The starting weeks of SCD (the REAL story)

This week is Thanksgiving, of course, and it will be the first year I won't be eating something completely Thanksgiving-like. Neither will my son.

I've posted a little about starting SCD, and these first three months will likely be the hardest of our lives. I know that it is, and it makes it a little easier to get through.

It's not easy. It's not easy at all. Last night I got home from work at 4:30 p.m. and immediately stepped into the kitchen. My mother is of course asking why my husband doesn't cook more (he works from home). I've tried to explain that he is working on projects that net us a few hundred dollars per week when it's a good week, and the fact is, he has less time than I do. Plus, that money is what keeps us fed most of the time, so I'm not about to stop him.

So, back to the kitchen. First I made two pans of egg bread. It's not really bread, it's an invented SCD recipe of egg yolks and whites separated that I got from the Pecan Bread Yahoo! group, which is a group for moms trying the SCD with autistic kids and kids with other behavioral problems like ADD/ADHD. The original recipe said six whites and four yolks, but I changed it to five whites and five yolks, because I'm not about to throw out expensive organic egg yolks and I'm not about to store them for later, either. So here's my version of the recipe:

EGG "BREAD"

Five eggs
1/2 cup well cooked vegetables

Separate the whites into a large bowl and put the yolks into a smaller bowl. Beat whites with a pinch of salt until glossy.

Squeeze the water out of the vegetables with some paper towels. They don't have to be dry, but using two to three paper towels folded over will allow you to get a substantial amount of water out. Plop them into the bowl with the egg yolks. Beat the yolks with the vegetables until the vegetables are nearly pureed. You can use a stick blender for this if you like.

Fold the yolk mixture into the egg whites, mixing well. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and dump the mixture in, spreading around with a spatula.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. The bread will puff up a little and settle as it cools. You can carefully flip the whole bread over and bake the other side for an additional 10 minutes if you like, but it doesn't seem to make all that much difference.

I cut it into 12 square pieces and sprinkle with sea salt. You can use them for sandwiches or snacks.

Here's a tip: DO NOT USE ANYTHING OTHER THAN PARCHMENT PAPER. I tried. I used foil with olive oil, foil with lots of olive oil, and wax paper (which melted and stuck to the pan) before I gave up and just bought the damned stuff. It's like magic. Food does not stick to it AT ALL. Comes right off. Parchment paper is full of win.

While I was making the egg bread, the beans on the stove (my husband kindly started them for me on my way home from work) ran out of water and burned, despite being covered. Sigh. I then wondered why I was making such small pans of vegetables. So I salvaged what I could from the burned pan, scrubbed the burned pan, and then scrubbed out a giant saucepan. I filled it with water and beans and cooked it for more than an hour. In the beginning stages of SCD, vegetables have to be cooked until they are very well done. Not the most appetizing thing, but it is temporary, I remind myself. I will survive.

As I waited for the beans, I scrubbed out my big nonstick skillet to make myself dinner. By then, it was about time to put Clark to bed, so I told Jeffrey to take out one of the pans of egg bread in ten minutes and I read a book with Clark, sang songs, and then tucked him in and shut the door.

I poured a layer of olive oil on the bottom of the big skillet and tossed in four random chicken pieces. Yes, I know it's too early in the diet for me to be eating fried things. I press a bunch of the oil out and so far I haven't had any problems. If you are just starting the diet you shouldn't be frying things either. I am going to get more chicken breasts so I can poach them but right now I'm a little bit stuck.

We don't have much money so I buy parts for 99 cents a pound. The Foster Farms parts are much nicer than the Albertson's parts, all tucked nicely into their package. The Albertson's parts are more cruel, with cut bone ends sticking out. They make me shudder and go ew. But for some reason Costco doesn't have packages of Foster Farms parts right now. They're filling all their freezer cases with more expensive holiday fare, I suppose.

I fried them, and I forgot to put onion in with them, like I usually do. I think it was because I was distracted, since I needed to chop up stuff for the crock pot tomorrow morning. I started doing that, and then I tossed in a few garlic cloves with the chicken for a while.

