Navigating Summertime & Summer Travel on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet

SCD summer and summertime travel with IBD

Click here for FREE download: PDF “Pre-Travel Checklist”

Click here for FREE download: PDF Wallet-Size “SCD-Legal List”

Click here for FREE download: PDF “How to Plan for SCD & Summer Activities”

How to Prepare for Summer with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)

The thought of summertime often conjures images of the beach, traveling to new destinations, and enjoying time relaxing with friends. However, on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) (especially if you’re new to it), thoughts of summertime, travel, and diet therapy can seem overwhelming.  

Even with COVID-19 restrictions, some people still want or need to travel and gather this summer — and meeting SCD food guidelines along with social distancing requirements can be doubly daunting. Be sure to check your state health department’s information and recommendations.

Summer travel while dealing with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and being on a dietary therapy can still be fun. The key is preparing in advance and remembering the abundance of resources available. This article has many free resources that can assist you in your summer plans.

Being in a new place can simultaneously promise excitement while exacerbating symptoms triggered by a change in routine (1).

“The combination of the stress and excitement of travel and being in a new place and out of routine makes us more vulnerable to unhealthy behavior and more likely to take risks…People who travel healthy make strong decisions about what they will and will not do, and they plan for it.”

Dr. Charles Raison, a psychiatrist and behavioral scientist at Emory University

Have an Abundance Mindset in Regards to SCD Foods

When managing a chronic condition, it’s easy to get distracted by feelings of inadequacy. When dealing with IBD, it’s natural to have concerns about your needs being met. It’s also normal to wonder about having access to the Specific Carb Diet resources you need. 

You may also feel down at times since you cannot eat just anywhere, like some of your friends or family members. 

IBD patients aren’t the only ones dealing with these anxieties and disheartening emotions. Many individuals experience them even without a chronic condition. 

Psychology has termed this a “scarcity mindset” or “deficit view”, and there are consequences of chronically viewing an experience through the lens of lacking (2). Brain scans suggest that scarcity mindset can even alter brain activity involved in decision making, especially in situations where we compare what is lacking to a situation where there is plenty (3).

An alternative to thinking in terms of deficits is to approach life’s experiences with a “philosophy of abundance”, or an abundance mindset (2). This allows for the individual to be able to find creative and meaningful solutions regardless of the circumstance. 

Deficit thinking tends to focus on opportunities lacking, while an abundance mindset bases itself on capability, competence, and allows for constantly evolving perspective and experiences. Simply stated, an abundance mindset is a way of thinking that allows you to approach a challenge with the assumption that you can face that challenge – which you CAN!

Travel usually brings excitement and change, but an abundance mindset and preparation  are crucial to feeling equipped for the journey. Bring the resources you rely on so that you have access to the tools that bring you comfort in navigating your dietary habits. 

New experiences and challenges don’t have to be scary when you have the tools to make the best out of any situation you may find yourself in.

Preparation for Specific Carbohydrate Diet Meal Plans

We created a few tools to help you prepare for traveling this summer while sticking to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet food list). This IBD nutrition and care checklist is intended to help prioritize and promote efficiency while preparing  for your next trip.

Please don’t hesitate to print out this download and use it at home.

Another great resource is the ImproveCareNow Travel Toolkit. This resource was created by a Patient Advisory Council, which means it was created by patients FOR patients. It contains personal stories as well as helpful tips that may resonate with you and help you prep for summer activities.

Dining Out with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

In light of COVID-19, dining out may not be an option, unless ordering take-out. Still, during my time at Seattle Children’s Hospital, we created an SCD pocket guide (purse/wallet sized) for you to use when traveling or dining out. Check it out and keep it close by. It’s an excellent resource to have on hand anytime you leave the house to eat elsewhere. This resource is helpful for ordering take-out AND for dining out in person.

Summer Specific Carb Diets for Families

One key in adapting to travel and new situations is to educate yourself and your family on what SCD foods they CAN have. Empowering your child to make food choices consistent with his inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) dietary needs is crucial to his development and growth in independence. Your little one will not always be with you. Knowing he has the tools to make the best choice for his body is freeing for you as well.

