Grain-free cooking with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet

Your Comments

• Bev Ruffo wrote:

  May 05, 2008

  2009-09-22 10:51 AM

  Hi, I appreciate your writing about celiac disease, but perpetuating the myth that there is any cure for celiac disease is of great concern. Most people with celiac disease are well when they adhere to a lifelong diet which eliminates wheat, rye, barley and most oats. However, this does not cure celiac disease, and there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that there is any diet that does. While most would agree that a diet free of processed foods is healthier, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet is unnecessarily restrictive, and the claim that it provides a cure for celiac disease is incorrect. For accurate information on celiac disease and the gluten-free diet, please go to www.celiac.ca, website of the Canadian Celiac Association.

• Sue wrote:

  Jun 01, 2008

  2009-11-18 2:59 PM

  this sounds really similar to the yeast connection diet....except I guess yeast isn't one of banned foods? Hmmm, small problem though, can't cook with a nut flour due to a son with a peanut/tree nut allergy. Any suggestions or just stick to the gluten free flours I'm getting at the health food store as a substitution?

• Jenny Lass and Jodi Bager wrote:

  May 06, 2008

  2009-11-18 2:59 PM

  Hi Bev, Thanks for your comments. You're absolutely right - the gluten-free diet doesn't cure celiac disease because it operates on a totally different principle from the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), which was once the gold standard treatment for celiac disease from the 1920s to the 1950s and reportedly allowed most celiac children who followed it for a set period of time to return to a normal diet with no ill effects. The SCD has more restrictions than the gluten-free diet because it doesn't just remove the cause of the problem (gluten) - it aims to heal a celiac's damaged intestines by eliminating harder-to-digest foods (such as lactose and starches) to control the harmful overgrowth of diarrhea-causing bad bacteria that has both historically and very recently been found in the intestines of not only celiacs, but also many people with other digestive disorders, such as ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel syndrome. Moreover, the SCD offers the easiest gluten-free baking method available (baking with ground, blanched almonds instead of many different refined flours) and allows very lactose intolerant celiacs to enjoy a variety of nutritious dairy products that are low-lactose or lactose-free. If you read our chapter in Everyday Grain-Free Gourmet called The Power and Potential of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, you will gain more insight into the history of the SCD, how it works with a celiac's biology, how recent scientific studies are supporting SCD theory and how the diet is still relevant to many celiacs today. Note that in our chapter we acknowledge that there is a lot more research that needs to be done to better understand the SCD and we call for formal clinical trials on the diet. We hope that this has cleared up any confusion about the difference between the gluten-free diet and the SCD and we encourage you to take the time to learn more about this simple, healthy diet before discounting it. Best wishes, Jenny and Jodi