My second post on Seeing the Big Picture is out on SCDLifestyle.com.
I’ve clipped an excerpt here to get you started…
One of my personal goals for this series (and in writing and coaching in general) is to share some of the tools that I have developed over the years in the hope that they may speed your healing, and save you anguish along the way. Getting to the place where I could write a series like this has been a struggle. I have had some wonderful successes (like the SCD), and I have had some miserable failures. It has taken a tremendous amount of trial and error, of searching out experts, of reading books and studies, blogs and chat forums, to get my gut under control. Writing this series in hindsight, I hope, will help minimize some of that for you.
In my last post, I discussed the value of a big picture outlook and introduced the concepts of balance and prioritization as they relate to healing from digestive illness. In this post, I will expand on those concepts and walk you through the first steps of developing a big picture-focused healing plan. If you are using this series to its fullest, remember to get out a pen and paper, so you will be ready to jot down ideas and think about the questions and concepts along the way.
Today I have a guest post on SCDLifestyle.com. The post is a first in a series of posts designed to help folks think through the big picture of their healing and begin to make a plan. One of the most common issues I see when I talk with people, either through the blog or through coaching, is that the day-to-day difficulty of digestive illness can be so overwhelming that the big picture is lost. People end up treating their gut day-to-day. Of course, there can be value in taking our condition on a day-by-day basis, but the danger is that we then adopt and abandon treatments to whimsically never giving any one treatment enough time and/or attention. A big picture view also helps us in the rough times (Here’s where I was; look at where I am; here’s where I’m going).
Below is an excerpt from the beginning of the post. You can read the rest of the post, here, on SCDLifestyle’s website.
What is your ultimate health and healing goal? Pause for a moment and picture it. What is life like once this goal has been achieved? What are you doing? How do you feel? What have you learned along the way? Take some time to experience it…
That life you just experienced, those moments you just envisioned, that is the start of developing your big picture. Write it down in as clear a fashion as you can. You’ll need that for the rest of this series.
The goal of this big picture series is to help you see the value of being big picture focused. I will discuss how to develop your personal big picture, why you should keep it in front of you daily, and how a big picture focus can revolutionize your healing journey.
This series is designed to function as a guide; it is your own coach to help you develop a big picture healing plan. It is packed it full of information. Along the way, I have inserted questions to help you think through the concepts and practicalities of developing your personal big picture healing plan.
I cannot stress enough the value of tracking your symptoms, your diet, your medications, etc. On the sidebar of this blog are free tracking tools you can download and use. I saw this smart phone app tracking tool this morning and thought I’d share it with you.
The MyIBD app from the Collaborative Chronic Care Network (C3N) website reads:
“Track your pain, food, frequency of bathroom visits – and get access to educational tools to help you manage your symptoms. The myIBD mobile app helps teens and parents living with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis manage their disease and get help more quickly. This app was developed by the staff at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.”
No matter how you do it, with pen, with a computer, or with a phone. Tracking and journaling will be one of the most useful things you do in your healing journey.
Science Daily recently published a report showing the benefits of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in treating Crohn’s. Read the full story here.
Science Daily (Mar. 19, 2012) —
“The Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) research team at Virginia Tech has discovered important new information on the efficacy of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in treating Crohn’s disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). CLA is a naturally occurring acid found in meat and dairy products known for its anti-cancer and immune modulatory properties.”
CLA is found in grass-fed animal products: meat, bones (for broth), and butter, and cream. It is also found in mushrooms and is produced by beneficial bacteria in the gut. The SCD advocates for frequent consumption of bone broth, broiled meat, and fermented dairy. Buy these products from grass-fed (grazed, not given grain-based feed) sources, and increase your CLA intake. If you are regularly making bone broth, add mushrooms to the broth to increase the total CLA of the broth.
Probiotic bacteria also produce CLA. Regular intake of fermented foods like SCD-legal yogurt, and fermented vegetables are not only good for CLA production, but help to fight infection, which is a likely genesis of Crohn’s and Colitis, and could be at the root of certain irritable bowel disease (IBD) as well. High dose oral probiotic supplementation has been proven effective in healing Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and can be helpful with IBS.
I have had an overwhelming response to my posts on Fecal Microbiota Transplantation [FMT] (a.k.a, Bacteriotherapy, or Fecal Transplant Therapy). This book is a way of meeting the needs of people who are considering FMT, and is in response to all of the questions people have asked me over the past year. So far as I can tell now, it is the most comprehensive resource on FMT out there.
I really believe that FMT is one of the most promising treatments for colitis. It has helped me, and many others across the world. It has also been used for IBS and for Crohn’s (where there is inflammation in the colon).
A Comprehensive Resource for Fecal Microbiota Transplantation
Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT), also known as Bacteriotherapy or Fecal Transplant Therapy, is one of the most promising natural treatments for digestive disorders. FMT can cure colitis caused by Clostridium difficile infections. It has demonstrated effectiveness in healing inflammation in the large intestine caused by Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, and has been used to treat IBS.
Of all the topics I have encountered in treating IBD, this is the topic about which I get the most questions. In 2011, I designed this FMT protocol for myself in conjunction with my doctor. Since then I have gotten lots of questions, and I have updated the protocols to include the latest information. I designed the FMT Coach as an inexpensive resource to address your concerns and questions about FMT. If you’re considering FMT, the FMT Coach will help you every step of the way.
For $24.95, you will get:
The FMT Coach E-book:
Learn the theory behind FMT, use my updated FMT protocols, learn how to choose a donor, learn how to talk to your doctor about FMT, and read about my experience with the treatment.
Matt’s Donor Screening Form:
Wondering just how to choose a donor? I have done the research for you, and designed a comprehensive donor screening form, which will help you find a suitable donor quickly.
The FMT Primer:
The FMT Primer is a brief executive summary-style condensed look at FMT you can give to your doctor. In just under three pages, your doctor will get the theory, history, protocols, risks, and peer-reviewed science journal references supporting FMT as a therapy.
One free 50-minute one-on-one coaching session ($100 value).
To compliment the FMT coach package, you’ll get the chance to spend 50-minutes with a professional coach, totally free! I have had ulcerative colitis since 2002, and have been medication free since mid-2009. Ask your questions, make a plan; together we can outline, organize, and help reach your health goals, often faster and with fewer setbacks than if you were doing it on your own. After you make your purchase click the FREE COACHING SESSION link on the DOWNLOAD page to schedule your free coaching session.
The most comprehensive resource for FMT. You get:
-My FMT Protocols
-How to Talk to Your Doctor
-Donor Screening Form
-Executive Summary for Your Doctor
The Author
Matt Robinson lives and works in the Washington D.C. area. He was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2002 and has been living medication-free since early 2009.
Similar to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Dr. Campbell-McBride, outlines an effective diet program that heals the gut, purges toxins, and repopulates the gut with healthy bacteria. The GAPS Diet is also addresses ADD, ADHD, learning disabilities, autism, and more.
