Congrats again on the new addition to your family. If you don’t mind me asking, what did you use for prenatal vitamins? Thanks!
Hi,
For my prenatal vitamins, I just used the SCD Multivitamin from Freeda Vitamins. 2 per day, with one Freeda Vitamin iron pill since I was a little low on iron, plus a Freeda Vitamin Folic Acid pill during the first 2 trimesters. My doctor said they looked fine, and was very supportive of the diet. That was really wonderful! He even mentioned at one point later in the pregnancy that he hadn't been so sure I was going to do ok on the diet while pregnant, but he was impressed with my health and the progress and health of the baby on the diet.
Take care,
Erin
www.nomorecrohns.com
Erin - Thank you so much for your website. You describe everything so detailed and easy to understand. I have Crohn's and Colitis - diagnosed in 2001. I have tried the SCD diet many times and would fail after 2-3 weeks. Now, I have been following it for about 2 years - but only 95-99%. I started to feel so good and then I started cheating - like adding regular salad dressing back because I was so sick of making my own. Now, I have experienced another mini-flare (only 1-2 days). But it was awful, I hadn't felt pain like that in a while. I have noticed that my flares usually happen in the first 3 weeks of November - must be something seasonal for me. I have really tried to make an effort to stop the cheating - only 2 times in the past 2 weeks. I am feeling a bit better, but I just sense that something else might be going on. I never did do the introductory diet, I just cut out all the things I wasn't supposed to be eating. I think I may have to start all over again with that introductory piece. I am still on 12 Asacol a day and would love to get off of it completely before I get pregnant, but I don't think that is going to happen. I would love to get your thoughts on pregnancy and the diet. Did your doctor have any suggestions for extra supplements? Also, any good recommendations on a probiotic? I got one from Ethical Nutrients DF (Dairy Free) from my nutritionist. I was reading the label the other day and it said it contained milk and soy - ugh!
Hi,
Thank you so much for writing. I'm really glad that my website was helpful for you! It sounds like you were diagnosed at right around the same time as me.
Good job for following the diet as much as you have. It isn't an easy thing to do by any means! But the improvement is so worth it. I think what has helped me to stay 100% on the diet is just the strong desire to be symptom free and medication free. As soon as I accidentally eat just a smidgeon of anything non-SCD, I am immediately in a flare-up for several days until it is out of my system...that's enough for me to keep doing the SCD. I have my life back and I want to keep it back!
My OB-GYN doctor was very supportive of the diet, which I was SO thankful for! He told me he thought that I was eating the way everyone should be eating anyway. He said that the Freeda SCD Vitamin was good enough to take in place of pre-natals (2 per day), and I also added Freeda Folic Acid pills and one Freeda iron pill.
As for probiotics, I have never taken any - I just eat lots of the SCD yogurt. It sounds like your nutritionist may be just giving you her standard ideas for Crohn's. I would just eat the SCD yogurt to be sure there aren't any other fillers in the probiotic. I think that even 3 cups a day, spaced evenly throughout the day would give you plenty of probiotic benefit.
As I did research on pregnancy and nutrition, I found that the most important foods to eat needed to contain protein and calcium. Other than that, it was important to eat lots of variety - fruits, vegetables, some navy beans, meat, eggs, yogurt, etc. Doing this, I had a "picture-perfect pregnancy" according to my doctor. I didn't gain too much or too little, and my baby came out a 9 on the Apgar Scale (1 to 10).
I tried to have some quick snacks on hand since I got hungry faster than usual when pregnant. Some examples: cheddar cheese slices with peanut butter and raisins on top, Lara Bars (legal flavors: Ginger Snap, Pecan Pie, Cherry Pie, Apple Pie, Cashew Cookie, Peanut Butter Cookie), Stretch Island Fruit Leather (legal flavors: Blackberry, Grape, Apricot, Raspberry), and Dates stuffed with pecans.
Take care,
Erin
www.nomorecrohns.com
Hi Erin,
I'm 20 weeks pregnant and had a major flare during my first trimester. My Dr. put me on iron pills because my iron level is so low. I know it's illegal (I've been on the diet on and off for two years- hard to not cheat) and I'm starting the intro diet again because I still am having diarrhea. My Dr. are not allowing me to get off the iron - do you think that it's going to effect the success of my diet very much? I did the intro for three days and introduced bananas and today, butternut squash. I've having very few BM but when i do its still not solid (although it's not diarrhea either). I'm hoping for better progress but am feeling a little dishearted because I know iron could be the cause of not getting better. Any suggestions? advice?
Thanks.
Hi,
Thanks for your note!
From what I remember from being on the Long Island List Serve while Elaine was answering some questions on it, she said she didn't like iron supplementation herself but would rather that people got iron from natural foods like spinich, liver, red meat, etc. But it seemed to me like more of a personal preference instead of a hard and fast "this is illegal."
So when I was a little anemic during pregnancy, I did take some iron pills that I got through www.freedavitamins.com, (they carry a few other SCD vitamins and have a minimum of illegals in their other vitamins so I figured it was the best choice). I had no problems with it, took it just for a short time while I needed it, and was fine.
I'd just keep on with the iron pills, maybe try the Freeda brand to minimize illegals in them, and then continue on the diet. I figure that Elaine did allow a couple of minimal illegals like bacon, crisply fried, once a week (even with sugar in it), and one diet drink a week containing aspartame. Because of this, I think that when you need to take a pill that has a tiny amount of illegals in it (like Tylenol or a prescription drug for example), go ahead and do it - I don't think it's going to cause a flare-up. It hasn't ever caused any problems for me!
I hope this puts your mind at ease! Just keep up doing the diet 100% and keep up the good work!
Take care,
Erin