Dear Kendall,
 
I love your book! I also wanted to pass on a thank you from one of my best friends, Laura, in Los Angeles who swears the recipes in your book helped to heal her little boy and herself while she recovered from chemo for breast cancer two years ago. 
 
It's a long story but her little boy had major intestinal problems that she thought were causing autistic-like symptoms.  She met a holistic doctor who recommended specific dietary changes and she used the recipes on your book to change the entire family's eating habits.  Within weeks she saw changes & improvements in him.  Around the same time, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she changed her diet dramatically as well.  Now, two years later, everyone is healthy and still using/eating a lot of your recipes.
 
I visited her recently and she told me to buy a copy of your book.  I did and my family is loving the food.  I live here in Montecito with my two little boys (and another on the way) and just wanted to introduce myself to you after my friend had such great things to say about how your book helped her.

Best,

Michelle

Hi Kendall, 

I wanted to send you a quick note to say "THANK YOU" for writing your wonderful cookbook. I started SCD in January and it seemed like perfect timing, as I don't know what I would have done without your book.  I'm 28 and I've suffered with Crohn's Disease for about 7 years now and not until recently had I decided to treat it with diet.  It turns out that the decision was the right one for me.  Through recent blood tests I discovered that my levels are all back within the normal ranges and it's all thanks to this diet. 

I currently work as a food / restaurant publicist in Boston and a book like yours is such a great resource for me.  I couldn't image having to simply stick with the recipes in Elaine's book (although I do like her banana bread).  It is the ultimate irony that someone in my line of work would need to stick to such a strict diet, but your book makes it all a little easier.

Thank you for writing this book and making it available to us all. Hopefully you have another one in the works.

Warmest Regards,
Boston, MA

Dear Kendall,

I just wanted to let you know that you and Elaine should be canonized as Saints!
Your books have changed the quality of my life beyond understanding. I'm 28 very healthy and very physically fit, but was diagnosed with UC 6 months ago. On the Internet one day I found info abour SCD and my life has not been the same!

Thank YOU so much for this website, your book and the courage to share!

Sincerely,
Holland, PA

Hi Kendall,

As a hard core foodie (I've also done cooking school, married chefs) I was devastated to get Crohn's last year. I cried at the prospect of having to eat out of the BTVC cookbooks and sites, until I realized I could basically eat all of my foods sans the carbs, which was fine, for about 2 weeks and then I wanted to eat bread. Anyway, thank god for your book and your recipes for breads. It is also visually appealing which certainly means a lot.

Anyway, I wanted to thank you again for such a tasty and visually delightful book.

Maybe you should have a FoodTV show for people with food allergies - since we are a growing population and you look like such a beautiful host.

Take Care,
Michelle

Hi Kendall,

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your great new cookbook. I preordered it last year and it was the best Christmas present ever! I have always loved to cook and am addicted to cooking shows and magazines. I was diagnosed with IBD last year and immediately started the SCD. At first I was disappointed to think that I would have to give up one of my favorite hobbies but soon enough I realized that adapting great recipes and meals was part of the fun. I adore your book because it brings a sense of gourmet cooking to SCD. I am so happy that you took the time to create it and I wish you great success. 

Thanks again and I hope there will be a book #2, #3, #4, etc!

Jill


I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease a year and a half ago at 51 years of age! My sister, who had a friend with Crohn's, immediately sent me Elaine's book. I have been on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet ever since. It's incredible how much better I feel. Of course, I don't have to tell you the benefits of the diet. My cholesterol dropped 75 points. I lost significant weight and best of all, no more stomach aches. I just ordered your book and I can hardly wait to get it. From the video, it looked like I would be able to entertain without preparing different foods for my guests. Thank you for the time you have sacrificed in putting together this book.

