Miscellaneous Maintenance

Fruit. I get a lot of objection when I tell people that unless it is your cheat day, fruit is not allowed on the SCD. Let me briefly address this concern. Your body processes all sugar in the same way. Fruit, although natural and healthy, has an over-abundant amount of sugar. What we are trying to avoid with the SCD is an insulin spike, which signals your body to process glycogen as energy instead of burning through fat reserves. If you think about it, our ancestors were not eating watermelon, grapes, or apples in the middle of winter in Wisconsin – that only came with the invention of the delivery truck, and chemically altered fruit chalked full of preservatives to make them last for days longer than they should.

Here is a chart comparing some different types of sugar contents of various fruits. Tomatoes are allowed on the SCD because they are relatively low in sugar in comparison to other fruits. Lately I have been adding a small amount of Lime juice to water for additional flavor - it works great!

Carbohydrates are basically sugars that are processed into many different forms (pasta, cereal, bread, etc.) In fact, the word “carbohydrate” is a synonym for saccharides – and a saccharide is derived from a Greek word meaning ‘SUGAR.’ Are we sensing a correlation? Sugar = excess calories. Beans work as a nice substitute for the white carbs because they are natural, specialized complex carbohydrates with a substantial amount of protein to negate their high caloric value.

I always tell people: if you have to question whether a certain food is allowed on the SCD, chances are that it’s not. Just save it for your cheat day. For me, one of the most difficult challenges was the elimination and/or minimization of sauces and dressings. Ketchup, mayo, ranch dressing, honey mustard, you name it – I probably love it. However, you never realize how fast the calories add up unless you’re actively cognizant of what is going in your body at all times. Thank you for reading. Happy dieting!