It’s so easy to make your own healthy yogurt that tastes better and is healthier than the commercial yogurts.  It contains higher probiotics to heal the intestines and maximize digestion PLUS it is free of additives (sugars, gums and preservatives that perpetuate damage to an already damaged digestive tract). Follow instructions for making lactose-free yogurt in BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE or on this website rather than the manufacturers instructions that come with the yogurt maker.

* HOW TO BEGIN THE SCDiet

This way of eating is really very simple . . . although very different from the Standard American Diet (S-A-D).  It will soon become second nature to you as you learn which foods are more digestible and "SCD legal". 

Since most of us have to "unlearn" old habits, it is strongly recommended that you read the first 60 pages of BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE several times until you have a thorough understanding of the book; then read it again after following the diet for a while, to refresh your memory.  You must “FANATICALLY” adhere 100% to the legal foods to really see a difference.  If you “ease” into the diet, you will see little improvement and likely become impatient and discouraged.

Mild to severe digestive/intestinal symptoms indicate inflamed intestines and the need to proceed slowly and cautiously. 

Some of the "Permitted" foods listed in BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE may not be tolerated well in the beginning until healing has taken place.  If some food doesn’t agree with you, leave it out of your diet for a while.  Please remember that the almond flour is 100% almonds and overindulgence can cause loose stools or be too much roughage for inflamed intestines. For those who have  multiple food allergies and intolerances, it will likely take time to nail down all the problem foods.  Those individuals often take a few steps forward and some back as they work to define which foods are best for them.  It's typically "trial and error" for those individuals; but definitely worth the effort.  It's important to remember that the "Not Permitted" foods listed in BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE are always illegal, and that little mistakes can cause major flares for those who have food intolerances, sensitivities or inflamed intestines. 

It's also important to remember that should you "cheat" even once in a great while, you will likely experience setbacks and never experience the healing that strict adherence can bring about.  If you experience painful diarrhea at any point, drop back to the Beginning Diet (below) and inch forward again, very slowly.  Remember that it took a while for the intestines to become damaged and it will take time for them to heal.  That also holds true for rebuilding the immune system as you focus on balanced nutrition. 

What are the benefits of the SCD?  The success stories are numerous!  Please read Our Family Success Story on this site to learn how my family members and I have benefited. You’ll also find many testimonials at www.amazon.com  

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STEPS TO BEGIN:

1.     Get the book, BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE from Barnes & Noble (call 1^st  to make sure it’s in stock) or order from Amazon.com or Lucy at (888) 484-2126. You’ll want to read BTVCycle several times.

2.     Read Kay’s Articles and visit www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info to find answers to your questions.

3.     Subscribe to one or more of the SCD List Serves and monitor the questions and answers of other participants and ask the questions you didn’t find answers to on this or other SCD websites.

4.   Print out the “SCD Shopping List” and “SCD Complete Food List” on Page 2 of this website and visit your local grocery store.  Everyone should begin following the SCD with the Chicken Soup (recipe below) as it has anti-viral benefits and will aid in your faster healing. First buy the following foods for the beginning diet (recipes below):

Chicken (whole or parts) – Buddy’s chickens are available in Austin,  

     are organic and taste great!

          Carrots

          Onions

          Celery

          Dry Curd Cottage Cheese – Central Market sometimes carries it – ask

     for "Friendship Dairies Farmer’s Cheese" or substitute dripped

               SCD Yogurt

          Eggs (preferably yard eggs)

          Apple Cider (no sugar!!!), Welch’s purple Grape Juice or Tropicana

               Orange Juice (in the carton or jug – not "from concentrate")

          Honey or 'legal' saccharin (read the label - some brands are, some

     aren't)

          Unflavored Knox gelatin

          Ground beef (100% beef – no fillers) or fish

          Lemons (use fresh squeezed juice only)

5.     While waiting for the book to arrive, continue reading the website information and make the delicious, nutritious chicken soup (easy recipe below) and begin following the introductory diet below and found on pages 50-52 of BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE.  Follow the introductory diet for 2 to no more than 5 days. 

6.    After completing the steps above, you will be ready to read page "#3 - Expanding SCD" on this website, remembering to cautiously and slowly add ONLY THE ALLOWED FOODS listed in BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE or on the Complete Food List; making sure all fruits and vegetables are peeled, seeded and cooked soft.  You may introduce a baked almond flour food after completing the beginning diet above . . . but ease into it; eating perhaps only the equivalent of 1 muffin per day for a while. If a food disagrees with or gives you symptoms, leave it off for a while. When all symptoms have subsided, you may begin to introduce (very cautiously) RAW fruits or vegetables, unsalted raw nuts and increase nut flour baked goods, and later seeds . . . very slowly and cautiously.

