I noticed results in about two weeks to a month on SCD. I didnt have any die-off or other odd symptoms.

I took probiotics for years and it did not cure my eczema. Some people on the diet can't tolerate milk and don't use the yogurt, and just use probiotics. Elaine does say that it would take hundred of pills to equal the same amount of probiotics that in one cup of that yogurt. As far as probiotics go, it would have to be just the main 3 that are in yogurt, because taking other probiotics may have the reverse effect. (L Bulgaricus, S thermophilus, L acidophilus only) No FOS or any other probiotics.

SCD is a different approach, you dont have die-off and all that jazz. It doesnt kill bacteria that is in the gut, instead gives back a natural ecosystem that is a balance or good/bad bacteria. Even those so called 'bad' bacteria are needed and essential for things like digestion. You cant just wipe them out - thats what got most people in the position of needing probiotics, too much anti-biotics in their past killing everything in its path.

Elaine has a part on the SCD website where she tells how to make yogurt in the oven with a 60 watt light bulb. I never tried it this way, I just bought the machine. For what 2 bottles of the right probiotics cost, I paid for my yogurt machine. (25 bucks at amazon.com) If you decide to make your own, let me know, Ive been at it so long now, I have made it simple (compared to the complex instructions they give.)

I buy raw almonds and grind them in a food processor. (used to use a really small coffee grinder) The almond flour is twice the amount I pay for raw almonds. (12 bucks a lb for flour, 6 for a lb of almonds) You only need the dry curd cottage cheese if you want to make the one kind of 'bread' on SCD. Its the worse bread I ever ate! Or the SCD cheesecake which is just as bad. I don't know why they make such a fuss about the dry curd cottage cheese - ewwww. I guess if you are a big fan of cottage cheese, its a good thing to have a healthy safe brand to eat.

I did SCD and I cheated like hell, and my eczema still got better. So I do believe there is hope. But if I stop eating yogurt for a few weeks, I start getting itchy again. It doesnt take much yogurt to keep me healthy, 2-3 servings a week now. For the eczema on my hands I had to stop using detergents completely and switched to castile soaps for everything except laundry. I never could get the hang of wearing rubber gloves and any moisterizer I used just made me itch more. Now I use nothing on my skin at all. It was hard to stop! I went thru a week of intense dryness and then my skin started to heal. I wondered if the moisterizers were adding to the problem. For years, my face was so dry I put curel on it a few times a day and it still was dry. After I stopped, I looked really bad for a week (dry and flaky) then it became normal.