I know I’m doing SCD wrong. Doing it backwards, really.

You’re supposed to start out with a more limited diet, much like the elimination diet I did back in 08-09. Except more limited than that. This phase lasts 2-5 days. And then you start adding foods in, going in slow stages.

The basic idea (and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on this) is that your intestine is damaged and having trouble processing foods. Any food that your body has trouble processing gets to sit around too long in your gut, where it becomes a breeding ground for all sorts of fun internal flora. Step one is to get rid of that excess food sitting around, which in turn should cut down on the various harmful bacteria and yeasts making a home in your intestines.

It makes sense. And the initial stage of the diet would do that. Instead, I’ve jumped on essentially at the last phase of the diet, eating all of the advanced (but allowed) foods. In part, I’m theorizing that my intestines are probably already partially recovered thanks to my gluten free lifestyle (it may even be true). In larger part, I’m reluctant to limit my foods even more than the final stage of SCD. I barely have the time to make enough food to get me through the week even as is.

These are excuses. But, like cliches, there is a truth to them.

And, I am finding, even though I’m only doing the most lax version of the diet, I’m seeing benefits. It became obvious last weekend when I broke diet at a convention and immediately got a bloated, unhappy feeling in my stomach. And the next several days I felt bloated and backed up, in a way I hadn’t since shortly after starting SCD.

This week, I’ve been dealing with congestion, earache, muscle pain and a few other things I’m strangely reluctant to talk about. And I realized today, reading through SCD blogs and sites, that what I’m seeing sounds like die-off. That point when the first round of intestinal beasties die for lack of sustenance. It becomes an issue of toxins suddenly rushing your system as the bacteria die. It makes you feel sick. Either that, or I have a bad cold. I will be very disappointed if it’s just a cold.

I’ve only been doing SCD for two weeks, and that with a break on the weekend. So, even done wrong, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet makes a significant improvement.