... continued from
Now after reading the previous entries of my SCD attempts (abridged version: tried, failed, ditto, tried, succeeded, life solved), you might have thought you had heard the last of me. Soon after remission, I made a break for it (I’m freee) and went abroad for grad school. Somewhere in between SCD Attempt 3 and 4, I fell off the wagon; between grad school, thesis writing, work, and enjoying life, I simply wasn’t spending enough time in the kitchen. This was also my first time entirely cooking for myself; at home, my parents had been my unpaid chefs and I was their sous chef, meaning that I was a glorified taste tester and dessert chef. Halfway through grad school in London, I decided it would be ok to start experimenting with non-SCD foods. NB: it’s ok to experiment in college, just not with your health!
Elaine Gottschall, who popularized SCD, wrote that you should be symptom free for at least one year before experimenting with non-SCD foods. I was nowhere near that mark but when I felt well, I was on a healthy high and quickly developed amnesia of ever having been sick, how making a trip to the grocery store down the road used to require a premeditated battle plan or how when going out at all, I was accompanied by fearpanicanxiety of being sick – either paralyzing pain, the urgent need for a bathroom, or both - while out-and-about, because that did happen more often than not. Those are the UC side effects that affect you the most, the ones your doctor doesn’t spend enough time explaining because you will figure it out soon enough for yourself. Hard as it may seem, my mind easily forgot all that because my previous life, the last 8 years, was polar opposite of my new fantastic one - free of anxiety and full of spontaneity and plans that actually panned out; in short, I had quickly adjusted to the good life. And so when I ate out with my friends, I didn’t give the waiter the third degree on how this chicken was prepared, or when I went to someone’s house for dinner, I did eat that fruit laced with sugar (one of the greatest highs a SCD degenerate can feel), and when I still felt ok and the holidays came around… well let’s just say that one standard deviation soon led to ten. I was off the diet by the time Costco pecan pie came into the picture. I told myself I’d take a break from SCD until the New Year and then start afresh because New Year resolutions have such a high success rate.
Continued...
Now after reading the previous entries of my SCD attempts (abridged version: tried, failed, ditto, tried, succeeded, life solved), you might have thought you had heard the last of me. Soon after remission, I made a break for it (I’m freee) and went abroad for grad school. Somewhere in between SCD Attempt 3 and 4, I fell off the wagon; between grad school, thesis writing, work, and enjoying life, I simply wasn’t spending enough time in the kitchen. This was also my first time entirely cooking for myself; at home, my parents had been my unpaid chefs and I was their sous chef, meaning that I was a glorified taste tester and dessert chef. Halfway through grad school in London, I decided it would be ok to start experimenting with non-SCD foods. NB: it’s ok to experiment in college, just not with your health!
Elaine Gottschall, who popularized SCD, wrote that you should be symptom free for at least one year before experimenting with non-SCD foods. I was nowhere near that mark but when I felt well, I was on a healthy high and quickly developed amnesia of ever having been sick, how making a trip to the grocery store down the road used to require a premeditated battle plan or how when going out at all, I was accompanied by fearpanicanxiety of being sick – either paralyzing pain, the urgent need for a bathroom, or both - while out-and-about, because that did happen more often than not. Those are the UC side effects that affect you the most, the ones your doctor doesn’t spend enough time explaining because you will figure it out soon enough for yourself. Hard as it may seem, my mind easily forgot all that because my previous life, the last 8 years, was polar opposite of my new fantastic one - free of anxiety and full of spontaneity and plans that actually panned out; in short, I had quickly adjusted to the good life. And so when I ate out with my friends, I didn’t give the waiter the third degree on how this chicken was prepared, or when I went to someone’s house for dinner, I did eat that fruit laced with sugar (one of the greatest highs a SCD degenerate can feel), and when I still felt ok and the holidays came around… well let’s just say that one standard deviation soon led to ten. I was off the diet by the time Costco pecan pie came into the picture. I told myself I’d take a break from SCD until the New Year and then start afresh because New Year resolutions have such a high success rate.
Continued...
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| This is what a standard deviation looks like.. |