I remember when I first read about SCD legal yogurt, I was immediately put off. I was new to the kitchen and cooking was hard enough without learning how to make fermented foods. From some reading online I figured the only reason I needed to eat the
The taste of your yogurt is only limited by your imagination!
yogurt was for it’s probiotic effect. So I reasoned if I could get those probiotics in pill form why would I ever mess around with creating my own yogurt?
Well that’s the danger of doing incomplete research on the web. Without investigating both sides of every story we will usually only find the side we want to hear. Of course I found the answer I was looking for plenty of websites telling me how good it was to take some probiotic pills. What I didn’t do was fully read about the difference between the two. Because I choose the easy way out I didn’t start yogurt until sometime in the 2nd month of the SCD diet. This was a huge mistake because as soon as I started it I saw a HUGE improvement in my bowel movement quality.
What is Yogurt?
Wikipedia defines yogurt as a dairy product that produced with bacterial fermentation of milk. I only half agree with this definition. As I’ve seen almond yogurt and coconut yogurt made using a non-dairy yogurt starter. So I think we should rewrite Wikipedia with a more scientific statement that talks more to the bacterial fermentation part. Something to the tune of: a fermented food that results when the (good) bacteria Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus transform a seemingly good food into a POWER FOOD.
Now that we’ve been all PC and include all versions of yogurt that can be made, why should you eat it besides the awesome amount of bacteria it contains? Well it turns out that yogurt is very high in protein and a great source of calcium and the B vitamins (2,6 and 12). Now if you don’t know, anyone who is having digestive trouble is not completely absorbing the vitamins and minerals they are ingesting so eating a very high concentrated source like yogurt is very important. What if you are thinking like I used to and say well there is pills for that too…
Why Your Wasting Time by Not Eating Yogurt on SCD
We all know that the SCD diet is designed to reduce inflammation by removing grains and other hard to digest foods. In the process we also remove the food source of many bad bacteria. This killing of bad bacteria is what causes “die-off” symptoms at the beginning of the diet. Well if we are taking the time and effort to kill the bad bacteria we need to do everything in our power to put some good bacteria in their place. I used to think no big deal I will load up on probiotic pills…but always in the back of the mind is do I need the yogurt? Great question…
The answer is simple there isn’t a probiotic source available that will give you what 1 or 2 cups of homemade SCD legal yogurt will in terms of a bacteria payload. For each 1 ml of yogurt you eat you ingest about 3 Billion CFU’s of probiotic goodness. CFU’s are colony-forming units or a way to measure how many bacteria are in a substance. According to Elaine SCD legal yogurt contains at least 700 Billion CFU’s per cup. Now go look at your probiotic pills I bet at most your getting about 50 billion CFU’s a day. That’s the equivalent of shooting a machine gun at a fortified bunker. Except this bunker is your digestive tract and it currently has on average of about 100 TRILLION bacteria in it.
Now I’m not saying that probiotic pills are a waste of time or money just that they aren’t comparable to SCD Legal yogurt. Probiotic pills have their place in the healing journey. They are especially useful in the beginning months of the diet, and we advocate taking Lactobacillus Acidophilus right from day 1. They are also useful when they supplement your diet with bacteria strains that are not in your yogurt starter. But after some healing has taken place it is time to break out the big guns and start eating some bunker busting yogurt to really help your healing.
So now that you are ready to dive into the world of making homemade yogurt where do you go to learn how? Below are some of the most useful links available on the web for free.
Pecanbread shows us how to make goat or cow milk yogurt with a traditional yogurt maker
Elaine shows us how to make it using a heating pad
Kat shows how she makes it with a vacuum yogurt maker
The take home point of the article is don’t neglect eating SCD legal yogurt. It is an extremely nourishing food delivering a payload of good bacteria that are just waiting to help get rid of the bad bacteria in your gut. SCD legal yogurt cannot be substituted by using probiotic pills! But don’t throw them away as they usually contain other good bacteria strains not available in homemade yogurt. Ideally you will start taking probiotics as soon as your start the diet and then start very slowly adding in SCD legal yogurt at the end of the 2nd week of the diet or in the 3rd week.
I know starting to eat SCD legal yogurt gave me a huge bump in health and I’m sure it will for you! Making it at home is easy and straight forward with the above links. In our next version of SCD Lifestyle: Surviving to Thriving we outline in picture-by-picture steps how to make goat’s, cow’s and almond milk yogurt. Stay tuned as we should be done working on it by the end of the month!
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I shared my coconut yogurt “recipe” on Nell Stephenson’s blog recently. Here’s the link for anyone who wants it: http://tinyurl.com/3ytguha
The one caveat is that I use gelatin to thicken the yogurt. I think the SCD legality of this is questionable, since yogurt is not supposed to have anything added to it until after it’s cooled. If the gelatin were left out, it would be runny but still tasty. Even though I am no longer strictly following the SCD (I’m on a Primal diet now) I still eat my coconut yogurt daily. It makes such a big difference in my digestive health. I know I wouldn’t have been able to broaden my diet without it.
