I started doing the SCD diet a few weeks ago due to some gastrointestinal distress I was having and I basically have stopped eating vegetables except the random well cooked carrot or green bean. I tried some broccoli the other day and it gave me such a horrible stomach ache I couln't believe it. All this time I though veggies were doing good things for my digestive system and that it was meat that was hard for me to digest but now I realize that meat by itself digests very easily and it's only when I add veggies that I get bad digestion. However, I am worried that there are some nutrients I may be missing out on. Has anyone else stopped eating veggies on a regular basis and do you think it's okay to only eat them when you crave them? (sometimes I do have a greens craving but not often)

Well, there's a few carnivores (no veggie, meatatarians) who hang out in the Paleo section. Some people seem to do just fine on meat only.

Yeah I know some people are carnivorous but I guess I always kinda thought they were just trying to be show-offs or tough guys or something and that veggies were pretty important for health. The idea that veggies are not necessary or actually harmful is really rocking the foundation of my beliefs right now! As much as I hate to admit it I really am feeling better without them though.

Is it all veggies or just some?

I am the same, I do enjoy a salad now and again, cooked veggies or avocado. The raw stuff or beans can cause GI distress. I remember Dr. Atkins writing: you will use vegetables more as condiments like a slice of tomato with your cheeseburger-- you will see.

Are you sure it isn't something else in your diet, AimeeJoi? I know I had a lot of false leads but it turned out that coffee was causing the issue, and it was nothing I ever considered. Now that I've gotten rid of the coffee I seem to be able to eat some foods I couldn't eat before. *knock wood*

I don't think there's enough research out there to know, but there are some on this forum that think/feel/believe/whatever that a low-carb diet...especially a carnivore diet...provides us with all the nutrients our bodies NEED.
When you look at the government's list of "daily required" nutrients, it is assuming a SAD - 300 grams of carbs intake - diet. It is when you are eating a poor diet like that that you will need all those other suppliments.

Needless to say, there's not enough demand out there to do the proper research to know the reality.

At which point, I'd fall back to the good old "Listen to your body" approach.

Nancy,

Since SCD makes you go through a intro period where you eat only meat, eggs, and well cooked carrots until your digestion is normal and then you gradually add back one food at a time I am pretty certain about what causes distress. Since I feel good when just eating the intro diet it is really easy to spot when something makes me feel bad.
That's funny about coffee, I feel even better when I add coffee with heavy cream than I do without it because it helps with elimination (my biggest gastro problem) I also thought veggies would help with that but everytime I try to add a new one all it does is give me gas pains and it seems to actually slow down transit time. So much for the fiber theory

I guess this is the best advice.

Some veggies are harder to digest in their raw state and many people find them very gaseous (is that a word?)

I cannot eat raw broccoli, period, which I discovered after eating a wonderful low carb broccoli salad and spending the rest of the day curled up on the floor with stomach cramps. A friend of mine cannot eat bell peppers, not even cooked ones. I personally cannot imagine not eating veggies, but then I don't have gastrointestinal issues with them. They do provide vitamins and nutrient not found in meat as well as fibre. I would make sure to include a great multivitamin.

In his book he pushes vegetables, expecially in the after induction phases. He even proudly claims that low carbers eats more veggies than high carbers and use this fact against the myth that his diet is mostly meat, cheese, unvaried and lacking nutrients.

People with gatrointestinal issue are suggested to avoid hard to chew fibrous stuff. Even if the SCD heals your digestive system and you can reintroduce more veggies in the diet I would stick with the most digestible. Broccoli are probably the less digestible of the bunch. Artichokes hearts, mushrooms, baby zucchini, peeled well cooked peppers, asparagus, pumpkin, small onions seems better choices to me.

I'm 45 yrs. old & other than avocados I don't touch veggies - never have.

No health problems and my blood panels are always good.

Ok, ok. You're the opposite of me then. I was having the opposite problem!

Have you experimented being totally dairy free? The thing for me that causes the big C is dairy.

As lpioch said, eating a lot of grains and sugar depletes your body of nutrients, which is why the levels of some government recommendations are so high. The only nutrient that meat doesn't supply much of is Vitamin C, but eating an extremely low-carb diet allows your body to recycle its Vitamin C.

For myself, I feel a lot better when I get some sauerkraut and lemon juice, but I know lots of people do fine without it.

Raw broccoli gives me terrible gas, but I do ok with well-cooked broccoli. All cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, asparagus, brussels sprouts...) have galactans, the gas-producing sugars also found in beans. Broccoli has less than the others, but it might still be too much for you. I can't tolerate cooked cabbage, but sauerkraut doesn't seem to do me any harm.