Ginger Caro

Follow Up Letter:

Kendall,

    I wanted to share with you my doctor's visit this week.  The diagnosis of Crohn's a year and a half ago was certainly devastating for me.  The doctor said that my life was changed forever and how I handled stress would affect me - could be debilitating.  And that I would be on medication for the rest of my life.
    Before I got home that very day, I quit the two extra jobs that I had. As a musician, I have always directed and been very busy in additional jobs outside my position as a high school media specialist.
So, the church choral position and the junior college broadway musical director position were gone out of my life that day.  It was a drastic but necessary decision to "grab the bull by the horns".  I was NOT going to let this disease control me.
    It took about six months of using Elaine's book before I felt that it was really working as described.  I think in the book, she says that if you are on the eating plan for three to four months without result, perhaps you should consider that it might not work for you.  I'm so happy that I forged ahead.  My life is so different now.  I found that small portions were easier to digest.  So, along the way, I lost about fifty-two pounds.  Eating the homemade yogurt with a third of the package of Friendship Farmer's Cheese was not only enjoyable, but my last bone density test at 53 years of age, was almost off the charts!
    My mother has been an invaluable source along this road.  When I purchase ten pounds of almond flour, she makes all sorts of items for me to eat.  It would have been so much more difficult without her help.
Banana bread, cinnamon rolls, carrot cake, all in small individually wrapped portions.
    I am sharing these details with you because I had such an interesting talk with the doctor this week and I wanted you to have the background information to understand it more fully.  For the first year, he was not positive at all about my diet.  He said that not eating starches such as pasta was the reason I was losing weight.  Also, he was very worried at one point about seven months ago when I weighed 115 pounds - very healthy for a woman who is 5 feet one inch tall.  But with Crohn's, he said that I could have a flare up and lose twenty pounds very quickly and I didn't have it to lose.  He threatened to put me on more invasive medication adminstered in a drip form at the hospital if I lost five more pounds.  I was determined that this would NOT happen.  So I watched my weight daily.  But along with that, I continued the eating plan, which my doctor finally admitted seemed to be working!  I knew it all along but an endorsement from him was really important to me. I saw my health improve weekly.  No steps backward.  I began adding fruit, salads, etc.
  At this week's visit, I told him that there would never be doctors' endorcements for the diet through research because pharmaceutical companies (and he finished my sentence) can't make any money from the research because no pills are involved.  I told him that he should put up a sign in his office that said "if anyone has self discipline and was interested in a strict eating plan that could drastically improve their health, please ask about it".  I said that he could then monitor his patients progress who are willing to stick to the Specific
Carbohydrate Diet.  He told me that he had 150 Crohn's patients and how many did I think had that type of will power?  Then he said, "you Ginger, only you".  He said that when he tells his patients that they have Crohn's, that most have great depression and they don't follow the diet recommendations that he asks of them.
    I think it's such a shame when I hear of people who have this disease and they are having pieces of their colon cut out and other drastic surgeries when I am certain that eating these foods without added sugars and starches would have such a positive impact on their lives.  I'm sure that you, like me, read all that you could get your hands on.  Some of the material was so depressing.  The effects that Crohn's could have were so scary.  I feel so blessed that I am healthy and so fortunate that my sister sent me Elaine's book.
    Now my doctor says that my stress management, my diet, and my weight loss is 90% of the reason that my health is good.  Only 10% is my medication -asacol (two pills three times a day).  My next question to him was "is there a possibility of life without asacol?".  He says that I will have another colonoscopy in January of 08 and if it shows improvement , he will take me off the medication!  Originally, he had said that I would be taking this medication for life.  We'll see how it goes.  I have great hopes that the colonoscopy will show improvement.
It is the direction, vision, that I have had all along.  I know there will never be life as before.  But that's not a bad thing.  I love what I eat and I am thankful for it.
    Thank you for letting me share my story with you.  I am not part of any support group and I am always looking for opportunities to help people.  Again, I want to thank you for taking the time out of your life to develop recipes that will enrich the lives of others with this disease.

God Bless you and your family.
Ginger Caro


Kendall,

Thanks so much for an amazing new SCD cookbook. I literally cried while thumbing through it, getting so excited about some new things to add to my diet! Thank you for your time and your amazing new book, several of my non-SCD friends have  already ordered their own copies! you don't know how many people you've blessed with your gift.

Traci Kuzma


Little did my husband know, that when he took the time to search out a better cookbook for me than just the "typical" lose-weight focussed book, he would be changing his eating habits alongside me both dramatically and for the better!