@ Amy – Thanks for stopping by and providing the great coconut yogurt recipe! I’m going to have to try it soon.
Gelatin is legal on the SCD diet and even used in the intro diet! Just make sure its the unflavored kind.
What about kefir? I’ve read its way better than yogurt with bacterial cultures that colonize the GI Tract and aren’t transient like those in yogurt. It has more beneficial strains as well including beneficial yeasts to control & eliminate destructive yeasts. It also has smaller curds and is fermented longer making it easier to digest with lower lactose than yogurt – they say it improves digestion for those who are lactose intolerant. What’s the dif. b/w SCD legal yogurt and kefir?
Also dairy is the #1 food allergy (that doesn’t include those who are lactose intolerant), so if following an anti-inflammatory diet version of SCD, I don’t know if yogurt is the best route cuz each time you’d consume dairy you will have an immune response. The kefir in america is usually from dairy as well unfortunately. There are a lot of reasons why people may not necessarily want to consume something nature produced to turn a calf into cow.. namely the nutrients Calcium:Phosporus and the two main proteins whey:casein are not in the ideal ratios for human bioavailability (absorption)… the choice is ours in the end, as the only species that consumes the milk of another. Any thoughts you’d like to add on these issues?
@ Hayley – Thanks for stopping by, Kefir can be a very valuable addition to the SCD diet but it is advised against being used until you have been following the diet for sometime.
http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/knowledge_base/kb/kefir.htm
The reasons behind this are explained in the above link however the short summary is that Kefir does contain yeasts which in a comprised digestive system may cause more problems than benefits. The other problem is that cow milk’s kefir in order to be lactose free needs to be fermented between 24 and 48 hrs vs SCD yogurt only needs 24hrs. While the 2 main strains of yogurt bacteria are transient these bacteria have been proven to help digestion and can live up to a couple days in the digestive tract. The two best yogurt starters GI Pro and Yogourmet contain other strains that also aid in digestion. As far as I know there has never been a scientific study that compared Kefir strains vs Yogurt strains and their effectiveness in helping digestion.
Another note is that SCD legal yogurt can be made with or without Casein/Whey. Each person is different and should be encouraged to try several different types of yogurt including Cows Milk, Goats Milk, Nut Milks, Coconut Milks. You are correct in stating that dairy is the number 1 allergy and many people don’t find this out until trying a different non-dairy yogurt starter.
While there is a big debate raging on whether or not we should/have adapted to consuming the milk of another animal I think the probiotics out weight the negatives. If you feel strongly against consuming animal milks then there are plenty of non animal milks to try. It has been shown in several studies that people who have digestive problems have significantly less good strains of bacteria in the digestive tract than healthy people. I believe because of this we should be doing everything in our power to try and get more beneficial bacteria back into our bodies.
So to sum it up I would suggest consuming SCD Legal yogurt right from the start of the diet and I encourage everyone to experiment with different types of milks. I think Kefir has the ability to take your health to the next level however it shouldn’t be tried until significant healing has taken place. I’m planning on experimenting with it soon and hope to be able to provide more info then.
From what I know almond, rice, and hemp milk all contain carrageenan, which is illegal.
It contributes to inflammation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan
Lorren,
Thanks for the tip. I know that pretty much all store bought Almond Milk is not legal for that reason, but I think that if you make your own out of raw organic almonds you should be fine. You can also make almond milk from organic almond flour like the kind from Lucy’s kitchen.
In good health,
Jordan
Hello – where in the UK can I buy a suitable SCD yoghurt starter that does not contain Bifidus? Thanks
Hi Jerry,
I’m not sure on that one – let me get back to you on it.
Jordan
I have successfully been making SCD yogurt with my Sunbeam heating pad for the last couple of months. After heating milk to 180 and cooling to 110 and adding the starter (as explained by everyone on the web), you can either leave your stainless steel pot on the pad on MEDIUM and cover with dish towels or pour milk straight into your glass jars and leave on the pad on HIGH covered by a few dish towels. This is a very simple and consistent method. And it doesn’t tie up your oven or involve coolers, etc.
Thanks Sophia – great idea for an alternative method!
Jordan
Jordan and Steve,
When should one introduce nut yogurt and almond milk into the diet? As BTVC says to wait 6 months and pecanbread says wait a few, I am wondering what is right. I introduced it two weeks into the diet this time. I am doing dairy-free and was anxious for the benefits of yogurt!
Thanks!
Sheena
@ Sheena – If your doing it dairy free I think they can be pulled ahead for the purposes of yogurt. But I will be honest, if your still having problems at a month into the diet and your eating yogurt, I would encourage you to order dairy free probiotics and give the yogurt a break until you get your symptoms under control.
Thanks Steve. All right, will pull the yogurt out.