Aloha everyone, I'm so glad that I found you all. I've been lurking for a few weeks, reading posts and being inspired by all of you. My journey to raw started almost unintentionally last may. I did a 21 day master cleanse and afterwords I paid careful attention to what my body wanted me to eat. Before the cleanse I had been eating pretty poorly... not typical fast/junk food, but still lots of dairy and some meat, but a majority of my diet was cooked. As I started to pay attention to what my body needed, I started eating lots of sprouts (beans and greens), avocados, and lots of fresh fruits and vegitables. After a few months I realized that most of what I was eating was raw. The only exceptions was organic non-fat yogurt, sprouted grain (ezekiel) bread and nuts(most were labeled raw, but I understand now that they may not be). I stopped the yogurt last month and replaced it with home-made nut milks and now I might only have a few slices of sprouted grain bread each week, but other than that everything is raw and I feel better than I could ever have imagined. I could go on and on about all of the positive changes that have occurred, but what i have a question about is the emotional component of switching to a raw lifestyle. Physically i feel on top of the world, but emotionally it has been a wild ride. Is this something that other raw fooders have experienced during their switch? Sometimes I really feel like I'm losing my mind... ultra-sad one minute, full of rage the next, with periods of serenity and happiness sprinkled throughout. I don't worry about back-sliding because i have absolutely no desire to go back to my old diet... I just have to remember how I used to feel everyday and it's easy to maintain eating the way i do now. i love my new body and the way I feel... I could eat raw Kale all day and actually enjoy..even crave it (i used to dislike it). I'm just hoping that the intense mood swings start to level out. it almost seems like it is chemical remnants of old emotions that may be released as old fat cells are burning up. Does this make any sense? sorry to ramble on like this, but it's my first post...i promise to be more brief in the future.

Aloha and thank you all for being here!

Greg

I don't really have the experience to help answer your question, as I have only been raw for about 4 days. I am simply going on things that I have read recently, but I too am interested in anyone who might shed some light on this subject.

I've actually been hoping that switching to a raw diet will help even out the moddiness I've had for most of my life. I've read a lot in the past week about a raw diet and there seem to be many accounts of more even moods or a calmness and patience after being on a raw diet.

As I said, I have only been high raw for about 4 days now (I intended to start slowly, but I just couldn't help myself). I am pretty much all raw except perhaps some sprouted ezekiel bread or steamed broccoli here and there. Yesterday was really good in terms of mood, but today was pretty bad. I just felt quite down and kinda like my life was pointless. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I am (for now) chalking this up to detox or the shock to my system of making the switch to raw. I was a vegan before at about 40-50% raw. I have read that when one switches to an all/high raw diet, it can get pretty emotional for a bit.

If anyone can chare their experiences that'd be great!

-Ashley

Thanks Ashley,
I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling down, but good to know I'm not alone! I've been almost 100% for almost a month now. Some days are better than others, but physically I can't even begin to describe how wonderful I feel. It's like having a brand new body. I'm tall (6'4", but when I started my initial cleanse I was over 250lbs... this morning I was down to 208lbs, but my skin isn't saggy or loose. I also started excercising daily after my cleanse and I've noticed that i have more energy and motivation to continue this journey to health. I'd been flying blind before finding this group and it's so helpful to learn from everyone here. I have noticed though that much of my more intense mood swings happen either while, or right after vigorous cardio excercise. I'm pretty sure it must be the detox symptoms. I also noticed that eating some nuts or avocado seems to soothe me a bit... kind of like a new comfort food. Which got me thinking about the whole concept of "comfort food" in the SAD. Usually our comfort foods are full of fat/sugar/salt. I used to crave grilled cheese sandwiches when I was depressed, so I wonder if the fat in the cheese somehow "bonded' with the chemical component of my depression and now those depression chemicals are being released. I'm not a health expert by any means, but it makes sense and also would explain why so many people fail on diets. If they get depressed as those chemicals are released they are more likely to crave those old comfort foods again. Just a thought, but I have nothing to back it up.

Once again, thanks for the nice response and good luck on your transition!

Greg

Yes, mood swings are one of my major symptoms.

I stepped up my intake of green smoothies since yesterday and have been having depression, tearing up, regret, emptiness, irritation and good stuff too, plus spaciness.

I'm sensitive to chemicals.

When my neighbor leaves his cigarette burning and I inhale his slow-burning smoke - which somedays is ALL DAY!! (does he ever actually smoke them or just light them up and ignore them?) I get really irritable.

So I think that as these wastes leave my body, I get the emotions associated with them.

Some SAD foods seem to function as 'anesthetics' of unpleasant emotions, some of which we may not even know we are harboring, sometimes for years and even decades.

