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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Back from the east coast!

Katie and I just arrived back in Idaho after a great vacation visiting family in Connecticut and visiting New York City.  The fall colors in New England were fantastic and the weather held out for the most part. 
Fall color starting in CT

Wow, so much to say so here it goes:

Traveling SCD style was as followed:
-I brought down a cooler to the hotel the night before with yogurt and cheese for breakfast and a sandwich during the day. 
-We went out to a restaurant that night and I had a burger and used a bun (modified Lois Lang biscuit) that I had brought with me.
-Yogurt maker packed in luggage (used starter in CT from commercial yogurt).
-Used the hotel mini fridge for yogurt with added honey, coconut mana, and nuts (morning breakfast) and cheese for sandwich on the plane, plus muffins I had made the day before and biscuits.
-On the plane we carried and ate cheese sandwiches with butter and mustard, apples and peanut butter, bananas, homemade almond flour/coconut flour cookies, and Lara bars for backup (losing the taste for those things).
Suffice to say we ate better than almost everyone on the plane and for much cheaper.  $8.00 for three little, nasty sandwiches from the plane menu?  No thanks!


Once in Connecticut, I was able to make yogurt with the yogurt maker I brought from home and used commercial yogurt I bought at the store for a starter (I used 1/2 cup yogurt for a half gallon of milk).  It turned out very good and was a great help to have for mornings and snacks. 
For dinners we had roasts with vegetables, baked salmon, roasted squash and carrot fries *(see Two Steps Forward, One Step back book for recipes), BBQ chicken, etc, etc, as well as a great yellow cake with vanilla cream cheese/butter frosting with fresh concord grape/red wine reduction sauce (recipe coming soon!)  To say the least, both family/friends and I ate very well while on vacation and the SCD posed no limitations or headaches during meal planning. 

Other recipes that we came up with there and that I will soon post on the blog were a SCD version of New England clam chowder using coconut milk and a carrot cake using almond flour.  I was also able to find a few good SCD legal hard apple ciders that were pretty tasty.  I have been getting into the hard cider and even have started making my own.  I will post some of the legal brands and maybe even a post on how to make your own.  Anyone interested in hearing more about hard cider please let me know.  Stay tuned!

While in CT we took the train into New York City and tootled around for the day.  We did some serious walking (110 blocks!) and went to the MET art museum, central park, meat packing district, the high line, times square, then back to grand central station.  I even was able to get a great salmon dish at, of all places, an Italian restaurant, most of which I have given up on due to no SCD meals. Who would have thought...
Overall, a great trip with many exciting times.
  
Central Park 

Grand Central Train Station
Vincent van Gogh at the MET 

Take care and happy SCD traveling to you,

Tucker

4 comments:

  1. Hi Tucker,
    Just wanted to say thanks so much for your book. It arrived today, and I finished it today lol so great to see you are living the life of your dreams and have turned your UC into such a positive journey to help others through your experiences. Much love to Katie and your mum, who were fantastic carers (hug), your book is exactly what I needed right now! I am mum to a 7yr old beautiful boy with UC, he was diagnosed at 3, we have had such a hard road but finally found SCD and he has been on this for just over 6 months. He still cannot tolerate many foods, stage 1-2 on pecan bread site, but his health has changed amazingly over these few months, I now have hopeagain, that we are finally heading in the right direction and he now has a really great chance at having a normal life not dictated by UC. As a parent, your book is inspiring, to see you overcome UC and flourish in life gives me hope, so I sincerely thank you for writing the book. I wish you all the best on your journey :)

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  2. Hi Jo! Thank you very much for the kind words and for expressing the raw feelings that all of us who are either caregivers or those inflicted with chronic disease feel. I am so glad you both found the SCD and I am sure your boy will find success at the end of his own journey. Take care, and let me know if you ever have questions that I may be able to answer.

    Tucker

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  3. Hi Tucker! Thanks for the inspiration; I have an 18 year old son who has been following the SCD diet for 2 years and has just started University this year. Although he doesn't have Crohns or Colitis, he has gut issues and high oxalate levels that are controlled with SCD, which is awesome!

    It is great that a you have stepped forward and written a book regarding your issues and SCD. It is a great example for him to follow as he is also an outdoorsmen. I know there are other young people/older too that find the diet daunting and here you are living your life to the fullest and not letting diet and disease get in your way!!

    I know that he will be interested (as I am) in learning which ciders are "legal", as you know university is a time of experimentation and the alcohol issue has been a stumbling block to his SCD faithfulness in the last month or two.

    I will be ordering at least one of your books, if not two, one for Zach and myself to read and one for a friend who says she would do "anything" to be Colitis-free, but finds SCD too daunting to try!

    Take care, we will continue to read your blog!

    Karen

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  4. Hi Karen, keep up the good work encouraging your young man to do whats right for his health! I too had struggles with the alcohol issue when I first started college. Drinking (unfortunately)is sort of a college lifestyle for many and the peer pressure can be very high. There are many drinks that are legal and you really just have to make a choice that your health comes before anything else. If there is no legal cider or wine you just don't drink because you are "allergic" to it. Give your friends time to adjust to this and soon they will understand and advocate for you, if not move on and surround yourself with people who look out for your best interest.
    I found that I really had to change my entire lifestyle around to suit my new dietary needs. It takes a bit to get used to but soon becomes natural and personally rewarding. Just give it time.

    Tucker

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