I turned the chicken parts without burning myself horrifically, though hot oil did spray at me. -_- Last week a drop of hot oil managed to hit the top of my foot, which immediately blistered. Awesome.

I finished peeling garlic cloves and chopping onion and celery for the crock pot. I put them all in a baggie in the fridge. I then took out the last pan of egg bread and put the first pan's contents into baggies for Clark's lunch.

That was about when the smoke alarm went off.

Frantically Jeffrey grabbed the alarm and tried covering it with his hand. I turned off the pan, thinking there really hadn't been much smoke at all, and grabbed the kitchen step stool so Jeffrey had something to stand on. Then I plugged in a box fan, which I held over my head pointed at the alarm. Which kept going. And going. And going. ARGH.

Finally Jeffrey ripped the alarm out of the ceiling. The alarm continued to bleat sporadically for a couple more seconds, then fell silent.

I went over to the baby monitor, which we use for our almost five year old as he likes to get up in the dark and play for hours. I could hear him snoring. Whew.

I sat down and tried to eat my chicken, which clearly had a couple of scorched charcoal-like areas. I like burned stuff, but something was still off. I never realized how much of a difference cooking the chicken with onion makes, but the taste without the onion was nearly revolting. Jeffrey then mocked me for buying 99 cents a pound chicken parts, saying it was clearly a quality issue. Bleh.

The beans were drained and done by that point, so they sat out until they cooled enough to be shoveled into a giant baggie. I portioned out some beans for our lunches the next day. I couldn't bring myself to eat any of the beans, despite being dangerously low in carbs that day. I just couldn't do it. I realized I would need to make eggs in the morning for breakfast so I washed the big skillet again so it would be ready.

My husband then realized then that he'd forgotten that he was going to be doing a commentary with Kat for Seminar. So I took an ice pack to the bedroom along with America, the "history" book from the Daily Show. My wrist was in agony, because my arthritis was acting up and I was overusing my bad wrist with all the cooking. So I iced and tried not to fall asleep while I read.

I completely hit the wall waiting for my sweetie, so by the time he was done I was almost a zombie. But I dragged my butt out of bed and went to my computer and finished the trailer for Wonder Woman 23. Did I mention I'm a podcaster for Pendant Audio? Well, I am. Hooray.

Then I collapsed into bed.

I was awakened at 3:15 a.m. by my darling son. I promptly put him back in bed. I also had a terrible headache, likely from the whole not-enough-carbs thing. I drank some grape juice, brushed my teeth in the dark, and then went back to sleep.

On to 6 a.m. I got up, fried six eggs in the skillet with about a cup of green beans and a little olive oil. Clark liked it. I got the crock pot started and had just enough time to eat breakfast before getting out the door only five minutes late.

Of course I was out of gas, so five minutes late turned into fifteen minutes late. Oh well.

So there it is -- a day in the life of early SCDers. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Notes from the battle field

This week was our first week on SCD. We only told his teachers that we were testing him for food intolerance so he is not to eat anything at school. Previously, I learned during parent teacher conferences that Clark has been head butting his teachers! I think they were stunned when I told them he never ever did that at home.

We tried all sorts of reward systems and such over the past few weeks, but the head butting only decreased slightly. Some days he was doing it five times a day.

Here's Clark's school report after one week on SCD:

**************
This week Clark has not attempted to bite himself or any adult. He did not head butt at all this week! :)

We have moved him and he now sits in front and is able to participate more effectively. He has shown empathy and has demonstrated some beginning attempts to turn take. He has good knowledge of our rules and can comply 60 percent of the time.

He, for the past 2 weeks, has stayed with tasks and whole group instruction for up to 20 minutes without being inappropriate. Enjoy him this weekend. He had a good week in comparison with previous weeks. He is making good progress in behaving as a typical 5 year old.
**************

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a bunch of dishes to wash and more food to make. :)

It's working!

I have barely had a chance to breathe, with work (which is insane), the constant cooking, trying to keep up with Pendant stuff, etc.