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CHICKEN SOUP RECIPE:

1. Get your biggest pot.
2. Fill half with chicken thighs and legs (they make the most flavorful soup). Skin them if you want, as it will save you from having to skim the soup after it has cooked.
3. Peel about 10 medium-sized carrots and throw in pot.
4. Throw in two peeled whole onions and a couple stalks of celery.
5. Fill the rest of the pot with water leaving 3 inches at top so it does not boil over.
6. Cover and simmer for 3-4 hours.
7. Pour contents through a colander or strainer, letting it run into a very large bowl.
8. Throw away celery and onions - the fibrous parts of these vegetable may cause digestive problems.
9. Skim off excess fat.
10. Puree carrots and a cup of broth in blender or processor (may be too much for one spin).
11. Add to soup.
12. Salt and pepper to taste.
13. Add some chicken (as much as you want, removing the bones and skin).

At the beginning of the program, when symptoms such as diarrhea and cramping are severe, this basic diet should be followed for about five days.  In other cases, one or two days on this basic diet are sufficient.  You will be getting protein, sugar from carrots and some fat.  This is a good natural fasting diet to clear and soothe your intestines while still nourishing and sustaining you. The amounts of the specified foods to be eaten depend upon the appetite of the individual; there is no restriction as to quantities eaten.

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CHEESE CAKE RECIPE:

The cheese cake filling should be made without a crust until healing has taken place.  (For the future, or on special occasions, when you want a crust, line the bottom of a small loaf pan with almond honey crisp recipe (see page 106 in BTVCycle), keeping it as thin as possible.  Bake crust and cool thoroughly.  

Filling:

3 eggs

1/3 C. honey

1/2 C. homemade 24-hr. yogurt or cream cheese (dripped yogurt) made from

     homemade yogurt

2 C. DCCC (Friendship Dairies Bulk Farmer's Cheese from Central Market or

     dripped 24-hr. SCD homemade lactose-free yogurt)

1/2 t. grated lemon rind

Place all ingredients in blender or food processor (metal blade) putting eggs in first so that blender blades will turn freely.  Blend until smooth stopping, if necessary, every 15 seconds to push ingredients down, scraping the sides of the container at the same time with a spatula.  Pour into loaf pan and bake in oven at 350F for about 30 minutes or until edges are brown. Cool and refrigerate.

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GELATIN RECIPE:

Purchase Unflavored Knox Gelatin; found in baking section of your grocery store. Follow the instructions printed on the package. Place 1 cup of cold juice in a bowl, and bring three cups to a boil. Sprinkle 4 packets of gelatin over the cold juice and let sit for 1 minute. Then add the hot juice, stir to dissolve the gelatin and add honey (or legal saccharin) to make it sweeter and a little lemon or limejuice for extra “zing”.  Refrigerate and enjoy!  After healing you may enjoy gelatin desserts and salads with raw fruit and nuts or vegetables.  

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24 HOUR LACTOSE-FREE YOGURT: 

1 quart half & half & 1 quart whole milk - makes a very creamy, less tart

     yogurt than just whole milk (either is fine)

Yogourmet Starter - Find it at Austin Whole Foods on S. Lamar. . . call

before you go in case they are out . . . or you can order it from www.lucyskitchen.com

In a double boiler bring the milk to a boil quickly without scorching (will need to stir if using just a single 2-qt. pot). I do it while I'm fixing a meal or cleaning up the kitchen. After bringing it to a boil, sit it on a cool burner and let it cool.  I sometimes forget it for a couple hours. Then pour the starter and 1 cup of the cooled milk into the milk bucket and blend/beat it well. A stick blender is very handy here. Then add the rest of the milk mix, blend again, and place the lid on. Put water in the electric bucket and place the milk bucket inside the electric bucket. Put the lid on, plug it in and forget it for 24-30 hours. Do not move or open the yogurt maker during this time.  When time is up, remove milk bucket and gently place in the refrigerator and chill for 8 hours so it will set up nicely. Your yogurt will stay fresh for three weeks if kept cold.

To my knowledge, there are no commercial yogurts with the right bacteria introduced, which are fermented over 24 hrs. to make them lactose-free. Some of the commercial yogurts have even had strains of bacteria introduced that Elaine says can mutate into bad bacteria in a bad gut. That's why she specifically recommends using the Yogourmet starter. Also, the probiotic count is much higher in the homemade yogurt than you can get in a supplement form.

NOTE:  Do not add gelatin or powdered milk to the yogurt batch (as is suggested in the manufacturer's instruction manual). Do not use previous SCD yogurt to start a new batch.

