20, 2003

Mezquite moth larvae Sphingicampa hubbardi
I found this caterpillar and its friend on my thornless mezquite tree. This caterpillar has gorgeous pearly horns on the back and side, and six barbed horns on the head and one large horn on the tail. No, that is not a blue backdrop, it's the Arizona sky at 6:24 AM.

More fun with nature in our yard.

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, applesauce, nut bread, a plum, and some goat gouda.
mhs@07:47

Friday, September 19, 2003

I supplied the keywords and the Sloganizer came up with these:
And All Because The Lady Loves Nirvana Of Peristalsis
Gotta Lotta Flog
There's More Than One Way To Eat A Food Log
If Only Everything in Life was as Reliable as a Glassbird
Gives A Meal Glassbird-Appeal
More Yogurt Slappers Please
See the Face You Love Light Up With Lucyskitchenshop.com
Maybe She's Born With It, Maybe It's SCDRecipe.com
and...
Mama Mia, That'sa One Spicy Mike Simons!
mhs@20:28

Wednesday, September 17, 2003

Dinner: tossed salad, steamed baby artichokes with butter, grilled trout Thai style (stuffed with basil, lemongrass, coconut, and ginger).
mhs@19:16

Sunday, September 14, 2003

Dinner: steamed spinach with butter, Mike's pad thai (yes, SCD pad thai!).

Lunch: tossed salad, leftover curried fish.

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, homemade applesauce, Lois Lang's nut bread.
mhs@20:41

Saturday, September 13, 2003

I'm having fun searching out information on apples. First, why do they have to put all that wax on the apples? It just gets stuck on the sides of my cooking pot. If it doesn't get stuck there, then how much of it gets ingested, and are they really sure it is not bad for us?

In searching to find out where my new Prima Frutta granny smith apples come from, I found an interesting whitepaper/case study about the Prima Frutta company and how it switched to special plastic shipping crates from the traditional wood ones. Certainly not a Harvard Business Study but interesting nonetheless.

Then I found this brand new research on NutriClean certifications for many fruit and vegetable growers. Prima Frutta's galas are OK but apparently not their granny smiths (or at least not yet). None of this explains why there has to be all that wax on the apple... :-( And lastly, I found this fun site with fruit labels!
mhs@07:54

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, homemade applesauce.

We make our applesauce from Granny Smith apples. The Granny Smiths that are available here in Tucson for most of the year have a little sticker saying they are from New Zealand. This week they read "Prima Frutta, product of USA". The difference: these new apples have a darker, thicker skin, the fruit is more dense and less juicy, and the resulting applesauce comes out like a smooth, thick mashed potato and not the slightly more liquid applesauce we're used to. So, we'll continue to buy whatever is available but will use a bit more water in the pot for our next batch. Where are your apples from?
mhs@07:36

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

Dinner: spaghetti squash a la carbonara, leftover grilled salmon.

Lunch: chicken chimichanga, no wrapper. Breakfast: homemade applesauce, homemade yogurt.
mhs@20:29

Sunday, September 07, 2003

Dinner: tossed salad with cherry tomatoes, baby spinach, and mustard vinaigrette; grilled turkey sausages from Trader Joe's, spaghetti squash. Dessert: peaches and cream frozen yogurt.
mhs@20:40

Thursday, September 04, 2003

I made an impact with my insurance company! During discussions about different types of life insurance policies the inevitable question about having chronic disease came up. I indicated that I had been diagnosed with Crohn's back in 1982, took the prescribed drugs for many years, and had finally settled on a dietary change that has resulted in a controlled remission for over 7 years, drug-free.

There was silence, followed by, "you mean you are not taking drugs and you are in remission?" Yes, that is correct, and I'll tell you what: in that I have found a means to maintain a controlled remission for myself you will find that I am less risk than someone who is still on drugs because I am not subject to their many known (and unknown) side effects. I eat healthy, whole foods, get exercise, practice yoga, and maintain a positive attitude. I must have made an impact because they put me in the "good health" category (80% of the population) instead of the "problem" category.
mhs@20:41

Monday, September 01, 2003

We're relaxing on a nice Labor Day holiday. I'm working on our recipe book and Laura is working on her Ph.D.

A buddy in Madrid IM'd me to chat for awhile. The topic of the fires here in Tucson (earlier this year) and the fires all over Europe (including Catalonia and Portugal) came up. Thinking of Portugal and one of their major exports being cork, I can just read a future wine review now... "this wine has a smoky flavor, with a touch of fruityness...must the be cork"!
mhs@11:02

Notes on:
Salads
Organics
Yoga
Recipes
Kitchen!

Text Search:

About Glassbird:
Home
Mike
Brainfood
Birdfeeder