[KimS]

I get a fair number of e-mails asking me to help with a rotation diet to bring to docs. for approval. I also find that a lot of people don't understand what they should eat if they're reacting to grains (or something else)... or what to do for a rotation menu. So I thought we should make a place of menu sample for people who want to try rotation diets to see if they will feel any better or wanting to try rotation for food isolation reasons.

It would be really nice if some vegans and nut-free folks would add a three day example of what they eat-to-keep-full too... hint, hint, nudge, nudge

This thread should make a nice collection of choices for people to get started with!


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Grains are, generally, a filler that is not very nutrient dense. For example, lasagna: If you make one lasagna with grain noodles and the very same recipe but with zucchini noodles, which one do you think will provide more nutrients?

Even animals are not supposed to eat all the grain we feed them. You know why we do it? Because it's more cost effective. Humans can increase their profit quota by reducing their feed quota. All the food experiments with farm animals are geared toward finding the least expensive form of food whilst keeping the animal alive and appearing healthy. Having gone from feeding our dogs, cat and chickens a lot of grain to less food but better content (more diverse), I can tell you it's nothing short of amazing what it does for their personalities and production. In the chickens, it is especially noticeable because whilst a grain fed chicken will slow down in egg production in the winter, our girls don't. They also have a brighter yolk that looks more like an orange than a yellow sun. That's because the eggs are higher in omega 3 which is lacking in the general north american diet and they're also a LOT higher in alpha and beta carotene (which causes the deeper colour).

I also had trouble giving up dairy and really cried over it but once I saw that the children were actually do better, I now have trouble allowing them to have dairy and feel guilty about it when I do... but we do like to allow them to have chocolate (like Turtle's - I know everyone's doing a huge 'faux pas' gasp! heehee) around the holidays.

So anyway, here are a few points that are running through my mind:

First of all, if you're loading up on any food (like that much grain), it can be harmful. Would you eat that many apples? That much meat?

Secondly, you won't get any clear results by loading something.

Third, my son, who wouldn't grow properly, had one year's worth of bone growth in 16 weeks on a grain free diet that was full of meat and nuts and fruit and veggies.

Fourth the goal, nutrition-wise, is to be on a good rotation diet... so if you make up a menu, you might have more success in showing your dh that he won't be hungry. However, the first 4 days without grain he may feel 'empty' as the grain/bulk leaves his system. When you add grain back in, it will help you understand the word 'bloated' better. I never realized, my whole life, that I was not 'full', I was 'bloated'.

So, here's the first three days of a rotation diet for a meat eater.

Day 1:
Breakfast: Peanut Butter/Squash Bread

Snack: Apple and Banana

Lunch: Burgers (meat, grated carrot, onion, grated zucchini, grated beet, oregano, sea salt and pepper)
Lettuce and tomato

Snack: Carrot sticks and macadamia nuts

Dinner: Burgers.

You don't need a bun to enjoy burgers. In fact, the bun just uses up space where more nutritious food should go.

Day 2:
Breakfast: Chicken pancakes (made with pureed chicken, squash and eggs) See pecanbread.com for recipe.

Snack: Raisin/pecan/honey snack bar

Lunch: Chicken soup and chicken salad (mayonnaise, celery, pepper, avocado, pine nuts). The chicken salad can be scooped up with 'celery spoons'.

Snack: Raisin/pecan/honey snack bar

Dinner: Chicken, rice and roasted veggies (eggplant, beet, mushrooms)

Day 3:

Breakfast: Stewed apples with blueberries and peanut butter (tastes like a peanut butter and blueberry jam sandwich - by the spoonful). My kids love this, it's one of their favourites.

Snack: Banana walnut snack bar.

Lunch: Tuna pancakes (rice flour, egg -can be flax egg, dill)

Snack: Banana walnut snack bar.

Dinner: Steamed halibut sprinkled with dill and goat cheese, served with boiled potatoes loaded with parsley. Cabbage can either be served cooked or as coleslaw... I generally cook some for dh and I but the children like to eat grated cabbage.

I bet this 3 day menu is far more diverse than what you've been eating. I know that since we 'limited' our diet 4 years ago, we eat far more food now than we ever did back then... because we were filling up on grain which was both cheaper and easier.

Now we are high on nuts but are a family that has trouble gaining weight (high eosinophils). Grain had us bloated and unhealthy and we don't always eat so high on nuts as they can be difficult to digest and one has to give the intestines a break every once in a while. For a family that is on the heavy side, I would include nuts but perhaps only once per day so as not to tip the scales.

