Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet

Pre- trendy elimination diets, I believe this book is the OG, the genesis of the movement toward a marriage of holistic health and modern medicine, tradition and common sense. I love the no-nonsense writing style and sense of community you get learning about how the movement, if you will, evolved just as the internet was becoming integral to modern life. Unfortunately, some of the online resources in the book are now defunct, but their direct offshoots and successors can still be found relatively easily, and there are a handful of communities on social media to join for support, and the book's main, eponymous website is still going strong. The principles in this book are applicable to anyone suffering from or coping with digestive issues.

With a great deal of skeptisizm, I read this book over five years ago. Ulcerative colitis was bleeding me to death, not that I had a life much worth living at the time. My world revolved around pain and I could be no further than 30 seconds from a bathroom. Ms. Gottschall, her book, and the diet completely vanquished all my symptoms of UC, saved my life and restored my intestinal health. I've just finished reading the reveiws of Courtney Lewis and a reader from Conneticut, who were both put off by the amount of work involved in maintaining this diet. Perhaps their symptoms were not as crippling as mine. Perhaps they have success with medication and have no problem with staying on it for the rest of their lives. I wish them well and hope they do not eventually require the surgery that many of us with this disease must face. I am concerned however, that their reveiws might prevent even one person from reading the book, which is why I am writing about my own experience. After 6 months on this diet I went for my yearly colonoscopy and my doctor declared my colon to appear "like that of a healthy 18 year old's". I have been off of all medication for over 4 years. I currently facilitate a listserver of almost 400 participents, most of who are on the diet. If anyone is interested in joining it, write me at [email protected]

I have been on this regimen for three years. During this time I have been drug and symptom free. A year and half ago I posted the following review, which is even more dramatic proof now: After a year and a half on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, I finally followed my gastroenterologist's request to get a colonoscopy. After all, it had been over four years since the last time anyone had given me any sort of exam of the gut, and 18 years with Crohns. My doc said "We got all the way to the cecum. No evidence at all of Crohns. No scars. No inflammation. Nothing. You look completely normal." This dietary modification is far better than a drug-induced remission for me because even in past drug-induced 'remissions' my past exams have showed indication of disease. Now there are no drugs, no side effects. I believe this diet is a superior way to bring on a controlled remission.This book guides the patient through the process of understanding their illness, describing the research that contributed to creating the diet, how to start the diet, what foods can be added and when. The book also contains valuable a list of links to "SCDiet" resources and online support groups that are available over the Internet.