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Over 50 years on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for Ulcerative Colitis: Judy Herod, Daughter of Elaine Gottschall

1h 52m · Against the Grain · 19 Jan 00:00

This is my much anticipated interview with Judy Herod who has been on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (which we will often abbreviate as SCD) for over 50 years for ulcerative colitis with rapid clinical response and sustained drug-free remission. Her mother is the late Elaine Gottschall, biochemist and author of Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet which is the book that describes the SCD protocol in detail and started the food/ibd movement several decades ago. Judy has likely been using dietary therapy for her ulcerative colitis longer than anyone else in the world. There are many parents who have young children on the SCD. I thought it would be valuable to hear from someone who has been on this protocol for so long to perhaps get a sense of what life can be like using SCD as a treatment strategy long term. As a disclaimer, this podcast should not be interpreted as medical advice as the SCD is not as of yet an FDA approved treatment for Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis.

SCD Website: http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/

The episode Over 50 years on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for Ulcerative Colitis: Judy Herod, Daughter of Elaine Gottschall from the podcast Against the Grain has a duration of 1:52:30. It was first published 19 Jan 00:00. The cover art and the content belong to their respective owners.

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Dr. K’s Simplified Prescription to Treat IBD

(it’s not that complicated to know what to do)

1.Start with appropriate and optimized medical therapy, preferably by an IBD specialist (like myself).

2.If this works, follow an IBD diet protocol that speaks to you and that you can realistically follow long term. Bottom line is to take out processed food and being plant based is probably helpful.

3.After at least 1 year, if in deep remission (feeling normal, normal colonoscopy, normal biopsies), continue meds if no side effects or consider de-escalation of medical therapy (ie stopping or reducing dose) and continue diet with careful monitoring strategy for recurrence. If there is disease recurrence, restart medical therapy at direction of IBD specialist and consider changing dietary protocol.

4.If you run out of medical therapies or are stuck on prednisone, surgery is a good option which can not only save your life but improve your quality of life.

5.Besides diet and medication, other complementary and alternative therapies (ie supplements, probiotics, etc) are unlikely to be the miracle you hope for.


That is all!

To schedule a phone conversation with me, go to:
https://calendly.com/samir3/against-the-grain


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My guests are Dr. Meghana Doniparthi, gastroenterology fellow at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and 
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Kim received her Doctor of Pharmacy from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and her BS in Pharmacy from Auburn University. She has experience in academics and industry, working at MUSC as part of an Internal Medicine team and serving as adjunct faculty at MUSC College of Pharmacy, then working in Health Sciences with Merck as an academic liaison for those publishing and researching in lipids, hypertension, and heart failure. She has been following research in IBD closely since 2013 with her teenage son’s diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, and has become committed to the advancement of nutritional therapy as treatment. 
Her website is http://www.ntforibd.org



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