As I began to flip through the beautiful cookbook on Boxing Day, I recognized that there was more to it than great ideas for eating well; it was the answer to my undiagnosed intestinal problems over the past 10 years.

I quickly read through the cookbook as an instruction manual and went out and got Breaking the Vicious Cycle the very next day! By that night I had finished it excited and ready to bring my husband onboard toward health and nutrition and awareness.

Since January 7th; one week ago today; we have followed the SCDiet. We purchased a yoghurt maker, I made Chicken Soup from scratch, we tracked down the dry curd cottage cheese and the results in just that one week have been remarkable! After two days the diarrhea disappeared, I feel energetic, and I love the feeling of being in control of what I feed my family. Our kids do benefit from this heightened awareness through a better quality of cooking and sugars and refined foods are a thing of the past for us.

After immersing myself in the SCD culture for the past couple of weeks I know that I have many people to thank for their contribution to my health, but I do want to thank you specifically, Kendall, for creating this beautiful cookbook that has not only led me back to health; but improved my overall choices when it comes to nourishing this one body that I have so I can work fully, love fully and live fully.

Kindest regards
Lisa Cowan Langley, BC, Canada

P.S.
As a woman who has her own business (I am an Interior Decorator), I know how important it is to hear the feedback of my clients. I work with passion toward the final product being the very best and it was evident that you did this with your book as well.

We will absolutely stay true to the diet. The results are staggering. I meant to mention in my initial letter that we had already tried several of your recipes to rave reviews all around; the Moroccan Chicken Stew with Cashews, Saffron & Currants (hearty!); the Tom Yum Kai with coconut milk & lemongrass infusion (yum!), the Artichoke Dip (fabulously garlic!); the Mashed Roasted Carrot with Cumin & Orange (beautiful!); the Cashew Bread (the kids love it!); the Macadamia Nut Brittle (I used pecans; fantastic for my husband's sweet tooth!) & the Blueberry Almond Muffins (my favourite for breakfast with a bit of yoghurt on the side). I have not been intimidated by any of your recipes. They have been easy to follow and fun to create andinspirational to integrate into our new repertoire of healthy eating. It has been a wonderful inauguration to our newly renovated kitchen and the new year!

Hello,
There was an email a while back regarding Kendall Conrad's new cookbook. I've spent the past few weeks trying many of the recipes, and they have been a great success with my family. The Shepherd's Pie is truly terrific! I used ground beef, and I've made it with butter added to the cauliflower as well as used homemade broth instead of the butter - both worked wonderfully. The Cashew Bread, Macadamia Date Cake, Blueberry Muffins all defied my expectations. Absolutely marvelous! With the muffins, I've used almond flour as well as a combination of brazil nuts, pecan and almond flour - again both worked beautifully. Initially, the recipes appeared very gourmet and daunting, but actually are quite simple and delicious. I am grateful to Kendall for taking the time and enormous effort to put together such a pleasing and useful cookbook. The recipes have been very enjoyable for me to make as they are quite creative and novel. Best of all, my family loves them! I thought I knew a lot about the SC diet. This cookbook has enlightened me even more.

Lida, 18 year old son on the SCD 6 months

Hi Kendall
Just emailing you from Northern Ireland as my orange and almond flour cookies bake in the oven! Can't wait to try these!! Have had your book for about a week now and have been and am loving the food. Thank you!! Thought I would have to miss out on our traditional family St. Patricks Day cooked breakfast but thanks to your delicious Breakfast Sausage this was not the case....my family were even eating at my breakfast instead of their own!! I have had ulcerative colitis for nearly 3 years now. This time last year I was not long out of my third hospital visit and eating the blandest food ever. Although the doctors tried to tell me food was not related a great deal to my health I started the Specific Carbohydrate Diet as I was otherwise convinced. My health has improved sooooo much and my medication is being decreased. But it is thanks to your book that I am discovering new and taste bud popping recipes that I thought I would never experience again.

There is not much help in Ireland - in fact none in relation to SCD so I appreciate all the help I have got from your great recipes in Eat Well Feel Well. I love it. Thanks!!

Joanne Hamilton