Clark and I have been on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for a week now.

And I really do think it's working. For him, at least. He's more cheerful, more social, less stimmy, and really more *there*. I told him I needed something to drink, and then I forgot and went to my computer, and he came up to me and said, "You need a drink."

I just blinked in astonishment. I said, "You're right."

He said, "I'll get a can of pop." And he ran to the refrigerator.

I said, "No, I can't drink that right now. I'll get water."

He said, "I want to help," and helped me pour it.

Also before bed, I noticed his Pirates of the Caribbean shirt was out, so I said, "Why is that there? You have to put that away!"

He said (garbled and in the wrong order) that it was for school, they had to bring something with a square on it, and he pointed out one of the jewels scattered around in the design, which was a square. But I understood.

In the car yesterday he said (after thinking hard and correcting himself several times), "What will happen if I..." which is REALLY complex and I thought it was totally beyond him. Abstract thought!

Amazing.

So now we will go into Thanksgiving this year with no pumpkin pie (this hurts me more than it hurts him) or anything remotely like food normal people eat but...I'll get over it. I'll make pumpkin pie in December if I have to...if I can even use canned pumpkin (I probably can't). :|

New doctor!

I saw my new doctor. She is

AWESOME!

I told her about my problems with RA, and how I have been gluten free as a result, and about my allergies and asthma, and my son has autism...

And she said, "Actually, those are all related."

And then she said, "Some people have this thing called 'leaky gut'..."

:O

I was so stunned that she actually, you know, SAID STUFF I KNEW ALREADY.

She said, "Oh yeah, that's all functional medicine."

I only picked her on the basis that she MIGHT practice functional medicine. It was pretty much a crap shoot.

Boy did she have a lot of advice for me. She took six vials of blood, told me I had to get off the pill because apparently taking it increases inflammation, and then she told me about all the testing she thought she should do for me, that I have big tonsils which means I have constant allergy issues, and probiotics and metal testing and she would chelate me and ...

I am STUNNED. DUDE.

She wants me to come back in three weeks and see an OB/GYN in two weeks to figure out something other than the pill.

This is really exciting for me. Oh, and she suggested I read Ultrametabolism, but I told her I was doing SCD, and she read the materials I brought about it and thought that should be fine, and gave me tips on introducing new foods...

And she said she would treat my son the exact same way. She said we need to figure out why I am such fertile ground for all of these problems.

EEE.

Starting the Specific Carbohydrate Diet

A week or so ago I'd heard from theinfamousmom about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, specifically the Pecan Bread site.

I was intrigued by this diet, specifically because it is used for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, and one of the RA medications I'm on is also used for those conditions. I didn't realize some parents were using this diet for autistic kids as well. I managed to get ahold of the bible of said diet, "Breaking the Vicious Cycle," and read it quickly.

I planned to go on the diet myself, and make all of the mistakes with me before bringing Clark on board, but Jeffrey thought I should go ahead and take him along for the ride.

Of course I spent all weekend cooking, but the stars aligned in a way that made it a little easier, especially since I had recently cut out corn and therefore all condiments already. I was also following an anti-yeast protocol that was not working to my satisfaction. I then had a minor infraction -- a couple of small gluten free cookies that I made for Clark -- and I predictably flared the next day. So I was certain that I really did need to remain starch free, and that's what SCD is all about.

The past two days we've been doing the intro diet. I can tell you that this is a HARD diet. But I was firm in my resolve for the most part (Jeffrey filled in my weak spots, thank you honey!). And I did screw up once, and Clark had a bathroom emergency as a result. Curious. Clark is REALLY enjoying the jello (unflavored gelatin plus grape juice) as well as a strange bread made from eggs alone.

The cool thing I've noticed is that Clark started conversing way more appropriately yesterday, and he was noticing things that he never seemed to notice before. I'm suspicious, but cautiously optimistic.

So yeah, the holidays should be interesting. I so totally suck right now for doing this before Thanksgiving. -_-