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Refresher:  The lactose in dairy is sugar.  The yeast/Candida/bad bacteria (whatever you prefer to call the bugs/critters - Elaine says they all ride piggy back on each other) thrive on sugars/starch of all kinds, overpopulate, and cause inflammation that damages the mucosal lining of the intestines, destroying digestive enzymes and eventually causing debilitating disease. If the intestines can't break down/digest foods, your body is starved of nutrients . . . leaving you with a weakened immune system . . . and those undigested foods sit in the intestines and continue to ferment, giving the critters a feast.  So, to balance the intestinal flora and heal the intestines, you must not only starve the bad critters of the foods they thrive on (so they die off), but you must also replace them with the good critters from the homemade yogurt. It's the age old battle of good over evil . . . so what else is new?

You should see tremendous improvements in the way you feel with the yogurt added to complete the SCD. Most people who have Candida problems also have arthritic-like pains and swelling of their joints and stay very tired, suffer brain fog and on & on . . .  In time, those symptoms typically greatly improve or go away completely when the intestinal flora becomes balanced and nutrients are again being absorbed.

We go through almost 4 quarts of yogurt a week! Don fixes it if I don't get to it. We are so hooked on it and it really fills a lot of holes in the menu. A cup a day keeps the doctor away! J

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Q: So, what happens if the yogurt bothers you?

A: Check to make sure your milk does not contain gum additives. Try dripping it (in the cheesecloth bag that comes with the machine or in a coffee filter or a Donvier Cheese Maker) and begin eating it very slowly, just a tablespoon per day.  Most who do have problems can build a tolerance for it this way. If it's still a problem, you can supplement with SCD legal probiotics from Lucy at (888) 484-2126.  Some can tolerate goat’s milk yogurt better than cow’s milk yogurt.  You can find a goat’s milk yogurt recipe on MAKING YOGURT & OTHER FERMENTED FOODS.  One, but no more than three cups of yogurt daily is recommended. 

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RECOMMENDED MENU 1^st FEW DAYS AFTER CHICKEN SOUP:

Breakfast:   Dry Curd Cottage Cheese (Friendship Dairies Bulk Farmer’s  

                     Cheese – from Central Market in Austin) moistened with homemade

                     yogurt. You may substitute dripped homemade 24-hr. yogurt for the

                     Dry Curd Cottage Cheese.

                     Eggs (boiled, poached, or scrambled - avoid if diarrhea is severe)

                     Apple cider or purple Welch’s grape juice (1/2 juice & ½ water). See

                     BTVCycle Appendix regarding juices. Homemade gelatin made with

                     juice, unflavored gelatin, honey or legal saccharin.

Lunch:         Homemade chicken soup including broth, chicken, pureed carrot

(see page 68 in BTVCycle).

                    Broiled beef patty or broiled fish.

                    Cheese cake (see page 104 in BTVCycle) without lemon rind and baked to custard consistency.

                    Homemade gelatin.

Dinner:         Variations of above.

If a food specified in the diet is known to cause an anaphylactic reaction

(severe allergic reaction) eliminate it permanently from the diet.

If, in the past, an allowable food did not digest well, eliminate it for a short

time (about one week) and try it again in small amounts.  If, after a week of

eliminating it, a food continues to cause problems, do not include it in the diet.

If you find it impossible to obtain the dry curd cottage cheese, substitute the

Cream Cheese recipe (dripped homemade SCD yogurt) listed in the

Gourmet Section of BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE.

When diarrhea and cramping subside, peeled and deseeded cooked

fruit, bananas with black spots, and additional vegetables may be tried.

Don't add cruciferous veggies for a few more days (cabbage, broccoli,

cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and kale) or until diarrhea has substantially

subsided.  If they seem to cause additional gas or diarrhea, delay their use

until later.  As the individual begins to feel better, the rest of the diet may be

introduced.  Dried legumes may be added cautiously after being on the diet

for about three months. Even then, be sure to soak and drain them 2-3

times in a 12 hour period before cooking in fresh water.

Most cases begin to improve within three weeks after the dietary regimen

has been started and improvement usually continues.  At about the second

or third month, there is sometimes a relapse even when the diet has

been carefully followed.  This can occur if the person develops a respiratory

infection or for no obvious reason.  Do not allow this to discourage you! Once

the individual gets over this, improvement is usually steady with minor

setbacks occurring occasionally during the first year.

(Please do not try to follow this diet without the book BREAKING THE

VICIOUS CYCLE.  Most find they need to read the first 60 pages of the

book several times to process all the information, then re-read it

periodically.  It is unwise to undertake this regimen unless you are willing to

follow it with fanatical adherence.)

Please check the FAQs on http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.org/

Kay Stence