We also don't do the cheese anymore since we found that we do seem to react to goat milk also now... but we did use it for a few years when we gave up cow dairy (we found it was the cause of leg pain and enuresis-night wetting).

[NancyM]

Originally Posted by KimS

Even animals are not supposed to eat all the grain we feed them. You know why we do it? Because it's more cost effective. Humans can increase their profit quota by reducing their feed quota. All the food experiments with farm animals are geared toward finding the least expensive form of food whilst keeping the animal alive and appearing healthy.

Slight derail, sorry!
Maybe you've already read it, but the Omnivore's Dilemma was all about this. Very fascinating book!

[jamietwo]

I was so proud of myself when we had company - I prepared 15 different main meals before I had to repeat any! But not repeating ingredients is tough because almost all of our meals contain many ingredients! So there may be some duplication, but I will endeavor to make it minimal! (After reviewing my selections, I think its safe to say that we eat onions every day! )

The other thing we do (which is technically a no-no) is have our main meal at night, then eat the leftovers for lunch the next day. However in the interest of not repeating foods on subsequent days, I will list the main meal at lunch and the leftovers at supper.

Day 1
Breakfast
Kasha (toasted and cooked buckwheat groats) topped with banana, blackstrap molasses, and soy milk

Lunch
No-roll enchiladas (onion, refried beans, black beans, corn tortillas, corn, salsa, tomato sauce, chili powder)
Romaine lettuce

Supper
Leftovers

Snacks
Peanuts, dried apricots, apples

Day 2
Breakfast
Shake (cashew milk, orange, banana, flax seeds)

Lunch
Lentil loaf (onion, garlic, celery, sage, lentils, brown rice, wild rice, walnuts, vinegar, flax eggs, salt, pepper)
Cashew gravy (onion, rice flour, veg broth, oil, cashews, water, salt, pepper)
Raw Cranberry Salad (cranberries, orange, apple, dates)
Kale Stir-fry (kale, onion, garlic, almonds, raisins)
Special sweet potatoes (sweet potatoes, almond butter, blackstrap molasses, rice milk)

Supper
Leftovers

Snacks
Smoothie (orange, bananas, strawberries), almonds

Day 3
Breakfast
Cooked rice cereal (brown rice, walnuts, raisins) topped with maple syrup and rice milk.

Lunch
Roasted Veggies (butternut squash, onions, red peppers, broccoli, spinach, carrots, zucchini, garlic, etc.) with vinegar/oil/spices
Baked Potatoes

Supper
Leftovers

Snacks
Pears, dates, walnuts, pumpkin muffins
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Other vegan main meal ideas:
Salads!
Black bean soup
Shepherd's pie
Lasagna
Split pea soup
Cauliflower soup
Tasty taco salad
Pizza
Lentil soup
Spaghetti
Tofu broccoli stir-fry
Black bean burgers with miso gravy
Sloppy joes with mashed potatoes
Asian broccoli noodles

[RathyKay]

So, a rotation diet has been in the back of my mind for awhile now. I do have two questions. For the lesser question, Kim, I noticed you have apples for a snack on day 1 and baked apples for breakfast on day 3. Are you just not concerned with a reaction to apples, or was that a slip? (And bananas are on both of those days, too.)

The bigger question for me is, how do you handle school lunches versus supper? By that I mean, if you're having chicken for lunch and supper, when do you fix it? I can fix chicken for supper, and then have leftovers for lunch the next day, but then you're talking about roughly a 24 hour "exposure" period. If the kids eat chicken for lunch, and then that same day for supper, it's more of a 12 hour "exposure" (assuming breakfast might also be chicken related). Do you get up early so that there's freshly cooked chicken for the kids to take to school for lunch, and maybe eat for breakfast? Or do you make the meal the night before, so that you're always eating leftovers? Or do you freeze supper leftovers for the next chicken day (three days later)? (So the reason I'm picking on chicken, is that I've been enjoying roasting whole chickens for supper lately. It takes 2 1/2 hours to cook. Getting up early to fix that in time for the kids to take to school is blowing my mind. Although, I could easily fix one on the weekend in time for lunch.)

[KimS]

Originally Posted by RathyKay

...how do you handle school lunches versus supper? ...roughly a 24 hour "exposure" period.

I think the 24 hour exposure period is okay. Better than no rotation at all.

If you can get ahead enough, (we rotisserie chicken too - almost all the time, it's SO GOOD! ) then the leftovers are left for lunch (3 or 4 days later, when it's chicken day again. So, essentially, you're eating leftovers for lunch (I love chicken salad!) and then fresh chicken (with the lovely crispy skin) for dinner on the same day.

