There is a diet that is pretending to be SCD and fooling many, who think that they are doing SCD and are not aware that they are actually implementing the Nut Diet instead of SCD, confusing the Nut Diet with the real SCD.

Many begin SCD by replacing the breads and cookies of other diets with nut flours. They often being to use any food that is SCD legal without first going through the introductory diet and not making sure that they can tolerate that food. This is done because many think that the rules of SCD and GFCF are the same. When starting out with GFCF, they are allowed to use all the GFCF legal foods. It is important for parents to realize that the rules for SCD are different. While the goal of GFCF is the elimination of foods that contain gluten and casein, the goal of SCD is to avoid foods that cannot be digested. A certain food can be OK for one person but not for another. Also, a food can be difficult to digest during the first months on SCD but fine at a later time when the gut has healed somewhat.

The important idea behind SCD is that "We must never forget that what the patient takes beyond his ability to digest does harm." Undigested foods become great nourishment for the gut microorganisms that have an excellent ability to digest carbohydrates. These parasites then emit toxins that destroy our gut and brains.

Certain foods that are fine for advanced SCDers are not OK for beginners and might harm them. The most famous example is the nut flour. Many cannot tolerate nut flours in the beginning stages of the diet. It is advised to start out with the intro diet and gradually introduce new foods. The "stages section" on www.pecanbread provide inspiration but there are no hard rules because everyone is different. The idea is to introduce new foods gradually and watch carefully for reactions. That is how you implement the "Real SCD". If you just eat any food that is legal SCD food without taking into consideration that some foods might be difficult to digest during the first months then you are doing the "Nut Diet".

As we see,there are two different ways to implement the legal SCD food list: the nut diet and the real SCD.

Is the Nut Diet better than GFCF? Of course! Despite its shortcomings, it is a lot easier to digest than the starches that are allowed in GFCF and other diets. I will give examples that might clarify this confusion and show us that everyone is unique and have different outcomes with the Nut Diet.

Sue R-F had a 2 year old child who was extremely picky. Katie only ate goat yogurt, banana, meat and nut muffins. She had constipation but recovered with SCD and almost no other intervention (just a few sessions of Tomatis and a couple of hours a week of speech therapy). While this nut diet was not optimal, it did recover a child from autism.

Another mother, ST, had 2 children, she started with the nut diet and got improvements for both children. After about half a year later, she went back to the intro diet and introducing foods gradually. She reported that she got EVEN better results after reintroducing the foods gradually.

Jen Young reported that her child was only able to eat a few foods during his first months of SCD. He could not tolerate nuts during his first 3 months on SCD. After starting the goat yogurt, Jen was able to feed her child more foods and enable him to recover from Autism. Jen was only able to get results if she gave foods that were tolerated. If Jen had just followed the legal/illegal list, then her son would have made no progress.

Andrew L is a brilliant man who is very talented in science. He has written that SCD, supplements, and enzymes have helped his autism spectrum issues. He has stated that he does better without any nuts, despite the fact that he has been doing SCD for over a year.

The advantage of the Real SCD is that it allows everyone to design a diet that is custom made for themselves and their family and is just right for each person. The Nut Diet is not optimal for someone who might have difficulties digesting nuts and other SCD legal foods during the first months( or with extreme cases,during the first year) of the diet.

I have read on other lists the posts of parents who assert with great authority that SCD did not help their child's GI issues. In their post, they list the foods that they gave their child; there is always an advanced food on that list. I want to shout: "you cannot feed lentils to a child who has constipation,your kid's gut was not ready to digest this food and the undigested food fed the gut bugs."

I completely understand that it is hard to do the real SCD, seeing other children and adults eating junk food, and feeling deprived...some children are very picky.... I understand these difficulties and that is why we started a special list for children and SCD to help parents with these issues.

If you are not happy with your SCD results, then please seek the help of the list, websites, SCD pals and SCD counselors. It will be the best investment for you and your family.