From: Elaine Gottschall
Subject: Wow!
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002

I check on www.amazon.com every so often and just found out BTVC has 4 more reviews than it had yesterday. Three related to IBD and got five star ratings but one said I needed an editor. OK, I'll buy that. I didn't have all the fancy shmancy Madison Ave. publishing company editors doing a job for me; I did it myself so I guess it really should have professional editing. But that aside, the following review made up for everything. It is from Jennifer Young on SCD listserve with whom I have been corresponding for a long time. Thank you Jennifer and Colin. With help from above, we made it!

No More Autism: Healing Inside and Out, January 16, 2002
Reviewer: Jennifer Young from Fairfax, VA USA
How can I find words to describe the miracle that is this diet? Following it has given me back my son in a way I never dreamed possible. Elaine's diet has cure my son's autism and his three year struggle with GI troubles.

My son Colin, age 4 ½ , has struggled with GI troubles since 11 months old. He had the ROTAvirus, chronic diarrhea, and was constantly on steroids (for asthma) and antibiotics (for ear and lung infections). By age two-and-a-half he was having night terrors every night. By age three, he was labeled "failure to thrive" due to his low weight and height. He was also diagnosed as having developmental delays (Pervasive Development Disorder, ie Autism). He was behind in speech and motor skills...he banged his head and stopped looking at me. My son slipped away from me!

Everyone had answers for us...the mainstream doctors (neurologists) wanted to give him drugs. The GI doctors thought Colin had "autistic" diarrhea and wouldn't help us. They wouldn't even do a colonoscopy on a child who had struggled with a GI disorder for years.

The alternative doctors told us to cut out gluten and milk and use high dosages of vitamins. Stopping gluten stopped his night terrors--but his chronic diarrhea and delays continued. In fact, as I became a "gluten free" cook and branched out to new starches, Colin's symptoms got worse.

When my son was labeled as having "high functioning autism" at age 3 1/2, God told me to "put Colin first." So I quit my job to save my son. I decided that instead of listening to "experts" in autism, I would listen to my son. I knew he had the answers inside him so I studied him.

I always knew Colin had a problem with food. His bizarre food cravings as a toddler milk, cheese, and bread-had been replaced with a craving for gluten free waffles, potatoes, and basically all starches and complex sugars. Some said he was allergic to these foods. But, I knew it was impossible for him to have 30+ allergies. I also knew if food was the problem-somehow it was the answer too.

I concluded that my son was not autistic, but instead a boy with celiac disease or some other GI disorder. Then, thanks to a former co-worker, who was a Celiac not cured by gluten-free living, I found Elaine's book.

Within months on Elaine's diet, my son's stools were normal for the first time in his life! Then, he started doing complex pretend play, looking at us, and advancing in AL AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT. He played with toys appropriately. He voiced his wants, needs, and questions. Oh-the glorious why questions! He started asking me questions about God, about life, about the seasons...and about why his tummy had always been sick. His teachers were amazed. Our family was amazed. We know this diet saved him. We watched it happen before our eyes. No drugs. No expensive behavioral therapies. Just diet.

I say don't give up. When Colin couldn't digest the fruits and veggies, we cooked them. When he couldn't eat the almond flour-we gave him squash and banana for carbs until he was ready for the nut flours. We didn't do the yoghurt described in the book at first-as Colin gets asthma when he drinks milk. Then, we started using goat's milk yoghurt instead so he could get the good bacteria he needed to heal. If you truly want to get well, there is always a way. But you have to have faith and be patient.

Today, my son is the picture of health. He has gained 8 pounds and five inches in less than a year! He has a healthy glow. He has normal bowel movements. He has a wonderful appetite too. And now-he has caught up in almost all areas. He has friends! Next year he will be going to a regular preschool. Some doctors and others ask us now if we have "switched" children.

All this through food.

The other day I told my son that I was going to help a friend of his start this diet. I was explaining about the yoghurt, almond flour, etc. He said, "Mom, thank you," and threw his arms around me. I said, "For what?" "For me Mom. Thank you for me. Thank you for making my tummy better." Even Colin knows the power of this diet.

God bless Elaine for fighting for us all and for helping me save my son!

From: Jackie
Subject: Thank you!
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002

My daughter, Sarah Kilpatrick, was only a year old when we noticed her stiffening up whenever she had to go to the bathroom. She would scream and completely stiffen up. It was horrible to watch. As she began crawling, her 'attacks' got worse. She would completely flatten out on the floor, her hands would go back behind her, and her face would get all red. Around 1 year of age, I gave her a bite of my oatmeal. Her symptoms seemed to worsen. I noticed they were related to starch.