We often have chicken soup for breakfast also. It didn't used to repeat but is now. Also, it has always repeated if we have a 'contamination' event happen, because we use the soup broth to flush our systems.

The apples were a slip in the menu (I put that in there fairly rushed)... but we do tend to eat apples really frequently sometimes (also, it depends what I can get that's organic).

Now that our sensitivities are less (as can happen over the years) there are some things I don't stress about the way I used to. Still, if I can, I try and rotate the fruit weekly.

[sleepingbean]

Here is a sample I put together for a woman who was trying to lose weight on a Vegan rotation diet
But the total daily calories are 1761, which isn't bad.
The daily nutrients are all met, with the exception of B12, which is hard to get on a vegetarian diet (and is controversial) and calcium. On this day you'd be getting 55% of your calcium recommendation, so that would be an area for improvment or supplement?

This could obviouslly be improved upon, and many things like Pears and Apples can be used to make pear cookies and pancakes on the SCDiet so there are options. Water would be the main drink (maybe herb tea). Or fresh juicing some of those daily fruits? Also, if you did make the yogurt or keifir water from almond or coconut, that would be wonderfullly healing for your gut!

Here is a list:

a seaweed salad of the following. Eat the whole salad throughout the day!
4 tablespoons of each:
Agar, Kelp, Wakame, Laver. I don't know off hand if Apple Cider Vinegar is okay on SCD or lemon? Either of those would be nice with the seaweed, but not sure if they are safe. I think lemon is good for the gut, but have to double check.

1 medium
banana, apple, pear (cut up in a bowl for breakfast)

Throughout the day snacks: Eat 1 avocado, 1/2 Cup almonds, 1/4 Cup cashews, 1/4 Cup brazil nuts

Lunch : 1 cup boiled spaghetti squash with 1/2 cup broccoli 1/2 cup boiled carrots

Supper: 1/2 Cup lentils (prepared SCD style) 1/2 Cup broccolli, 1/2 cup boiled carrots

dessert: 1 Cup blueberries drizzled in honey


Downside, while you are getting your nutrients and keeping your calories low, you are not getting enough protein for your recommended amount. With this day of food you would be getting 48 of protein. Not terrible. You could up your almonds to get closer to goal. Maybe make a batch of monster cookies and ignore the calories for the healing process?

[sleepingbean]

Here is another I put together for my mom (based on her many food restrictions!)

Note: Begin on day four supper

Day 1

Breakfast: Rice (not white instant rice, but a whole grain, well cooked brown rice), peach, walnut, rice milk (get a sugar free one such as the West Soy brand of rice milk)

Snack: Blueberries, cashews

Lunch: Taco salad leftover, red leaf lettuce, avocado, hamburger other veggie of choice

Supper: Chicken, broccoli, butternut squash

Snack: Apples, pecans

Drink: Almond milk (look for sugar free), angelica tea, water



Day 2

Breakfast: Oatmeal (certified gluten free oats in quantity no more than 1/2 Cup precooked), apple, pecan, almond milk, cinnamon

Snack: Almonds, grapes

Lunch: Spinach, green leaf lettuce, chicken, summer squash, basil, almonds, water or almond milk

Supper: Tilapia, dill, oil, green beans, potato (sweet or regular), bacon

Snack: Honey dew melon, cashew

Drink: 3rd milk choice, blackthorn tea, water



Day 3

Breakfast: Bacon, leftover potato, honey dew melon, 3rd milk choice

Snack: Pears or other fruit, hazelnuts

Lunch: Pasta salad (tinkyada rice), peas, oil, bacon, water

Supper: HyVee Turkey/(or pork-check for broths with pork products) yams, cooked cabbage-not to exceed 1 cup (or asparagus)

Snack: Apples, pecans or almonds, cherries

Drink: Almond milk



Day 4

Breakfast: Oatmeal-(certified gluten free, not to exceed 1/2 cup precooked), apple, pecan, almond milk, cinnamon

Snack: Almonds, cherries

Lunch: Leftovers from prior night supper

Supper: Tacos salad hamburger, avocado, red leaf lettuce, onions

Snack: Lundberg Rice cake (check label for any added sweeteners and avoid those), cashew butter, peach

Drink: Rice milk, angelica tea

[sleepingbean]

And here is the basic 2 week menu that can be played with for rotation too!
2 week menu gluten, dairy, soy, corn, sugar free