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My family and I have been following a Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) for the past 11 months, primarily to aid in the treatment of one of my young sons who has been diagnosed with autism.

The SCD was originally developed for sufferers of Crohn's Disease and Coeliac Disease, however it is now being used successfuly to help people suffering from a wide range of disorders including ADHD, autism spectrum disorders and psychiatric disorders. It eliminates starchy foods such as wheat, rice, potatoes and sweet potatoes from the diet as well as milk and most dairy products (some hard cheeses allowed), plus sugar and most forms of natural or artificial sweeteners with the exception of honey. Click here for a list of all foods that are in or out of the diet.

Interestingly, the diet tends to eliminate those foods that also contribute most to greenhouse gas emissions. We have taken it further in this regard by trying to reduce the amount of red meat we eat to about 1 meal per week, replacing it with chicken, vegetarian and fish options which result in much lower greenhouse gas emissions (particularly vegetarian). We are also exploring the use of kangaroo which is the one red meat widely available in Australia that is low in emissions.

We now eat at least twice, and possibly three times the amount of fruit and vegetables that we did before going on the diet. We are able to ease the cost burden by growing many vegetables in our ever expanding vegetable garden and aquaponics system, and we are looking forward to harvesting fruit from our newly planted orchard.

We have seen the most profound changes since being in the diet - not only with our autistic son, who many people now question whether or not he is actually autistic, but also with the rest of the family. My wife and I have both lost in excess of 10Kg, and colds and flu's just bounce off us. Our immune systems seem to be impervious to most things. Where other people get knocked down for a week or more by a bug, we might have a runny nose for a day or two. We are convinced that our diet plays a big role in this.

The following recipes are all compliant with the specific carbohydrate diet and are also low in greenhouse gas emissions. This means that I haven't listed any red meat (other than kangaroo) recipes on here. It probably isn't representative of our general diet because it doesn't include many of the staple meals that we eat that don't jusitify a recipe. For example, our boys would be happy if we served up a garden salad every night, supplemented by a small amount of grilled chicken or fish. Perhaps 50% of our dinners are of this type.

The recipes are also skewed in favour of desserts or baked goods. This is for good reason. It can be difficult to find recipes for desserts of baked goods that are SCD compliant. We have developed our own versions of favourite recipes and are pleased to share them here. Typically any sweeteners (sugar etc) in recipes are replaced with honey and we use nut flours in place of wheat or rice flours.

Click on the images below to view the recipes. Make sure you keep coming back as I will keep loading more recipe over the coming weeks. 

If you would like to contribute a recipe that you believe is low carbon or complies with ths SCD, then please send it in and I will load it up with suitable acknowledgment.

Kangaroo Fillets with Honeyed Beetroot

Kangaroo in Red Wine  

Moroccan Vegetable Tagine

 

Green Vegetable Curry with Eggplant  

 

Red Pumpkin and Lentil Curry  

 

Warm Roasted Vegetable Salad  

 

Braised Rabbit with Rosemary and Leek  

 

Fish with Prosciutto and Caper Butter  

 

Burmese Chicken Curry

   

Moroccan Chicken and Apricot Tagine  

   

Ham and Leek Quiche  

Crab Basil and Cherry Tomato Frittata  

Fish Marinated in Turmeric  

Fish Tagine with Preserved Lemon and Mint  

Balti Vegetable Curry  

Ginger and Pumpkin Soup  

Grilled Herbed Vegetables with Aioli  

Beetroot and Chocolate Cake

Banana Cake

Raspberry Friands

Chocolate Fruit Balls

 

Pikelets

 

Blueberry Pancakes

Tomato Sauce

Almond and Orange Cake

Gingerbread Men

Quince Tart  

 

Sticky Date Pudding

Chocolate Brownies

Christmas Pudding

  

Chocolate Banana and Coconut Muffins