She was tested at Yale. Her intestines were completely backed up and they put her on a laxative. She was on this laxative for a month or two before I found Elaine Gottschall's book. It made so much sense, that by 18 months, Sarah was on the diet 100 percent. She stayed on the diet for three years, with very few lapses during that time. She ate lots of eggs, egg and banana pancakes, chicken, chicken soup, plantain chips as snacks, yogurt, cheese, fruits and veggies. I also made her muffins and banana bread from nut flours (which, by the way, I have tons of in my freezer, if anyone wants it).

Sarah is now 6 years old and is a healthy, happy little girl. She has a weakness for chocolate ice cream at times, but is doing fine. She still does not eat mashed potatoes or stuffing, or very much cereal, but she is growing beautifully.

We tell everyone about this diet. I spoke with Elaine directly at the beginning of the diet, and she said to give her a piece of Colby cheese. She said she would love it. I would love to call her again. Maybe she will see this update. Please tell her THANK YOU!

We are thrilled that the diet worked so beautifully and are convinced it could help other children with dietary problems! Luckily, Sarah's pediatrician said he had a family with 3 or 4 kids that had symptoms like Sarah's and he referred me to the internet where I found Elaine's story.

It was hard at first, but then it became routine to only give Sarah foods we knew she could digest. The change in her was huge - we are still so thrilled! I actually documented everything she ate and her problems and successes for months, if not years! If this gives other people hope, that's great.

Jackie Palmer, Madison CT

From: Sandra in Mt. Pleasant, SC
Subject: take an active role in your health
Date: Tuesday, 8 Oct 2002

I was diagnosed with UC in August of 2000. The symtoms developed during my pregnancy with my third child. I was
immediently put on prednisone and another drug. The symtoms would temporarily subside, but any time I was tapered off- it
would worsen. This cycle continued for a year and a half until I was put in the hospital because of dehydration, anemia,
extreme weight loss- I was told that my best option was surgery- removal of the entire colon. As soon as I got home, I
decided it was time to educate myself. I am thankful to have found the scdiet.org website. I immediently bought the book and
began the diet. When I realized that I must be totally committed to this way of eating- I experienced rapid progress. I have
now had a year of no symptoms and no medication! I still do not understand the science of why it works although it's
explained in the beginning chapters- what is critical is that it works! I enjoy a diet of great foods- fruit, vegetables, meat,
cheeses, nuts, and the best yogurt smoothies! My life has been restored! [Editor's note: forwarded to us by Elaine Gottschall - originally appeared on Amazon.com; it is the 89th testimonial to appear there]

From: Barbara
Subject: Digestive Health Magazine
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002

Just wanted you to know that, no, I'm not in the research community. I saw the Digestive Health and Nutrition Magazine in my GI doctor's waiting room a few months months back, thought I might learn something from reading it, and pulled out a subscription card for it.

I have learned more about my disease and how to treat it in the 4-1/2 months I have been on this list than in the five years I've been sick, thanks to you and all the other wonderful people out there. I just wish I would have found BTVC and scd-list sooner, I don't think I would have ever gotten as sick as I've been if I had. I am still just baffled that the three gastroenterologists I have been to in the last five years have all told me diet really makes no difference, so for all this time I have believed them and feel like I have actually been poisoning myself with the food I was eating. I'm still on prednisone and not in remission, but feel like the diet is slowly turning me around in the right direction. Thank you for giving me hope, because the doctors sure haven't in the past five years.

Barbara, UC 5 years, SCD 4-1/2 months

From: Erin
Subject: Tinnitis (ringing of the ears)
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002

I started experiencing Tinnitis about two months after being on the maximum dosage of Asacol to treat my Crohn's. I began to notice ringing in my ears when I was in a quiet place. It sounded like a rather loud alternating pitch; going from very high ringing to medium ringing off and on constantly. I looked in the book "Prescription For Natural Healing" by Phyllis A. Balch and James F. Balch under "ringing ears" and discovered that Tinnitis is an indication of damage to the ear's nerves. When nerves are injured from medication (in my case) then the brain tries to compensate by sending electrical signals to the ear, thus the ringing sound I heard. If the nerves die then they can't replace themselves, which leads to Sensorineural hearing loss. The book says, "Sensorineural hearing loss can be present from birth, or it can be caused by certain prescription medications including certain antibiotics, nonsterodial anti-inflammatoy drugs..." etc.

Tinnitis is serious; it indicates nerve dammage due to too much medicine (in my case) or other causes. So it's not really inflammation of the ears, but actually indicates that you're hearing has been or will be damaged. In my case, I found out that it could be caused by toxic amounts of Asacol and was able to prevent hearing loss by calling my doctor and asking him if I could lower my dosage of Asacol. He was concerned and said that I should cut the dosage in half, and if the Tinnitis continued for another week that I should first go to my general doctor to check if the ringing was caused by a virus, and if not that I should be taken off of the medicine completely. Now, three weeks later, I hear hardly any more ringing which must indicate that my nerves have been able to repair themselves.

