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One Month Prednisone-free!

I am now a little over four weeks off of prednisone and so far am going strong on SCD and Imuran!

While my sugar cravings drive me nuts at times, I am so grateful to have found this diet. For me, it felt like the meds helped stop my symptoms, but changing my diet is what really took me a step further to not feel sick.

My current favorite thing about SCD... Avocado!
 
Congratulations!

My daughter is at about the same point, a couple of months on SCD and tapered successfully off the prednisone about a month ago. We keep tons of fruit around the house, which helps with the sweet cravings, and we have discovered some excellent SCD-legal cookie recipes. It's nice to have something sweet you can just grab, or pack with your lunch.

If you can tolerate nut flours and coconut, here's one we really like. I didn't use cashew meal, I happened to have a lot of raw cashews and I ground them in the food processor, so they were a little chunkier than cashew meal:

http://www.fengshuidana.com/2013/11/30/coconut-cashew-quick-cookies/
 
I was baking with almond flour when I initially skipped the SCD intro and phases... and you can definitely make some delicious treats! I have a great zucchini muffin recipe around here somewhere... But I decided to back off of it and start from the intro as I tapered off of the pred. I've heard that coconut flour is better for you than almond flour, so I'm eager to try it out when I get there. And eager to try that recipe too! Thanks for the link! Now my favorites for sweet cravings are gelatin made with organic 100% grape juice, frozen bananas, and cooked pears.
 
Also, I was wondering if your daughter is on any other medication or was able to successfully taper off prednisone just following SCD?
 
Mmm, yes, frozen bananas are great, as are frozen grapes.

My daughter is taking Pentasa still. We are skeptical about whether it's doing anything, but we have a huge bottle of the capsules so she might as well take them.

She was diagnosed in December and started on Pentasa and Prednisone then. We tried to taper below 20 mg of the Prednisone but she got worse, so we went back up to 30. Then we started SCD and saw great results very quickly, and were able to taper the Prednisone down to zero over the course of about six weeks.

People have cautioned us that there may still be "bumps in the road" even while we are keeping very strictly to SCD. But so far, so good.

It has completely changed the way we shop and cook. It is a huge help that SCD is so similar to the Paleo diet -- my daughter enjoys researching recipes online, and there are tons of Paleo ones as well as the SCD recipes. It makes a big difference to her that she has some control over what she gets to eat. She has found some really good recipes. She has also identified a couple of restaurants where she can eat specific things, when she goes out with her friends. This makes it easier for her to stick strictly to the diet.
 
Magnolia, congratulations! I despise prednisone even if it does wonderful things. Anything is better than being on it though, right?

Are you unable to eat honey? I satisfy my sweet tooth with honey things. Sometimes if I'm really needing something but too lazy to fix anything I'll just eat a teaspoon....or tablespoon....of pure honey and that fixes things.

And yeah.....avocados!!
 
Yes! I am able to eat honey. When I first started SCD I ate my feelings in the form of spoonfuls and spoonfuls of honey. Not a great plan, as it is still sugar. When I started over with the intro diet I cut it out, and am now reintroducing it... With a bit more moderation...
 
I also just saw my naturopath (who initially suggested SCD), and she wants me to add in quinoa and millet... Neither of which I ever would have thought I would be excited about... but after going grain-free I feel a little giddy with anticipation to see how they treat me.
 
Yes! I am able to eat honey. When I first started SCD I ate my feelings in the form of spoonfuls and spoonfuls of honey. Not a great plan, as it is still sugar. When I started over with the intro diet I cut it out, and am now reintroducing it... With a bit more moderation...

Oh yes, been there. :lol:
 
Now my favorites for sweet cravings are gelatin made with organic 100% grape juice, frozen bananas, and cooked pears.
Have you tried making homemade applesauce? I just peel as many apples that will fit in a crockpot, add a little bit of water, and cook on low for four hours. Then I blend/puree in the food processor, pour into separate tupperware containers, and refrigerate. It's so sweet that I consider it a dessert.
 
I haven't tried cooking apples in a crockpot. I've cooked them in water on the stove and they turned out pretty bland. I like to bake them with a little coconut oil and cinnamon though.
 
When you are making applesauce, the less water the better. I wash and cut up the whole apple and when everything is soft, mash with a potato masher and put through a food mill or a strainer (just keep mashing/stirring until almost everything is through except the residual seeds and shreds of peel). I think that makes it more flavorful. The mashing is tedious but so is the peeling, it just depends on if you have to do the work before or after the apples are cooked.

With that method, you get a whole lot of pectin naturally in the applesauce. Sometimes I spoon off the more liquidy parts of the applesauce and add to fruit desserts to help thicken.
 
Magnolia, super happy for you. I'm exhibiting the same success. Diagnosed, researched SCD, docs wanted to pump me full of Humira (got a new doc), doc said go for SCD, complete remission (Heck yes!) and entirely medicine free.

1 question. did you exhibit the 3 month relapse? if so, what did you do to counter it.
 
When you are making applesauce, the less water the better. I wash and cut up the whole apple and when everything is soft, mash with a potato masher and put through a food mill or a strainer (........
That's really interesting. I'd never thought of doing this!
 
Magnolia, super happy for you. I'm exhibiting the same success. Diagnosed, researched SCD, docs wanted to pump me full of Humira (got a new doc), doc said go for SCD, complete remission (Heck yes!) and entirely medicine free.

1 question. did you exhibit the 3 month relapse? if so, what did you do to counter it.
Awesome that you are doing so well without meds!

I did not have a 3 month relapse. Is that common? At three months is around the time I decided to start from the intro diet after initially skipping it though, so maybe I preemptively avoided it?
 
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