Withdraw the anesthesia, in this case, by eating more foods we were designed to eat in the first place and elevating the quality of energy being supplied to the body's cells and voilá, the old stuff resurfaces and is relived while it is purged out, as if it were a remodeling job and less than useful material is torn away and replaced with better new quality. In the meantime it means putting up with the 'dust' stirred up in the process. The good news is that the 'dust' does settle eventually.

Wishing you vibrant health





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2007 01:19PM by Pistachio.

Thanks Greg,

I woke up this morning feeling much better. It is comforting to know how much better you feel after just a month! Its interesting about your cardio, although not suprising, I always think of my running as a way of "sweating out" all the bad things, both physical and mental.

What ya'll seem to be saying, about the body purging its old emotions makes a lot of sense to me. Great analogy Pistachio! I suppose if your body tends to rebuild itself on raw with much better materials, it makes sense that some bad emotions would get thrown out in the process. Glad to hear it settles. I guess these things take time. When I think of what my body has been made up of over the years, I cringe. I have been much healthier these past 2 years, relatively speaking, but before that...shudder. There was a year in high school where I had a can of coke, an ice cream, and an entire pack of cinnamon mentos for lunch, everyday, for a year. I was up to 4-5 cans of coke a day 2 years ago when I finally quit, after realizing it was a major cause of my migraines (yeah, duh). I think it took me so long to figure that out because, interestingly enough, whenever I had migraines, I would crave a coke. I guess thats what the SAD diet will do to your body.

-Ashley

Hi MauiGreg

I'm now on my 5 year as a raw foodist(about 95-99%). The mood swings are normal and what I have found that the positive moods are coming out more if you stick with your diet. Be prepared though to lose a lot of weight. I lost about 30lb in the end of the first year and I wasn't even overweight. The weight, moods and energy levels get after the detoxification better and your body weight balances in it's normal weight.

One thing that may be good to add in your diet is chorella and/or fresh cilatro. Your body is at the moment flushing out all heavy metals that you have ingested in your previous SAD years. Chorella and cilatro are excellent heavy metal binders and your body and your mind can get the old junk faster out.

Good luck

MH

Hi there. What are you experiencing is perfectly normal. Your body is cleansing and when you cleanse your body, all the toxins have to surface before they can be released. Everything is connected so it is effecting you on an emotional level. My advice is to hang in there, keep doing what you're doing. If you can, practice some light therapeutic yoga. This will help you align and get your chakras spinning which will help you release these emotions faster.
Good luck to you! You are doing great!

mjhednrik Wrote:

> One thing that may be good to add in your diet is
> chorella and/or fresh cilatro. Your body is at
> the moment flushing out all heavy metals that you
> have ingested in your previous SAD years.
> Chorella and cilatro are excellent heavy metal
> binders and your body and your mind can get the
> old junk faster out.
wonder if that`s why i want cilantro all the time?!
patty

Aloha all, and thank you all so much for all of your support... it is truely wonderful. I wish I could adorn you all with beautiful flowered leis. I can't tell if it's the mood swings, but the support from this community is so wonderful that it has brought me to tears on a few occasions. So good to know I'm not losing my mind (except when I watch the news...gotta stop doing that).

Something else I've noticed is that it feels like as I work these toxins out of my system...and the bad moods that go with them... I seem to be discovering a more acute sense of intuition and 'other ways of knowing"... maybe it's a more clear communication with my body. For example, MH recomended more cilantro and chlorella... a few days ago, before reading that, i was looking through the fridge to make a smoothie and decided to throw a whole bunch of cilantro in it... then I felt like making it as deep green as possible so I added chlorrella, parsley and kale...awesome. My body has also been leading me towards yoga. I've noticed several times while reading the posts here, I'll have a "hey, I just started doing that!" realization. Maybe it's the collective conciousness...a universal truth that our bodies have always known. Whatever it is, it feels great!

This weekend I decided to move to the other side of Maui where there is a much more healthy and supportive community of raw fooders. I'll be moving at the end of the month and it feels like one more positive step in this transformation.

Once again, Mahalo to everyone who responded here. I cannot possibly express my gratitude for your support.

Aloha, Greg

I just wanted to add a quote from Shazzie on this thread. I thought it might be relevant.

People often ask "How did you heal emotionally with raw food?"
I didn't do anything specific, as the depression I had lifted of its own accord quite quickly. If I knew then what I know now, I may have added more superfoods and supplements to my diet quicker, as they do have a great effect on the brain and perception. Specifically: DHA, Crystal Manna, Blue Manna, Udo's Oil, Cacao, Maca, Suma. I would have also done liver cleanses sooner. Now, this isn't to say that I'm totally without emotional scars, I'm not! I healed my depression... the other stuff, the sludge of past relationships and pain still comes up, but not very often at all. Committing to living in Ecstatic Bliss has helped much of the remnants of my pain disappear, and when I feel anything now I just love it. It all dissolves in time.