Overview
About Specific Carbohydrate
Specific Carbohydrate Diet compatibility measures how an ingredient fits the legal list, which allows single sugars and fresh whole foods while cutting grains, starches, lactose and sucrose.
Examples
A few ingredients either way
Grading
How we grade Specific Carbohydrate
Every ingredient in the database carries one grade for specific carbohydrate, and this page, the checker and the app all read that same grade. It describes the ingredient as it is usually eaten. Portion size and preparation move it.
Specific Carbohydrate is kept as a rule. In the app, an ingredient you would have to check the label on still counts against the day.
Practical
Following Specific Carbohydrate
- Read every label, because added sugar, starch or a thickener makes an ingredient illegal.
- Make yogurt, broths and sauces at home so you know exactly what is in them.
- Keep a detailed food and symptom diary to track your personal reactions
- Eliminate the suspected trigger completely for 2-4 weeks
- Reintroduce gradually to find your personal tolerance threshold
- Work with a healthcare provider or registered dietitian for guidance
- Remember that food sensitivities can change over time
Method
Test it with a diary
Most people find their own triggers by logging meals and symptoms for a few weeks and reading the result back. Three steps.
- 1Log every meal for a few weeks. Type it, say it out loud, or scan a barcode, and it lands as a list of ingredients.
- 2Rate how you feel through the day on whatever you are tracking, whether that is bloating, headaches, skin or sleep.
- 3Read the pattern back. Every ingredient you logged is scored against the days you felt worse, and the result ranks specific carbohydrate against everything else you eat.
Read next
Where to go next
Get started
Following Specific Carbohydrate?
Log what you eat and how you feel, and the app finds the pattern for you. Or look an ingredient up here first.