Seth writes:
I thought it would be worthwhile to send this to the list for any newbies who are hesitant about the SCD yogurt.

First let me tell you about my personal experience with yogurt. Prior to finding the SCD, I was on the Atkins diet for 2 months to lose weight (yes, I'm one of those rare overweight Crohnies). On the low carb diet, my symptoms improved quite a bit - maybe 20% better.Then I discovered the SCD, and quickly switched. However, I was still overweight so I stayed low carb as well. So I was basically eating SCD low carb foods. I felt a little better. I did not have a yogurt maker, so I jimmied up a crock pot to make the yogurt in and used plain old Dannon as my starter. My first batch was ready just before I went to sleep, so I drank about 2 cups of it warm and put the rest to cool and set in the fridge.

The very next day, literally, I was a new man. I could feel my gut getting better and the whole world seemed a better place. I am not making this up. The effect of the yogurt was amazing. I started to make more and more of it and consume as much as I could. I probably drank (it was warm) 2-4 quart of yogurt a day for 2 weeks. I quickly tapered down my prednisone on my own and stopped taking my asacol. Within a month I was off all meds and felt better than I had ever felt in the last 11 years of my existence (I was diagnose with Crohn's when I was 13).

My thinking is that the low carb diet for 2 months may have contributed to the power of yogurt that i experienced, but I don't know. But I do know that in the very beginning and during the first year of the diet, yogurt had an amazing effect on me. Whenever I started to develop a mini-flare, I would go back to my safe diet, which consisted of a lot of SCD yogurt and things would get better. Many nights during that first year I feared that the diet would stop working, but it never did and the yogurt always saved the day. I just finished my third year on the diet and it was a breeze.

Now some caveats. Elaine has cautioned us to go easy on the yogurt. Her fear is that the galactose may overload the liver. So she does not recommend that people go crazy eating it (maybe 1-3 cups per day). I did not know about this caution, as I was clearly consuming a lot more that this. But I cannot blame myself because it worked for me and I could feel it working its magic. 90% of my symptoms disappeared overnight!!!

The SCD Yogurt is full of beneficial substances, it is sort of a predigested food and is very easy to digest because of this. In addition to this, it provides a great inexpensive source of probiotics (or good bacteria).

Please read: Fermentation Fun if you have time.

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