Healing Foods: Cooking for Celiacs, Colitis, Crohn’s and IBS

Review by Christina M. Kuykendall for Healing Foods: Cooking for Celiacs, Colitis, Crohn’s and IBS
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I just received this cookbook today and I am thrilled. I was looking for some inspiration in the kitchen. My family has been doing the SCD since June of 2006 (treating autoimmune disease in myself; ADHD and chronic diarrhea in my son) and we were getting bored with our current recipes. I really needed something to get me excited about cooking again. This book has done just that. The pictures alone are worth the price of the book! It is breathtaking. They make me want to start organizing, planning, and cooking in the kitchen again!!!

And this is quite a hefty book, there are so many recipes in here, I’m having trouble deciding what to try first! One thing I noticed right off the bat, is that there are plenty of recipes that don’t depend on almond flour. Sure, there are plenty that do take benefit of this wonderful alternative flour, but not an overabundance of the book like some SCD cookbooks that I have. Also, there are a wide variety of recipes- scrumptious gourmet dinner party looking stuff right down to your basic everyday stuff. There is a nice balanced feel to the range of recipes overall. There are tons of condiment and sauce recipes as well. It looks to be a very versatile cookbook. I’ll update this again once we’ve tried some of the recipes.

I’ve got some more book ordering to do as this cookbook will definitely find its way into many Yule presents this year for my friends and family.

As for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, SCD, itself (which this cookbook is aligned with):

Elaine Gottschall’s book, Breaking The Vicious Cycle, which details the SCD, saved my life. I was lost in chronic pain, brain fog, insane exhaustion– unable to enjoy life. SCD has given back the joys in my life. I’ve lost 80 pounds and am at a healthy weight. I have so much more energy to live, not just physical energy, but mental energy as well. I can keep track of what chores need to be done and don’t feel overwhelmed or daunted anymore. I can discipline my children and actually be effective. I can follow conversations. I can move and walk and even dance pain free. I feel connected to the world around me instead of lost in fuzzy brain fog. I can enjoy my children, my husband, my friends, my family and my life once again.

My son has been pulled from the brink of Asperger’s by this diet. His ADHD has also been slowly fading. Emerging is this sweet, calm, focused, articulate little boy. SCD also gave him the first solid stools of his entire life. His little body is rapidly healing on this diet.

SCD is a healing diet and this cookbook is definitely all about “Healing Foods.” If you are looking for a cookbook that will help you reclaim your health, this one is a winner, along with Elaine’s book, Breaking the Vicious Cycle, which the author of Healing Foods also highly recommends.

UPDATE: We have tried some of the recipes now, and WOW! Yummy! We have tried the Lamb Koftas, Beef Lasagna, Yogurt Raita, Dijonaise, and Spinach Roulade. My husband, who has been reluctant to eat SCD wise, has been amazed at how great he feels eating this way with me and how yummy the food is! He thought eating healthier would be boring and unappealing. This cookbook has helped me to show him that isn’t the case. Our kids love the recipes as well! Now my entire family can enjoy eating the same meals together and I don’t have to spend time cooking separate meals. Woohoo! The recipes are also fairly easy and not too fussy. It strikes the perfect balance between gourmet taste and practicality! And we are finding many recipes that will work well given that we are only stage 2 right now (we redid the intro this past summer). This is not one of those cookbooks that is only useful once you are in advanced stages of healing; it has much to offer those still in the early phases. If you only buy one SCD cookbook, I highly recommend this one. It has brought new joy and appreciation to family mealtime!

Review by The Floating Bear for Healing Foods: Cooking for Celiacs, Colitis, Crohn’s and IBS
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If you follow the SCD (absolutely miraculous help for me with Crohn’s disease), you will certainly want to own this book. I haven’t cooked from it extensively yet, but it’s a lovely book to read through and will give you many ideas for new and delicious foods to cook when you are following the diet. As anyone on a diet knows, ideas and beauty are almost more valuable than recipes, as they make following the diet feel much less arduous. The Cheddar Cracker recipe alone is worth the price of the book. One of the best salty/crunchy snack foods ever, including “normal” foods! (I leave out the dried thyme and add onion powder and black pepper along with the cayenne pepper.) And they are incredibly easy and foolproof to make. Highly recommended.

Review by Linda Timney for Healing Foods: Cooking for Celiacs, Colitis, Crohn’s and IBS
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Cooking for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet can be a challenge, but this beautifully produced cook book both inspires and encourages those of us who like me, are not the most confident cooks on the block. Heaps of lovely recipes, beautifully presented. What I liked best of all though, was the thoughtful features like fold-in markers on both back and front covers as well as the included bookmark with all the website information.