Description

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) is designed essentially to heal the gut by starving out bad bacteria. Initially it was used for “obvious” digestive problems, such as ulcerative colitis. It is now often used in Autism, as an alternative to the GF/CF diet.

It has also been occasionally used in other illnesses, such as schizophrenia.


The SCD diet, probiotic use, and some antibiotic use, such Dr Shaw of Great Plains Laboratory’s use of nystatin, are all designed to achieve the same purpose: curing gut dysbiosis, which is thought to be the basis of many apparently-unconnected illnesses.


Personally, a prefer to just use a multi-strain probiotic, which should re-populate the gut with healthy bacteria and drive out the bad.

Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride, in her GAPS treatment for both autism and mental illnesses, recommends using both the SCD diet and a therapeutic probiotic (she uses Bio-Kult, which is a probiotic she helped to develop).