Steve’s SCD Diet Healing Journal: Week 7 – The Wheels Almost Came Off!

Co-Founder of SCD Lifestyle Steve Wright has finally broken down and started his path to intestinal healing.  After many years of undiagnosed digestive warfare in his body, these series of weekly posts will take you through his experiences, thoughts, and struggles on the SCD diet.  Check back and follow his progress:

Week 7 Summary

After the roller-coaster ride last week I thought this week would be a rather low key return to working on my health and this diet.  Boy was I wrong!  I’m going to come right out and tell everyone I cheated, I fell off the diet for a good 24hour period this weekend.  I’m not really happy with myself for it and trust me I paid a hefty price for it.  I had a multitude of life events come to a head this last week which included, learning that I have some pretty bad stuff going on with my spine, accepting a new job in a new city, and trying to deal with two going away parties.  Excuses aside I shouldn’t have cheated I had plenty of food in the fridge and planned on staying firm with the diet but I allowed myself to succumb to social situations and consume way too much alcohol.  That being said I am renewing my vow to the diet and getting back on the horse.

I’m going to treat this like a learning lesson.  For lack of a better way to explain my thoughts on it I’m going to try and relate it to something.  For me it’s like having the NBA championship on the line I choked and missed a free throw, the easiest shot in basketball, and my team lost.  The best thing to do now is to pick myself back up and go back to work, forget about the whys, remember the pain, and renew my motivation to my goals.

Mental and Body Changes

Before the weekend I was experiencing similar patterns as last week where I was averaging at least one decent bowel movement a day (usually a 3 or 4).  I went out to the bars on both Friday and Saturday and in my alcohol induced thinking allowed myself to reason that I had already done enough destruction with all the alcohol so what would some illegal foods really do?  Well after eating a burger, some sweets and some late night pizza all washed down with copious amounts of alcohol my body was pissed!  I made many trips to the bathroom on Sunday and not one of them was a good time.  Hopefully my body can bounce back this coming week and I will get back on my true healing path without too much damage to the process.

Fitness Goals

This past week was a set back for my fitness goals in more ways that one.  Last Sunday I started experiencing some weird back and neck pains and decided to get myself checked out by a chiropractor.  It turns out I have quite a few problems with my neck and back most likely stemming from old sports injuries when I was younger.  The chiropractor has asked me to take a couple weeks off from lifting in order to try and let my neck and back heal up while she makes some adjustments.  Considering my current problems are probably the result of not listening to doctor’s advice when I was younger I plan on heading her advice this time around.

Oddly enough when I mentioned my digestive issues to my chiropractor she taught me about another part of my body that wasn’t working right.  It turns out my ileocecal valve is malfunctioning.  She told me she sees this in many of her patients who also have digestive related issues.  With some re-training and adhering to the SCD diet it sounds like it can be very easy to correct.  I’m just in the beginning stages of learning about the valve and I’m planning on doing a post later as I learn more.

Diet Details

Before the wheels fell off the wagon this week I did add two new variables into my diet.  I tried peaches for the first time and also added some hot sauce to my eggs so that I could continue eating them.  I did some research on some hot sauce products and after talking with Crystal Hot Sauce representatives I think I can say it is SCD legal.  I didn’t react to it however I would caution anyone else who tries it to approach it just like any other new food.  The only ingredients in the product are cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar and salt.  From the company representatives I learned that the vinegar is distilled, white vinegar from corn and that the salt is non-iodized table salt.  Some people may question that fact that the vinegar is made from corn but it appears that almost all vinegars are made from corn (according to pecanbread white vinegar is legal).  I don’t claim to be a chemist, however, from what I’ve learned about the distilling process I don’t believe there are any original corn starches left.  That being said don’t say I didn’t warn you!  Make sure you try it for a couple days before you know that it isn’t affecting you.

One Line Thoughts On The SCD Diet

• If you are already seeing a chiropractor ask them to check out your ileocecal valve
• If you ingest an illegal food on the diet make sure you stop after the first, don’t let your mind talk you into becoming a runaway train and derail all your progress you’ve made while on the diet
• If you do cheat knowingly…then you will pay!
• While you are paying the piper for your actions renew your commitments and decide to move on and not let one day stop you from achieving your goals!

Anyone else want to share any dark cheating stories?