"..Without the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, I have no doubt I'd be missing body parts right now.."

 more of t's testimonial

From: Martha
Subject: Status update
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2002

Hi, it's Martha in CT reporting in on the status of two of Elaine's "graduates", my husband and son. Husband Larry had Crohn's for 20 years; when we first heard of the diet in the mid 1990's, he was discouraged and just didn't want to eliminate his favorite foods on top of everything else we had tried. When son Jon was diagnosed 12/99 with Crohn's, I thought I was going to stop breathing. We all eased into the diet right away, thanks to our naturopathic doctor recommending it and the site and listserve. To make a long story short, we are all so well. Jon's last symptoms were two years ago, when he ate regular pizza and birthday cake at a party; he just celebrated his 11th birthday and his 2nd anniversary of crohn's free living. He'd probably say that the SCD has been tough, since he is a kid and doesn't like to feel "different" from others; however, he knows an awful lot more about nutrition than those other kids do and knows what is right for him. Larry had surgery!
last spring to get rid of scar tissue and has been strictly SCD ever since and feels great. Chocolate had been a Big Part of his life in the past; sweets are often craved by Crohnsies! I am so proud of his strength in Just Saying No to it. I think that seeing how speedy Jon's recovery was on SCD helped to persuade him to give it a chance.

I guess I'll be cooking this way indefinitely. My son knows that as one of Elaine's "graduates", he can add back some foods if he wishes to do so; he says he really has no desire for them. He says that wheat bread doesn't taste too good. Our naturopathic doctor believes that we should always lean towards the SCD and I think she is right. Reality is that all we've cut out is junk and starch.

I wanted to write to thank Elaine, first and foremost, for disseminating her valuable knowledge to all of us; and thank you webmasters and listserver for your efforts; the sense of comraderie and support helped us immensely. Two years ago, I never thought I could feed our family of five SCD and I never thought I'd see an end to the pain. Here we are.

PS
Please don't list my full name anywhere; I'm afraid of having the Yale drs coming to my house and forcing potatoes and wheat on us!

From: I.S., Brooklyn NY
Subject: Thank you!
Date: Thursday 10 Oct 2002

About 2 years ago, my husband (33 year old white male)began to have diarrhea with bleeding and mucus in it, 4 or 5 times a day. He also had psoriasis, an autoimmune skin problem. Anyway, he went to a gastro enterologist, and he recommended a colonoscopy. During the colonoscopy, the doctor woke my husband up to ask him how long he had had these symptoms -- that's how serious it looked in there! The diagnosis was Ulcerative Colitis, but the doctor later scheduled another colonoscopy after watching the video of the first one again, as it seemed they missed some polyps (or something - P.S. I didn't like this doctor. After the second colonoscopy (2 months after the 1st), the doctor said due to the extent of the ulcers and the degree of penetration of the colon wall, he changed his diagnosis to Crohn's disease.

Well, I had been on the Atkins diet for a while at this point for weight loss, and I knew a little about the benefits of a low-carb diet in general. I searched the internet for hours every night and found out about the scd. I ordered the book, and put my husband on the diet, which was easy really since I was already eating low-carb.

For two years, he didn't really have any flare-ups, which was really amazing. He was good about the diet about 95% of the time, I'd say - on holidays he'd go off it and regret it, getting gas and feeling tired. However, about a month ago, he started having the bloody/mucus diarrhea again, and I thought "oh no - he has it back" - I somehow felt that things had to be really bad if he was on a specific carb diet and STILL got the symptoms again. I felt that this time it wouldn't just be asacol, but steroids, etc.

Well - he had another colonoscopy yesterday. New doctor - the other one was too annoying. It's amazing. The lesions are GONE - completely - except for the most distal 2 inches of the colon. I was looking at pic after pic of totally healthy colon. Meanwhile, 2 years ago, he was filled with lesions, polyps and ulcers throughout the colon and deep into the colon wall. I couldn't believe it. The new doctor was astounded - he couldn't understand it. He said he'd been preparing his speech on other meds than asacol, figuring he'd be seeing a bad bad case of crohns. So, all the bleeding was from this little section of 2 inches, which was not really that inflamed after a week of asacol. The doc said to stop the asacol - my husband no longer has crohns but an incredibly mild case of UC.

My husband stayed pretty strictly on the diet as outlined in the book for the past 2 years. He ate one cup of yoghurt per day w/strawberries. The only supplements he took were: daily vitamin, 5 g glutamine/day, fish oils (3 pills per day), and citracal calcium supplements. That's it.

Thank you so much - Elaine Gottschall and all the people who run this site, which I used often in the beginning. It seems my husband has been cured, really. We still have that last 2 inches of colon to work on, but truly, what a miracle, and I thank God for this blessing.