Include your child in Specific Carbohydrate Diet meal planning as much as able. This includes identifying grocery stores or restaurants to stop at along the way. The degree of involvement is age dependent, but their input can start much earlier than we often think.  

Below is a travel-sized list for foods allowed/not allowed on Specific Carbohydrate Diet plans that you and your child can carry. Dr. Raison suggests the following advice to guide your planning process (1):

“It’s all about balance…Just be mindful and create a plan so you have fun, set limits, and stay safe and healthy.”

Get your FREE download PDF Wallet-Size “SCD-Legal List”

Download the free PDF for “How to Plan for SCD & Summer Activities”

IBD and Specific Carb Diet Summer Camps

There are some incredible opportunities for those with IBD to enjoy summer activities while also connecting with others who share a similar diagnosis. The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation facilitates Camp Oasis so that children with IBD can connect with peers and bond over shared experiences. 

Kids that I followed over the years at Seattle Children’s Hospital uniformly agreed that Camp Oasis was a sunny side of  having IBD. Camp Oasis facilitates life-long friendships, new experiences, and SO much fun. Some camps can accommodate kids on diet therapies as well. 

Unfortunately, Camp Oasis will not be held in person due to Covid-19 this summer, but they are hosting a virtual camp! Find more information on how to enroll and connect through virtual camp activities (view updates about Camp Oasis 2020. Enrollment is still happening as of the end of July (click here to view the most recent updates)!

If Camp Oasis is not an option for you, consider sending your child to a day camp with peers. Research supports summer day camps in the efforts to help children make progress regarding their health (4). 

While these organizations should certainly be more understanding and compliant with the dietary instructions you send with your child, it may be helpful to prepare instructions and food for them before heading to camp. Until Camp Oasis in the state of Washington began to offer SCD foods, parents would supply meals and snacks for their camper for the entire week.  

Connecting across support groups, patient networks, and parent forums can help you navigate these events with support. Remember, many have gone ahead of you balancing chronic illness and diet therapy. You are not alone when it comes to figuring out SCD recipes and other challenges!

Summary

Summer can be a season of simplifying and slowing down. This can be true for those on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet , as well. Just the thought of navigating summer activities while complying with SCD requirements can feel to some like more of a chore than a vacation. Use the resources in this article can help you adopt and adapt.

Hopefully, these tips will provide a simple approach to managing IBD nutrition and SCD  in the summertime through the idea of abundance. Adapt these resources to fit your needs, and remember that summertime is meant to be enjoyed! Planning ahead can allow you to relax on vacation. 

Specific carb diets and summertime have a lot in common. Both are based on the idea that slowing down and returning to the basics in life can allow us to heal. Take advantage of that!

REFERENCES

  1. National Institutes of Health. Summer Travel, Plan Ahead to Stay Healthy. US Dept of Health and Human Services. 2011. Accessed at https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2011/06/summer-travel.
  2. Nxumalo F, Brown CP. Disrupting and Countering Deficits in Early Childhood Education. Routledge. 2019. ISBN: 978-1138103542.
  3. Huijsmans I, Ma I, Micheli L, Civai C, Stallen M, AG Sanfey. A scarcity mindset alters neural processing underlying consumer decision making. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2019:116(24); 11699-11704; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1818572116.
  4. Brazendale K, Beets MW, Weaver RG, et al. Turn up the healthy eating and activity time (HEAT): Physical activity outcomes from a 4-year non-randomized controlled trial in summer day camps. Prev Med Rep. 2020;17:101053. doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2020.101053

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Hi! I'm Kim Braly, RD, a clinical researcher and IBD Nutrition Consultant. I specialize in cutting-edge dietary therapies for inflammatory bowel disease that have been shown in multicenter trials to decrease inflammation, alleviate IBD symptoms and induce remission. I'm passionate about offering this effective new option to patients and their families with my 3D-Dietary™ Approach for IBD and helping to usher in a new era of IBD treatment through mentoring and research trial consultation. Let's see what diet can do for you.

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