what benefits have you gained from raw? weightloss? name them here

well-here goes! i have learned it is alot more complicated than i ever thought.
i have learned how raw foodist un-cook.i have learned that some things i thought from a medical background may or may not be true and the verdict is still out on alot in that area.I am still scared to go out on a limb and say this cures certain diseases. i am still for people getting immunizations(not to say some aren't for this or if they are).i am still half and half on if this cures certain things but i am willing to try.it has cured me of high blood pressure ,pre-diabetes,and getting off of lipitor.i feel better.i have found out i love the juicing.and the raw soups.and i love fruit more than i ever thought i could...and veggies.
i have lost weight from raw food.i have more to loose.i have learned more about others idea's.i love the idea of it.i may try the omega's for depression. i got a book called "the bi-polar child "and they said this can help with a more stable mood.so i may get off the antidepressants.that would be a big boon.so i have a far way to go but still in there trying.hugs taylor

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Physically I will try to think of it all. I lost fifteen to twenty pounds. I got my sense of smell back after seven years. YAY!! My little stomach problems have gone away. The biggest one- my Candida symptoms are way better everyday. My periods are way better (could be a candida symptom). My spider veins are diminishing. I am not having sweat problems when I am cold anymore (Wierd-I know). There are probably more I can't think of. My five year old was sick everyday. We were in the process of finding out all the things that were making her sick when we went raw. She has absolutly none of those problems anymore. Also she is very small. Most people think she is three until she speaks, then they think she's a genious. hA ha. Anyway, She seems to be finally growing. I have some theories, but I am only guessing why this is. I have to say we think it is too big of a coincidence not to be raw. I have peace of mind about my husbands health now and my eleven year old was always tired before, which also worried me. I have learned so much about nutrition because of raw. Because I was living in a fog of Candida my mental clarity is a miracle to me. My Kitchen is beautiful with lots of pretty jars filled with pretty food and baskets of fruit. I know it sounds silly but I feel like for years I was searching for a lifestyle I knew was there but I didn't know what it was called or how to find it. I know I could never go back because I was so sick before. I told my daughter yesterday afternoon "a year ago I would be on the couch resting right now and instead I am spring cleaning' I don't even turn on General Hospital ( my favorite soap) anymore because I can't stand to stop to watch it. The only time I stop is to feed my brain on this computer. I have always been active. Candida was taking that away and I was depressed. I am riding my horse and running with my dog. I ran a mile the other day and wasn't even winded. Thank you raw, thank you, thank you. I told my friend I am not doing this to live forever or even longer. I know I could die tomorrow. I am doing this so I can climb a mountain today.

Before raw food I suffered from fatigue, depression, and overeating. Raw food helped put me in control of myself and my own health and wellbeing. What have I gained? Probably my life.

I too have horrible brain fog and debilitating fatigue. Once or twice a day I'd have horrible spells of overwhelming sleepiness. I have been known to crawl in the backseat of my car and take a nap if I was away from home. I felt sick all the time, yet, when I went to the doctor to see what was wrong with me, nothing ever showed up in tests. I was healthy as a horse, according to my doctor. So why did I feel SO bad? I looked horrible too--slightly overweight, bad skin, brittle hair and nails. I used to be so pretty, why was I looking so bad now? Age? I'm only 28.

A naturopath diagnosed me with Candida, and I tried to do the candida diet, but I always failed after a week or so. Oh, I forgot about my IBS. When I found out about RAW, I knew I had to do it, at least as much as I could. I started adding more raw fruits and veggies to my diet and instantly felt so much better. I shed 10 lbs without trying and my energy is up. I won't lie and say I'm "floating on angel wings," but my sleepy spells are gone. I can get up in the morning and do everything I want and need to do. I'm not 100%. Who knows if I will ever be. I tried 100% for a couple weeks and really felt not-so-great. I'm breastfeeding so I feel like I need to be really careful. But, raw has definitely been a gift.

I used to nap in the car too. I have a van so I let the kids run around while I rejuvinated. How pitiful is that? I have no problems staying raw, it's giving up the cooked that is hard for me. It's an addiction.

-Mental clarity
-Better memory
-No more afternoon tiredness
-No more chronic winter cough
-Much more even-tempered - I can still get angry, but now it's only at appropriate times, whereas before every little thing used to irritate me. This is sooo helpful when living in nyc.
-More stamina
-Cuter body proportions (more feminine)

-No more face bloat or upper-body bloat
-Skin looks smooth and almost tan, even in winter, whereas before I always felt pasty in the winter.

-Shaplier upper arms- even though I wasn't overweight before, I always felt like I looked fat in the winter due to my upper arms. Now they actually look good.

what else, what else...

-I was pretty healthy before (by cooked standards anyway) but I was always so lethargic, I couldn't sit for extended periods (i.e. office job) without getting sleepy. I had to really stay on top of exercise b/c if I started being sedentary, I would tend to devolve into continued lethargy. Now I exercise because I happen to FEEL like it any given day, and a few days on the couch after work aren't a travesty and don't make me feel lazy.

-I had an EKG at about 6 months raw, and the doctors were really impressed by my heart rate. I know it was from the slower, deeper rhythm of breathing the raw veggies had given me, b/c I hadn't been running much for about a year at that point.

I always notice random things in my life that have improved since being raw, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

how long has it taken all of you to feel these changes?

Hi tristani,

For me, the changes were there from just about the beginning, but they were as fleeting as my ability to stay raw. I'd feel great while I was raw, and bad whenever I wasn't. Slowly, (I'm talking in terms of decades), I've been able to increase the raw and decrease the cooked until now I'm pretty confident of being raw all the time.

I'm a slow learner. But I know that if I hadn't started when I did, I'd be the same age as I am today, but I'd be feeling really bad instead of feeling really good.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2007 05:26AM by suncloud.

I was feeling result in the first week. By the second I felt like a new person. I am like suncloud. I am trying to cut out the cooked.