Now that I am approaching three months on the SCD diet, I thought it would be a good time to figure out how much it is costing me. I have already detailed the astronomical costs of Ulcerative Colitis medication. I am confident that my food will not approach those figures. However, food costs come out of my pocket and are not supplemented by insurance so they definitely will have an impact on my family's budget.

Food cost data is being pulled directly from my credit card statements. The data isn't perfect as it will be convoluted by food that is consumed by my wife (who is not on the diet) and non-food items that are purchased at the grocery store. That said, my wife and I buy a majority of our groceries for ourselves so the costs won't be too far off.

My diet before I started the SCD was a healthy normal american diet with a modest amount of fast food and only a few portions of meat a week. I frequently bought lunch at my work cafeteria and went out for dinner a couple times a week. The figure below shows that the home cooked / eating out costs were split down the middle.

On SCD I cook nearly every meal I eat from items I purchase at a grocery store (I shopped at the same store before going on the diet as well). The costs here are almost exclusively from grocery store purchases.

So which diet costs more? SCD costs about 36% more than my old diet.

I don't think that it has to be that way, but I have been buying more meat, eggs, nuts and fresh fruit then I would otherwise. I have focused on staying true to the diet and less on initial costs. As I become a more savvy shopper on SCD I expect the costs to go down. On a side note, good food is really darn expensive...